in a 2012 interview, The Used bassist Jeph Howard said that "A Box Full of Sharp Objects" is probably his favorite song by the band.
A few years ago, while preparing to send the album art for b-side collection Shallow Believer to his record label, Bert McCracken scrawled the word “Artwork” across its cover in silver ink. The sentiment, which, to Bert and his bandmates in The Used, resonated with both extreme simplicity and indescribable complexity, said everything without really having to say anything. Now, the Utah band has titled their fourth full-length album with that very word: Artwork.
The group started writing the album after finishing the Taste of Chaos International tour in 2007, slowly collecting and jamming out ideas with no concrete intention beyond making the songs as dirty as possible. The Used, whose last album, 2007’s Lies For the Liars, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200, spent the first half of 2008 in LA exploring and refining these ideas, eventually piecing tangential riffs and melodies into a scattering of songs that contained a surprisingly cohesive sensibility. The band members dubbed the music they were writing “gross pop,” their own new genre of hook-laden numbers that pushed the boundaries of the grotesque. Tracking for the album began in June of 2008 with producer Matt Squire and eventually concluded in February of 2009, primarily at LA studios The Lair and NRG. Between a few sporadic tours, the band spent about three months total recording with Squire where they allowed their creativity to dictate when they worked on something.
“I wouldn’t say it was hard to make any of the record but it definitely was time consuming,” Bert says. “We worked on our time table. The band allowed me to create when I was able to create, which was a good thing. I didn’t feel pressure to force things. There was no specific time I had to do anything. If we were in the studio and I’d been working on lyrics for five hours and nothing came out, we would just try again tomorrow.”
In the studio Squire approached the recording process with a laid-back attitude the band both appreciated and needed. The decision to work with a new producer after establishing a longtime relationship with producer John Feldman, who was at the helm of the band’s past three albums (Lies For the Liars, as well as 2004’s In Love and Death and 2002’s The Used, both of which were certified gold), was derived from a simple desire for change. The Used wanted to see what would happen if they entered the studio with someone different, a process guitarist Quinn Allman compares to “breaking up with your girlfriend not because you don’t love her but because you need to try something new.”
“It wasn’t that we absolutely didn’t want to work with Feldman or that we absolutely wanted to work with Squire,” Bert explains. “It was more that the band needed a change. We wanted to try something different and have it sound a lot different. It took a few weeks for us to get a vibe for each, but once we got used to it, it was really easy. Squire brought in this willingness to try anything and an open mind and a good attitude. I feel like he was really in touch with what the band wanted to do and he was really supportive of our ideas.”
The result is a raw collection of twelve songs that not so delicately teeter the line between being aggressively discordant and charmingly hooky. The first single “Blood On My Hands,” which Quinn describes as the song that “sums up everything about The Used,” is confined chaos, brutally thrashing one moment and proffering a pop-driven, sing-along chorus the next. “Empty With You,” a track Bert says is “about feeling empty and lonely but as long as you have someone who can feel lonely with you then everything’s okay,” surges with passion and gripping honesty, while “Cut Yourself” balances the album’s predilection for propulsive rage with its quieter, piano-driven exploration of what it means to have someone to lean on.
“This record is more sincere,” Quinn says. “It’s got a sound more reminiscent of the first record. Lyrically, it completely engulfs you and makes you feel safe but it’s all about feeling alone and empty and knowing there’s always a light. If you’re frustrated that much it means you care that much. The lyrics carry you through the record and you’re right with Bert and where he’s at. The music isn’t showing off. It’s just being what it is. I think the fans will appreciate all that.”
“This record is about coming together,” Bert adds. “Whether it’s through positivity or negativity, it’s about coming together through anything.”
Artwork encapsulates the past eight years of a band that’s played tours and festivals like Warped Tour, Ozzfest, Projek Revolution, Give It a Name, Reading and Leeds and SxSW, and sold over two million albums in the States alone, while simultaneously urging them forward. It’s a collaborative effort that drew The Used closer together during its creation. It’s about love and mortality and the basic human emotions we all experience every day. It’s biting and gritty, and it’s melodic and catchy. It’s a new chapter for a band that’s constantly sought to redefine the bounds of pop music—and have always successfully done so. It’s a reminder, as Bert says, “we’re all artists creating our own art just by living it.”
“I Come Alive” is the first single from The Used's fifth album, Vulnerable. It is the first release on the band's own label, Anger Music Group, an imprint of Hopeless Records. The song was released on January 17, 2012. (I Come Alive Songfacts).
Overdose
The Used Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Or come as slow as can be
It's not about you and me
And never mind what it costs
At least it's not make believe
We can get it for free
But to get love
Somehow I got your love
Was it meant to be
Your love
Is my drug
I've overdosed
I'm right where I'm supposed to be
Yeah your love
Is fatal
Planning an overdose
An overdose
Just like in the books
'The Voices' spoke unto me
Words as clear as can be
They say no one can take it away
Nothing can come in-between
You can't steal something that's free, yeah
But to get love
You have got to give love
Somehow I got your love
Was it meant to be
Your love
Is my drug
I've overdosed
I'm right where I'm supposed to be
Yeah your love
Is fatal
Planning an overdose
An overdose
And in the end I found peace
Don't know why you would choose me
And in the end I found peace
My darling drug you kill me
Don't think we're meant to go it alone
I could be wrong but I'll wait and see
I get caught up when you're singing along
An overdose would come naturally
It might sound mean but don't get me wrong
If I'm a slave, I don't wanna be free
I get fucked up when you sing along
An overdose would come naturally
Your love
Is my drug
I've overdosed
I'm right where I'm supposed to be
Yeah your love
Is fatal
Planning an overdose
An overdose
Your love
Is my drug
I've overdosed
I'm right where I'm supposed to be
Yeah your love
Is fatal
Planning an overdose
An overdose
The song "Overdose" by The Used is about the intense and addictive nature of love. The lyrics depict the feelings of being so infatuated with someone that it feels like a drug overdose, and how being with that person illicitly brings peace despite the possible fatal consequences. The first verse of the song questions whether love comes all at once or slowly, and suggests that it is not about the individuals involved, but rather the intense emotions that come with it that make it worth it. The singer acknowledges that love is not make-believe and can be obtained for free, but that in order to receive it, you must first give it.
The chorus repeats the idea that love is like a drug overdose and that the subject is in the right place because of it. The second verse suggests that the singer has received clear messages from "The Voices" about how nothing can come in-between the love he has for this person, and that you can't steal something that's free. He acknowledges that somehow he has received this love, but is unsure if it was meant to be. The bridge of the song makes clear that the singer is caught up in this love and how it makes him feel. He suggests that he could be wrong about being with this person, but he is willing to wait and see. He says that being with this person brings him intense emotional experiences, and that he feels like a slave to that love.
Overall, the song captures the intense and addictive nature of love, and how being with someone you love can be both emotionally satisfying and all-consuming to the point of feeling like a drug overdose.
Line by Line Meaning
Does it start all at once?
Is the addiction immediate or gradual?
Or come as slow as can be
Is the addiction gradual?
It's not about you and me
The addiction isn't personal
And never mind what it costs
The cost of the addiction is irrelevant
At least it's not make believe
The addiction is not imaginary
We can get it for free
The addiction is obtainable without payment
But to get love
Love is required
You have got to give love
To obtain love, you must give it
Somehow I got your love
Love was acquired
Was it meant to be
Is love fate or coincidence?
Your love
The source of dependency
Is my drug
The source of addiction
I've overdosed
The addiction is too strong
I'm right where I'm supposed to be
This is the intended outcome of addiction
Yeah your love
The source of dependency
Is fatal
The source of addiction will lead to negative consequences
Planning an overdose
The artist is intending to overdose on this addiction
Just like in the books
The artist has learned about addiction before
'The Voices' spoke unto me
The artist has had a personal revelation of addiction
Words as clear as can be
The revelation was unambiguous
They say no one can take it away
The addiction is exclusive to the person experiencing it
Nothing can come in-between
No external force can interfere with the addiction
You can't steal something that's free, yeah
The addiction is not obtainable through theft
And in the end I found peace
The artist found acceptance with their addiction
Don't know why you would choose me
The artist questions why they were given this addiction
My darling drug you kill me
The source of addiction is also the cause of the artist's demise
Don't think we're meant to go it alone
Humans are not meant to deal with addiction on their own
I could be wrong but I'll wait and see
The artist is unsure about their beliefs regarding addiction
I get caught up when you're singing along
The addiction is triggered by certain cues
An overdose would come naturally
The artist feels destined to overdose
It might sound mean but don't get me wrong
The artist's statement may seem harsh but is not malicious
If I'm a slave, I don't wanna be free
The artist prefers addiction over freedom
I get fucked up when you sing along
The addiction is triggered by certain cues
Lyrics © THE BEST MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: DANIEL WHITESIDES, JEPH HOWARD, JOHN FELDMANN, QUINN ALLMAN, ROBERT MCCRACKEN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Kyle Nokes
Lyrics to Hidden Track:
When I really stopped to notice
What I noticed is that
No one stops to notice
Pretty busy when tomorrow gets the focus
Got a great idea and didn't stop
To write it on my phone
I ran straight home
Unpacked the closet
Found my trumpet
Stole a bus and took my new friends to the mountain
Found a spot where everyone could see
Although no one was looking
Gripped the cornet, wet my lips
And played my sad song to the heavens
On I played until my lips bled
still I could not feel a difference
till I looked up and I noticed
I had everyone's attention
"Now that I have your deliberation
Let me formulate a most confusing situation
set to stimulate and satiate our saturated notions
moving closer to the truth with no expulsions, segregations
As of now we're all a part of that machine they talked about
Don't you remember that band rage against the machine
Let's go deeper now than what John Lennon
Said about the war, and what would happen
If no soldiers took the field
If 1 and 1 is 2; and 2 and 2's a billion trillion zillion
and the moon's front screen projection
super sacerdotalism
bought and paid through hidden taxes
through the power if inflation
If its all to much to handle let me tell you what I think
What I believe and what I hope for
What I'd fight for
And have faith in
And that is love
Love sweet love
Yea that is love
Love sweet love.
Love Love Love"
Red heart
"If you think you already know all the answers
you could listen
seems the smartest men I know obtain
The most important questions
And we've got to get it wrong along the way
Failure's important
Must get bashed more than a little bit
To understand what pain is
Until we truly understand
Have we a chance then to be free?
by free I mean devoid of pain
the absence of the guilt of shame
The mercy of the love of man
humanity's the truest name
But first we'll have to face the truth
And that is where the pain comes in
Let's start at the beginning
Start somewhere in our youth
Take everything we learned
And that we counted on as truth
Kill all the messengers and simply kick the barrels over
Picture a world without answers
Pictures carving, in our minds
shattered debris of opinion
Instead of only freedom from the truth
There comes fire in our hearts
Metabolized into organized
Truly democratized hordes and masses
ranks and classes
sane one's and spastics
Your moms and your dads's
Together we stand like a brick wall
We tower
And no longer we grovel
No longer we cower
We never apologize, why should we ever?
no one to apologize to but each other
No sir, Mr. President
No sir to your war
No sir, big prime minister
No, not like before
no thanks Mr Pope, Mr Dictator too
No longer will we play in what you like to call games
For we realize that your way affords no peaceful choices
No virtue in walking your tight-rope of peace-rape
We want NOTHING to do with your brand-new-world-order
I'm sure as we walk and work out our own path
We'll figure it out on our way like we do
and did we ever need you?
never needed you
We did it with love
Love sweet love
Yea we got there with love
Love sweet love.
Love Love Love"
Red heart
Guadalupe Pérez
this is your master piece
there's no other better than this album
thank you so much for letting me grow up with you guys
thank you for being here everytime
thank you for making music from your heart
... just, thank you so much
AJ
biased
David Watkins
Guadalupe Pérez this shit is real
SycoKid
Wow, I must say this is an amazing album. I was hesitant at first. Now I dont undestand why any fan of theirs, would not like this. Yes I know it doesnt sound anything like their old stuff. Which I did love the more crazier screaming style. But this album has a new vibe. Its like a concept album. I really like the message. It was beautiful in the way The Used does things. I mean you cant scream forever, vocal chords arent meant for that. Their old stuff helped me get through my dark teen years. And this helps me get through my screw the government adult years :) Im usually a skeptic and reluctant to embrace change. So if I enjoyed it. Im still baffled of why the detractors felt this album was weak, bland or flat. They started talking about whats relevant in their life now adays. Have no problem with it. Not their best IMO. But damn good.
Steve Mai
Greatest band ever, hands dwn. Just phenomenal music.
xMissDiazx
i love growing up with the used, i can relate to their music every time, it's like they grow up with me. thank you guys!
Gretel Pollock
I JUST SAW THE USED IN CONCERT LAST NIGHT OH MY GOSH I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
Teaching & Traveling SOON
Steve Mai i'm going to! same week as my birthday!
mf
Steve Mai Live in florida? I think I was supposed to go to that concert, but it was sold out.
Steve Mai
Going April 27th Sooo stoked!!!!