Songoftheday 10/6/22 - And everything I can't remember as fucked up as it all may seem, the consequences that are rendered I've stretched myself beyond my means...
"It's Been Awhile" - Staind
from the album Break The Cycle (2001)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 34
Today's song comes from the rock band Staind, who came together in western Massachussetts in the mid-1990's. Lead singer Aaron Lewis and lead guitarist Mike Mushok brought in bass player Johnny April and drummer Jon Wysocki to form the most long-standing lineup of the group, and released their debut album Tormented independently in 1996. Their sound started out in the "nu-metal" vein, with harsh guitar chords countered by rapping and screaming. After touring with Limp Bizkit, the group was signed to their label Flip, which was at the time distributed by Elektra.Records. Their first set on the imprint, Dysfunction, arrived in 1999, and while the highest it got on the Billboard 200 sales tally was #74, the record stayed on the chart for over a year (56 weeks), and went on to sell two million copies. The first single from Dysfunction, "Just Go", peaked at #24 on Billboard magazine's Mainstream Rock radio chart. That was bettered by the follow-up, "Mudshovel", which not only became their first top ten hit on that list at #10, but also hit the Alternative Rock format chart at #14.
In 1999, the band toured again with Limp Bizkit on that year's version of the multi-act Family Values Tour. Lewis and Limp Bizkit lead singer Fred Durst performed an acoustic version of a song left off their second release, "Outside", which would be included in the tour's live album release. The "softer" side of the genre perked up radio programmers. The result was an unexpected hit, topping the Mainstream Rock chart for two weeks, and spending six weeks at #2 on the Alternative Rock counterpart. It even made pop radio, going to #56 on the all-genre Hot 100, #54 on the pop airplay chart, and #31 on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format. The success of that toned-back track definitely influenced Lewis' band's direction in the next release.
Staind put out their third disc, Break The Cycle, in the spring of 2001. The lead single, "It's Been Awhile", was another downbeat ballad that featured acoustic guitars in the mix. Written by the band and produced by Josh Abraham, who had helmed Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water album, was also originally started in the Dysfunction days, but after the success of "Outside", brought back and fleshed out. In the song, Lewis is either singing to his love confessing how his addiction and bad decisions have messed things up, or to the drugs themselves that facilitated said downfall. It's more mood than story, as Lewis' pained moan fits the depressing tone of the piece, and in the end it's an effective confession of the perils of addiction. Durst directed the music video, which doesn't have a happy ending...
"It's Been Awhile" became Staind's first and biggest crossover hit as a band, reaching the top-5 on the Hot 100 chart in October of 2001. On the radio, the song topped Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart for twenty weeks, as well as sixteen weeks on the Alternative Rock list and #9 on the new Adult Album Alternative (or "Triple-A") Rock format. Also, the track hit #3 on the Pop Airplay chart and #6 on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format. Internationally, the single made the top-40 in New Zealand (#13), the United Kingdom (#15), Ireland (#18), the Netherlands (#19), Sweden (#23), and Australia (#24). The Break The Cycle album, released in May of that year, spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and stayed on the list for 70 weeks, going on to sell over five million copies.
With the success of the ballad, Staind and Flip Records attempted to bring out the electric studio version of "Outside" as the follow-up single. While this take had some success on radio, reaching #11 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and #16 on the Alternative side, the track was overshadowed by the lingering previous single on pop radio, and only "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #111. "Fade" was released as the third single, and the harder-edged (but still) ballad had a better reception, taking five weeks at #3 on Mainstream Rock radio, and a notch lower (#4) at Alternative stations, while returning the band to the Hot 100 at #62. That was followed by "For You", finally an uptempo rocker, which peaked at #3 on both the Mainstream and Alternative rock charts, and got to #63 on the Hot 100. Lastly, the track "Epiphany" was picked up by rock radio, making it to #22 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #28 on the Alternative counterpart. Staind will return to the series.
(9/10)
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Staind did MTV Unplugged in 2002, and of course performed their biggest hit...
Next up, in concert in 2012 for another live album release from the Mohegan Sun casino...
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