Songoftheday 8/7/23 - Have you ever been hated or discriminated against? I have, I been protested and demonstrated against...

 

 

"Cleanin' Out My Closet" - Eminem

from the album The Eminem Show (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's song comes from Eminem, whose third full-length album The Eminem Show had taken him all the way to the runner-up spot on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the summer of 2002 with the puerile humor of "Without Me". For the follow-up, though, Marshall Mathers set down to be serious for the self-help diatribe "Cleanin' Out My Closet". Written and produced by the rapper with Jeff Bass, the song has Eminem spilling all the beans on his absent father and substance-abusing mother with nothing held back. But before that, he plays the victim card for all the self-made controversy he's frothed up, The chorus starts out as an seeming apology to his mother, but as the song title says, he's letting it all out. That second verse is very bitter, but the reference to his deserting dad using the homophobic slur is not only unnecessary, but makes me really not give a shit. The way he puts his anger towards his mother and his ex-wife, saying it's a good thing he didn't just shoot them, some may call brutally honest but I call the behavior of an abuser. The end result still conflicts me, and to his credit, Eminem as well, who later disavowed the song. BUT it was a "solemn" track, and the production framed him in such sepia tones that were more closer to rock than R&B, so radio picked up on it, his fans approved, and Mathers found himself with back to back top ten hits...

"Cleanin' Out My Closet" became Eminem's third top ten hit on the Hot 100 in September of 2002, while peaking at #11 on their R&B Singles chart and #5 on the Rap Singles list. On the radio, the song went to #7 on the Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart, and rose to #2 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, "Cleanin'" was also a big success, reaching the top ten in Australia (#3), Sweden (#3), Denmark (#3), Ireland (#3), Germany (#4), the United Kingdom (#4), the Netherlands (#4), Norway (#4), Austria (#5), Switzerland (#5), New Zealand (#5), Romania (#5), Belgium (#6 Flanders/#10 Wallonia), Spain (#8), Italy (#8), Greece (#8), Hungary (#8), and Finland (#10). (It got to #20 in France as well.) 

Both Eminem and the album will be back to the series. 

(7/10)

Here's Eminem performing the song live in New York City in 2006 (obvious not reconciled with his mother)...

In 2014, Eminem released the song "Headlights" on his Marshall Mathers LP 2 album, which was an apology to his mother in honest and forgiving fashion...

Up tomorrow: Aussie pop icon is smitten from the start.