"Blood Makes Noise" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the ...

. It was released as the second single from her fourth album, ', in August 1992. It debuted at number 14 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart and reached number one a month later.

Content

The song is notable for its clangy percussion, which has been compared to

industrial music Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...

. Vega said that the percussion was meant to recreate the sounds the "blood makes" in someone's head when someone's afraid and that she had never heard of industrial music. The song doesn't clarify what the fear is in response to, but some have argued the song is about a patient taking an AIDS test. Suzanne Vega has denied this; in a 2001 interview with ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'', she says she likes "to take a moment out of its context. It makes you identify with it, without knowing why. In a way, its kind of eerie, because it means you can hear the song, identify with it, and not really know what the circumstances are. And in some ways, that's more satisfying to me."

Music video

The music video was directed by

Nico Beyer Nico Beyer (born 15 June 1964) is a German film director and producer. He is noted for his unique visual style and wide array of different techniques and formats. His commercial work has won him numerous, international awards, such as gold an ...

. It was added to

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

the week of August 29, 1992. The video was featured on ''

Beavis and Butt-Head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, ...

''. The song was also featured on an episode of '' Homicide: Life on the Street.''

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1992 songs 1992 singles A&M Records singles Song recordings produced by Mitchell Froom Suzanne Vega songs