"I'm Broken" is a song by American heavy metal band

Pantera Pantera () is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas formed in 1981, and currently comprised of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. The group's best-kn ...

from their seventh album, '' Far Beyond Driven''. It was the first single issued from the album.

Kerry King Kerry Ray King (born June 3, 1964) is an American musician, best known for being the co-lead guitarist and songwriter of thrash metal band Slayer. He co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and remained a member for nearly four decades. ...

said on the Japanese TV show ''

Rock Fujiyama is a Japanese music variety television show that was broadcast by TV Tokyo from April 3, 2006, to March 26, 2007. It is the substantial remake of ''Heavymeta-san'' that was broadcast in 2005 in Japan. Despite the title, the key genre in the progr ...

'' (featuring guitarist Marty Friedman) that it's his favorite guitar riff.

Meaning

The song is about the back pain that Pantera's vocalist

Phil Anselmo Philip Hansen Anselmo (born June 30, 1968) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal vocalist best known as the lead singer for Pantera, Down (band), Down, and Superjoint, amongst other musical projects. He is the owner of Housecore Records ...

felt. Phil Anselmo said "This is right when I started feeling the pain in my lower back, and it felt scary," says Anselmo. "I think this is one of the first times in my life, man, that I had this thing called 'vulnerability' kick in, and that was a very uncomfortable feeling." Anselmo adds, "I think that was really my first glimpse into kind of screaming to the world, 'Fucking... I am broken! Somebody fucking help me here!'"

Origin

Pantera's guitarist Dimebag Darrell spoke about the song saying:

""''I'm Broken''" was a sound check riff – one of them ones where I'd walk in with a hangover from ripping it up night after night with everyone in every town. That's where a lot of the best riffs I ever wrote came from. I just played the first riff I thought of, Vinnie started kickin' in on it, Rex joined in – we didn't write the entire song on the spot, but we kept toying with it and finally worked on it once we got into the studio."

Release and reception

"I'm Broken" was released as the band's first single for '' Far Beyond Driven''. Two versions of the single were released. Both contained the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

"Slaughtered", but each version included a differing pair of live tracks. All live tracks were recorded in Moscow, USSR at the Monsters of Rock concert in 1991. The single garnered the band its second top 40 UK hit, reaching number 19 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's highest charting single worldwide. It also reached number 49 on the

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

and number 32 on the Swedish Singles Chart. The song was also nominated for Best Metal Performance at the

1995 Grammy Awards The 37th Annual Grammy Awards were presented on March 1, 1995, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Bruce Springsteen was the night's biggest winner with 4 awards, including Song ...

. AllMusic reviewer Eduardo Rivadavia called "I'm Broken" a "wisely chosen first single".Rivadaiva, Eduardo
"''Far Beyond Driven'' - Pantera"
AllMusic

Live performance

A live version of the song can be found on the band's live album '' Official Live: 101 Proof''. During live performances of the song, the band would have Dimebag Darrell performing backup vocals and would end the song with the outro of "By Demons Be Driven".

Cover art

The covers for parts one and two each show half of Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo's face. When compared, it can be seen that they are a mirror image of one another, and on part two of the single, the colors are inverted.

Track listing

;CD single one ("I'm Broken/Slaughtered" part one) *All tracks written by Pantera #"I'm Broken" – 4:25 #"Slaughtered" – 3:57 #"Domination" (live) – 6:33 #"Primal Concrete Sledge" (live) – 3:56 ;CD single two ("I'm Broken/Slaughtered" part two) *All tracks written by Pantera #"I'm Broken" – 4:25 #"Slaughtered" – 3:57 #"Cowboys from Hell" (live) – 5:10 #"Psycho Holiday" (live) – 5:49

Covers

* "I'm Broken" was covered by Malefice for '' Metal Hammer''s Dimebag Darrell tribute album, ''Getcha' Pull: A tribute to Dimebag Darrell''. * "I'm Broken" was covered by Trepalium on their fourth album, ''H.N.P''.

Appearances in the media

* The song was released as downloadable content for '' Rock Revolution'' and '' Rock Band 3''. * It is a playable track in '' Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock''. * The music 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, ...

'' on the episode "The Pipe of Doom", where it received a rave response from the duo. * The song was featured in a Carl's Jr. and

Hardee's Hardee's Restaurants LLC is an American fast-food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. ("CKE") with locations primarily in the Southern and Midwestern United States. The company has evolved through several corporate owne ...

television commercial, starting in December 2015. The commercial features a burger flying through the air after the song's opening riff. * As of February 4, 2020, the song is used as the opening theme for the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA ...

digital series ''

NWA Power ''NWA Powerrr'' is a professional wrestling streaming television program produced by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that premiered on October 8, 2019. The series currently streams on FITE TV, where episodes are also made available on-demand ...

''.

Charts

References

External links

Official music video
{{authority control 1994 singles 1994 songs Pantera songs Song recordings produced by Terry Date Songs written by Dimebag Darrell Songs written by Vinnie Paul Songs written by Phil Anselmo Songs written by Rex Brown