"My Plague" is a song by American
heavy metal band
Slipknot. Produced by
Ross Robinson
Ross Robinson (born February 13, 1967) is an American record producer who discovered acts such as Korn, Glassjaw, The Blood Brothers, Slipknot, and Limp Bizkit. Robinson has also worked with Tech N9ne, The Cure, Sepultura, and many others.
...
and the band, it was featured on the band's second studio album ''
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
'' (2001) and released as the second
single from the album on July 8, 2002. The single version is a
remix by
Terry Date
Terry Date (born January 31, 1956) is an American record producer and audio engineer specializing in rock genres, especially heavy metal. He is well known for his work with Metal Church, Dream Theater, Soundgarden, Overkill, Pantera, Dark Ang ...
known as the "New Abuse mix", which was produced for the soundtrack to the film ''
Resident Evil
''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
''. The song reached number 43 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
and was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...
in 2003.
Composition and lyrics
"My Plague" is one of the more melodic songs on ''
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
'', while still featuring many heavier elements. For ''
Billboard'', Eric Aiese described it as "catchy enough to pick up some spins at rock radio", noting that it features both "intimidating" and "melodic" vocals. British music magazine ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...
'' highlighted it as an "immensely heavy track but ... with an incredibly catchy and melodic chorus amid the sick riffs and thunderous percussion." ''
Metal Hammer
''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...
'' writer Luke Morton claimed the track is "one of ''Iowa''
's more accessible songs due to the clean vocals"; adding, "it stills carries that threatening edge like the rest of the record".
Victoria Segal of the ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' called the song "filthy noise", while
E! Online
E! (an initialism for Entertainment Television) is an American basic cable channel which primarily focuses on pop culture, celebrity focused reality shows, and movies, owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of NBCUniver ...
's review of ''Iowa'' describes it as "surprisingly melodic". ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' identified "My Plague" as an example of the "opposition" of "emotional negativity" and "perversely hook-heavy writing" on the album.
Promotion and release
In January 2002, it was announced that a reworked version of "My Plague" dubbed the "New Abuse mix" would be featured on the ''
Resident Evil
''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
'' soundtrack and released as a
single in February. The track was remixed by
Terry Date
Terry Date (born January 31, 1956) is an American record producer and audio engineer specializing in rock genres, especially heavy metal. He is well known for his work with Metal Church, Dream Theater, Soundgarden, Overkill, Pantera, Dark Ang ...
and features "cleaner vocals and some minor arrangement shifts", according to
Blabbermouth.net
Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in Octob ...
.
Speaking about the song's "New Abuse mix", Slipknot bassist
Paul Gray explained that "On the album version there were some kind of weird vocal effects on some of the parts, and we took them out and just had Corey
aylorsing", adding that a section of the song had to be removed in order to make it suitable for radio airplay.
The single release was later delayed to July 8, with live recordings of "
The Heretic Anthem" and "(sic)" from a show in
Stockholm, Sweden on January 22 featured as B-sides.
Music video
The
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for "My Plague" is made up of a combination of clips from ''Resident Evil'' and footage from the band's performance at
London Arena
The London Arena (also known as London Docklands Arena) was an indoor arena and exhibition centre in Millwall, close to Cubitt Town area of Poplar, on the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England which was inaugurated in 1989 and demolished for h ...
on February 16, 2002, the entirety of which was later featured on the band's second video album ''
Disasterpieces
''Disasterpieces'' is the second video album by American heavy metal band Slipknot. Unveiled at an advance screening in New York City on November 1, 2002, and released on November 22 by Roadrunner Records, the two-disc set features a concert at ...
'' released in November. The live concert footage was directed by Matthew Amos and the film was directed by
Paul Anderson,
however Amos and editor Simon Hilton are credited as the video's directors. Hilton claims that he edited the video while wearing a Slipknot mask.
The video was featured on the "My Plague" single,
as well as on the ''Disasterpieces'' album later in the year. The "My Plague" music video was nominated for Best Video at the 2002
Kerrang! Awards
The Kerrang! Awards are an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine ''Kerrang!'' and focusing primarily on rock music. The annual awards features performances by prominent artists, and some of the awards of mo ...
alongside "
Tainted Love
"Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group the Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. It attained worldwide fame after being covered and reworked by British synthpop duo Soft Cell in 1 ...
" by
Marilyn Manson, "
Tribute
A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conqu ...
" by
Tenacious D
Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "ten ...
, "
In the End
"In the End" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It is the eighth track on their debut album, ''Hybrid Theory'' (2000), and was released as the album's fourth and final single.
"In the End" received positive reviews by music critics, ...
" by
Linkin Park and "
The One
The ONE is a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is built on the site of the former Tung Ying Building at 100 Nathan Road. It was developed by Chinese Estates Holdings and opened in 2010. Owner Joseph Lau Luen-hung g ...
" by
Foo Fighters. The award was won by "Tainted Love".
As of March 2023, the music video for "My Plague" has over 19 million views on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
.
Critical reception
"My Plague" received mixed reviews from critics. Tom Dunne of ''
Hot Press
''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes.
History
''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...
'' magazine hailed the song as "stupid, staged, ridiculous and laughably over the top", which he claimed made it "essential listening".
Playlouder
Playlouder was a digital music and media company. providing news, reviews, and other music-related content. It also claimed to be the world's first music service provider— an Internet service provider bundling access to music content along with ...
writer William Ruff and
Dotmusic
''Dotmusic'' was a music webzine that existed as a standalone website from 1 June 1995 to December 2003. Initially intended as the web complement to the UK music industry trade magazine ''Music Week'', the site was relaunched in December 1998 as a ...
writer John Mulvey both praised the song's lyric "You fucking touch me I will rip you apart/I'll reach in and take a bite out of that shit you call a heart", however this line was criticised by Tom Sinclair of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' as uninventive. Louis Pattison of the ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' complained that "you can spot a Slipknot single a mile off: they're the very average ones that feature big, echoing stadium-goth vocals, rather than the sound of a man screaming so loud that his gall bladder evacuates his body through the mouth", describing the track as "Not, let's be fair, primest 'Knot material".
In a retrospective feature published in 2016, Luke Morton of ''
Metal Hammer
''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...
'' ranked "My Plague" as the fourth best track on ''Iowa'', praising it as "a masterclass in writing emotional, pissed off metal that can still get on the radio".
In January 2003, "My Plague" was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...
at the
45th Annual Grammy Awards
The 45th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2003 at Madison Square Garden in New York City honoring the best in music for the recording of the year beginning from October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002. Musicians accomplishment ...
, alongside "
Here to Stay" by
Korn, "Portrait" by
P.O.D., "
Get Inside" by Corey Taylor's second band
Stone Sour and "Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy)" by
Rob Zombie. The award was won by "Here to Stay".
Track listing
;EU/JP CD single
* include music video "My Plague" (New Abuse mix)
;US/EU Promo CD
Chart positions
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:My Plague
2001 songs
2002 singles
Slipknot (band) songs
Roadrunner Records singles
Songs written by Corey Taylor
Songs written by Jim Root
Songs written by Paul Gray (American musician)
Songs written by Joey Jordison