"Out of My Head" is a song by the American band

Fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thro ...

from their second studio album ''

All the Pain Money Can Buy ''All the Pain Money Can Buy'' is the second studio album by American rock band Fastball, released on March 10, 1998, on Hollywood Records. The album includes the hit singles " The Way" (1998), "Fire Escape" (1998), and " Out of My Head" (199 ...

''. The song is a rock ballad with

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influence, dominated by

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

and piano. Bassist

Tony Scalzo Tony Scalzo (born May 6, 1964 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is an American rock musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the band Fastball. Early life Tony Scalzo was born in Hawaii to a mother from Arizona and an Italian-American fath ...

is the lead singer on the song, with guitarist Miles Zuniga coming in with harmony during the last chorus. The song was released to American rock radio in January 1999 and to

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

two months later. "Out of My Head" peaked at number 20 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number 11 on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Top Singles chart, and number 19 on the Icelandic Singles Chart. A music video directed by Jim Gable features the band performing the song in

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. In 2016, an adapted version of the chorus was used in the song " Bad Things" by

Machine Gun Kelly George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thomps ...

and

Camila Cabello Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is a Cuban-born American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in ...

Critical reception

Reviewing the song for ''

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 ...

'', Chuck Taylor compared the track to material by the

Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from Se ...

, citing its short length and "plucky, air-light" guitar riff. He wrote that the song was "ultra-simple and super-catchy", adding that although the song was too "lightweight" for rock radio, it "illustrates Fastball's consistent ability to combine obvious melodies with ear-plucking lyrics."

Chart performance

In the United States, on the week of July 3, 1999, "Out of My Head" debuted at number 64 on the ''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, reaching its peak of number 20 nine weeks afterward, on September 4. It spent a total of 20 weeks on the Hot 100 and ended 1999 as the country's 88th-best-performing song. It also appeared on three other ''Billboard'' charts, peaking at number 14 on the

Adult Alternative Songs Adult Alternative Airplay (also known as Triple A or Triple A Airplay, and formerly Adult Alternative Songs and Triple A Songs) is a record chart currently published by ''Billboard'' that ranks the most popular songs on adult album alternative radi ...

chart, number eight on the

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

, and number three on the

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...

. On Canada's ''

'' Top Singles chart, after debuting at number 44 on June 21, 1999, it climbed to number 11 on September 6, ending the year as Canada's 59th-most-successful hit. On the ''RPM'' Adult Contemporary listing, the single peaked at number 33 the following issue. The song did not make as big of an impact worldwide, charting only in Australia and Iceland. In the latter country, "Out of My Head" received airplay before its official American release, allowing it to make its first chart appearance at number 22 on March 5, 1999. Two weeks later, it peaked at number 19 on the Íslenski Listinn Topp 40. In Australia, the song made its debut on July 19, 1999, peaking at number 65.

Track listing

All songs were written by

except "Altamont", written by Miles Zuniga. Australian CD single # "Out of My Head" # "Altamont" # "Human Torch"

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the Australian CD single liner notes. Studios * Recorded at

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(Hollywood, California) * Mixed at Image Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California) * Mastered at

Bernie Grundman Mastering Bernie Grundman is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan, and Mi ...

(Hollywood, California) Personnel * Miles Zuniga – vocals, guitar *

– vocals, bass guitar * Joey Shuffield – drums, percussion * Bennett Salvay – piano,

Joe Barresi Joe Barresi (nicknamed "Evil Joe") is an American record engineer and producer who has worked with Kyuss, The Melvins, Tool, Chevelle, Queens of the Stone Age, Coheed and Cambria, Tomahawk, L7, The Jesus Lizard, Parkway Drive, New Model Army, Ba ...

– engineering * Dave Reed – assistant engineering *

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic compression for molding mixes that play wel ...

– mixing *

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

– mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1990s ballads 1997 songs 1999 singles Fastball (band) songs Hollywood Records singles Rock ballads