"Passive" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

A Perfect Circle A Perfect Circle is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle has released four studio albums, the first three during the early 2000s: ...

. The song, originating from the

Tapeworm Eucestoda, commonly referred to as tapeworms, is the larger of the two subclasses of flatworms in the class Cestoda (the other subclass is Cestodaria). Larvae have six posterior hooks on the scolex (head), in contrast to the ten-hooked Cesto ...

side-project under the title "Vacant", was eventually recorded in the studio as "Passive" by A Perfect Circle around the time of the side-project's demise. It was the second single from their album '' Emotive'', and peaked at number 14 on the '' Billboard''

Mainstream Rock Songs Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart in 2005.

Background

The song's origins trace back to a song by a band called

, a side-project started by Nine Inch Nails frontman

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...

and a number of other musicians, including

members

Maynard James Keenan Maynard James Keenan (born James Herbert Keenan; April 17, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and winemaker. He is best known as the singer and primary lyricist of the rock bands Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Pusc ...

and

Danny Lohner Daniel Patrick “Danny” Lohner, frequently known as Renholdër, is an American musician. He worked with Trent Reznor on numerous occasions, both with Nine Inch Nails and on the now defunct Tapeworm project. He has also played for Methods of M ...

. The original version of the song was written and recorded in 1999 under the title "Vacant". This version of the song had the music written by Lohner, rearranged by

Charlie Clouser Charles Alexander Clouser (born June 28, 1963) is an American keyboardist, composer, record producer, and remixer. He worked with Trent Reznor for Nine Inch Nails from 1994 to 2000, and is a composer for film and television; among his credits a ...

, lyrics and melody written by Keenan, and chorus and backing vocals written by Reznor. However, the project was hit with many delays for a number of reasons, including creative disagreements, schedule conflicts with members' other respective bands, and legal issues stemming from all the various record labels the members were separately tied to via their other bands. With the project not progressing, Keenan decided to start playing the song at live shows for A Perfect Circle in 2000. While Reznor expressed irritation of the material being debuted in this manner, where it eventually became a live staple at their shows, the band at the time only had one album's worth of material to play, '' Mer de Noms''. With the Tapeworm project becoming defunct in 2004, without releasing any studio recordings, the song was reworked into "Passive" with A Perfect Circle guitarist

Billy Howerdel Billy Howerdel (born May 18, 1970) is an American musician, best known as the founding member, guitarist, backing vocalist, songwriter, and producer for the band A Perfect Circle, as well as for his former solo project, Ashes Divide. Howerdel h ...

and released on their third studio album, '' Emotive'', in November 2004. The writing of this version of the song was credited to Lohner, Keenan, Reznor, and Howerdel. The song was later released as the second single from '' Emotive'' in early 2005. The song was also featured in the 2005 film ''

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...

'', and the song's

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 ...

also feature footage from the film. Both the film's special effects, and the music video, were directed by

Brothers Strause Greg and Colin Strause, known professionally as The Brothers Strause, are American film directors, producers and special effects artists. They are known for directing the 2007 film '' Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' and the 2010 film ''Skyline.'' ...

Chart performance

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2004 singles A Perfect Circle songs Songs written by Maynard James Keenan Songs written by Billy Howerdel Songs written by Trent Reznor Songs written by Danny Lohner 2004 songs Virgin Records singles