"Propane Nightmares" is a song by Australian

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

band

Pendulum A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the ...

, released as the second single from their second album ''

In Silico In biology and other experimental sciences, an ''in silico'' experiment is one performed on computer or via computer simulation. The phrase is pseudo-Latin for 'in silicon' (correct la, in silicio), referring to silicon in computer chips. It ...

''. It incorporates elements of the song " Million Miles from Home" by German

happy hardcore Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or "hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s. H ...

band

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

."Propane Nightmares" (12")

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

. Retrieved 15 June 2008. It has received significant airplay on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

, being played frequently by DJ

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

. The song was released exclusively for

download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote s ...

on 12 April 2008 in Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, where Pendulum were on tour at the time. It was later released globally for download on 21 April, and on physical formats on 28 April. The song reached number sixteen in 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 ...

on April 27 based on downloads alone, and on May 4, the song peaked at number nine. It was also the official theme song of WWE Cyber Sunday 2008 as well as being used as background music for the official video highlights of the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix. It is also used as the runout song for

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

football team.

Critical reception

"Propane Nightmares" has received mixed reviews from music critics, mostly as a result of the change in style compared to older tracks produced by Pendulum. Some reviewers praised the new direction that the band had taken, for example Gerard McGarry wrote, in an article for Unreality Music, that Pendulum "have created an epic song that – for our money – fuses their penchant for dance and rock music beautifully". Jo-Ann Greene of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described the song as "another sizzling single" in her review of ''

'', while Fiona McGlynn wrote that "...Propane Nightmares is a fresh take on a merge of genres that actually works", in her single review for the ''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 201 ...

''. It was also named 38th in '' Q'' magazine's Q50 of April 2008. The track also received some criticism, mostly derived from Pendulum's migration from drum and bass to a more rock-imbued sound. In his review for AngryApe, Tim Johnson pointed out that "the problem... lies in Pendulum trying to cram too much into one space... almost like two or three different songs being played on top of one another". Simon Catling went further, writing an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

in the

webzine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...

God Is in the TV to Pendulum asking them to "decide whether

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

wish to be a band or a drum n’ bass act" and commenting that "at the moment all hey'reproviding us with is a horribly half-baked and shoddy form of neither". On 22 July 2008, it was announced that "Propane Nightmares" had been nominated for Best Single at the

Kerrang! Awards 2008 The Kerrang! Awards 2008 were held in London, England, on 21 August 2008 at The Brewery in Romford and were hosted by Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian. On 22 July 2008 ''Kerrang!'' announced the 2008 nominees. The main categories were dominated by ...

ceremony, alongside singles from four other

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 ...

bands. The ceremony was held on 21 August, and Pendulum lost to

Thirty Seconds to Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of brothers Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Shannon Leto (drums, pe ...

who took Best Single with their song " From Yesterday".

Music video

A music video was also produced themed around a religious cult closely resembling Heaven's Gate, in particular depicting the mass suicide of members of a cult by poison after first drinking citric juices. Several scenes of Pendulum performing before the cult are intercut in the middle of the video, which otherwise focuses primarily on two members who attempt to flee during the mass suicides. It features English actor

Marc Baylis Marc Baylis (born 3 April 1978) is a British stage, television and film actor. He trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, where he was awarded the Stage Scholarship. He is best known for his role as Rob Donovan in '' Coronation Street'' f ...

, who later became famous for his role as

Rob Donovan Rob Donovan is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'', portrayed by Marc Baylis He was introduced as the brother of Carla Connor (Alison King). He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadc ...

in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

''. The video was originally uploaded to the band's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, 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 ...

channel as early as 27 March 2008 to help promote the single. It was later released for download in May, most notably through the digital media delivery service

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...

, which allowed all users to download the video freely. It was also included on the special edition and

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

bonus tracks versions of ''

'', the album from which the song was originally taken.

Chart performance

"Propane Nightmares" entered the

on 27 April 2008 at number sixteen based on downloads alone. After the release of physical formats during the following week, the song peaked at number nine on 4 May,"Pendulum - Propane Nightmares"
acharts.us. Retrieved 18 June 2008. becoming their first UK top 10 single. It also entered the ''

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 ...

European Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and '' Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

chart, peaking on 17 May at number 32 and remaining in the chart for a total of ten weeks. European Hot 100 Singles – Propane Nightmares ''

''. Retrieved on 7 March 2009. "Propane Nightmares" was also the band's first charting single in the United States, reaching number 38 on the ''Billboard''

Hot 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 in December 2008. Artist Chart History - Pendulum ''Billboard''. Retrieved on 11 December 2008. It was also featured on '' Now 70'', the first of the band's songs to be featured in a ''Now!'' album.

Track listing

These are the major formats and associated track listings of single releases of "Propane Nightmares", which was written by

Rob Swire Robert Swire-Thompson (born 5 November 1982) is an Australian musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and DJ, best known as the founder and vocalist of the drum and bass and electronic rock band Pendulum (drum and bass band), Pendulum, a ...

, Bernd Burhoff,

Oliver Froning Oliver Froning (born 25 July 1963 in Münster, West Germany) is a German musician. He began his music career in 1981 under the name djraw. Together with Jens Oettrich, he started the group Dune in 1992. The group performed from 1992 to 2000. ...

and Jens Oettrich. 12-inch vinyl single
:A. "Propane Nightmares" – 5:13 :B. "Propane Nightmares" – 5:22 CD single
#"Propane Nightmares" – 4:19 #"Propane Nightmares" – 5:13 Digital EP
#"Propane Nightmares" – 5:13 #"Propane Nightmares" – 5:22 #"Propane Nightmares" – 4:48 Promo CD single #"Propane Nightmares" – 5:36 #"Propane Nightmares" – 4:48

Personnel

The following people contributed to "Propane Nightmares". *

– vocals, synthesiser, mixing *

Peredur ap Gwynedd Pendulum is an Australian electronic rock band founded in 2002. Pendulum originally formed in the city of Perth, Western Australia, by Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen and Paul "El Hornet" Harding. The band was later expanded to include members Ben ...

– guitar *

Paul Kodish Paul Kodish is a professional drummer raised in Willesden, London. Kodish has performed with a variety of different artists, including the hip hop act Whodini in 1986, and the drum and bass group Bad Company. He was also one of two drummers for ...

– drums *Gareth McGrillen – bass, secondary vocals *Andy Wood – trombone *Andy Greenwood – trumpet *Craig Wild – trumpet *Simon Askew – mixing *John Davis – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Cover versions and remixes

The song has been remixed by popular artist

Celldweller Celldweller is an American electronic rock project by multi-musician Klayton. Celldweller songs have been featured in many films, movie trailers, television shows and video games. Career Precursors: Circle of Dust and Angeldust (1992–1999) The ...

and Australian

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

group

Van She Van She are an electropop band formed in 2002 in Sydney, Australia, with Matt Van Schie (pronounced Van Ski) on bass guitar/vocals, Tomek Archer on drums/sequencer, Michael Di Francesco on synth/guitar and Nicholas Routledge on vocals/guitar. ...

. The Celldweller remix is included in the soundtrack for the video games, including '' MotorStorm: Arctic Edge'' and '' KickBeat''.

Chiptune Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles. The t ...

artists

Inverse Phase Brendan Becker, known by his stage name Inverse Phase, is an American video game composer and chiptune musician, using Atari, Commodore, and Nintendo hardware. He also speaks and hosts workshops on video game music, chiptunes, and composing ...

and Emma Essex have released

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

cover versions of the song titled "Propane NESmares" and "2A03 Nightmares", respectively. American musician

Grabbitz Nicholas Chiari (born February 18, 1993), commonly known by his stage name Grabbitz, is an American record producer, musician, composer, and DJ. In July 2014, he first gained widespread attention in the EDM community with the release of "Here Wit ...

produced a remix as a featured guest on Pendulum's remix album ''

The Reworks ''The Reworks'' is a remix album by Australian drum and bass band Pendulum. It was released on 29 June 2018 through Earstorm. Despite being announced as a new album in early 2018, the album sole contains remixed versions of titles that appeared ...

''.

Notes

{{Authority control 2008 singles Songs written by Rob Swire Warner Music Group singles 2008 songs Songs about suicide Pendulum (drum and bass band) songs Songs about nightmares Songs written by Oliver Froning