"Slave to the Wage" is a song by English

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Placebo A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general ...

. It was released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from their third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, 2000's '' Black Market Music''. It reached number 19 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 ...

. The song, inspired by the drudgery of having a "9 to 5" job in the modern world, is about not working oneself into an early grave.FITTER. HAPPIER. MORE PRODUCTIVE.
''Select'' - Aug/Sep 2000.

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

's "

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" is also mentioned in the lyrics. The song samples the intro of "Texas Never Whispers" by Pavement. The music video is directed by

Howard Greenhalgh Howard Douglas Greenhalgh (born 19 February 1963) is a British director of music videos and advertising. Biography Greenhalgh was born in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire and studied at the Royal College of Art, setting up the firm Why No ...

and was inspired by the movie ''

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''.

Live performance history

The song was played throughout the Black Market Music and Sleeping With Ghosts tour, and was performed up until 2005. "Slave to the Wage" returned to the setlists on the band's summer 2012 tour. An acoustic version of the song is part of the 2015 ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...

'' performance.

Track listings

; CD1 #"Slave to the Wage (Radio Edit)" – 3:50 #"Leni" – 4:39 #"Bubblegun" – 5:13 ; CD2 #"Slave to the Wage (Album Version)" – 4:09 #"Holocaust" – 4:26 #"Slave to the Wage (

Les Rythmes Digitales Stuart David Price (born 9 September 1977) is an English electronic musician, DJ, songwriter, and record producer known for his work with artists including Madonna, Dua Lipa, The Killers, New Order, Kylie Minogue, DMA's, Example, Take Tha ...

Remix)" – 4:29

References

Placebo (band) songs 2000 singles 2000 songs Virgin Records singles Songs written by Steve Hewitt Songs written by Brian Molko Songs written by Stefan Olsdal Songs written by Stephen Malkmus Music videos directed by Howard Greenhalgh {{2000s-rock-single-stub