"Stan" is a song by American rapper

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

featuring vocals sampled from the opening lines of British singer Dido's song " Thank You". It was released on November 20, 2000, as the third single from Eminem's third album, '' The Marshall Mathers LP'' (2000). "Stan" peaked at number 51 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Outside of the United States, "Stan" topped the charts in 12 countries, including Australia, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The 45 King-produced track also uses a slightly modified break from "Thank You" as its base sample; both songs were released as singles in late 2000. "Stan" has been called one of Eminem's best songs and is considered one of his

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

s. In 2003, '' Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked "Stan" 296th on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, upping their ranking to 223rd in a 2021 updated list. The song was also listed 15th on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

s list of the greatest hip-hop songs of all time and named in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The song was nominated for multiple awards, including Best Song at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Video of the Year, Best Rap Video,

Best Direction The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction is an award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the full name of the award was Best Direction in a Video, and in 2007, it was briefly rename ...

, and

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at the

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

. It won Best International Artist Video at the

MuchMusic Video Awards The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018. Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in 1995 to the MuchMu ...

. In April 2011, ''Complex'' magazine put together a list of the 100 greatest Eminem songs and ranked "Stan" second. The eponymous character's name gave rise to a slang term that refers to overzealous, maniacal, overly obsessed, entitled fans of a celebrity or personality; the term has since been included in the '' Oxford English Dictionary''.

Lyrics

The song tells the story of a person named Stanley "Stan" Mitchell (voiced by Eminem) who claims to be Eminem's biggest fan. It has been suggested the name "Stan" is a combination of the words ''stalker'' and ''fan'', though it is unknown if the name was chosen with that intention. He writes Eminem several letters; over two verses, he becomes more obsessive, and when there is no reply he becomes angrier. He finally creates a voice recording of himself while driving his car on the highway, having consumed large quantities of

depressants A depressant, or central depressant, is a drug that lowers neurotransmission levels, which is to depress or reduce arousal or stimulation, in various areas of the brain. Depressants are also colloquially referred to as downers as they lower the l ...

and alcohol; this verse includes a call-back to Eminem's " My Name Is" with the lyrics "I drank a fifth of vodka, you dare me to drive?" He reveals that his pregnant girlfriend is tied up in the trunk as he approaches a bridge. Right before he drives off the bridge, he quickly realizes that he has no way to send the tape to Eminem. The fourth verse features Eminem as himself, writing back to Stan and attempting to reason with him. Eminem explains to Stan that his lyrics are not to be taken literally. He warns Stan that he should receive help, telling him about a story he heard on the news about a man who had driven his car off a bridge in a drunken stupor, killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend. Eminem then comes to the realization that this man was actually Stan.

Music video

Directed by Dr. Dre and Philip Atwell, the video is a literal interpretation of the story. The video features Devon Sawa as Stan and Dido as his pregnant girlfriend. A prologue involves Stan dyeing his hair blonde and reacting angrily to being called "Stanley" by his girlfriend. Later, he sits in a basement full of Eminem's posters, writing letters that express his devotion as "your (Eminem's) biggest fan". He is aware of every development in Eminem's personal life. Stan gets mad at his girlfriend (Dido) when she interrupts him watching Eminem's “ The Way I Am” video. Stan wants Eminem to contact him through a personal letter or a phone call; but, due to unfortunate circumstances, the letters fail to reach Eminem in a timely manner. Believing he has been ignored, Stan uses a tape recorder to record himself driving along a rain-soaked highway while his girlfriend is locked up in the trunk; which he does with the intention of driving off a bridge. In the process, Stan references both " My Name Is" ("I drank a fifth of vodka, dare me to drive?") and an urban legend about

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

's " In the Air Tonight" before realizing that there is no way of transmitting this final tape to Eminem. The car then breaks through the bridge barrier, sealing both occupants' fates. Stan's mother and his little brother Matthew visit his grave. When Matthew opens his hoodie, he has dyed his hair blonde like Stan. Eminem finally gets around to responding to Stan. He apologizes for being late, thanks him for being a fan, and expresses interest in Stan's personal life. Eminem worries about Stan's mental state and says he does not want Stan to end up like a story he had seen on the news recently—a man who had driven drunk off a bridge with his girlfriend in the trunk, about whom he then realizes, "It was you. Damn." Unbeknownst to Eminem, flashes of lightning shine on his window, revealing the ghost of Stan silently glaring. The video ends with Matthew staring at Stan's grave.

Censorship

In the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

"clean" version, the song and video were censored. Significant portions from the first two verses and most of the third verse were removed. MTV also cut out all traces of Stan's girlfriend bound in the trunk of the car and removed one scene showing him guzzling vodka while driving. In the MTV full version, which is 8:15 long, verse 3 censors Stan mentioning his girlfriend in the trunk (so "Shut up bitch" and "screaming in the trunk" is censored), and about him not slitting her throat, but tied her up, and "if she

suffocates Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

, she'll suffer more, then she'll die too", which "slit", "tied her up", "suffocates", and "die" is censored. Dido has stated that she was gagged in the third verse of the video, however this was censored so widely that versions with her gagged are rare. In the uncensored version, Stan is shown drinking at the wheel of the car before showing Dido struggling in the

trunk Trunk may refer to: Biology * Trunk (anatomy), synonym for torso * Trunk (botany), a tree's central superstructure * Trunk of corpus callosum, in neuroanatomy * Elephant trunk, the proboscis of an elephant Computing * Trunk (software), in rev ...

of the car. She manages to remove the duct tape from her mouth and screams before struggling for breath. Most versions were censored so that there is only a brief clip of Dido in the trunk of the car towards the end of the verse. It also censors when Stan says he "drank a fifth of vodka", which censors "drank" and "vodka"; and censors when he says he's on "a thousand downers", which "downers" is censored; and also censors Stan drinking while driving. At the end of the third verse, "Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the bridge now" is changed to "Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the end of the bridge now". In the fourth verse, the line " nd what's thisshit about us meant to be together" is completely censored. All references to the girlfriend in the trunk are censored, including the screaming in the background, and the line: "And had his girlfriend in his trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid." In the MTV short version, which was used for radio airplay due to time constraints, the second verse lines that are missing are from "I ain't that mad though, I just don't like bein' lied to" to "I even got a tattoo of your name across the chest"; the video cuts showing Stan meeting Eminem, talking about how his father cheated and beat his mother and showed him getting a "Slim Shady" tattoo on his chest. The missing lyrics from the third verse are of Stan talking about drinking while driving and referencing " In the Air Tonight", (Eminem quotes the title as "In the Air of the Night) which in the video, it skips from showing Stan near-missing a car, and swerving to avoid crashing into it. The lines that are missing are from "Hey Slim, I drank a fifth of vodka, you dare to me to drive?" to "I hope you know I ripped all of your pictures off the wall". It also removes the chorus after the third verse and goes straight to the fourth verse; the video then cuts to Eminem at last receiving the letter from Stan, and the car sinking more into the water. In Fuse's original state as a rock and alternative station, the same versions of the video were shown as on MTV. However, in later Fuse airings, more lines and words are silenced than on the clean version of the LP; half of one of the beginning verses are cut out, and then the song fades out about halfway through the second verse, after playing for approximately two minutes. "Stan" was also released on track 17 of '' Curtain Call: The Hits''; on the clean and explicit versions, the live track censored only the profanity, unlike the clean version of the studio track.

Critical reception

"Stan" was met with critical acclaim, with praise directed to the song's epistolary narrative structure, emotional range and lyrical depth.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

highlighted the song. '' Entertainment Weekly'' praised the song, too: "Eminem proves himself a peerless rap poet with a profound understanding of the power of language. ''Stan,'' an epistolary exchange between the artist and a dangerously obsessive fan, may be the most moving song about star worship ever recorded" and added that "Stan" blazes significant new ground for rap. The ''Los Angeles Times'' was also positive: Stan', the album's most haunting track, is superb storytelling with a point. It has the affecting tone of such rap high points as

Ice Cube An ice cube is a small piece of ice, which is typically rectangular as viewed from above and trapezoidal as viewed from the side. Ice cubes are products of mechanical refrigeration and are usually produced to cool beverages. They may be produc ...

's ' It Was a Good Day' and Tupac's ' Dear Mama'." ''NME'' magazine praised the song: Stan' is a wonderful short story, an astute study in extreme fandom." Sputnik Music described that "Stan's sampling of Dido and use of rain and writing sound effects" make the album versatile. The same critic listed the song in the Recommended Downloads list and reviewed it:

If you haven't heard this, you probably make a career out of living under rocks. It tells the story of an obsessive fan who kills themselves because their idol (Eminem) never writes back, and introduces one of the album's key themes – the scary power of fame. Ironic, then, that this album made him the biggest cultural figurehead on the planet. It starts with a sample of Dido's 'Thank You' under a sample of rain. This sample goes on to form the song's hook, relating the level of Stan's obsession and almost making him a sympathetic character (Your picture on my wall/It reminds me that it's not so bad....). Offsetting this is Eminem's raps under the persona of Stan, which reveal him as a reprehensible character; mentally unstable, self-mutilating, sexually confused, volatile, and abusive to his pregnant girlfriend (whose life he takes too, when he takes his own). Eminem's final verse is him attempting to write back, asking him not to be like this guy he saw on the news....Overplayed? Yes. But even so, of all of Eminem's singles, this one demonstrates his power as a rapper and his skill as a poet best.

IGN praised the song as "easily the most scathingly introspective rumination on fan adoration, idol assimilation, and borderline stalker etiquette. Teamed to Dido's lulling 'Thank You' with its almost somnambulistically hypnotic pop sultriness provides a jolting contrast to the twisted storyline of a musical obsession gone awry. It also paints a picture of what it's like to be knee deep in the push-and-pull world of a superstar. The song's poignancy never fades, even almost five years later it's still potent." ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' was mixed: Stan' is an interesting look into the mind of a fanatic (albeit through the eyes of an equally disturbed individual), but it's structured entirely around someone else's work (Dido's 'Thank You')."

Legacy

"Stan" is one of Eminem's most acclaimed songs and has been called a "cultural milestone", referred to as "Eminem's best song" by About.com. Analyzing "Stan" in '' The Guardian'', writer and literary critic

Giles Foden Giles Foden (born 11 January 1967)George Stade and Karen Karbiener (eds), ''Encyclopaedia of British Writers, 1800 to the Present'', 2nd edn, Infobase Publishing, 2010, p. 176. is an English author, best known for his novel '' The Last King of ...

compared Eminem to

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

. At the 2001

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

, when he was facing criticism from

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...

over his lyrics, Eminem responded by performing "Stan" with singer

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

singing Dido's lines. Many of the profanities were substituted, for example, "You're like his favorite idol" in place of "You're like his fucking idol", and "stuff" for "shit". Recordings of this performance were available for download on Eminem's official website Eminem.com and, later, on his 2005 greatest hits release '' Curtain Call: The Hits''. Rapper Canibus released a response track to "Stan" titled "U Didn't Care" in which Canibus, imitating Stan, accused Eminem of not caring about him.

Christian rap Christian hip hop (originally gospel rap, also known as Christian rap, gospel hip hop or holy hip hop) is a subgenre of contemporary Christian music and hip hop music. It emerged from urban contemporary music and Christian media in the United S ...

artist KJ-52 recorded two songs: "Dear Slim" and "Dear Slim, Part II", which attempted to contact Eminem in an allusion to "Stan". Eminem later referenced a fan who had written a letter saying he was praying for him in "Careful What You Wish For". "

My Life My Life may refer to: Autobiographies * ''Mein Leben'' (Wagner) (''My Life''), by Richard Wagner, 1870 * ''My Life'' (Clinton autobiography), by Bill Clinton, 2004 * ''My Life'' (Meir autobiography), by Golda Meir, 1973 * ''My Life'' (Mosley a ...

" by

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samples "Stan". Conservative rapper Tom MacDonald recorded a response track to Stan in 2021. After

released a series of NFTs as part of his "Shady Con" event with Nifty Gateway, MacDonald purchased one—an Eminem-produced instrumental called "Stan's Revenge"—for $100,000. MacDonald used the instrumental to create his song "Dear Slim", released in May 2021. The song's accompanying music video paid homage to the music video for "Stan". "

Stan Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...

" has entered the lexicon as a term for an overly-obsessed fan of someone or something and is used colloquially to express fandom of all kinds. The term is especially popular in the rap community; in " Ether", a diss track against rapper

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

, Nas notably called Jay a "stan" of both himself and The Notorious B.I.G. The term was added to the '' Oxford English Dictionary'' in 2017. "Stan" has been listed by many as one of the greatest hip hop songs of all time. It was ranked number three on a list of the greatest rap songs in history by '' Q'' magazine and came tenth in a similar survey conducted by Top40-Charts.com. '' Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the "

500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

" ranked it number 290, one of Eminem's two songs on the list along with " Lose Yourself"; in the updated 2010 list, it was ranked at number 296. It ranked number 45 on About.com's "Top 100 Rap Songs". The song ranked number 15 on

's "100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop", and number two on their "Countdown Millennium Songs". It was also named the "46th Best Song of the Decade" by '' Complex'' magazine, and the 10th Best Song of the decade by ''Rolling Stone''. The song was ranked at number 58 in ''Rolling Stone''s list of "100 Greatest Hip-Hop songs of all time". In 2017, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked the song number two on their list of the 50 greatest Eminem songs, and in 2020, ''The Guardian'' ranked the song number one on their list of the 30 greatest Eminem songs. "Stan" has influenced many other hip-hop songs, including Tyler, the Creator's 2013 song "Colossus", off of '' Wolf''. This track dwells on similar themes as "Stan", such as growing up without a father, feeling like an outsider, and deep emotional attachment to a rapper. Eminem has referenced "Stan" in some of his later songs, including " River", " Walk on Water", " The Ringer", the diss track " Killshot", and his verse on "

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" by

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

. Eminem's song " Bad Guy", the opening track on The Marshall Mathers LP 2, is a sequel to Stan. The song is Matthew tracking down Eminem in an attempt to kill him, which he succeeds in doing so. After he dies in the song, Eminem is sent to

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

in the song as a punishment for Stan's death. In 2020, '' Saturday Night Live'' featured a Christmas parody of "Stan" called "Stu", featuring Pete Davidson as Stu writing to Santa and becoming increasingly angry when he does not answer his requests for a

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North Ame ...

, with a cameo appearance from Eminem himself who does receive the system for Christmas. In 2022 at Eminem's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony performance, he performed the song with Ed Sheeran who played guitar during the song and sang Dido's lines.

Awards and nominations

Track listing

;Notes * signifies a co-

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Credits

* Singing and lyrics:

, Dido * Production:

, The 45 King * Mixing:

* Guitar and bass: Mike Elizondo * Keyboard: Mike Elizondo,

Tommy Coster Thomas Joseph Coster Jr. (born June 10, 1966) is an American keyboardist and composer. He played on his first song titled "Zulu" with Santana in 1977 receiving his first gold record the following year in 1978. In the following years he co-w ...

* Executive producer: Dr. Dre * Composer: Marshall Mathers,

Dido Armstrong Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong when asked to say her real name. (born 25 December 1971), known professionally as Dido ( ), is an English singer and songwriter. She attained international success with her debut album ''No Angel ...

, The 45 King * Producer video: Chris Palladino * Cinematographer: Dariusz Wolski * Directors:

Philip G. Atwell Philip G. Atwell is an American music video, television commercial and feature film director. Starting out as a music video producer, he took up directing in 1999. Often co-directing with Dr. Dre, he has helped out with many music videos for ...

& Dr. Dre * Appearances in the clip: Devon Sawa, Dido, Nathan Mathers,

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

References

External links