"Understanding in a Car Crash" is a song by American

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

band Thursday. It was the band's debut

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 ...

and the lead single from their second album, ''

Full Collapse ''Full Collapse'' is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band Thursday. It was released on April 10, 2001, through Victory Records, to whom the band signed after leaving Eyeball Records. With the addition of guitarist Steve Pedulla, ...

'', in late 2001. "Understanding" was chosen for release as a single and shot by Victory Records during the band's tour with Saves the Day without Thursday's consent. The

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 promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

gained rotation on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

and

MMUSA Fuse is an American pay television channel launched in 1994 which was originally dedicated to music. After merging with the Latino-oriented NuvoTV in 2015, Fuse shifted its focus to general entertainment and lifestyle programming targeting multic ...

upon its release in early 2002. The simple presentation features concert footage of the song's performance with shots cascading on top of one another. "Understanding" has remained perhaps the band's most well known song and a concert staple. It is usually performed together with "The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (Of Control)," a song from the 2006 album, '' A City by the Light Divided'', that tells the other side of the same story.

Music and lyrics

"Understanding in a Car Crash" has a reference to

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

's "

The Needle and the Damage Done "The Needle and the Damage Done" is a 1972 song by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young. The lyrics describe the effects of heroin addiction on musicians Young knew, including his friend and Crazy Horse bandmate Danny Whitten, who would ...

Reception

Kurt Morris 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 ...

chose "Understanding in a Car Crash" an AllMusic Pick in his review for ''Full Collapse''. He described the song as "a warm, daydream piece that might give listeners a feeling that they are listening to a more modern, upbeat version of

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

." It was cited as a favorite among six other songs in a 2004 article by the '' Las Vegas Mercury'' entitled "Road scholar: Crash course - The Doom-and-Gloom Alternatives to

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

' ' Little Deuce Coupe'." In it, writer Newt Briggs explains, "Leave it to the emo kids to turn a split second of underwear-soiling terror into a moment for deep thought and introspection." '' Variety'' ranked it as one of the best emo songs of all time in 2022.

Personnel

;Thursday * Geoff Rickly – vocals *Tom Keeley – lead guitar, vocals *Steve Pedulla – rhythm guitar, vocals *Tim Payne – bass guitar *Tucker Rule – drums ;Additional musicians and personnel *

Sal Villanueva Salvatore Villanueva is an Italian-American record producer. Villaneuva's first entrance into the New York hardcore scene came when playing in bands including Demonspeed and Murphy's Law. He's currently the bassplayer for Joe Coffee, the new band ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

*Erin Farley – engineering, additional guitar

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Understanding In A Car Crash Thursday (band) songs 2001 songs 2002 debut singles