"Vicarious" 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

Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

. The song is the first

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 ...

released from their fourth full-length studio album '' 10,000 Days''. Debuting on Maynard's 42nd birthday, April 17, 2006 on

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (an ...

, the seven-minute song debuted on 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 ...

Alternative Songs 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 ...

and

Mainstream Rock Tracks 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 ...

charts both at number two. It received a nomination for

Best Hard Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards until 2011. The academy recognized hard rock music artists for the first time at the 31st Grammy Awards (1989). The category was ori ...

at the 49th Annual

Grammy Award 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 ...

Overview

The song features a 5/4 riff and describes the vicarious thrill the public receives from living through others in the media eye. The song reached no. 2 on both the

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

and

charts. In the June 12, 2008 issue of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine, the song was ranked number 100 on the list of top 100 guitar songs of all time.

Music video

The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

released on December 18, 2007 contains an extended version of the much-delayed video counterpart for the song. The video is completely made through use of CGI, making it Tool's second full CGI video, as opposed to stop-motion animation, which the band has used in their past videos. The video was co-directed by guitarist Adam Jones and artist

Alex Grey Alex Grey (born November 29, 1953) is an American visual artist, author, teacher, and Vajrayana practitioner known for creating spiritual and psychedelic paintings. He works in multiple forms including performance art, process art, installation ...

and also features creative input from

Chet Zar Chet Zar (born November 12, 1967 in San Pedro, California) is an American artist notable for his dark visual art, make-up effects, and digital animation. He is most widely known for his work with Tool's music and live videos. He is the stepson ...

. Also included on the DVD are short documentaries on the making of the video and on Jones's previous work in film and television, and commentaries on the video from comedian

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom ...

. The music video begins with a humanoid whose internal organs and bones are visible through a transparent skin. The humanoid is standing in the middle of a dry desert devoid of any vegetation and water. The humanoid observes a ball-like object with tentacles scraping the desert floor at a distance. The Sun appears to be undergoing a solar eclipse, with the Sun's outer corona visible. Two glass-like walls appear in front of the humanoid which show multiple reflections of him. An insect-like creature comes and walks on the humanoid and the glass-like walls. Two fish-like creatures emerge from the main humanoid's eyes. One of them enters into the eclipse while the other enters into an eye appearing on the hand of one of the humanoids. The insect-like creature releases a ball-like object with tentacles, similar to the one seen in the desert earlier, from an eye on its back. The main humanoid then collapses and a fetus in shown gestating in the head. The video's setting the changes to a dimension showing an infinite number of heads interconnected with burning spheres underneath (identical to Alex Grey's work ''Net of Being''). Eventually, another humanoid - with the fish-like creatures emanating from his eyes, and his torso trailing into a ghostly tail - enters into one of the burning spheres and it releases a long fiery arm which goes into an eye of one of the heads and then emerges from the hand on the eye of the main humanoid in the desert. The glass walls then shatter, the insect-like creature starts spraying particles, and the sphere figure with tentacles collapses onto the desert floor. The main humanoid then appears to "transcend" with flashes of light around his body. The music video ends with a single eye appearing in the clouds on an Earth-like planet. The Tool venue in Guitar Hero: World Tour bears a lot of elements from the scene involving the multiple god heads and spheres of energy.

Personnel

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 Pusci ...

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vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Adam Jones —

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Justin Chancellor Justin Gunnar Walter Chancellor (born 19 November 1970) is an English musician best known as the bass player for progressive metal band Tool since 1995. He was also the bassist of the band Peach. After settling in the US, along with his engage ...

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bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Danny Carey Daniel Edwin Carey (born May 10, 1961) is an American musician and songwriter. He is the drummer for the American rock band Tool. He has also contributed to albums by artists such as Zaum, Green Jellö, Pigface, Skinny Puppy, Adrian Belew, Carol ...

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drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Chart performance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vicarious (Tool Song) 2006 singles Tool (band) songs 2006 songs Songs written by Maynard James Keenan Songs written by Danny Carey Songs written by Justin Chancellor Songs written by Adam Jones (musician) Songs about television Songs about the media Animated music videos Volcano Entertainment singles