"Wasting My Time" is a song by Canadian

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

Default Default may refer to: Law * Default (law), the failure to do something required by law ** Default (finance), failure to satisfy the terms of a loan obligation or failure to pay back a loan ** Default judgment, a binding judgment in favor of ei ...

for their first studio album, '' The Fallout'' (2001). It was released as their debut single on August 28, 2001. The song was written by the members of the band and produced by Chad Kroeger and Rick Parashar. "Wasting My Time" is Default's most commercially successful song, having reached number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on June 8, 2002, and numbers two and three, respectively, on the US

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

Modern Rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

airplay charts, just behind Puddle of Mudd's " Blurry" on the former chart. It was also their first of three singles to top the Canadian rock airplay chart.

Composition

"Wasting My Time" was written by Default (

Dallas Smith Dallas Hendry Smith (born December 4, 1977) is a Canadian singer and songwriter, who performs both as a solo country music artist and as lead singer for the hard rock band Default. He is currently signed to Big Loud Records. Smith is the curre ...

, Jeremy Hora, Dave Benedict, and Danny Craig) and was produced by Chad Kroeger and Rick Parashar. The song is a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

that draws on influences of various

genres and lasts for four minutes and twenty-nine seconds. According to the sheet music published by

EMI Music Publishing EMI Music Publishing Ltd. is a British multinational music publishing company headquartered in London, owned by parent company Sony Corporation of America. In May 2018, Sony Music Publishing agreed to increase its stake in EMI to 90%, pending ...

, it is set in common time to a "moderate rock" tempo of 120 BPM. "Wasting My Time" was originally composed in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

of D major and follows a chord progression of D–G in the verses and G–B–G–A in the chorus. Smith's vocal range on the track spans one full octave, from A to A. Musically, the song features melodic verses of singing and clean, bright guitar picking. This moves into a hard-hitting, wailing chorus and a distorted

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular m ...

as the

interlude Interlude may refer to: *a short play or, in general, any representation between parts of a larger stage production *''Entr'acte'', a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production *a section in a movement of a musical piece, se ...

. Eric Aiese of ''Billboard'' described the song as having an " early-90s grunge sound" while also noting the influence of

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 ...

in its production. The song's lyrics find the narrator contemplating if he is wasting his time investing in a dead-end relationship.

Music video

A music video was filmed for the song and centers around a woman waiting for her companion. They finally meet at the end and embrace. Band performance fills the majority of the video and takes place in the woman's wrist watch, with the top part showing the city show through glass with the watch hands rotating around the band. The video contains scenes shot in downtown

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario outside the Westin Harbour Castle. It was directed by Noble Jones and premiered on August 7, 2001. The video has a guest appearance by Chad Kroeger in a scene where one man was fighting or struggling against three others.

Track listings

Usage in media

"Wasting My Time" was featured on the soundtrack to ''

Is It College Yet? ''Is It College Yet?'' is a 2002 American animated comedy-drama television film written by Glenn Eichler and Peggy Nicoll, and directed by Karen Disher. The film was the second film-length installment of MTV's animated series ''Daria'', after 200 ...

'', a movie-length installment of 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 ...

animated series, '' Daria''.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year end charts

Release history

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2000s ballads 2001 debut singles 2001 songs Default (band) songs Island Records singles Rock ballads Song recordings produced by Rick Parashar Songs written by Dallas Smith TVT Records singles