Feeling This

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"Feeling This"
Single by Blink-182
from the album Blink-182
B-side "Violence"
Released October 2, 2003
Format
Recorded January–October 2003
The Rubin's House, Signature Sound, Rolling Thunder
(San Diego, California)
Conway Recording Studios
(Hollywood, California)
Genre Pop punk
Length 2:54
Label Geffen
Writer(s)
Producer(s) Jerry Finn
Blink-182 singles chronology
"I Won't Be Home for Christmas"
(2002)		 "Feeling This"
(2003)		 "I Miss You"
(2004)

"Feeling This" is a song by American rock band Blink-182, released on October 2, 2003 as the lead single from the group's self-titled fifth studio album. It was written by guitarist Tom DeLonge, bassist Mark Hoppus, and drummer Travis Barker, and was produced by Jerry Finn. The song originated on the first day of producing the album. Its lyrics are purely sexual in nature; the band attempted to juxtapose lust and passion between verses and choruses, thematically connected with a wistful, regretful tone. The song's composition contains elements of spoken word in the verses and a Latin-inspired backbeat in the chorus, and the song ends in a melodic, harmonized duet split between DeLonge and Hoppus. Elements of the song were inspired by rock groups Led Zeppelin and the Beach Boys.

The song's music video, photographed by David LaChapelle, depicts a dystopian correctional establishment that is overtaken by its students. "Feeling This" received critical acclaim and the song climbed to number two on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart in late 2003. The digital single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2005.

Background

"Feeling This" was the first track that came together for Blink-182 in early 2003.[1] On the first day of pre-production on the album, bassist Mark Hoppus asked an engineer to explain Pro Tools to him, as it was the first time the band would record their music digitally. He began recording guitar and bass parts and experimenting with the software. When guitarist Tom DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker arrived, they too began adding new tracks to the project.[2] The song was written in one day.[3] "I think if I sit there and try to analyze everything, what would be cool here or there, I just feel like I get so far away from what I would do, and I think your gut instinct is usually the best thing," said Barker at the time.[3]

The lyrics were written with Hoppus and DeLonge going into separate rooms—Hoppus writing the choruses and DeLonge writing the verses. The two had not spoken to each other about the lyrics ahead of time, and it turned out that the two had both written about sex. When put together, the song represents the lustful side of sex during the verses, the passionate side in the bridge and the romantic side in the chorus, creating a juxtaposition between both voices.[1][4][5] It has been interpreted as a description for failed romance, one that "illustrates a scenario of lust, ambivalence and regret."[6] For Barker, the song's drum track was "super in respect to John Bonham. [...] We were kind of messing around with the verse. It’s like, 'Well, I want to do a four-bar drum intro and just see how it works for the song.' And we never second-guessed it. We were like, 'That sounds rad.'"[3] Upon playback of a rough mix of the song, the engineer automated the music to fade at the song's conclusion, but mistakenly forgot to do the same for the vocal tracks. Hoppus, who had been listening to the Beach Boys at the time, liked the a cappella interplay of their voices. All agreed to keep it in the final version of the song.[2]

Blink-182 first performed "Feeling This" alongside other new songs from Blink-182 during their performances at the 2003 Reading and Leeds festivals.[6] The band picked "Feeling This" as the first single because they felt it representative of the transition they had undergone since their fourth studio album, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001).[5] A slightly different version of the song had been released previously as part of the soundtrack for the video game Madden NFL 2004 under the erroneous title "Action".[6] Barker explained in an interview that "'Action' just sounded kind of dorky to us. Like we would always call it 'Feeling This' and then someone at our label, I think, like wrote it as 'Action' one time and sent out singles to people. And it was always supposed to be 'Feeling This'."[7]

Music

The song is composed in the key of E major and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 173 beats per minute. The vocal range spans from E3 to B4.[8][9]

"Feeling This" opens with flanged drums.[6] Although computer technology offered it during the album’s production, according to Hoppus, the band opted to produce the effect "the old school way", opting for two tape machines.[1] Originally taking root as a faster-paced drum 'n' bass-inspired track, Barker imitated that genre's groove on open hi-hats.[3] The influence of John Bonham is most explicit in the song's first few seconds, in which Barker performs eighth-note triplets on his bass drum, much like the Led Zeppelin song "Good Times Bad Times" (1969).[3] Following a sample from Captain America (1990)—"Get ready for action!—the song moves into a "stabbing guitar rhythm" over the verses, which are "half-barked" and contain delivery reminiscent of hip-hop.[6][10] The "harmony-rich" chorus of the song, which contains the refrain "Fate fell short this time, smile fades in the summer / Place your hand in mine, I'll leave when I wanna", is replete with a "syncopated Latin-flavored backbeat."[6][11] In the chorus, Barker plays a cowbell, which he initially included as a joke, believing Hoppus and DeLonge would "hate it."[3]

The song is particularly memorable for a section of the chorus of the song (right before the bridge begins), in which guitarist Tom DeLonge sings the vocals loudly and off-key. According to the liner notes for Blink-182, DeLonge stated that the recording was done in a 30-foot-long (9.1 m) living room at the home previously mentioned, with microphones 10 to 15 feet (3.0 to 4.6 m) away.[1] The end of the song is a melodic duet between the band's two vocalists, both singing conflicting but harmonizing parts.[6]

Commercial performance

"Feeling This" debuted at number 40 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart on October 18, 2003,[12] jumping to number 13 in its second week, which was at that time the fourth-biggest move in the history of that chart.[13] The song moved upwards on the chart over the following weeks, eventually achieving a peak of number two on November 29, 2003.[14] It remained at number two for two more weeks before dropping to number three,[15] after which it continued dropping before exiting the top 20 on February 21, 2004.[16] In total, it spent twenty-six weeks on the chart.[17] It spent seven weeks on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, which acts as an extension to Billboard's main Hot 100 chart; it peaked at number two on December 20, 2003.[18]

In the United Kingdom, "Feeling This" debuted at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending date November 30, 2003.[19] It dropped to number 35 the following week[20] before exiting the chart on December 28;[21] in all, it spent ten weeks on the chart.[22]

Reception

Greg Kot of Entertainment Weekly praised the vocal harmonies, calling them reminiscent of Queen.[23] "Instead of the band’s jittery punk-pop bounce, Barker lays down a fat, syncopated beat that combines elements of John Bonham’s monstrous blast with the funkiness of James Brown’s drummers," said Andy Doerschuk of DRUM! Magazine.[3]

Music video

File:Lincoln Heights Jail.jpg
The clip was shot at the abandoned Lincoln Heights Jail north of downtown Los Angeles.

The video follows students at a dystopian-based correctional facility who rebel and take over the establishment, intertwined with shots of the band performing outside the prison in a cage, providing a "soundtrack to the chaos."[24] Hoppus described their idea for the facility: "It's kind of a combination of prep school and reform school, and it's very repressed and kids are being held down. There is a lot of authority and a lot of strict regiment, and the kids lash out and take over the school and destroy the place."[5] The band's main goal for the video was for it to resemble an art piece, much in the same way they viewed the production of the album, to keep in line with tone.[5] To this end, they enlisted director David LaChapelle (known at the time for shooting Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" video). LaChapelle's input—which "ranges from an evil prison warden cracking a whip at marching school kids to escapees ripping their uniforms and doing acrobatic moves down the hallways"—was regarded by the band as "completely wacked out and twisted, which is exactly what we love."[5]

In the narrative, the boys and girls are separated at the school and sexually repressed, and release their energies when they meet between a glass window.[5] The clip was shot at the abandoned Lincoln Heights Jail north of downtown Los Angeles.[5]

Format and track listing

All songs written and composed by Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, except where noted.

Personnel

[1]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2003–04) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[25] 20
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[26] 65
France (SNEP)[27] 56
Ireland (IRMA) 46
Germany (Official German Charts)[28] 49
Italy (FIMI)[29] 45
Netherlands (Mega Top 100)[30] 85
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[31] 60
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[32] 60
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[19] 15
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[33] 2
US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard)[14] 2

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United States (RIAA)[34] Gold 500,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

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Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Shooman, 2010. p. 121
  11. ↑ Shooman, 2010. p. 120
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Archive Chart: 2003-11-30" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Shooman, 2010. p. 129
  25. ↑ Dutch peak

External links

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