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"Megalomaniac" is a song by American alternative rock band Incubus, from their 2004 album A Crow Left of the Murder. It was released as a single in December of 2003, and eventually reached the top of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, where it stayed for a six-week period.
Contents
Musical qualities
The song begins with a cyclic, scratchy warble that lasts about 30 seconds before fading into a more traditional build. The entire build lasts about one minute in all before climaxing into an electric bass riff, then leading into the first verse. The song is very low-pitched throughout and only up-tempo during the chorus and the intro.
Lyrical interpretations
Though the lead singer Brandon Boyd claims the song is not specifically targeting anybody , Megalomaniac has been called a "barely veiled condemnation of George W. Bush". The band maintains that the song's meaning pertains to megalomaniacs in general.
Music video
The video for Megalomaniac, directed by Floria Sigismondi, features a bleak, dystopian view of the world portrayed using posterization and spriting (using 2D images in 3D settings). Much of the imagery was inspired by the anti-Nazi photocollages of German artist John Heartfield. Images of Adolf Hitler are interspersed with shots of the band and of many people who are either protesting or helpless and victimized. At the beginning of the 2nd verse, the video shows George W. Bush, then a man very similar to him in appearance, standing on a podium speaking to the revolutionaries. As the video progresses, the Bush look-alike sends officers to disperse the crowd. The speaker's podium rises very high - then it is revealed that the podium is actually a gas pump. The gas pump spurts oil over the crowd, while the Bush figure's head is consumed by a Bald Eagle. At many points throughout the video winged people are shown descending to the ground which could be interpreted as normal beings who bring change to politics. The video also shows a somewhat disturbing image of two parents feeding their baby with oil. The broad theme of the video seems to be corruption in general, though oil and explosions are recurrent symbols as well. MTV refused to show the video during daytime airplay due to the controversy. Pictures of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini also appear in the video.
Released - 15 December 2003 (song) 4 May 2004 (single)
Format - Enhanced CD
Recorded - October 2003
Genre - Rock, Hard Rock
Length - 4:28 (radio edit) 4:54 (album version)
Label - Epic/Immortal
Writer(s) - Incubus
Producer - Brendan O'Brien
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