Outside (Staind song)

"Outside"
Single by Staind
from the album Break the Cycle
Released	May 2001[1]
Format	CD
Genre	Post-grunge
Length	4:52 (Staind version) 5:41 (Family Values Tour 99 version) 3:41 (Family Values Tour 99 radio edit)
Label	Elektra
Writer(s)	Aaron Lewis
Staind singles chronology
"It's Been Awhile" (2001) "Outside" (2001) "Fade" (2001)

"Outside" is a single by the alternative metal band Staind. It is the second single released off their 2001 album Break the Cycle.

Background

"Outside" was originally performed live during the 1999 Family Values Tour in Biloxi, Mississippi, with Aaron Lewis (vocals/guitar) on the stage by himself and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst providing backing vocals. Lewis was asked to perform a song solo and he decided at the last moment to play a song he had been working on since the early days of Staind. He finished the lyrics to "Outside" on the spot while singing the song live.

"It's really an accidental phenomenon," Lewis explains. "I've been playing it for quite some time. In the early days of the band, any money we made went back into the band, so two or three times a week I played acoustically to make money to live off. 'Outside' was one of the songs I played, but it wasn't really finished, so I made up different words every time. We almost put it on Dysfunction. Then, one night on the Family Values Tour, ten minutes before going onstage, we decided to do it. There was never any thought of releasing it this way."^[2]

The live acoustic version from the album The Family Values Tour 1999 was picked up by radio stations across the country and became a hit peaking #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks, #2 on the Modern Rock Tracks, and #56 on the Billboard Hot 100. In many ways, the buzz generated by the live version of "Outside" provided the perfect bridge between Staind's debut major record Dysfunction and their breakthrough follow up, Break the Cycle, introducing new fans to the band just a few months before Break the Cycle was released. "Outside" also showed a much softer side of Lewis and Staind that would be explored further in Break the Cycle and would also fully replaced their original nu metal sound with 14 Shades of Grey.

A music video was released for the original live performance of the song which, upon its debut, saw frequent airings on MTV2. The studio recorded electric version of the song had a music video as well, but perhaps garnered less attention than its acoustic predecessor. Still, the studio version managed to have moderate success due to the popularity of both the acoustic live performance and their breakthrough hit, "It's Been Awhile". The studio recorded version peaked #11 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and #16 on the Modern Rock Tracks charts but it failed to be a pop hit like the live acoustic version or "It's Been Awhile". The studio recorded version hit #11 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.

The song was originally recorded with J-CAT at Club Infinity (also recorded was "It's Been Awhile"), and features some lyrical differences.

Chart performance

Live version by Aaron Lewis with Fred Durst

Year	Chart	Peak position
2001	Billboard Hot 100	56
	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
	Modern Rock Tracks	2
	Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks	31

Studio version by Staind

Year	Chart	Peak position
2001	Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles	11
	Mainstream Rock Tracks	11
	Modern Rock Tracks	16

Cover versions

• The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus did a live acoustic cover of the song on their live EP AOL Sessions Undercover-EP.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic uses part of the song on "Angry White Boy Polka".
• Joe Budden sampled the chorus of the song on his mixtape Mood Muzik 2: Can It Get Any Worse? on a track which he named after the band ("Stained").
• Charles Hamilton used the chorus of "Outside" on his mix tape song of the same name.

References

1. "Outside Lyrics (Pop-Up Version)". Retrieved 2011-02-12.

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics