Misery Business


"Misery Business" is a song by American rock band Paramore, and is the lead single from their second studio album, Riot!. "Misery Business" was the third Paramore video to be directed by Shane Drake, and was nominated for the "Best Video" award at the Kerrang! Awards 2007, but lost to Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race".

This song is featured in the video games Saints Row 2, NHL 08, Guitar Hero World Tour, Lips, and Rock Band 3.

Chart performance

In the week ending June 25, 2007, "Misery Business" managed to debut at #99 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Misery Business" is the third charting single for the group in the United States, and the band's highest-charting airplay single to date. In the following week the song went up 13 positions to reach #86. Due to increased digital downloads during the month of August 2007, most notably during the latter half of the month, it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 during the chart week of September 6, 2007 at #34, which was its peak until the chart week of January 5, 2008, when the song reached #31. Its current peak is #26. It also peaked at #3 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was certified Platinum in the U.S on September 17, 2008, with over 1,000,000 digital downloads, and in December 2010 the song topped the 2 million mark in paid downloads. In Australia, in 2009, the song was certified Platinum. Selling over 15,000, in New Zealand, the Song was certified Gold on February 1, 2008, shipping over 7,500 copies.
The single was re-released in the UK Accorto Record Store on February 11, 2008 and included 3 vinyl records. It had been a success in many countries, like Latin America including Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and others.
The single, to date, has peaked at #17 on the UK Singles Chart. It is also the group's first charting single in the UK.
"Misery Business" has also debuted on the Dutch Top 40 peaking at #28 and in Finland at #23. It peaked on the German Top 40 at #12, which is the band's peak position in Germany.
Alternative Press named "Misery Business" Video of the Year in 2007 .

Music video

The music video was filmed at Reseda High School in Reseda, California on December 21, 2006, and features a school and a band performance. It is directed by Shane Drake who also directed the videos for "Pressure" and "Emergency". It stars Amy Paffrath as the bully.
The music video starts out with the band playing the song with an assortment of "RIOT!"s (a reference to the album's name) in the background. It switches from the band playing to a high school, where a girl in a blue dress and heavy makeup walks in. The girl pushes the school cheerleaders aside as she walks into the hallway. She cuts off another girl's braid with scissors, grinning at the horrified girl while showing it to her. Later, as she is walking down the hall, a boy comes out of the nurse's office with his arm in a sling. She proceeds to push him into the wall, further injuring him. The band plays more, and the girl walks up on a girl and a boy together, obviously in love. She pushes the girl's face out of the way, and passionately kisses the boy, then leaves, grinning smugly. It switches again to the band playing, then the band comes out of a classroom together. Hayley Williams and the girl confront each other in the hall. Hayley reaches into the girl's bra and pulls out "false" pads, then uses a towel and wipes the girl's makeup off, exposing her for what she is. The video ends as the band finishes the song; and they walk away as the girl breaks down, crying.
FBR+ also released an alternate cut of the video that removes the high school clips and features only performance segments.

Concept

The origin of the song is ambiguous and Williams has given conflicting explanations. The Fueled by Ramen website reports that Williams wrote the song based on feedback the band received after a question she posted on their LiveJournal asking what people were ashamed of. However on the band's LiveJournal, Williams claims the song was written about a past experience involving a male friend who she felt was being manipulated by a girl, and later on when Williams and her friend began to date, she penned the lyrics to "finally explain my side of the story and feel freed of it all". Later, Williams addressed the lyrics in the chorus:
“ But God does it feel so good
'Cause I got him where I want him now
And if you could then you know you would
'Cause God it just feels so
It just feels so good		 ”

The phrase "Misery Business" was first heard on a Stephen King adaptation psycho-thriller film Misery (1990).

Track listings

A CD single and two 7" vinyls were released in the UK on 18 June. The CD single features a brand new song, "Stop This Song (Love Sick Melody)", and the two vinyls feature two covers: an electronic remix of "My Hero" by the Foo Fighters, and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2.
U.S. CD single
No. Title Length
1. "Misery Business"   3:18
2. "Stop This Song (Love Sick Melody)"   3:23
Australian CD single
No. Title Length
1. "Misery Business"   3:18
2. "My Hero" (Electronic Mix) (Foo Fighters cover) 3:39
3. "Stop This Song (Love Sick Melody)"   3:23
Vinyl 1
No. Title Length
1. "Misery Business"   3:18
2. "My Hero" (Electronic Mix) (Foo Fighters cover) 3:39
Vinyl 2
No. Title Length
1. "Misery Business"   3:18
2. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (U2 Cover) 4:20
VinylDisc
No. Title Length
1. "Misery Business"    
2. "This Circle"    

Release history

Country Date Version
United States July 10, 2007 Original
Republic of Ireland January 6, 2008 Re-release
United Kingdom

Charts

Chart (2007-08) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart 65
Brazil Hot 100 67
Canadian Hot 100 67
German Singles Chart 79
Portugal Singles Chart 23
Dutch Singles Chart 28
South Africa (5 FM Top 40) 20
UK Singles Chart 17
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 26
U.S. Billboard Pop Songs 12
U.S. Billboard Adult Pop Songs 31
U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs 3

Certification

Country
(2008–2009)		 Certifications
U.S Platinum

In popular culture

In various media

Covers

Other references

Label: ,