We Are All on Drugs
"We Are All on Drugs" | |||||
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Single by Weezer | |||||
Album | Make Believe | ||||
Released | July 12, 2005[1] | ||||
Format | CD, 7" | ||||
Recorded | Summer 2004 | ||||
Length | 3:35 | ||||
Label | Geffen | ||||
Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo | ||||
COR# | 528 | ||||
Producer(s) | Weezer, Rick Rubin, Chad Bamford | ||||
Status | Officially released | ||||
Live debut | April 26, 2005 in Vancouver, BC | ||||
Last played | September 20, 2013 in Cincinnati, OH | ||||
Stream | ![]() |
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Weezer singles chronology | |||||
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Make Believe track listing | |||||
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"We Are All on Drugs" is the sixth track and second single from Make Believe.
Appearances
- Make Believe (2005)
- We Are All on Drugs (UK retail CD/vinyl singles, 2005)
Overview
Rivers: I was living in an apartment above the Sunset Strip, and every Friday and Saturday night I’d hear people cruising and partying, and hooting and hollering. And I went to sleep one night and I heard those sounds all through the night, in my dreams. I had this dream about a kid on the Metro bus, blasting hip hop into his brain through his headphones. And the music sounded so decadent and overstimulating, and I woke up in the midst of that dream, in a haze, and immediately said to myself, “Man, we’re all on drugs!” And I instantly knew that would be a cool song.
Brian: I remember the first time Rivers played it for me, and just felt this, like, ‘can we do this?’ You know, I mean, this is a hit song, without a doubt. Just singing that chorus the first time, when we played these songs acoustically in the office, it was just a riot because it was just so much—it was like I felt like we were doing something illegal by saying that. And there were thoughts like, how are parents going to like this? Or you know, are we going to be banned from kids, you know, listening, whatever, their album collections? I think it’s a great song because it’s not saying anything positive or negative about drugs. It’s one of those ambivalent songs. I’m just glad that my guitar intro got used. [laughs]
Pat: Yeah, I had to fight for that, man! You guys had this other thing going on, where you wanted it to be all mellow, when it was so obvious to me that it should be the big rock track. I love that intro.
Rivers: [to Brian] Yeah, I loved your intro from the first time you brought it in. On this album you’ve come up with so many great intros and musical interludes.
Brian: Well, that’s what great about our music, too, is there’s different ways to interpret it., and I think all of them should be explored, because I actually liked—Rivers had a different version of it that worked equally as well. I think everything should be explored, or else we’re cheating ourselves.
Rivers: And also, it’s interesting that we’ve found that sometimes one of the other guys will start singing a line that I came up with, and it sounds a million times better. Like on this song, when Scott sings “never get enough” in the chorus, it’s just, it’s so right, it’s obvious that he has to sing that.
Scott: Right on! It’s funny, and I remember you talking about - when you were living in that apartment—it’s like, ‘I always hear these people going, ‘WHOOO! WHOO! All night long, a whole car full of girls are like, ‘WHOO!’’ and that’s exactly what we sing in that song. [laughter] It’s really cool. After the first chorus at these shows, even though nobody knows the song yet, people are so into it. Out of all the new songs, that song seems to hit people the fastest, to me.
Pat: Yeah, Kevin and Bean talk about that song all the time, I guess. They’re like, ‘that’s the best title ever!’.
- —Band commentary[2]
"We Are All on Drugs" is first known to have been demoed acoustically and recorded directly onto Rivers Cuomo's laptop at Weezer's rented office space on June 23, 2003. The song continued to be demoed throughout 2003 and was alternately on Cuomo's "A-List" during pre-production on Make Believe.
In a May 9, 2005 interview with Y100, Weezer lead singer Rivers Cuomo talked about the song: "Don't take it literally...I'm singing more about the fact [of] how addicted we all are to stimulating ourselves, and over-stimulating ourselves with music, or whatever it is in our lives. [It's] not necessarily about drugs."[citation needed]
Initial pressings of Make Believe contained an incorrect mix of "We Are All on Drugs", featuring different lyrics during the bridge ("I want to confiscate your drugs / I don't think I can get enough"). Upon discovering the mistake, the band had the correct version included on later pressings of the album, and released it as the album's second single. There is also a censored version called "We Are All In Love", mainly used for airings of the video on stations that objected to the drug reference. Pat Wilson came up with the censored title and originally wanted to call it "We Are All on Hugs".[3]
When the song was serviced to radio, the band was not free to immediately film a video. In order to get a quick video made to promote the song, a hastily-edited video was constructed using footage from a 1985 video for the song "Fear No Evil" by heavy metal band Grim Reaper.[4] Eventually, a proper video directed by Justin Francis was filmed and distributed.
The song was covered by the Los Angeles pop metal/rock band Baba Yaga (formerly Skinmask) and released as the band's debut single on July 2, 2020. Weezer members Scott Shriner and Brian Bell made guest appearences in the video.[5]
Reception
"We Are All on Drugs" received moderate commercial success, peaking at #10 on the US Modern Rock radio charts and number 35 on the main US charts. Reception from critics was more mixed. Ryan Schreiber of Pitchfork included "We Are All on Drugs" on his list of "The 15 Worst Releases of 2005",[6] adding only the word "OBVIOUSLY!!!" as an explanation.
Personnel
- Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals
- Patrick Wilson – percussion
- Brian Bell – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Scott Shriner – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Rick Rubin - producer
- Rich Costey - mixing
Music video
The music video was directed by Justin Francis.
Lyrics
When you're out with your friends
In your new Mercedes-Benz
And you're on drugs
And you show up late for school
'Cause you think you're really cool
When you're on drugs
And you put on your headphones
And you step into the zone
When you're on drugs
But the world don't care
If you are or are not there
'Cause you're on drugs
Give it to me
We are all on drugs, yeah
Never getting enough (never get enough)
We are all on drugs, yeah
Give me some of that stuff
And you twitch in your seat
'Cause you wanna hit the street
When you're on drugs
And you cause such a fuss
'Cause there's no one you can trust
When you're on drugs
And the best of your days
Will all vanish in the haze
When you're on drugs
And you wish you could quit
'Cause you're really sick of it
But you're on drugs
Give it to me
We are all on drugs, yeah
Never getting enough (never get enough)
We are all on drugs, yeah
Give me some of that stuff
I want to reach a higher plane
Where things will never be the same, uh
Give it to me
We are all on drugs, yeah
Never getting enough (never get enough)
We are all on drugs, yeah
Give me some of that stuff
We are all on drugs
We are all on drugs
We are all on drugs
We are all on drugs
Alternate bridge
I want to confiscate your drugs
I don't think I can get enough
Known recordings
Performer(s) | Title | Filename | Date of recording | Recording location | Length | Appeared on | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | June 23, 2003 | 8295 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA[7] | Acoustic demo | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | June 24, 2003 | 8295 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA[7] | Acoustic demo | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | August 3, 2003 | Rod Cervera's studio[7] | Acoustic demo | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | November 6, 2003 | Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, CA[7] | Take 1 | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | November 6, 2003 | Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, CA[7] | Take 2 (selected as best take) | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | November 6, 2003 | Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, CA[7] | Take 3 | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | November 6, 2003 | Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, CA[7] | Take 4 | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | November 11, 2003 | Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, CA[7] | Rehearsal | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | December 1—December 19, 2003 | Cello Studios, Los Angeles, CA[2] | ||||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | December 1—December 19, 2003 | Cello Studios, Los Angeles, CA[2] | Rough mix made on January 30, 2004 | |||
Rivers Cuomo | We Are All on Drugs | February 27, 2004 | S.I.R. Studios, Los Angeles, CA[2] | Demo | |||
Rivers Cuomo | We Are All on Drugs | July 3, 2004 | S.I.R. Studios, Los Angeles, CA[2] | Demo | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | December 1—December 19, 2003 | Cello Studios, Los Angeles, CA[2] | Rough mix made on October 5, 2004 | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | July 22—October 22, 2004 | Grandmaster Recorders, Los Angeles, CA[2] | New "rock" version | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | July 22 2004—February 2005 | Rick Rubin's home studio, Los Angeles, CA[2] | Rough mix of "rock" version without vocals made in February 2005 | |||
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | July 22 2004—February 2005 | Rick Rubin's home studio, Los Angeles, CA[2] | 3:35 | Make Believe first pressing | Near-final mix with alternate bridge lyrics | |
Weezer | We Are All on Drugs | July 22 2004—February 2005 | Rick Rubin's home studio, Los Angeles, CA[2] | 3:35 | Make Believe | Final mix | |
Weezer | We Are All In Love | July 22 2004—2005 | 3:35 | MTV | Censored lyrics for television stations |
See also
References
- ↑ "Available for Airplay Archive" FMQB. Archived by Wayback Machine, 28 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161028021808/http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=16771
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Weezer Recording History - Page 15. Original source archived by Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20091229113823/http://www.weezer.com/info/recording/WeezRecHist15.htm
- ↑ Kandell, Steve. "Dear Superstar: Rivers Cuomo" Blender. January/February 2006. Article archived on Weezerpedia
- ↑ Karl's Corner - 07/08/2005
- ↑ BabaYagaMetal "BABA YAGA "We are all on drugs"" YouTube. 2 July 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98_cCDGqK7M
- ↑ Schreiber, Ryan. "2005 Comments & Lists: The 15 Worst Releases of 2005" Pitchfork. 14 December 2005. https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/6219-2005-comments-lists-the-15-worst-releases-of-2005/
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Weezer Recording History - Page 14