We Are All on Drugs

"We Are All on Drugs"
Single by Weezer
from the album Make Believe
Released July 12, 2005 (US)
August 1, 2005 (UK)
Format CD, Vinyl
Recorded 2004
Genre Alternative rock
Length 3:35
Label Geffen
Writer(s) Rivers Cuomo
Producer(s) Rick Rubin
Weezer singles chronology
"Beverly Hills"
(2005)		 "We Are All on Drugs"
(2005)		 "Perfect Situation"
(2005)

"We Are All on Drugs" is a song by American alternative rock band Weezer. It was released as the second single from the band's 2005 album, Make Believe. "We Are All on Drugs" was released to radio on July 12, 2005.[1] The song is not specifically about drugs. Rather, Rivers Cuomo has said that it is more generally about the over-stimulated society addicted to the internet, gambling, drugs and relationships.

Alternate lyrics

The song went into mixing with two lines in the bridge:, "I want to confiscate your drugs/ I don't think I can get enough", and was eventually released that way on early printings of the album, and on published sheet music. It was replaced on future printings (as well as on the CD single) with "I want to reach a higher plane/ where things will never be the same."

An edited version of the song for MTV "We Are All in Love," changed "on drugs" to "in love" in the chorus. Patrick Wilson suggested having the edit be "We Are All on Hugs," which Cuomo thought was too "quirky." Brian Bell suggested the "in love" edit.[2] Despite this edit the headline "WE ARE ALL ON DRUGS" still remains on the newspaper Cuomo reads at the barber shop in the music video.

Music videos

There are two music videos for the song, with one featuring the song playing over a re-edited version of Grim Reaper's 1985 video "Fear No Evil," and the other focusing on Rivers Cuomo wandering through a world where people appear to on drugs (with many of the extras miming to the lyrics). The latter video was directed by Justin Francis. The video was the most complex shoot in Weezer history, spanning two days, having various actors, special effects and at one point according to Brian Bell, nearly being shut down by the police.


Inspiration

"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."[3]

In a May 9th, 2005 interview with Y100, 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."

Track listing

UK Retail 7" (Pink Vinyl)

  1. "We Are All on Drugs"
  2. "Beverly Hills" (Urbanix Mix)

UK Retail CD

  1. "We Are All on Drugs"
  2. "Beverly Hills" (Urbanix Mix)
  3. "Burndt Jamb" (Live)
  4. "We Are All on Drugs" (CD-ROM Video)

The video featured on the CD is the song playing over a re-edited version of Grim Reaper's 1985 video "Fear No Evil"

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ "FMQB Airplay Archive: Modern Rock". Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report, Incorporated. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  2. ↑ "http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=1837". External link in |title= (help)
  3. ↑ "Cuomo explains his dream".
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