"Check My Brain" is a song by the American rock band

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

, featured on their fourth studio album, '' Black Gives Way to Blue'' (2009). It was released as the first official single from the album on August 14, 2009, marking it as the band's first single in a decade (since 1999's " Fear the Voices"). The single topped the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in ...

and ''Billboard''

Hot Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternat ...

charts in September 2009. This was the first time an Alice in Chains song would hit number-one on the

chart since their 1994 single " No Excuses". This is Alice in Chains' first and currently only song to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number 92, and also their first number-one on the

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart. "Check My Brain" received a nomination for "

Best Hard Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards until 2011. The academy recognized hard rock music artists for the first time at the 31st Grammy Awards (1989). The category was ori ...

" at the

52nd Grammy Awards The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares P ...

Lyrics

"Check My Brain" features the lyric "California's all right/Somebody check my brain...". The lyric is in reference to guitarist

Jerry Cantrell Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. (born March 18, 1966) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to internation ...

moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in 2003, with Cantrell commenting, "I like how I am right now...and I like where I'm living." Cantrell on the song:

There's a certain aspect of sarcasm, I guess, being a guy from Seattle who lives in L.A., ex-drug addict who lives in the belly of the beast and doesn't partake, and being totally cool with that...It's like being the bad gambler and living in Vegas. It's right there. It's just the irony of that and a little bit of sarcasm. And it's not putting this place down at all. It's just kind of like, 'Wow, you know, check my brain, wow.'

Composition

It is in

F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp mi ...

. The tonic (F) is played as F♭ bent up, so it can be unbent back to F♭. (The guitars are downtuned (which is "standard Alice in Chains tuning" according to Cantrell) and the bass is drop D.) Both the bass and rhythm guitar do this. Also the vocals follow. The chords in the chorus are F5, E♭5, B♭5, A♭5, B♭5, C5, F5.

Release and reception

On August 12, 2009, the band released a 30-second sample of the new single. On August 14, 2009, the full version of the song was released to radio stations as the first official single from the album. "

A Looking in View "A Looking in View" is a song by American rock band Alice in Chains, featured on their fourth studio album, '' Black Gives Way to Blue'' (2009). It was the first publicly released song from the album and was available for purchase on June 30, 2009, ...

" was available for purchase and was streaming for free on the band's website in June 2009, but it wasn't released as the album's first single. Ronald Hart of ''

'' said that the song "is faithful to the grunge terrain Alice in Chains mapped out in 1995. Written by guitarist/chief songwriter Jerry Cantrell, who shares lead vocal duties with William DuVall, the song revolves around Cantrell's distaste for his relocation from rainy Seattle to sunny Los Angeles. The band's classic, downtuned stomp could easily pass for an unreleased track from the ''

Dirt Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains * Dust: a gener ...

'' era and is sure to keep longtime fans feeling pleasantly dystopic." In 2012, ''

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive i ...

'' ranked the song at number 39 on their list of "Top 50 Hard Rock Songs of the 21st Century".

In popular culture

"Check My Brain" was released as

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...

for the ''

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two gui ...

'' and '' Rock Band 2''

music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

s for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, ...

and

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

consoles, as part of Alice in Chains Pack 01, which also includes older hits "

Rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

", "

Would? "Would?" is a song by Alice in Chains, written by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell as a tribute to his friend Andrew Wood, lead vocalist of Mother Love Bone, who died in 1990. Cantrell sings the verses of the song, while Layne Staley sings ...

", and " No Excuses", along with "

", also from ''Black Gives Way to Blue''. It was added to the

Xbox Live Marketplace Xbox Games Store (formerly Xbox Live Marketplace) is a digital distribution platform used by Microsoft's Xbox Series X, S, Xbox One and Xbox 360 video game consoles. The service allows users to download or purchase video games (including both ...

and in-game Music Store for the

on September 29, 2009 and it was added to the

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smar ...

on October 1, 2009. The song was featured in the season four premiere of the Showtime series ''

Californication Californication may refer to: *Californication (word) ''Californication'' is a portmanteau of California and fornication, appearing in ''Time'' on May 6, 1966 and written about on August 21, 1972, additionally seen on bumper stickers in the U.S. ...

'', "Exile on Main St." in 2011, when Charlie picks up Hank from jail.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for "Check My Brain" premiered on September 14, 2009 and was directed by Alexandre Courtes. The video shows the band in a discolored setting in Los Angeles, California where Cantrell moved in 2003. On October 1, 2009, Alice in Chains released a behind-the-scenes video about the making of the music video.

Live performances

Alice in Chains debuted "Check My Brain" on August 1, 2009 in

Marlay Park Marlay Park () is an suburban public park located in Rathfarnham in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. Lying about nine kilometres (5.5 miles) from Dublin city centre, the parkland comprises woodlands, ponds and walks. Recreational spaces incl ...

, Dublin, Ireland. They played it again the next day at the

Sonisphere Festival The Sonisphere Festival was a touring rock music festival which took place across Europe between the months of June and August. The festival was owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It was jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live. It ...

in Knebworth Park, Stevenage, United Kingdom, and again two days later on August 4, 2009 at The Scala in London. The song is regularly performed at the band's concerts.

Personnel

– lead vocals, lead guitar *

William DuVall William Bradley DuVall (born September 6, 1967) is an American musician best known as the current co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Alice in Chains. He joined Alice in Chains in 2006, replacing the band's original lead s ...

– backing vocals, rhythm guitar * Mike Inez – bass *

Sean Kinney Sean Howard Kinney (born May 27, 1966) is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Alice in Chains. Kinney also founded the short-lived supergroup Spys4Darwin, and has collaborated with other artists such ...

– drums ;Production * Mastering –

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography T ...

* Mixing –

Randy Staub Randy Staub is a Canadian recording engineer. He has been nominated for the Juno Awards' " Recording Engineer of the Year" award 12 times. He won in 2002 for the songs " How You Remind Me" and "Too Bad" by Nickelback.Peebles, Frank (April 4, 2008 ...

Chart performance

"Check My Brain" has become one of the band's most commercially successful singles of their career, especially on rock radio. This was their second number-one on the ''

chart, after 1994's " No Excuses". It became their first number-one song on the

chart and also topped ''Billboard''s

chart, which combines mainstream and alternative rock airplay. "Check My Brain" debuted at number 99 of the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

on the chart issue of October 3, 2009, peaking at number 92. In addition, it charted on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record ...

, reaching number 62.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* * {{authority control 2009 singles Alice in Chains songs Songs about California Songs written by Jerry Cantrell 2009 songs Virgin Records singles EMI Records singles Song recordings produced by Nick Raskulinecz