"Many of Horror" is an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

song by Scottish band

Biffy Clyro Biffy Clyro are a Scottish Rock music, rock band that formed in Kilmarnock, composed of Simon Neil (lead vocals, guitar) and twin brothers James Johnston (Scottish musician), James (bass, backing vocals) and Ben Johnston (Scottish musician), Be ...

for their fifth studio album '' Only Revolutions''. The song was released as the fourth single from the album on 18 January 2010. The song was recorded at Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, California and mastered at Masterdisk. The lyrics of the song concern Neil's wife and family.

Jacknife Lee Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including the Cars, U2, R.E.M., the Killers, Robbie Williams, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, AFI, the Hives, Weezer, One Direc ...

, who previously remixed "

Silhouettes A silhouette (, ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhouett ...

" for the Biffy Clyro and

Sucioperro Sucioperro (Spanish for 'Filthy Dog'; ) are a Scottish alternative rock band from Ayr, South Ayrshire, formed in 2002. History ''Random Acts of Intimacy'' The band's debut album, '' Random Acts of Intimacy'', was released in June 2006 on the ...

side project

Marmaduke Duke Marmaduke Duke are a Scottish conceptual rock duo from Ayrshire, Scotland, comprising Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro and JP Reid of Sucioperro. Within the band, the pair perform under the pseudonyms The Atmosphere and The Dragon respectively. Accor ...

, recorded a remix for the song.

Matt Cardle Matthew Sheridan Cardle (born 15 April 1983) is an English pop singer and actor. He was born in Southampton and grew up in Halstead, Essex. Cardle has been involved in music since his early teens and has been a member of two different bands; ...

, winner of the 2010 series of ''The X Factor'', recorded a studio version of the song under the title "When We Collide" and released it as his debut single, after having performed it in the final of the competition. Biffy Clyro fans launched an internet campaign to get the original track "Many of Horror" to the festive charts, with fans joining a Facebook campaign urging people to buy Biffy Clyro's original single rather than Cardle's cover version. This resulted in the Biffy Clyro version reaching number 8 in the UK Singles Chart, its highest position ever, and Cardle's version became the UK Christmas number 1. The song is featured on the deluxe edition

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the film '' Transformers: Dark of the Moon'' and is played during the end credits. It was also used by

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

as the song for their closing montage of their

2014 Ryder Cup The 40th Ryder Cup matches were held 26–28 September 2014 in Scotland on the PGA Centenary Course at the Gleneagles Hotel near Auchterarder in Perth & Kinross. This was the second Ryder Cup held in Scotland; it was previously at Muirfield i ...

coverage on 28 September 2014.

Critical reception

Critical reception of "Many of Horror" was generally positive. Jamie Fullerton of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' called "Many of Horror" a "perfect rock ballad". Tim Newbound of ''

Rock Sound ''Rock Sound'' is a British magazine that covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more " underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, ...

'' described it as "beautifully serene" and stated it balances out more aggressive songs on the album. Jason Birchmeier of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described the song as "mellow". Thom Gibbs of Drowned in Sound was critical of the song, calling it a "so-so ballad" and describing it as "too

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

Music video

The official

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the song was directed by

Andy Morahan Andrew Douglas Morahan (born 11 August 1958) is a British commercial, film and music video director. He is the son of director Christopher Morahan and the half-brother of actress Hattie Morahan. Married to Joanna Lewis, he has two children. ...

Track listings

CD single 14FLR41CD # "Many of Horror" – 4:21 # "Toottoottoot" – 4:16 7-inch blue vinyl 14FLR41 # "Many of Horror" – 4:21 # "Lonely Revolutions" – 2:32 7-inch red vinyl 14FLR41X # "Many of Horror" – 4:21 # "Creative Burns" – 2:33 iTunes digital EP # "Many of Horror" – 4:21 # "Toottoottoot" – 4:16 # "Lonely Revolutions" – 2:32 # "Creative Burns" – 2:33

Credits

* Artwork (Cover design, photography) – Stormstudios * Music – Biffy Clyro * Songwriter (Song lyrics) – Simon Neil * Producer – Biffy Clyro, Gggarth (tracks: 1)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Matt Cardle version

In 2010,

, the winner of the seventh series of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'', released a cover of "Many of Horror" as his winner's single, renamed "When We Collide". It was made available as a digital download on 12 December 2010 shortly after the show had ended. A physical

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

was released on 15 December 2010.

Background

In December 2010, Cardle stated that "I know there are some Biffy fans that are like, 'What have you done to that song?'...It's a great song. I'm hoping that I've done it justice." Referring to the

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

campaign to make the original version of the song number 1 in the chart, Cardle said, "If that happens then great - it's a great song".

Critical reception

Critical reception of Cardle's version of the song was mostly positive although many reviewers noted they preferred the original version. Nick Levine of

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

praised Cardle's vocals, stating he delivered "the violence-tinged lyrics with an appealing sense of intimacy, navigating the inevitable key change with ease and really smashing it on the final note". Rachael Patan of Femalefirst.com and The Beat Review applauded the song choice with the latter stating "his untimely cover of Biffy Clyro’s 'Many of Horror' is a very clever and risque thing to do and we applaud him for that". Fraser McAlpine of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Chart Blog, was much more negative. He stated, "on the evidence of this song, he sure as hell can't sing." Unrealityshout.com agreed, stating "I actually find it very hard to listen to such a heroically valiant vocal from the Biffy Clyro clan get turned into a whimpering, reedy, falsetto-ridden snoozefest".

Chart performance

On 16 December 2010, "When We Collide" debuted at number one on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

, where it stayed for five weeks. It has since become the fourth best-selling song in the history of the chart. On 19 December, it charted number one in the UK Singles Chart, beating " What's My Name?" by

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

featuring

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

and "

Surfin' Bird "Surfin' Bird" is a song performed by American surf rock band the Trashmen, containing the repetitive lyric "the bird is the word". It has been covered many times. The song is a combination of two R&B hits by the Rivingtons: "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" ...

" by

The Trashmen The Trashmen were an American rock band formed in Minneapolis in 1962 and are best known for their biggest hit, 1963's " Surfin' Bird", which reached No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The original line-up of the group featured guitarists Ton ...

to 2010’s Christmas number one, whilst the Biffy Clyro original of "Many of Horror" re-entered the chart at number eight. With sales of 815,000, it was the second best-selling single of 2010; the number one being "

Love the Way You Lie "Love the Way You Lie" is a song by American rapper Eminem featuring Barbadian singer Rihanna from Eminem's seventh studio album ''Recovery (Eminem album), Recovery'' (2010). Skylar Grey wrote and recorded a Demo (music), demo of the song alo ...

" by

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

featuring

, which sold 854,000 copies during 2010. In June 2012, It became the 123rd single to sell a million copies in the UK, and the fourth by an ''X Factor'' contestant, after

Shayne Ward Shayne Thomas Ward (born 16 October 1984) is an English singer and actor. He rose to fame as the winner of the second series of ''The X Factor''. His debut single, "That's My Goal", was released in the United Kingdom on 21 December 2005 a ...

's "

That's My Goal "That's My Goal" is the debut single by British singer Shayne Ward, the winner of the second series of ''The X Factor''. It was released as his winner's single on 21 December 2005. Ward was the first ''X Factor'' winner to release an origina ...

Leona Lewis Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress, model, and activist. Born and raised in Islington, Inner London, she later attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieve ...

's "

Bleeding Love "Bleeding Love" is a song recorded by British singer Leona Lewis for her debut studio album, '' Spirit'' (2007). It was originally written and recorded by American singer Jesse McCartney, and was co-written and produced by American singer R ...

" and

Alexandra Burke Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke (born 25 August 1988) is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She won the fifth series of the talent television show ''The X Factor'' in 2008. Following the show, she was signed to Syco Music and releas ...

's "

Hallelujah ''Hallelujah'' (; , Modern ) is an interjection from the Hebrew language, used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Tanakh (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, and four times in the Christ ...

". "When We Collide" is the 124th best selling song of all time in the UK and it is the 4th best selling single of all time in Ireland. It has sold 1,010,000 copies in the UK as of December 2015.

Music video

The official music video for Cardle's version of the song was also directed by Andy Morahan.

Track listings

* Digital download # "When We Collide" - 3:38 # "Matt's Thank You Message" - 0:14 * CD single # "When We Collide" - 3:38 # " Just the Way You Are" (''X Factor'' performance) - 2:26 # "

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by British political singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who later became his third wife. At that time, MacColl was still married to his second wife, Jean Newlove. ...

" (''X Factor'' performance) - 2:37 # "

Nights in White Satin "Nights in White Satin" is a song by English rock band the Moody Blues, written by Justin Hayward. It was first featured as the segment "The Night" on the album '' Days of Future Passed''. When first released as a single in 1967, it reached nu ...

" (''X Factor'' performance) - 2:17

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Many Of Horror 2009 songs 2010s ballads 14th Floor Records singles Biffy Clyro songs Music videos directed by Andy Morahan Matt Cardle songs The X Factor (British TV series) Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Scotland UK singles chart number-one singles Pop ballads Rock ballads Songs written by Simon Neil Song recordings produced by Garth Richardson Syco Music singles 2010 debut singles Christmas number-one singles in the United Kingdom