"Abuse Me" is a song by the Australian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Silverchair Silverchair was an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, Ben Gillies on drums, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

. It was released as the second single from their 1997 album, ''

Freak Show A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "Freak, freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual Human#Anatomy and physiology, humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, t ...

''. In the United States, Sony chose "Abuse Me" as the first single from ''Freak Show'' despite protests by the band's manager. "

Freak A freak is a person who is physically deformed or transformed due to an extraordinary medical condition or body modification. This definition was first attested with this meaning in the 1880s as a shorter form of the phrase " freak of nature ...

" was the Australian lead single and the preferred lead single from the album. It was also released on their '' The Best of Volume 1''. The single peaked at number four on both 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 advertis ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

and

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

charts, making it their second biggest hit in the United States (after " Tomorrow"). The single contained the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

"Undecided", (not to be confused with "Undecided" from ''

Frogstomp ''Frogstomp'' is the debut studio album by Australian Rock music, rock band Silverchair. It was released on 27 March 1995, when the band members were only 15 years of age, by record label Murmur (record label), Murmur. The album features the ban ...

'') a

Masters Apprentices The Masters Apprentices (or The Masters to fans) are an Australian rock band fronted by Jim Keays on lead vocals, which originally formed as The Mustangs in 1964 in Adelaide, South Australia, relocated to Melbourne, Victoria, in February 1967 a ...

cover, which featured

Deniz Tek Deniz Tek (born November 10, 1952) is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and a founding member of Australian rock group Radio Birdman. He has played in many of the underground rock bands of the 1970s, including Australian bands The V ...

Radio Birdman Radio Birdman is an Australian punk rock band formed by Deniz Tek and Rob Younger in Sydney in 1974. ''Classic Rock'' magazine describes them as "Australia’s first influential punk band". History Origins Deniz Tek and Rob Younger f ...

playing lead guitar. Also included on the single was a remix of "Freak", produced by

Paul Mac Paul Francis McDermott (born 17 September 1965), who performs as Paul Mac, is an Australian electropop musician, singer-songwriter, producer and music re-mixer. He was classically trained at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Mac has formed various ...

, marking the first time that

Daniel Johns Daniel Paul Johns (born 22 April 1979) is an Australian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the Lead vocalist, frontman, guitarist, and main songwriter of the Rock music, rock band Silverchair. Johns is also one half of The Dissociat ...

and Paul Mac worked together.

Background

Johns said about the song: "With 'Abuse Me', I just wanted to get all the feelings off my chest, the feelings I'd had when I read all the negative commentary. The song is basically saying, 'Say what you like. We don't give a fuck what you think. We're just playing our music'." Johns also said that "every song I've ever heard sounds like another song I've heard".

Track listing

Australian CD single (MATTCD049)/limited 7-inch (MATTV049) # "Abuse Me" # "Undecided" # " Freak (Remix for Us Rejects)" * The song "Undecided" is not the Silverchair original song included in the ''Frogstomp'' album. This song was originally by

The Masters Apprentices The Masters Apprentices (or The Masters to fans) are an Australian rock band fronted by Jim Keays on lead vocals, which originally formed as The Mustangs in 1964 in Adelaide, South Australia, relocated to Melbourne, Victoria, in February 1967 ...

. ** The limited 7-inch edition is now deleted and rare. UK CD1 (6643681) # "Abuse Me" # "Freak (Remix for Us Rejects)" UK CD2 (6647905) # "Abuse Me" # "

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" ...

" # "Slab" (Nicklaunoise Mix) * Contains fold-out poster. European CD single (6647902) # "Abuse Me" # "Freak (Remix for Us Rejects)" # "Blind"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{authority control 1997 singles 1997 songs Silverchair songs Song recordings produced by Nick Launay Songs written by Daniel Johns Murmur (record label) singles