"Addicted to Pain" is a song by American

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

Alter Bridge Alter Bridge is an American Rock music, rock band from Orlando, Florida. The band was formed in 2004 by vocalist and guitarist Myles Kennedy, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips (musician), Scott Phill ...

. Written by lead vocalist

Myles Kennedy Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge and of List of Slash band members, S ...

and lead guitarist

Mark Tremonti Mark Thomas Tremonti (born April 18, 1974) is an American guitarist and singer, best known for his tenures with the rock bands Creed (band), Creed and Alter Bridge. He is a founding member of both bands, and has also collaborated with many other ...

, it was released as the lead

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the band's fourth studio album ''

Fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...

'' on August 12, 2013 in Europe and on August 20, 2013 in the US. The song peaked at number 4 on the US ''

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 ...

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

chart and reached the top 20 of several other ''Billboard'' charts.

Background and release

"Addicted to Pain" was one of the first songs written during sessions for ''

'', which vocalist

claimed helped the band to progress with the writing of the rest of the album, as well as encouraging them to be "more experimental". According to lead guitarist

, Kennedy wrote the lyrics to the track in response to "somebody close to him ... venting about his problems". The song was first made available for

online streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

on August 7, 2013 on Alter Bridge's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, before it was officially released as the first single from ''Fortress'' on August 20. Speaking in a track-by-track feature of the album, Tremonti explained that the band chose the song as the album's lead single due to the success of " Isolation", the first release from 2010's ''

AB III ''AB III'' is the third studio album by American rock band Alter Bridge, released on October 8, 2010. Produced by Michael Baskette, the album is a departure from the band's first two albums; lyrically, it is a loose concept album dealing with ...

'', which he compared to the ''Fortress'' track as a "more aggressive song ... that's straight to the point". The song was later featured as a playable track on the 2015 video game ''

Guitar Hero Live ''Guitar Hero Live'' is a 2015 rhythm game developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision. It is the seventh main instalment and the twelfth overall instalment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series. The game was released for PlayStation 3, ...

''.

Music video

The

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 "Addicted to Pain", directed by

Daniel Catullo Daniel E. "Dan" Catullo III is an American concert promoter, director, and producer, and the co-founder and CEO of DC3 Music Group and The City Drive Entertainment Group, both production and distribution companies specializing in 3D films, mu ...

, was released on September 5, 2013. In North America, it was initially exclusive to the website ''

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 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive i ...

''. Writing for the website, Mary Oullette described the video as featuring the group performing "on a large stage decked out with three monstrous video screens towering behind

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

, interspersed with footage related to the lyrics of the song including "someone being set on fire in a crowd" and "an antique car eingleft on train tracks only to meet its impending doom".

Reception

Commercial

"Addicted to Pain" peaked on several ''Billboard'' charts in the United States: number 4 on the

Mainstream Rock Songs 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" fo ...

chart, number 8 on the Hard Rock Digital Songs chart, number 12 on the Active Rock chart, number 14 on the Heritage Rock chart, and number 20 on the Rock Airplay chart. Outside of the US, the single reached number 150 on the UK Singles Chart on August 24, 2013. The single spent 30 weeks on the Mainstream Rock chart, more than any other release by the band.

Critical

Media response to "Addicted to Pain" was generally positive. In a review of ''Fortress'' for ''

'', Mary Oullette described the song as "a straight-forward screaming rocker with blazing guitar riffs and melody driven choruses", praising it as a "perfect radio-ready track". Similarly, Chad Bowar for ''Loudwire'' noted that it "features first-class riffage and a blazing solo", describing it as "heavy, but still melodic and accessible enough that radio stations will be more than willing to play it". Upon its release as a single, ''

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, ...

'' magazine called it "a hard rockin' banger", while Irish news website '' Joe'' described it as a "proper head-banger of a tune". ''

Melodic A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term c ...

'' magazine praised the track as the band's "fastest fist pumping anthem". The song was included on Loudwire's 66 Best Hard Rock Songs of the 21st Century.

Chart positions

References

External links

"Alter Bridge"
music video at

{{authority control 2013 songs 2013 singles Alter Bridge songs Songs written by Myles Kennedy Songs written by Mark Tremonti Song recordings produced by Michael Baskette