Bad Day (Fuel Song)
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"Bad Day" 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
Fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work (physics), work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chem ...
from their second album '' Something Like Human'' (2000). It was released as the album's third single in May 2001 and peaked at number 64 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart that August. Immediately following the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, Clear Channel deemed the song inappropriate for radio airplay due to its subject matter.


Background and composition

Written by Fuel guitarist Carl Bell, "Bad Day" was written before the band was signed to a major label. The band tried to record a version for their major label debut, but according to lead singer
Brett Scallions Brett Allen Scallions (born December 21, 1971) is an American singer and musician. He is best known for being one of the founding members and the original lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock band Fuel from 1993 to 2006 an ...
, "We tried recording 'Bad Day' back when we did the ''
Sunburn Sunburn is a form of radiation burn that affects living tissue, such as skin, that results from an overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, usually from the Sun. Common symptoms in humans and other animals include red or reddish skin tha ...
'' album n 1998and just didn’t get it right. It was a song that was with us way before we signed on with
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and
Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...
." According to the song's sheet music, the track is written in the key of
A major A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The A major scale is: Changes needed for the ...
, possessing a medium rock
tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...
that proceeds at
common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...
.


Release

"Bad Day" first appeared as the fifth track on '' Something Like Human'', which was released in the United States on September 19, 2000. The song was released as the album's third single on May 29, 2001, when Epic Records serviced the track to US
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 ...
,
active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...
, and
alternative radio Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...
. The following week, on June 5, it was sent to
contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...
. Epic Records issued the single commercially in Australia, where a maxi-CD was released on September 10, 2001. This CD contains a rehearsal demo of album track "Down", a rehearsal demo of "
Hemorrhage (In My Hands) "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" is a song by American Rock music, rock band Fuel (band), Fuel. It was released on September 14, 2000 as the lead single from their second studio album, ''Something Like Human''. It spent 12 weeks at number 1 on ''Billbo ...
", and an acoustic version of "Bad Day".


Commercial performance

In the United States, "Bad Day" made its first chart appearance on June 16, 2001, when it debuted at number 34 on 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 ...
chart and number 38 on the
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" ...
chart. On the former chart, the song peaked at number 12 on August 18, 2001, while on the latter, it reached number 14 the following week. The single remained on both listings for 18 weeks. "Bad Day" crossed over to
adult pop Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...
radio, debuting on the ''Billboard''
Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...
in late June 2001 and climbing to its peak of number 21 on September 15, 2001, spending 26 weeks on the ranking; it was the chart's 40th-most-successful hit of 2001. It also charted on the ''Billboard''
Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...
ranking, spending 13 weeks on the chart and peaking at number 28 on September 22. On the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, "Bad Day" debuted at number 73 on July 28, 2001, reaching its peak of number 64 three weeks later to give
Fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work (physics), work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chem ...
their third top-75 hit. It spent 20 weeks on the Hot 100, making it the band's second-longest-charting single, after "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)".


Music video

A music video was made for the song. At the beginning, lead vocalist
Brett Scallions Brett Allen Scallions (born December 21, 1971) is an American singer and musician. He is best known for being one of the founding members and the original lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock band Fuel from 1993 to 2006 an ...
sits across a man with a cane and starts singing. The scene then changes to a woman who suffers various misfortunes, including spilling her coffee, breaking a
heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted ...
on the sidewalk, and getting into a car accident. Throughout these scenes, Scallions becomes more emotional as he sings to the man, who writes in a book. At the video's conclusion, the woman walks into the room Scallions is in but fades away after she sits down beside him. As Scallions walks out, the man discovers the woman's now-fixed heels on the floor. The video was added to
VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...
's playlist on the week ending June 3, 2001, and to the playlists of
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
and
MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...
the following week.


Track listing

All songs were written by Carl Bell except where noted. Australian maxi-CD single # "Bad Day" – 3:15 # "Down" (rehearsal demo) – 3:24 # "
Hemorrhage (In My Hands) "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" is a song by American Rock music, rock band Fuel (band), Fuel. It was released on September 14, 2000 as the lead single from their second studio album, ''Something Like Human''. It spent 12 weeks at number 1 on ''Billbo ...
" (rehearsal demo) – 3:58 # "Bad Day" (acoustic) – 3:08


Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the US promo CD liner notes and the '' Something Like Human'' album booklet. Studios * Recorded at
Right Track Recording Sound on Sound Studios, formerly known as MSR Studios (Manhattan Sound Recordings), is a photography and movie producing company Recording studio, recording facility in Montclair, New Jersey. Its forebear, MSR Studios, was located in Manhattan, j ...
, Sear Sound (New York City), and The Mix Room (Los Angeles) * Mixed at The Mix Room (Los Angeles) * Mastered at Precision Mastering (Los Angeles) Personnel * Carl Bell – writing, guitar, vocals, co-production *
Brett Scallions Brett Allen Scallions (born December 21, 1971) is an American singer and musician. He is best known for being one of the founding members and the original lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock band Fuel from 1993 to 2006 an ...
– lead vocals, guitar * Jeff Abercrombie – bass guitar * Kevin Miller – drums *
Ben Grosse Ben Grosse is an American record producer and mixer. Grosse has mixed and produce albums for numerous music industry acts, primary in the heavy metal and hard rock genres. His credits include Dream Theater, Marilyn Manson, Sevendust, Disturbe ...
– production, recording, mixing, programming * John Parthum – recording * Lloyd Puckitt – recording * Jason Stasium – additional recording * Lumpy – programming * Tom Baker – mastering


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Release history


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bad Day Fuel (band) songs 2000 songs 2001 singles Epic Records singles Songs written by Carl Bell (musician) Songs about heartache