"Evil" 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 Wales ...
band
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cr ...
. It was released as the second single from their second studio album, ''
Antics'' (2004), on January 3, 2005. The song is believed to be about
Fred
Fred may refer to:
People
* Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
Mononym
* Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French
* Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Ro ...
and
Rosemary West
Rosemary Pauline West (née Letts; born 29 November 1953) is an English serial killer who collaborated with her husband, Fred West, in the torture and murder of at least nine young women between 1973 and 1987; , a married couple who raped and murdered teenage girls together in England between the 1960s and 1980s.
"Evil" peaked at No. 18 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
and No. 24 on ''
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 ...
'' magazine's
Modern Rock Tracks
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-played ...
chart. In Australia, the song was ranked No. 76 on
Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004.
Music video
The music video, directed by
Charlie White, shows a life-sized
animatronic
Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions.
It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy ...
puppet who travels via ambulance to a hospital emergency room following a car crash, being examined by real-life actors as he sings the lyrics to the song before breaking into a frantic dance on the operating table. White had never made a music video before, but came up with the idea for the video after listening to the song and pitched it to the band. Despite the fact that the band had appeared in all of their prior music videos, the band loved the idea and gave White their blessing. White listened to the song on a loop for an entire weekend and hired the special effects team that had worked on the films
''Hellboy'' and
''Fantastic Four'' to create the puppet.
The video was shot over the course of 17 hours in one day and used a real hospital room. The puppet's animatronic head was programmed to automatically sing the song; six puppeteers, who needed to be digitally removed from the video, were tasked with moving its eyes and body. The video was a hit with audiences but the puppet itself had polarizing reactions, with some thinking it was cute and others thinking it was creepy. Regardless, the puppet received its own
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic ...
and was named "Norman" by fans on Interpol's online message board shortly after the video premiered.
The video reached No. 25 on
Yahoo!
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds ma ...
's list of the Top 25 Scariest Videos. White would later collaborate with the band again to produce the music video for their 2010 song "
Lights
Light is an electromagnetic radiation, part of which stimulates the sense of vision.
Light or Lights may also refer to:
Illumination
* Light bulb
* Traffic light
Arts and entertainment Music
* Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian singer-son ...
".
Shortly after the video was released, the puppet was lost and its whereabouts remained a mystery for almost a decade. In 2014, it was spotted in an online auction in which it was simply listed as "animatronic creepy ghoul puppet from music video". At this point, the puppet had badly deteriorated, and it was sold to an unknown buyer for only a few hundred dollars. The puppet continued to change hands for the next five years, still out of the public eye. In 2019, it was purchased from another online auction by artist John Kolbek, who was able to successfully raise money from a
GoFundMe
GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...
campaign called "Let's save Norman!" to restore the puppet. As of 2020, the puppet is again in working order and is currently being used to host various videos on Kolbek's
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
channel, which are usually horror-themed due to the puppet's broken-down state giving it an even scarier appearance. In March 2022, a video revealed the puppet's full restoration.
Track listings
*7"
OLE6377
#"Evil" – 3:36
#"Leif Erikson" (
Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter.
After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
session)
*CD
OLE6372
#"Evil" – 3:36
#"Song Seven" – 4:50
*Maxi-CD
OLE6376
#"Evil" – 3:36
#"Narc" (Zane Lowe BBC session) – 4:08
#"Evil" (Zane Lowe BBC session) – 3:33
#"Slow Hands" (video)
*Maxi-CD
OLE6472
#"Evil" – 3:36
#"Song Seven" – 4:49
#"Leif Erikson" (Zane Lowe BBC session) – 3:53
#"Narc" (Zane Lowe BBC session) – 4:08
#"Evil" (Zane Lowe BBC session) – 3:33
In popular culture
The song has appeared in episodes of the television series ''
The 100 The 100 may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* 100 (DC Comics), fictional organized crime groups appearing in DC Comics
* ''The 100'' (novel series), a 2013–2016 science fiction novel series written by Kass Morgan
* ''The 100'' (TV series), 20 ...
'', ''
Entourage
An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...
'', ''
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into ...
'', and ''
The O.C.
''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initialis ...
''. It was also featured on the soundtrack of the 2022 film ''
Orphan: First Kill''.
Charts
References
{{authority control
Interpol (band) songs
2005 singles
Matador Records singles
2004 songs
Music videos featuring puppetry
Songs written by Carlos Dengler
Songs written by Paul Banks (American musician)
Songs written by Sam Fogarino
Songs written by Daniel Kessler (guitarist)