"I Think I'm Paranoid" is a song written, performed and produced by

Garbage Garbage, trash, rubbish, or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or gaseous wastes, or toxic waste prod ...

and was the second single released from their second album ''

Version 2.0 ''Version 2.0'' is the second studio album by American rock band Garbage. It was released on May 11, 1998, by Mushroom Records worldwide, with the North American release on Almo Sounds the following day. With this album, the band aimed to impro ...

''. The song was released internationally in July 1998, following up on the success of the band's prior hit, " Push It". "I Think I'm Paranoid" reached the Top Ten 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 Airplay charts, while across the Atlantic also becoming a hit on ''Billboard'''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. "I Think I'm Paranoid" became the biggest hit from ''Version 2.0'' in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, where it featured on a 30-second advert campaign for Breil Watches and was placed in rotation by

MTV Italy MTV is an Italian pay television network, owned by Paramount Networks EMEAA and operated by Sky Italia. History Prior to the launch of a 24-hour Italian speaking MTV, MTV viewers in Italy received the pan-European version of MTV Europe, MTV. Reg ...

.''Version 2.0: International Sales Report'', internal document published by

Mushroom Records UK A&E Records is a United Kingdom-based record label imprint, owned by Warner Music Group (WMG). It operates under the WEA International group of labels at WMG. A&E Records was formalised in May 2003, when the NewsCorp Music Group of independen ...

distributed to shareholders and relevant stakeholders, published June 2001 In 2007, "I Think I'm Paranoid" was

remastered Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

and included on Garbage's

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

album ''

Absolute Garbage ''Absolute Garbage'' is a greatest hits album by American rock band Garbage. It was released worldwide on July 23, 2007 through Warner Music imprint A&E Records with a North American release through Almo Sounds, Geffen Records, and Universal Mu ...

''.

Composition and recording

Garbage began writing their second album, which would go under the working title of ''Sad Alcoholic Clowns'', in March 1997 in the band's label-head

Jerry Moss Jerome S. Moss (born May 8, 1935) is an American recording executive, best known for being the co-founder of A&M Records, along with trumpet player and bandleader Herb Alpert. Music career After graduating from Brooklyn College with a degree ...

's Friday Harbor,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, vacation house. The group demoed and made rough outlines for new songs, of which "Bend Me" was one. When they felt they had made a good start,

took the work they made in Washington back to their

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County, Wisconsin, Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin b ...

base at

Smart Studios Smart Studios was a recording studio located in Madison, Wisconsin. It was set up in 1983 by Butch Vig and Steve Marker to produce local bands. The studio produced bands such as Killdozer, The Smashing Pumpkins, L7, Tad, and Nirvana. After ini ...

and begin fleshing out the ideas and rough sketches over the following year. Garbage intended their second album to build upon the framework, music style and musical template laid down by their first release; to create a rapprochement between the "high-tech and low-down, the now sound and of golden memories" and wear musical references to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

recorded all of their work for the second album through a 48-track digital system digitally, direct to

hard drives A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...

using a 24bit

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-prod ...

rig: the production of "Bend Me" would feature almost 120 audio tracks.

Duke Erikson Douglas Elwin "Duke" Erikson (born January 15, 1951) is an American musician, songwriter, screenwriter, film producer and record producer, best known as a co-founder and guitarist of the alternative rock band Garbage. Garbage has sold more than 17 ...

created the opening

guitar riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...

and

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

the backing chords, over which

Shirley Manson Shirley Ann Manson (born 26 August 1966) is a Scottish musician and actress. She is best known as the lead singer of the American alternative rock band Garbage. Manson gained media attention for her forthright style, rebellious attitude, and di ...

sang. Manson's vocal was manipulated in various parts of the song by running the feed to the

mixing console A mixing console or mixing desk is an electronic device for mixing audio signals, used in sound recording and reproduction and sound reinforcement systems. Inputs to the console include microphones, signals from electric or electronic inst ...

through a

filter Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component tha ...

or a

stomp box A stomp box (or stompbox) is a percussion instrument consisting of a small box placed under the foot, which is tapped or stamped on rhythmically to produce a sound similar to that of a bass drum. A stomp box allows a performer such as a singe ...

to provide

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio s ...

and by using Pro Tools plug-ins to time-stretch the vocal take. Much of the percussion was recorded in a disused candy factory located in Madison;

Butch Vig Bryan David "Butch" Vig (born August 2, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the drummer and co-producer of the alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of the diamond-selling Nirvana album '' N ...

Steve Marker Steve Marker (born March 16, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as a cofounder and guitarist of the alternative rock band Garbage. Early life Steven W. Marker was born in Mamaroneck, New York on Marc ...

and sound engineer Billy Bush set up a

drum kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

within the empty building and recorded various fills, using the favourable acoustics therein. Forced to stop after local police officers responded to complaints about the noise, some of the percussion was later incorporated into the chorus of "Bend Me" (and also found its way into "

Temptation Waits "Temptation Waits" is a 1999 song performed by the band Garbage (band), Garbage and is featured in their second studio album ''Version 2.0'' as the opening song. "Temptation Waits" was not released as an international single, but was released a ...

" and "Hammering in My Head"). The intro section made use of many percussive loops of

kick A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of a ...

snare SNARE proteins – " SNAP REceptor" – are a large protein family consisting of at least 24 members in yeasts, more than 60 members in mammalian cells, and some numbers in plants. The primary role of SNARE proteins is to mediate vesicle ...

and

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist ...

sounds. Some loops were flipped backwards, filtered and ran through an

amp #REDIRECT Amp {{Redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

to create some

white noise In signal processing, white noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density. The term is used, with this or similar meanings, in many scientific and technical disciplines, ...

effects. Garbage employed touring bassist

Daniel Shulman Daniel Shulman (born 2 October 1966) is an American performer; playing bass guitar. Although he has made a significant contribution as a session musician, working with Run-DMC and Meredith Brooks, he is best known for his work with the Scottish ...

to perform

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

on the song, while Vig approached a DJ he met in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, Todd Malcolm Michelles, to provide a record scratching effect under the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

.''Keyboard'', "Case Study: The Making of ''Version 2.0''", by Greg Rule, published August 1999 issue. Garbage completed recording, producing and mixing of their second album in mid-February 1998, and the album was given the title ''Version 2.0''. "Bend Me", which had by now had its official title finalized as "I Think I'm Paranoid", was track listed as the album's second song. ''Version 2.0'' was released worldwide on May 11 of that year; despite a slow start, ''Version 2.0'' went on to equal its predecessor, selling over four million copies and achieving platinum-certification in many territories, including United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe and Australia.

Song history

Garbage debuted "I Think I'm Paranoid" live on May 15, 1998, at a concert Ryan's Ballroom in

Combined Locks, Wisconsin Combined Locks is a village in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,328 at the 2010 census. History A post office called Combined Locks has been in operation since 1892. The village was named from the canal locks near ...

; the first date of the ''

Version 2.0 tour The ''Version 2.0 World Tour'' was the second world concert tour cycle by American/Scottish alternative rock group Garbage, which took the band throughout North America, Europe, South Africa, Asia and Australia in support of its second album '' V ...

''. Garbage took to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

from June 1 to join the

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...

circuit, as well as perform a number of their own

headline The headline or heading is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th centur ...

shows, helping support the single release for "I Think I'm Paranoid". The single was preempted by a televised performance of both "..Paranoid" and "Push it" on

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

show ''Nulle Part Ailleurs'', and on

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

entertainment show ''

TFI Friday ''TFI Friday'' is an entertainment show that was broadcast on Channel 4 television in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker, and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first five series. The sixth series w ...

''. Like its preceding single, "I Think I'm Paranoid" was A-listed at Radio One and

XFM Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2015 ...

, reaching number 14 in the UK Airplay chart."'' beautifulgarbage'' promotional history press release" (Retrieved - October 29, 2010) On July 6, 1998,

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival M ...

issued "I Think I'm Paranoid" in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in a two-part

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...

set and

cassette single A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was first introduced in 1980. History The debu ...

formats, backed with

b-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

"Deadwood" and "Afterglow" and

remixes A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

of "...Paranoid" by Purity and

The Crystal Method The Crystal Method is an American electronic music act formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They were pioneers of the big beat genre and their music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video ga ...

spread across the two CDs. The song debuted at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart the following Sunday, becoming Garbage's fourth UK top ten hit in a row. On the same day (July 12), Garbage completed their European tour with a "homecoming" slot at

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

T In The Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...

festival. On July 13, Mushroom then released the single as a

collectible A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms ...

3-inch CD in a

blister pack A blister pack is any of several types of pre-formed plastic packaging used for small consumer goods, foods, and for pharmaceuticals. The primary component of a blister pack is a cavity or pocket made from a formable web, usually a thermofor ...

as a limited edition of 3,000. This special format collected together all the tracks onto one single disc; however the release was only on sale for one week and its sales were chart ineligible. Garbage appeared on British chart show ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

'' to mark its high chart placing. Across Europe, Mushroom Records then-distributor

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations * Music publishing companies: ** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 *** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...

released "I Think I'm Paranoid" on

CD maxi A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...

and

formats in various territories from July 6. In

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, "...Paranoid" placed a single week at number 98 on August 3, in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the song spent the single week of August 8 at number 94 following heavy rotation from

Kink FM Kink FM was a commercial radio channel in e Netherlands dedicated entirely to alternative music. In 1992 Dutch radio station RTL Radio started broadcasting. After this station failed to be a success, its format and name was first changed to RTL ...

and TMF, while in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, the song debuted at number 100 on September 19, peaking in its second week of three at number 80 (it also reached number 21 on the French airplay charts). In

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

, "...Paranoid" spent eighteen weeks on the airplay charts, and reached the Top 20 on their sales chart; in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, the single was heavily supported by

FM4 FM4 is an Austrian national radio station operated by the ORF. Its main target is the youth audience, and much of the music output is characterised by an alternative rock and electronic music slant. Programmimg The programming of ''FM4'' is als ...

radio, and licensed to a ''Megacard''

sampler CD A sampler or promotional compilation is a type of compilation album generally offered at a reduced price to showcase an artist or a selection of artists signed to a particular record label. The format became popular in the late 1960s as record labe ...

as a youth incentive from

Bank Austria UniCredit Bank Austria AG, branded and widely referred to as Bank Austria, is an Austrian bank, 96.35% owned by Milan-based UniCredit. It was formed in 1991 by merger of Vienna's Länderbank and Zentralsparkasse, acquired Creditanstalt-Bankverein ...

; in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, "...Paranoid" was heavily supported by stations

Studio Brussel A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery ( ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industria ...

(where it was voted listener's number-one choice) and

Radio 21 Virgin Radio Romania is a Romanian national radio station with coverage in almost all the cities of the country. Virgin Radio started broadcasting in Romania on 9 January 2017. Virgin Radio Romania is part of a media group that also operates ...

; in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, "I Think I'm Paranoid" topped their airplay chart for a single week in September 1998. In Italy, "I Think I'm Paranoid" featured on a 30-second advert campaign for Breil and received heavy rotation from

, shifting 9,000 sales of the single there. Other major supporters of "I Think I'm Paranoid" were

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

NRJ NRJ (NRJ is an acronym read as Nouvelle Radio Jeune, or ''énergie'' in French, pronounced , literally "energy") is a private French radio station created by Jean-Paul Baudecroux and Max Guazzini in June 1981, and was widely popularized th ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

's Radio 3 and

Atomic TV Atomic TV (stylized as Atomic. and simply known as Atomic) is a Romanian television network launched on 20 November 2021 as an online livestreaming channel, and on 23 November 2021 as a television channel. The channel primarily airs music made in ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

Antena 3 Antena 3 may refer to: * Antena 3 (Portugal), a national radio channel produced by the Portuguese public broadcasting entity Rádio e Televisão de Portugal *Antena 3 (Romania), a Romanian television channel owned by Intact Media Group *Antena 3 (Sp ...

, Sweden's ZTV, Switzerland's

DRS 3 Radio SRF 3 is the third radio station from Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF; "Swiss Radio and Television") is a Swiss broadcasting company created on 1 January 2011 through the merger of radio company Schwei ...

and One FM ("...Paranoid" was the number 2 newcomer on Swiss radio the week of airplay impact) who all playlisted the track. "I Think I'm Paranoid" reached number 25 on the European Top 50 Airplay chart and number 35 on the

European Top 100 The European Top 100 Albums chart was the European adaptation of the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart. It ran from March 1984 until December 2010. Also commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums, the chart showcased the sales of an act in 19 E ...

sales chart. In

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

, BMG released "I Think I'm Paranoid" as a commercial single, where it had reached number 4 on their airplay charts. Argentina was the only Latin American country to see a commercial release. In

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

, "..Paranoid" reached number 4 and spent five weeks in the airplay top ten; while in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

the single spent thirteen weeks on their airplay charts. In

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, "...Paranoid" reached the airplay top five. Over in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, "..Paranoid" was the number-one track on two radio stations, including

5FM 5FM is a South African FM radio station that follows a Top 40 music format and is owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), South Africa's public broadcaster. SABC announced the appointment of Mr. JD Mostert as Business Mana ...

White Records White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. W ...

released "I Think I'm Paranoid" in Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

on July 27 as a two-CD set. In Australia, the song peaked at number 57, spending five weeks in the top 100

ARIA singles chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

, however in New Zealand, the song debuted at number 29, before peaking on its second of five weeks at number 19. Australia's

Channel V Channel '' ("V" standing for the letter, not the Roman numeral "5") is a Chinese and former Asian pay television musical network originally launched by Star TV Hong Kong (now Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific). It was part of the unit of Dis ...

and

Triple-J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broadc ...

radio heavily supported "...Paranoid". In North America, Almo Sounds opted to give "I Think I'm Paranoid" an airplay-only release, where it debuted on the Modern Rock chart at number 30 on July 18, and peaking for five weeks at number 6 across September of that year, eventually registering twenty six weeks on the chart. On August 15, the same week that "I Think I'm Paranoid" broke into the Modern Rock Top 10, the song made its debut appearance on the

Hot 100 Airplay The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014 and Top 40 Radio Monitor until 1991) is released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout the United States acro ...

chart, peaking at number 70 on the fourth of six consecutive weeks on that chart. Remixes of the song by The Crystal Method (in which the song was retitled "I Think I'm Crystalized") would later be given a physical distribution on

12" vinyl The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

on a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

release with remixes of "Push It" by

Victor Calderone Victor Calderone (born March 20, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American electronic music producer, DJ and remixer. Biography Raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, Calderone was introduced into New York City's nightlif ...

. The song's North American chart run was concurrent with the band's headline tour of the United States and Canada, which ran from September to December.

After release

An acoustic recording of "I Think I'm Paranoid" recorded by the band for

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

rock compilation ''The End Sessions, Vol 2'' was released in November 1999. "I Think I'm Paranoid" was licensed for inclusion on the 1999

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

videogame Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedback ...

Gran Turismo 2 ''Gran Turismo 2'' is a 1999 racing game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It is the sequel to '' Gran Turismo''. It was well-received critically and financially, shipping 1.71&n ...

'', and eight years later, on the 2007 video game ''

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two gui ...

'' as a playable track. In May 2001,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

-based

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

Helios Music Corporation filed a

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

suit against Garbage, the band's own publisher Rondor Music, its North American record label Almo Sounds, and seven other co-defendants in the

United States District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a Federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, m ...

, alleging that "I Think I'm Paranoid" copied "significant elements of both lyrics and music" from the 1967

Scott English Sheldon David "Scott" English (January 10, 1937 – November 16, 2018) was an American songwriter, arranger and record producer. He is best known as the co-writer of " Brandy" which he wrote with Richard Kerr. This song became a No. 1 hit f ...

and Larry Weiss

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature * Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

Bend Me, Shape Me "Bend Me, Shape Me" is a song written by Scott English and Larry Weiss. It was first recorded by The Outsiders as a track on their album '' In'' in 1966. The best-known version of the song is the 1967 single released by The American Breed that p ...

" (a hit in the U.S. for

The American Breed The American Breed was an American rock band from Chicago in the 1960s. The band was originally called Gary & The Knight Lites before adopting the name The American Breed in 1967. The band had a number of charting songs in 1967–68, the be ...

and in the U.K. for Amen Corner), and that by failing to give "credit to the writers and publisher of Bend Me, Shape Me" the defendants had falsely represented to the public that arbagehad independently created and are the authors of I Think I'm Paranoid" in its entirety." Helios contendend that the chorus to "Bend Me, Shape Me" ("Bend me, shape me/Anyway you want me") was similar to that of the Garbage lyric ("Bend me, break me/Anyway you need me"); Helios sought

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a de ...

for "I Think I'm Paranoid", as well as damages, including all profits generated by the song and for the defendants to cease "any further sale, distribution or exploitation" of the song". Garbage considered the legal action a "nuisance suit".

Track listings

*UK cassette Mushroom MUSH35MCS *European CD single BMG 74321 57438 2 #"I Think I'm Paranoid" – 3:37 #"Deadwood" – 4:22 *Australia CD1 White MUSH01785.2 *UK CD1 Mushroom MUSH39CDS #"I Think I'm Paranoid" – 3:37 #"Deadwood" – 4:22 #"Afterglow" – 2:32 *Australia CD2 White MUSH01785.5 *UK CD2 Mushroom MUSH39CDSX #"I Think I'm Paranoid" – 3:37 #"I Think I'm Crystalized (Extended edit)" – 7:39 #"I Think I'm Paranoid (Purity mix) – Jill Stark" – 5:32 *European CD maxi BMG 74321 57837 2 #"I Think I'm Paranoid" – 3:37 #"Deadwood" – 4:22 #"Afterglow" – 2:32 #"I Think I'm Crystalized (Extended edit)" – 7:39 *UK 3" CD Mushroom MUSH35CDSXXX #"I Think I'm Paranoid" – 3:37 #"Deadwood" – 4:22 #"Afterglow" – 2:32 #"I Think I'm Crystalized (Radio edit)" – 4:30 #"I Think I'm Paranoid (Purity mix) – Jill Stark" – 5:32

Music video

Directed Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

Matthew Rolston Matthew Russell Rolston is an American artist, photographer, director and creative director, known for his lighting techniques and detailed approach to art direction and design. Rolston has been identified throughout his career with the revival a ...

' Occidental Studios, the

video clip Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely t ...

for "I Think I'm Paranoid" premiered in the United States on July 12 and was modified shortly after release to soften some of the

strobing Jerkiness, sometimes called strobing or choppy, describes the perception of individual still images in a motion picture. Motion pictures are made from still images shown in rapid sequence. Provided there is sufficient continuity between the imag ...

within the video. The concept behind the video was simplicity, contrasting with the band's previous effects-heavy video for "Push It"; it was shot in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

in order to appear "almost photographic". Rolston used

mylar BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and ...

to create effects on-screen, and shot the band in

close up A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot that tightly frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium and long s ...

, inspired by the cover of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

' album ''

With the Beatles ''With the Beatles'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the band's debut ''Please Please Me''. Produced by George Mart ...

''. The "I Think I'm Paranoid" video was first made commercially available in 1999 on the Italian CD-ROM sampler ''All About Garbage''. A remastered version of the video was included on Garbage's 2007 greatest hits DVD ''

'', and made available as a digital download via online music services the same year.

Remixes

In 2007, Crystal Method's mix was remastered and included on the ''Absolute Garbage'' bonus disc ''Garbage Mixes''.

Release history

Charts

References

External links

Garbage official website

"I Think I'm Paranoid" music video

"I Think I'm Paranoid" lyrics

"I Think I'm Paranoid" release discography
{{Authority control 1998 singles Black-and-white music videos Garbage (band) songs Music videos directed by Matthew Rolston Song recordings produced by Butch Vig Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Songs written by Shirley Manson Songs written by Duke Erikson Songs written by Steve Marker Songs written by Butch Vig