"Inside" is a song by Scottish rock band

Stiltskin Stiltskin is a Scottish Rock music, rock band that first achieved widespread popularity in the mid-1990s. Stiltskin are led by frontman Ray Wilson (musician), Ray Wilson, the only constant member throughout the band's history. They are best kn ...

, the first single from their first studio album, '' The Mind's Eye'' (1994). It was written by Peter Lawlor for the British

Levi's Levi Strauss & Co. ( ) is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's ( ) brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, ...

advert "Creek". "Inside" is a

post-grunge Post-grunge is an offshoot of grunge that has a less abrasive or intense tone than traditional grunge. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label mid-1990s alternative rock bands such as Bush (British band), Bush, Candlebox, Colle ...

song with lyrics about escaping oppression and based around

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's allegory of the cave. All instruments on the recording were played by Peter Lawlor, and lead vocals were provided by Ray Wilson, who would become the new

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

singer after the departure of

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

. The introductory chorus is sung by the

Ambrosian Singers The Ambrosian Singers are an English choral group based in London. History They were founded after World War II in England. One of their co-founders was Denis Stevens (1922–2004), a British musicologist and viola player who joined the BBC Mu ...

. "Inside" was released as a single on 25 April 1994 and spent one week at number one on the UK Singles Chart the following month, becoming the fourth song to top the listing following use in a Levi's advert. It was also a worldwide hit, reaching the top 10 in more than 10 European countries and finding moderate success in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The song was used as the music for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

' coverage of the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

between 1998 and 2002.

Background and composition

In 1994, Levi Strauss & Co. hired musician Peter Lawlor to create an original song that they would use in a forthcoming television advertisement for the company's 501 Jeans. Lawlor needed a vocalist, so after several auditions, he hired Stilskin's eventual lead singer, Ray Wilson. Wilson sang on the track while Lawlor played all the instruments. In May 2019, Lawlor explained that he based the song's lyrics on the allegory of the cave, an

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

presented by Greek philosopher

. The lyrics also reference the

trolley problem The trolley problem is a series of thought experiments in ethics, psychology, and artificial intelligence involving stylized ethical dilemmas of whether to sacrifice one person to save a larger number. The series usually begins with a Scenario ...

, particularly with the line "Fat man starts to fall". Overall, the song is about escaping oppression.

Levi's advert

The

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

advert, titled "Creek" and directed by

Vaughan Arnell Vaughan Arnell (born 31 May 1961) is a British music video and television commercial director. Although having done films for high-profile clients in the TV commercial field, including Nestlé and Levi's, he is best known for his directorial work ...

, is set in America during the late 1800s and features an

Amish The Amish (, also or ; ; ), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, church fellowships with Swiss people, Swiss and Alsace, Alsatian origins. As they ...

family having a picnic in

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

. Later, the family's two daughters run into a nearby forest, where they discover a lake with a toned man washing himself. One of the daughters finds a pair of trousers on the bank, and assuming it to be the man's, the two watch as he emerges from the lake, but he is wearing a pair of Levi's 501 Shrink to Fit Jeans. Puzzled, the girls look around and notice an elderly man swim into sight. Realising the ordinary jeans belong to the old man, they run off and watch from behind a tree as the Levi's Jeans owner, fully clothed, walks to his horse. The ad ends with the message, "In 1873, Levi's Jeans only came shrink-to-fit". The advert was highly praised. James Murphy, co-founder of adam&eveDDB, said that while it was not the funniest, coolest, nor sexiest Levi's advert, its qualities work together to create "perfection in the art of selling."

Bartle Bogle Hegarty Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) is a British global advertising agency. Founded in 1982 by British ad men John Bartle, Nigel Bogle, and John Hegarty, BBH has offices in London, New York City, Singapore, Shanghai, Mumbai, Stockholm and Los Angeles ...

founders John Hegarty and Nigel Bogle consider the ad "perfect" and one of their favourites, with Hegarty deeming it "impossible to improve" and calling the "anachronistic" riff of "Inside" a superb compliment to the clip. In the wake of the ad's positive reception, Lawlor decided to form the band Stiltskin, recruiting drummer Ross McFarlane and bassist James Finnigan, and release "Inside" as a single.

Commercial performance

"Inside" was released as a single on 25 April 1994 in the United Kingdom. It debuted at number five on the UK Singles Chart six days later, then jumped to number one on 8 May, where it stayed for a single week. It was the fourth song from a Levi's advert to top the UK chart, after Ben E. King's " Stand by Me",

Steve Miller Band The Steve Miller Band is an American rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1966. The band is led by Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles ...

's "

The Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, the character first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book ''Batman (comic book), Batman'' on ...

", and

the Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

's "

Should I Stay or Should I Go "Should I Stay or Should I Go" is a song by the English punk rock band the Clash from their fifth studio album ''Combat Rock'', written in 1981 and featuring Mick Jones on lead vocals. It was released in 1982 as a double A-sided single alongs ...

". "Inside" went on to spend 11 more weeks in the top 100 and was the UK's 23rd-highest-selling single of 1994. The same year, it was awarded a silver disc from the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

(BPI) for shipping over 200,000 units. In Ireland, the song peaked at number seven on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

. With its combined Irish and British sales, it achieved a peak of number six on the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

on 21 May 1994. In June and July 1994, the track began to garner commercial success in mainland Europe. In Austria, it rose to number two for two weeks, ending the year at number 29 on the country's year-end ranking. In Sweden, where it topped off at number four, it charted for 20 weeks, spending half of its chart life in the top 10. On

Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from IFPI Sverige. It was formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and has been known by its current name si ...

's year-end chart for 1994, the single appeared at number 24. "Inside" additionally reached the top five in Germany, Norway, and Switzerland. Elsewhere it Europe, the single entered the top 10 in Finland, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, while in Belgium, it reached number 23 on the

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created in 1995 on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organiz ...

chart. It was Europe's 27th-best-selling hit of the year. Outside Europe, the single charted within the top 40 in several countries the following year. In New Zealand, "Inside" debuted on the

RIANZ Singles Chart Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

at number 27 on 25 December 1994. Over the next seven weeks, the song gradually rose up the listing until peaking at number 20 during its eighth week in, on 5 March 1995. It quickly dropped out of the top 50, leaving the chart three weeks after peaking. On Australia's

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian 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 became the offici ...

, the song reached number 40 on 19 March 1995 and spent a total of six weeks in the top 50. It also found some popularity on

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 ...

radio in the United States, where it debuted and peaked at number 37 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 ...

Album 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" fo ...

chart in May 1995. Stiltskin did not obtain another significant hit, thus labelling them a

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

Track listings

* UK 7-inch and cassette single :A. "Inside" – 4:23 :B. "America" – 3:14 * UK CD single #"Inside" – 4:23 #"America" – 3:14 #"Inside" (extended) – 5:09 * European CD single #"Inside" – 4:23 #"Inside" (extended) – 5:09

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the UK 7-inch single liner notes. Stiltskin * Ray Wilson – vocals *Peter Lawlor – all instruments *James Finnigan *Ross McFarlane Others *The

– choir *Tessa – backing vocals *Turner Duckworth – sleeve design *D2 – sleeve layout

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1994 songs 1994 debut singles East West Records singles Stiltskin songs UK singles chart number-one singles Virgin Records singles