"Irresistible Force" is the second
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 American
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1985. The band's best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Perry Farrell, bassist Eric Avery, drummer Stephen Perkins and guitarist Dave Navarro. Jane's Addicti ...
's fourth studio album, ''
The Great Escape Artist
''The Great Escape Artist'' is the fourth and final studio album by the American alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, released October 18, 2011 on Capitol Records. The album was the band's first since its 2003 release ''Strays (Jane's Addicti ...
''. The song was released on August 3, 2011.
Musical style and lyrics
The song features
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio (TVOTR) is an American rock music, rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2001. The band consists of Tunde Adebimpe (vocals, loops), Dave Sitek (guitars, keyboards, loops), Kyp Malone (vocals, guitars, bass, loops), and ...
member and
multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency.
Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...
Dave Sitek
David Andrew Sitek (born September 6, 1972) is an American musician and record producer, known for his work with his band TV on the Radio. He has also worked with bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars, Foals, Celebration, Little Dragon, Wavves ...
on guitar and bass guitar. It is less
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 ...
-laden than the previous Jane's Addiction single, "
End to the Lies", and focuses more on
synth
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
-aided textures and atmospheric
soundscape
A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term, originally coined by Michael Southworth, was popularized by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...
s.
The song starts with a
spoken word
Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...
intro and continues on
verse-chorus form, which is accompanied by a guitar solo by Dave Navarro.
The verses, which were built around "
droning funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
" and "the rubbery basslines" were also noted.
Lyrically, the song contains references to the
irresistible force paradox
The irresistible force paradox (also unstoppable force paradox or shield and spear paradox), is a classic paradox formulated as "What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?" The immovable object and the unstoppable force ar ...
.
In an interview with
CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
, the lyricist
Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell (born Peretz Bernstein; March 29, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician referred to as the " Godfather of Alternative Music". Farrell began his career with Psi Com in the early 1980s, before becoming the frontman ...
indicated that "the song chronicles how the universe was created", while the drummer
Stephen Perkins
Stephen Andrew Perkins (born September 13, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter. A drummer and percussionist, he has played with Jane's Addiction, Porno for Pyros, Banyan and Hellride. His style blends rock, jazz, swing, African, In ...
described it as "what pulls him, Dave and Perry together".
Will Hermes
Will Hermes (born December 27, 1960, in Jamaica, Queens, New York City) is an American author, broadcaster, journalist and critic who has written extensively about popular music. He is a longtime contributor to ''Rolling Stone'' and to National P ...
of
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
also commented on the song's lyrics, describing it as "Perry Farrell sounding like
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...
in an episode of
Cosmos
The cosmos (, ; ) is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.
The cosmos is studied in cosmologya broad discipline covering ...
, musing ominously about the stars and some sort of
big bang
The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...
."
Reception and release
The critical reception for the song was positive.
A music video for the song was produced.
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Track listing
Charts
References
External links
*
Jane's Addiction - "Irresistible Force" on Youtube
{{authority control
2011 singles
Jane's Addiction songs
Songs about science
Songs written by Perry Farrell
Songs written by Dave Navarro
Song recordings produced by Rich Costey
Songs written by Stephen Perkins
2011 songs
Capitol Records singles
Songs written by Dave Sitek