"Minerva" is a song by American

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

band

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and tu ...

. It was released in 2003 as the lead single from their self-titled fourth studio album. The song charted at No. 9 on '' Billboard's''

Alternative Songs 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-play ...

chart, No. 16 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 and No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart.

Musical style

Despite the album as a whole containing some of the band's heaviest work to date, "Minerva" itself has an uplifting

sound and has also been described as

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...

Music video

The music video for "Minerva," directed by Paul Fedor,'' B-Sides & Rarities'' liner notes. is notable for its similarity to

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

's ''

Live at Pompeii ''Live at Pompeii'' is a live album and film by David Gilmour, the guitarist of Pink Floyd. It was recorded at the Amphitheatre of Pompeii, where Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii was staged 44 years prior. It documents his 2015–16 world tour to ...

'' concert film. The band is featured playing the song in a desert-like landscape backed by various amplifiers and other stage equipment. It was filmed near the

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly salinity, saline endorheic lake in Riverside County, California, Riverside and Imperial County, California, Imperial counties in Southern California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the S ...

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

in 2003, during a sandstorm. The filming process itself was fraught with problems, as the sand caused problems with the recording equipment and lighting setup. The shoot eventually took 22 hours to complete, with

Abe Cunningham Abraham "Abe" Benjamin Cunningham (born July 27, 1973) is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the alternative metal band Deftones. Early life Abe Cunningham was born in Long Beach, California. When he was young, his family moved ...

saying that " he shootsucked" and Chi Cheng calling it "terrible", but conceding that "it sa trippy video. I actually like it a lot".

Reception

In 2016, ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

'' placed "Minerva" at No. 12 in its article "The Top 20 Deftones Songs", with Jon Hadusek claiming that " na way, Deftones brought

to the

mainstream with 'Minerva', a crushingly heavy, textured jam indebted to ''

Siamese Dream ''Siamese Dream'' is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 19, 1993, by Virgin Records. The album was produced by Butch Vig and frontman Billy Corgan. Despite its recording sessions ...

''-era

Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. ...

and Hum ...

Track listing

Appearances in other media

"Minerva" appeared on the soundtracks for '' True Crime: Streets of LA'' and ''

NHL 2004 ''NHL 2004'' is an ice hockey sports video game developed by EA Black Box. It is the successor to '' NHL 2003''. The game adds three European Elite Leagues: Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), Sweden's Elitserien (SEL), and Finland's SM-liig ...

''. It was also featured on the soundtrack for the 2005 remake '' House of Wax''.

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Deftones songs 2003 singles Songs written by Abe Cunningham Songs written by Chino Moreno Maverick Records singles 2003 songs Song recordings produced by Terry Date Songs written by Stephen Carpenter Songs written by Chi Cheng (musician) Songs written by Frank Delgado (American musician) Shoegaze songs