"My Demons" is a single 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 Wale ...

band

Starset Starset is an American Rock music, rock band from Columbus, Ohio, formed by Dustin Bates in 2013. They released their debut album, ''Transmissions (Starset album), Transmissions'', in 2014 and their second album, ''Vessels (Starset album), Vesse ...

, the first off of their debut studio album '' Transmissions''. Initially released in 2013, it peaked at number 5 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 ...

Mainstream Rock Songs 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 2014.

Composition and themes

The song has been described as an edgy,

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

song with "boisterous" guitar and bass and a "catchy

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described the song as having "dramatic style...

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

elements,

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

, heavy

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 ...

, and more mysterious samples than an entire season of ''

X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to May 19, 2002, on Fox, spanning nine seasons, with 202 episodes. A tenth season of six e ...

''." Converse to its layered and complicated studio composition, the band sometimes plays a stripped down acoustic version of the song live as well.

Frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Dustin Bates described the song's lyrical premise as "downtrodden protagonist superhero gains power from love interest", similar to something seen as in the 2008 and onward ''

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

'' films between

Tony Stark Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

and

Pepper Potts Virginia "Pepper" Potts is a Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee and Robert Bernstein (comics), Robert Bernstein, and designed by artist Don Heck, the character Firs ...

. Conversely, the song's music video was inspired and influenced by an account Bates had read on

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla (;"Tesla"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 10 July 1856 – 7 ...

, in which Tesla states he encountered an extraterrestrial signal in 1901. It was directed by Denver Cavins.

Reception

Commercially, the song peaked at number 5 on the ''

'' US

chart in 2014. The song also spent 41 weeks on the chart, more than any other song on the chart that year, or in the chart's history, dating back to its beginning in 1981. The song had accumulated over 73,000 downloads as of September 2014. Outside of the traditional music charts, ''Billboard'' magazine also specifically noted its strong performance on

music streaming A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to s ...

websites. The song was an especially successful song on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, with the track receiving 285.4 million views between September 2014 and November 2016. For context, ''Billboard'' noted that the most viewed videos of two other extremely popular modern rock bands, "

Uprising Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

" by

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

and " The Pretender" by the

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

, only had 81 million and 143 million views, respectively. The song's performance on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

was also noted, with it receiving over 30 million streams as of April 2017.

Personnel

* Dustin Bates – lead vocals, rhythm guitar * Brock Richards – lead guitar * Ron DeChant – bass * Adam Gilbert – drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2013 songs 2013 singles Razor & Tie singles Starset songs Cultural depictions of Nikola Tesla