"Passive" is a song 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

A Perfect Circle A Perfect Circle is an American Rock music, rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool (band), Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle released three of their ...

. The song, originating from the

Tapeworm Eucestoda, commonly referred to as tapeworms, is the larger of the two subclasses of flatworms in the class Cestoda (the other subclass being Cestodaria). Larvae have six posterior hooks on the scolex (head), in contrast to the ten-hooked Ce ...

side-project under the title "Vacant", was eventually recorded in the studio as "Passive" by A Perfect Circle around the time of the side-project's demise. It was the second single from their album '' Emotive'', and peaked at number 14 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 2005.

Background

The song's origins trace back to a song by a band called

, a side-project started by

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

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 ...

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He came to prominence as the founder, lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. T ...

and a number of other musicians, including

members

Maynard James Keenan Maynard James Keenan (born James Herbert Keenan; April 17, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, philanthropist, record producer, and winemaker. He is best known as the singer and primary lyricist of the rock bands Tool (band), Tool, A Perfe ...

and

Danny Lohner Daniel Patrick Lohner, frequently known as Renholdër, is an American musician and record producer best known for his work with Nine Inch Nails and A Perfect Circle. In 2020, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Ni ...

. The original version of the song was written and recorded in 1999 under the title "Vacant". This version of the song had the music written by Lohner, rearranged by

Charlie Clouser Charles Alexander Clouser (born June 28, 1963) is an American keyboardist, composer, record producer, and remixer. He worked with Trent Reznor for Nine Inch Nails from 1994 to 2000, and is a composer for film and television; among his credits are ...

, lyrics and melody written by Keenan, and chorus and backing vocals written by Reznor. However, the project was hit with many delays for a number of reasons, including creative disagreements, schedule conflicts with members' other respective bands, and legal issues stemming from all the various record labels the members were separately tied to via their other bands. With the project not progressing, Keenan decided to start playing the song at live shows for A Perfect Circle in 2000. While Reznor expressed irritation about the material being debuted in this manner, where it eventually became a live staple at their shows, the band at the time only had one album's worth of material to play, ''

Mer de Noms ''Mer de Noms'' (French for ''"Sea of Names"'') is the debut studio album by American rock music, rock band A Perfect Circle. The album was released on May 23, 2000, and entered the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 at No. 4, making it the highest ...

''. With the Tapeworm project becoming defunct in 2004, without releasing any studio recordings, the song was reworked into "Passive" with A Perfect Circle guitarist

Billy Howerdel William L. Howerdel (born May 18, 1970) is an American musician, best known as a founding member, guitarist, backing vocalist, songwriter, and producer for the band A Perfect Circle, as well as for his former solo project, Ashes Divide. Howerde ...

and released on their third studio album, '' Emotive'', in November 2004. The writing of this version of the song was credited to Lohner, Keenan, Reznor, and Howerdel. The song was later released as the second single from '' Emotive'' in early 2005. The song was also featured in the 2005

superhero film Superhero film/movie is a film genre categorized by the presence of superhero characters, individuals with extraordinary abilities who are dedicated to fighting crime, saving the world, or helping the innocent. It is sometimes considered a sub ...

'' Constantine'', and the song's

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

also features footage from the film. Both the film's special effects and the music video were directed by Brothers Strause.

Track listing

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2004 singles A Perfect Circle songs Songs written by Maynard James Keenan Songs written by Billy Howerdel Songs written by Trent Reznor Songs written by Danny Lohner 2004 songs Virgin Records singles