"Understanding in a Car Crash" is a song by American

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

band

Thursday Thursday is the day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fifth day of the week. Name Th ...

. It was the band's debut single and the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

from their second album, ''

Full Collapse ''Full Collapse'' is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band Thursday (band), Thursday. It was released on April 10, 2001, through Victory Records, to whom the band signed after leaving Eyeball Records. With the addition of guitari ...

'', in late 2001. "Understanding" was chosen for release as a single and shot by

Victory Records Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several record labels. It has featured many prominent artists including Thu ...

during the band's tour with Saves the Day without Thursday's consent. The

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 ...

gained rotation on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

and MMUSA upon its release in early 2002. The simple presentation features concert footage of the song's performance with shots cascading on top of one another. "Understanding" has remained perhaps the band's most well known song and a concert staple. It is usually performed together with "The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (Of Control)," a song from the 2006 album, '' A City by the Light Divided'', that tells the other side of the same story.

Music and lyrics

"Understanding in a Car Crash" has a reference to

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

's "

The Needle and the Damage Done "The Needle and the Damage Done" is a 1972 song by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young. The lyrics describe the effects of heroin addiction on musicians Young knew, including his friend and Crazy Horse bandmate Danny Whitten, who would d ...

Reception

Kurt Morris of

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 ...

chose "Understanding in a Car Crash" an AllMusic Pick in his review for ''Full Collapse''. He described the song as "a warm, daydream piece that might give listeners a feeling that they are listening to a more modern, upbeat version of

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

." It was cited as a favorite among six other songs in a 2004 article by the ''

Las Vegas Mercury ''Las Vegas Mercury'' was an alternative newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Va ...

'' entitled "Road scholar: Crash course - The Doom-and-Gloom Alternatives to

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

' '

Little Deuce Coupe ''Little Deuce Coupe'' is the fourth album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released October 7, 1963 by Capitol Records. It reached No. 4 in the U.S. during a chart stay of 46 weeks, and was eventually certified platinum by the RIA ...

'." In it, writer Newt Briggs explains, "Leave it to the emo kids to turn a split second of underwear-soiling terror into a moment for deep thought and introspection." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' ranked it as one of the best emo songs of all time in 2022.

Personnel

;Thursday *

Geoff Rickly Geoffrey William Rickly (born March 8, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of rock band Thursday. Rickly is also a member of hardcore punk band United Nations, and the ...

– vocals *Tom Keeley – lead guitar, vocals *Steve Pedulla – rhythm guitar, vocals *Tim Payne – bass guitar *Tucker Rule – drums ;Additional musicians and personnel * Sal Villanueva –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

*Erin Farley – engineering, additional guitar

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Understanding In A Car Crash Thursday (band) songs 2001 songs 2002 debut singles