"I Think I'm Paranoid" is a song written, performed and produced by rock band Garbage and was the second single released from their second album Version 2.0.

The song was released internationally in July 1998, following up on the success of the band's prior hit, "Push It". "I Think I'm Paranoid" reached the Top Ten on the UK Singles chart and Airplay charts, while across the Atlantic also becoming a hit on Billboards Modern Rock Tracks chart. "I Think I'm Paranoid" became the biggest hit from Version 2.0 in Italy, where it featured on a 30-second advert campaign for Breil Watches and was placed in rotation by MTV Italy.

In 2007, "I Think I'm Paranoid" was remastered and included on Garbage's greatest hits album Absolute Garbage.

Composition and recording

Garbage began writing their second album, which would go under the working title of Sad Alcoholic Clowns, in March 1997 in the band's label-head Jerry Moss's Friday Harbor, Washington, vacation house. The group demoed and made rough outlines for new songs, of which "Bend Me", the working title of I Think I'm Paranoid, was one. When they felt they had made a good start, Garbage took the work they made in Washington back to their Madison, Wisconsin base at Smart Studios and begin fleshing out the ideas and rough sketches over the following year.

Garbage intended their second album to build upon the framework, music style and musical template laid down by their first release; to create a rapprochement between the "high-tech and low-down, the now sound and of golden memories" and wear musical references to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Garbage recorded all of their work for the second album through a 48-track digital system digitally, direct to hard drives using a 24bit Pro Tools rig: the production of "Bend Me" would feature almost 120 audio tracks.

Duke Erikson created the opening guitar riff and arranged the backing chords, over which Shirley Manson sang. Much of the percussion was recorded in a disused candy factory located in Madison; Butch Vig, Steve Marker and sound engineer Billy Bush set up a drum kit within the empty building and recorded various fills, using the favourable acoustics therein. Forced to stop after local police officers responded to complaints about the noise, some of the percussion was later incorporated into the chorus of "Bend Me" (and also found its way into "Temptation Waits" and "Hammering in My Head").

Garbage completed recording, producing and mixing of their second album in mid-February 1998, and the album was given the title Version 2.0. "Bend Me", which had by now had its official title finalized as "I Think I'm Paranoid", was track listed as the album's second song. Version 2.0 was released worldwide on May 11 of that year; despite a slow start, Version 2.0 went on to equal its predecessor, selling over four million copies and achieving platinum-certification in many territories, including United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe and Australia.

Song history

Garbage debuted "I Think I'm Paranoid" live on May 15, 1998, at a concert at Ryan's Ballroom in Combined Locks, Wisconsin; the first date of the Version 2.0 World Tour. Garbage took to Europe from June 1 to join the festival circuit, as well as perform a number of their own headline shows, helping support the single release for "I Think I'm Paranoid". and on British entertainment show TFI Friday. On July 6, 1998, Mushroom Records issued "I Think I'm Paranoid" in the United Kingdom in a two-part CD single set and cassette single formats, backed with b-sides "Deadwood" and "Afterglow" and remixes of "...Paranoid" by Purity and The Crystal Method spread across the two CDs. The song debuted at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart the following Sunday, becoming Garbage's fourth UK top ten hit in a row. On the same day (July 12), Garbage completed their European tour with a "homecoming" slot at Scotland's T In The Park festival. On August 15, the same week that "I Think I'm Paranoid" broke into the Modern Rock Top 10, the song made its debut appearance on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, peaking at number 70 on the fourth of six consecutive weeks on that chart. Remixes of the song by The Crystal Method (in which the song was retitled "I Think I'm Crystalized") would later be given a physical distribution on 12" vinyl on a double A-side release with remixes of "Push It" by Victor Calderone. The song's North American chart run was concurrent with the band's headline tour of the United States and Canada, which ran from September to December.

In May 2001, New York-based music publisher Helios Music Corporation filed a copyright infringement suit against Garbage, the band's own publisher Rondor Music, its North American record label Almo Sounds, and seven other co-defendants in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that "I Think I'm Paranoid" copied "significant elements of both lyrics and music" and that by failing to give "credit to the writers and publisher of ["Bend Me, Shape Me"], the defendants had falsely represented to the public that [Garbage] had independently created and are the authors of ["I Think I'm Paranoid"], in its entirety." Garbage considered the legal action a "nuisance suit".

Music video

thumb|right|[[Shirley Manson (left) and her mouth in the "I Think I'm Paranoid" video.]] Directed by Matthew Rolston in Los Angeles' Occidental Studios, the video clip for "I Think I'm Paranoid" premiered in the United States on July 12 and was modified shortly after release to soften some of the strobing within the video.

The concept behind the video was simplicity, contrasting with the band's previous effects-heavy video for "Push It"; it was shot in black and white in order to appear "almost photographic". Rolston used mylar to create effects on-screen, and shot the band in close up, inspired by the cover of The Beatles' album With the Beatles.

The "I Think I'm Paranoid" video was first made commercially available in 1999 on the Italian CD-ROM sampler All About Garbage. A remastered version of the video was included on Garbage's 2007 greatest hits DVD Absolute Garbage,

|57

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!scope="row"|European Hot 100 (Billboard)

|5

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!scope="row"|Spain Airplay (AFYVE)

|1

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Release history

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|+Release history and formats for "I Think I'm Paranoid"

!scope="col"|Territory

!scope="col"|Release date

!scope="col"|Record label

!scope="col"|Format

|-

!scope="row"|Europe

|rowspan="2"|July 6, 1998

|BMG

|CD maxi, CD single

|-

!scope="row" rowspan="2"|United Kingdom

|rowspan="2"|Mushroom Records UK

|2×CD single set, cassette single

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|rowspan="2"|July 13, 1998

|3" CD

|-

!scope="row"|United States

|Almo Sounds

|Airplay: Modern Rock

|-

!scope="row"|Australia

|July 27, 1998

|White Records

|2×CD single set

|}

References

  • "I Think I'm Paranoid" music video
  • "I Think I'm Paranoid" lyrics
  • "I Think I'm Paranoid" release discography