Shock to the System (Billy Idol song)

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"Of course there's an element of 'Wow!' to it. The three-quarters of people in L.A. who don't live in Beverly Hills saw one of their number being crapped on by the police and an all-white jury in an all-white neighbourhood. They weren't gonna take it anyomre and they actually did something about it. And, of course, no matter how people feel about it now, there was an element of glee when you saw some guy running off with a pair of Nike sneakers he'd only ever dreamed of having. There was a lot of sides to what was going on. There was police, civil corruption, fear, race, rape and revolution. And there was a man who would be King. And we tried to get it all in the song." [2]

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Terry Staunton of NME described "Shock to the System" as being "essentially 'White Wedding' for the Terminator 2 generation" and noted the "embarrassing lyrics". [3] Both the video and song were heavily analyzed for the overtones of racial, sexual, and physical trauma presented within them by Thomas Foster, associate professor at Indiana University, in his 2005 book, The Souls of Cyberfolk.

Music video

A music video was created for the song, and was set in a dystopian future controlled by Cyber-cops (referred to as such by director Brett Leonard). It depicted an individual who records the Cyber-cops beating a man, only to be noticed and attacked himself. His camera is destroyed and the Cyber-cops leave him unconscious on the ground, as they are busy trying to put down a riot elsewhere in the city. Alone, his camera equipment lands on him and is absorbed into his body, causing him to dramatically morph into a cyborg. The cyborg then joins the riot, leading the rebels to victory.

Idol explained that he was trying to capture the political and economic conflict that had created the LA Riots, and that the camcorder as displayed in the witnessing of the Rodney King beating was a "potent way of conveying ideas" and an important metaphor for technology used in rebellion. [4]

The make-up effects were achieved through stop motion, with Billy Idol moving in slow stages during points of the filming. Stan Winston, who had previously worked on the Terminator series and Jurassic Park , supervised and created the special effects for the video. The music video for "Shock to the System" was nominated for "Best Special Effects in a Video" and "Best Editing in a Video" at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, losing both times to Peter Gabriel's video for "Steam".

The video was later released on NTSC VHS along with a making-of documentary and a remix, as well as a video for Idol's previous single "Heroin".

Track listings

Several singles for "Shock to the System" were released to various countries. Several included various remixes of "Heroin", a cover of The Velvet Underground's song of the same name, composed and written by Lou Reed. The cover of "Heroin" also included the lyric "Jesus died for somebody's sins/But not mine", written by Patti Smith for her cover of "Gloria". The Australian, Japan, Netherlands, and U.S. releases included the track "Aftershock", which was not included in the Cyberpunk CD.

"Shock to the System"
Billy Idol - Shock to the System 1.jpg
Single by Billy Idol
from the album Cyberpunk
Released8 June 1993 (1993-06-08)
Genre Hard rock, industrial rock
Length3:33
Label Chrysalis
Songwriter(s)
  • Billy Idol
  • Mark Younger-Smith
Producer(s) Robin Hancock
Billy Idol singles chronology
"Heroin"
(1993)
"Shock to the System"
(1993)
"Adam in Chains"
(1993)
Audio sample
Australia and Netherlands release
No.TitleLyricsLength
1."Shock to the System"Idol3:33
2."Aftershock" 4:45
3."Heroin" (Don't Touch That Needle Mix) 5:10
4."Heroin" (Durga Trance Dub) 5:10
Total length:17:78
Japan release
No.TitleLyricsLength
1."Shock to the System"Idol3:33
2."Aftershock" 4:45
3."Heroin" (A Drug Called Horse Mix) 7:19
Total length:22:40

U.K. double CD release

Disc 1
No.TitleLyricsLength
1."Shock to the System"Idol3:33
2."Heroin" (Album version) 6:59
3."Rebel Yell" (edit) 3:50
Total length:14:22
Disc 2
No.TitleLyricsLength
1."Shock to the System"Idol3:33
2."Heroin" (Smack Attack mix) 6:59
3."White Wedding" (edit) 3:30
Total length:14:02
U.S. release
No.TitleLyricsLength
1."Shock to the System"Idol3:33
2."Aftershock" 4:45
3."Heroin" (A Drug Called Horse mix) 7:19
4."Heroin" (Ionizer mix) 7:03
Total length:22:40

Charts

Weekly chart performance for "Shock to the System"
Chart (1993)Peak
position
Australia (ARIA) [5] 28
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [6] 42
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100) [7] 44
Europe (European Hit Radio) [8] 22
France (SNEP) [9] 44
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40) [10] 34
Italy ( Musica e dischi ) [11] 18
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [12] 5
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [13] 25
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [14] 37
UK Singles (OCC) [15] 30
UK Airplay ( Music Week ) [16] 34
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles ( Billboard ) [17] 5
US Alternative Airplay ( Billboard ) [18] 23
US Mainstream Rock ( Billboard ) [19] 7

Release history

Release dates and formats for "Shock to the System"
RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref.
United States8 June 1993CD Chrysalis [20]
United Kingdom14 June 1993
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
[21]
Japan28 July 1993Mini-CD [22]

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References

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