Released November 25, 2000 Recorded 1999 Length 3:41 | Format CD Genre Nu metal Label DreamWorks | |
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"Broken Home" is the second single from the band Papa Roach's second album, Infest. While "Broken Home" had some popularity, it did not have the same amount of popularity that Papa Roach's debut single "Last Resort" had.
Contents
Commercial performance
Although "Broken Home" had some popularity, it did not have the popular that Papa Roach's debut single "Last Resort" had. "Broken Home" peaked at number 9 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 18 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The song was on the Modern Rock Tracks chart for 20 weeks and was on the Mainstream Rock chart for 19 weeks.
Critical reception
According to Chad Childers of Loudwire, Papa Roach vocalist Jacoby Shaddix is "a master at baring his soul in" "Broken Home". According to The Observer, "Broken Home"'s title "says it all". According to Sal Cinquemani of Slant, "Broken Home" is "painfully reductive". According to Scott Seward of Spin, "Broken Home" tries "to pick at teendom's boo-boos with Jonathan Davis' self-lacerating edge".
Music
In an interview with Dan MacIntosh of Songfacts, Papa Roach member Tobin Esperance said that "Broken Home" "started out as a real funky kind of groove - a heavy guitar thing" and continued by saying "I was playing that at rehearsal, and it reminded me of Helmet; we were really into this band, Helmet, from the East Coast, and the riff kind of reminded us of one of their songs. I don't remember the exact song. We all just started jamming on it".
Background and meaning
Esperance also spoke about what the song is about, saying: "Jacoby chose lyrically to set the topic in divorce, which is something that everybody in the band has dealt with and kids all over deal with. It's another painful subject to bring up, but people just let loose when it came to that song."
Marcos Siega said that the song is "about a broken home and being torn between your parents". Jacoby Shaddix said that the song "Broken Home" is about his family "falling to pieces pretty much and being stuck in the middle of two parents." He also said "One of them was actually not ever there. I had a bed-wetting problem for a lot of years, and I had a problem with my father." Shaddix also said "When he was 18 or so, my biological father went to the Vietnam War to be a killer for the U.S. government, and it really put a tax on his life." Shaddix says angrily. "That war set up a lot of broken homes."
Tobin Esperance said that his parents divorced when he was 6. Esperance said "My dad's cool, but I don't really know him that well". He also said "Coby didn't see his dad for, I think, 13 years."
Music video
Filmed at a house in the middle-class neighborhood of Burbank, California, the music video for "Broken Home" shows the band performing in a house, with clips of a child's life. The music video shows a mother leaving a hospital in a wheelchair with a baby. The music video shows a kid playing with a racing set. It also shows the mother taking pills, police arriving and arresting the father, the father raping his wife (the mother), the father leaving the family and the father cheating on his wife (the mother). In the music video, Papa Roach's vocalist Jacoby Shaddix (who was known as Coby Dick when "Broken Home" was released) is seen hitting dirt with rage. Shaddix said "We wanted the video to be a mind fuck," Shaddix says "Like fuckin' fucked. I broke down during filming, freaked out." A production assistant was reported to have had a nervous breakdown and was reported to have stolen a van, too. The production assistant also was reported to have disappeared for two days. Marcos Siega, the director of the music video for "Broken Home", said "I wanted the actors to lose themselves in the roles," he says. "[The father] really forced himself on the woman playing the mom. I yelled 'cut' not to stop the action but to stop the actress from crying. It was difficult to watch." At the end of the music video, the members of Papa Roach break things inside the house. According to guitarist Jerry Horton, Siega broke down after a take.
Siega said "I grew up in a broken home, my parents got divorced, and we touched on that in this video. And Coby [Dick], the singer, and I had a lot in common. I didn't talk to my dad for years, and he didn't talk to his dad for years." At the end of the "Broken Home" shoot, the members of Papa Roach showed Siega their appreciation by presenting him with an autographed guitar. The music video for "Broken Home" was in regular rotation on MTV. Shaddix said that the music video for "Broken Home" was very personal for him. The music video for "Broken Home" was nominated for the Short Form Music Video category at the 43rd Grammy Awards.