Harman Patil (Editor)

One Armed Scissor

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Released
  
7 August 2000 (UK)

Length
  
3:45

Format
  
CD, vinyl

B-side
  
"Pattern Against User" "Incetardis"

Genre
  
Post-hardcore, progressive rock, experimental rock, math rock

Label
  
Grand Royal GR 091 (UK, 7") GR 091 CD (UK, CD)

"One Armed Scissor" is a song by At the Drive-In. It was the first single from their album Relationship of Command, and was the first At the Drive-In song to be played regularly on a number of radio stations. This is one of the most well known At the Drive-In songs, and was their only charting single, reaching #26 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It is also the encore song of their 2016 reunion tour.

Contents

Background

According to a Channel V interview, a one-armed scissor is a mixture of "red bull and vodka", and that the song is about their tours told from the omniscient character named the one armed scissor who sees their hardships they deal with while on tour.

This song, along with the B-side "Incetardis", was selected to be put on the compilation This Station Is Non-Operational, which itself was named after one of "One Armed Scissor"'s lyrics.

Videos

The music video for this song contains all footage from live shows and the road in general. A second version of the video was also released with the Fearless Records compilation This Station Is Non-Operational containing more live footage, as well as studio footage.

Track listing

  1. "One Armed Scissor" – 3:45
  2. "Pattern Against User" – 3:18
  3. "Incetardis" – 3:26
  • The song was listed at No. 255 on Pitchfork Media's "top 500 songs of the 2000s". The song was also ranked #1 on Alternative Press's "Haircut 100" list of the top 100 singles of the 2000s. A BBC Music review hailed "One Armed Scissor" as one of the "most invigorating rock songs released in the last 20 or 30 years, let alone the past 10." In October 2011, NME placed it at number 113 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
  • "One Armed Scissor" is featured in the music video games Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 3 as a playable track.

    • References

    One Armed Scissor Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA