Released May 23, 2005 Recorded 2003 Length 3:28 | Format CD Genre Alternative rock Label Geffen | |
"Scars" is the second single from the band Papa Roach's fourth album, Getting Away with Murder, and seventh released single in total. As with several of their other songs, Papa Roach has performed "Scars" live with Spanish lyrics.
Contents
Background
Lead singer Jacoby Shaddix wrote the song after being taken to a hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada with 11 staples in his head in an act of self-harm. Shaddix told MTV News that the song was "about trying to help someone who really doesn't want you to help them".
The lyric "The scars remind us that the past is real" came from a quote by Hannibal Lecter in the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. A film of Red Dragon was released in 2002 and the lyric the scars remind us that the past is real can also be found in the closing monologue of the film. Also the last name of one of the victims of Red Dragon's antagonist is Jacobi, similarly to first name of Papa Roach's lead singer.
Music video
The song's video tells the story of Shaddix's girlfriend, played by Taylor Cole, who is a drunk and parties too much. One day, she gets too drunk and passes out at a party at Shaddix's house. She wakes up the following morning with a hangover, and, grabbing her coat, knocks over a candle, which lands on a mat on the floor. The mat is stained with her drink from the night before. She lights the house on fire unknowingly, and goes home. When Shaddix arrives home, his house is burnt down. The girlfriend comes back to the ruin and sees what happened and realized what she did. The band performs this song on top of the burnt remains of Shaddix's house. This video project was directed by Motion Theory.
A completely different CGI video was shot for the song first. This first video consists in a black-and-white scenery, completely fictional and surreal. In this one, Shaddix and the band defeat another girl that seems to be a monster or a witch. The band was not pleased with it and ended up shooting the video mentioned above.
Chart performance
The single was certified gold (500,000 units sold) on June 6, 2005. The song, according to the band's video album Papa Roach: Live & Murderous in Chicago, tells the story of Jacoby Shaddix's "Horrible night in Vegas that changed my life." During live performances before playing the song, Shaddix often talks about how "the song saved his life". Not only has the song beaten "Last Resort" as its highest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, it was also their first and only Top 40 hit peaking at No. 15. The song hit No. 2 and No. 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts and the song became their first and only pop hit hitting No. 7 on the Pop Songs chart. This is the band's most successful in the U.S. although "Last Resort" was more successful internationally chart wise, also hitting No. 1 on the modern rock chart. The song peaked at No. 6 on American Top 40, in August 2005, and spent 50 weeks in the chart from April 2005 to March 2006.