Drive (Incubus song)
Encyclopedia
"Drive" is a song by American rock
band Incubus
. The song is released as a single from their third album Make Yourself
. It is considered the band's biggest hit and breakthrough single, eventually reaching the top of Billboard's modern rock charts
on March 3, 2001 and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100
on July 28. In 2001, "Drive" won Billboard
's award for Modern Rock Single of the Year. According to lead singer, Brandon Boyd, "The lyric is basically about fear, about being driven all your life by it and making decisions from fear. It's about imagining what life would be like if you didn't live it that way".
, featuring mostly acoustic instruments
and grounded both musically and lyrically in a very relaxing and positive ambiance.
and Brandon
, the full band with Mike playing guitar, or the remixed version, centering around Ben Kenney
's amplified and reconstructed bass melodies, with Mike playing an electric piano (as seen on the Alive at Red Rocks
DVD).
and Gerrit van Dijk's animated film I Move, So I Am (Holland, 1997). Directed by Phil Harder
, it features a simple musical session intercut with an animation of Brandon Boyd
drawing himself. Many scenes were shot in the McNamara Alumni Center
on the University of Minnesota
campus and in Bairnsdale, Victoria
, Australia
. The video was nominated for Best Group Video at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards
but lost to 'N Sync
.
and Surf's Up
. It is a playable track in the North American and European versions of the video game Donkey Konga 2, it as well is featured in the game Karaoke Revolution Party and as downloadable content in the games Guitar Hero World Tour
and SingStar
.
European EP
Australian EP
US promo single
UK Maxi single
UK promo single
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Incubus
Incubus (band)
Incubus is an American rock band from Calabasas, California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Mike Einziger, and drummer Jose Pasillas while enrolled in high school and later expanded to include bassist Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich, and Gavin "DJ Lyfe" Koppell;...
. The song is released as a single from their third album Make Yourself
Make Yourself
Make Yourself is the third album by American rock band Incubus, released through Epic Records on October 26, 1999. The album has been certified double platinum in the United States along with featuring three charting singles, "Pardon Me", "Stellar", and "Drive", all of which reached the top three...
. It is considered the band's biggest hit and breakthrough single, eventually reaching the top of Billboard's modern rock charts
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
on March 3, 2001 and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
on July 28. In 2001, "Drive" won Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
's award for Modern Rock Single of the Year. According to lead singer, Brandon Boyd, "The lyric is basically about fear, about being driven all your life by it and making decisions from fear. It's about imagining what life would be like if you didn't live it that way".
Musical qualities and influences
The song is what is widely described as mellowMellow
Mellow may refer to:*Mellow , 2004*Mellow , 1997*Mellow...
, featuring mostly acoustic instruments
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
and grounded both musically and lyrically in a very relaxing and positive ambiance.
Live
When played live, the song is performed in a number of different ways; unplugged with MikeMike Einziger
Michael Aaron Einziger is a Grammy-nominated musician known as the co-writer and guitarist of the alternative rock band Incubus. Einziger is widely known as an innovator and enthusiast of the use of pedalboard guitar effects during live concerts, and was voted #41 in Total Guitar's top 100...
and Brandon
Brandon Boyd
Brandon Charles Boyd is an American musician, author, and visual artist. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the American rock band Incubus.-Early Life and Incubus:...
, the full band with Mike playing guitar, or the remixed version, centering around Ben Kenney
Ben Kenney
Benjamin Lee Kenney, Sr. , is a musician from Brielle, NJ, and the bassist for the band Incubus.Ben Kenney played guitar for the hip-hop group The Roots before he joined Incubus in 2003 after the departure of bassist and founding member Alex Katunich aka Dirk Lance...
's amplified and reconstructed bass melodies, with Mike playing an electric piano (as seen on the Alive at Red Rocks
Alive at Red Rocks
Alive at Red Rocks is a live DVD and bonus CD by the band Incubus. It was recorded in Red Rocks, Colorado on July 26, 2004. It was the first DVD showing new bassist Ben Kenney...
DVD).
Music video
The music video is based on M.C. Escher's Drawing HandsDrawing Hands
Drawing Hands is a lithograph by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher first printed in January 1948. It depicts a sheet of paper out of which, from wrists that remain flat on the page, two hands rise, facing each other and in the paradoxical act of drawing one another into existence...
and Gerrit van Dijk's animated film I Move, So I Am (Holland, 1997). Directed by Phil Harder
Phil Harder
Philip Harder is a music video director and commercial director represented by Bob Industries in Santa Monica, California. He had a music video company Harder/Fuller Films, 1985 - 2005...
, it features a simple musical session intercut with an animation of Brandon Boyd
Brandon Boyd
Brandon Charles Boyd is an American musician, author, and visual artist. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the American rock band Incubus.-Early Life and Incubus:...
drawing himself. Many scenes were shot in the McNamara Alumni Center
McNamara Alumni Center
The McNamara Alumni Center, also known as the Gateway Building, at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis, Minnesota is one of the more architecturally-unique buildings in the area. Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction began the complex in March 1998 and completed...
on the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
campus and in Bairnsdale, Victoria
Bairnsdale, Victoria
Bairnsdale is a small city in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. With a population at the 2006 census of 11,282, it is a major regional centre of eastern Victoria along with Traralgon and Sale....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The video was nominated for Best Group Video at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards
2001 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2001 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 6, 2001, honoring the best music videos from June 10, 2000, to June 8, 2001. The show was hosted by Jamie Foxx at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City...
but lost to 'N Sync
'N Sync
N Sync was an American boy band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich, *NSYNC consisted of JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick...
.
Appearances
The song is featured in the films Is It College Yet?Is It College Yet?
Is It College Yet? is the second of two movie-length installments featured in MTV's animated series Daria. The first music video for "Breaking Up the Girl" by Garbage premiered as part of the film, featuring a Daria montage, and the song was promoted as the "theme song" for College; the song used...
and Surf's Up
Surf's Up (film)
Surf's Up is a 2007 American computer-animated mockumentary family comedy film directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. It stars the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel and Jon Heder among others....
. It is a playable track in the North American and European versions of the video game Donkey Konga 2, it as well is featured in the game Karaoke Revolution Party and as downloadable content in the games Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero World Tour is a music video game developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision. It is the fourth main entry in the Guitar Hero series...
and SingStar
SingStar
SingStar is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. 23 English-language instalments of the series have been released for the PlayStation 2, and six versions for the PlayStation 3 have been released...
.
Tracklist
US Chillum promo single record- "Drive (Radio Edit)"
European EP
- "Drive"
- "Drive (Orchestral Studio Version)"
- "Favorite Thing (Live)"
- "Pardon Me (Live)
- "Clean (Live)"
Australian EP
- "Drive"
- "Crowded Elevator"
- "Stellar (Acoustic)"
- "Pardon Me (Acoustic)"
- "Drive (Acoustic)"
US promo single
- Drive
UK Maxi single
- "Drive"
- "Drive (Acoustic)"
- "Clean (Live)"
- "Drive (Video)"
- Includes a posterPosterA poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...
of the band
- Includes a poster
UK promo single
- "Drive (Album Version)"
- "Drive (Orchestral Studio Version)"
Charts
| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 8 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 9 |
| Australia ARIA Charts ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
34 |
| Germany Singles Chart | 80 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 13 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 85 |
| UK Singles Chart | 40 |
Personnel
- Brandon BoydBrandon BoydBrandon Charles Boyd is an American musician, author, and visual artist. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the American rock band Incubus.-Early Life and Incubus:...
- vocals - Mike EinzigerMike EinzigerMichael Aaron Einziger is a Grammy-nominated musician known as the co-writer and guitarist of the alternative rock band Incubus. Einziger is widely known as an innovator and enthusiast of the use of pedalboard guitar effects during live concerts, and was voted #41 in Total Guitar's top 100...
- guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Dirk Lance - bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Chris KilmoreChris KilmoreChris Kilmore is an American DJ. He is the turntablist and keyboardist of the rock band Incubus.-References:*...
- turntablesPhonographThe phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds... - Jose PasillasJosé PasillasJosé Antonio Pasillas is an American drummer known as the drummer of alternative rock band Incubus.-Biography:José Pasillas is of Mexican descent. He grew up in Calabasas, California. He began playing drums in 1990...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Dave Holdridge - celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...