"Liar" is a song by Rollins Band

Rollins Band

Rollins Band was an American rock band led by singer and songwriter Henry Rollins.They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and "Liar", which both earned heavy airplay on MTV in the early 1990s...

 and the lead single

Lead single

A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 from their fourth full-length album, Weight

Weight (album)

Weight is the fourth full-length studio album by the Rollins Band, released on April 12, 1994 . It featured the band's biggest hits, "Liar" and "Disconnect," which gained rotation on MTV and gained popularity after being featured on Beavis and Butthead...

, released in 1994. It was the album's only charting single and one of the group's best known songs. "Liar" is something of a live favorite for Rollins Band, with its spoken verses usually improvised or changed somewhat from the studio take.

Both a short edit (4:19) and a longer "video edit" (4:49) were distributed as CD singles in various territories, often with one or more unreleased tracks from the Weight sessions added; these and other outtakes were included in the 2004 release Weighting.

The video edit of "Liar" was featured in the song's music video and features a different vocal track and slightly different lyrics in the opening section. Directed by Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade...

, the video itself features alternating depictions of vocalist Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....

: during the song's verses, he is dressed in a plain black T-shirt as he speaks in a calm, soothing tone about trust and friendship; during the chorus segments he is shirtless and painted red, wildly jumping and flailing about as he screams derisively at his audience. He is also seen dressed in a Superman

Superman

Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

 parody costume, a police officer uniform and a nun's habit.

Upon release, the "Liar" video gained heavy airplay on MTV and appeared on Beavis and Butt-head

Beavis and Butt-Head

Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head originally aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997...

. In the episode, Beavis

Beavis

Beavis is a fictional character on the MTV series Beavis and Butt-head. He is voiced by the show’s creator, Mike Judge.Beavis has an underbite and a fixated stare on his face which rarely looks straight at the television viewer, but rather to the side...

 becomes excited about the chorus, repeating the word "Liar!" in the same way he typically says "Fire! Fire! Fire!". Butt-head

Butt-head

Butt-head is a fictional character from the MTV animated series Beavis and Butt-head. He was voiced by the show's creator, Mike Judge.Mike Judge got the name Butt-head from his university days, when he knew a couple of kids who had the nicknames 'Iron Butt' and 'Butt-head'...

 comes to the conclusion that lying is "cool."

"Liar" was named the 64th best hard rock song of all time by VH1

VH1

VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

.

Accolades

Year	Publication	Country	Accolade	Rank
1994	Studio Brussels	Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...	"Best Songs of the Year (1994)"	21
2004	Kerrang! Kerrang! Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...	United Kingdom	"666 Songs You Must Own (Alternative Rock)"	*
"*" denotes an unordered list.

Charts

Year	Chart	Peak position
1994	Bubbling Under Hot 100	9
1994	Mainstream Rock Tracks	40
1994	Modern Rock Tracks	26