Songfacts®:

• Blue Man Group incorporated vocals into their songs for the first time on their album The Complex and subsequent tour where they performed the songs. "The Current" features Gavin Rossdale, guitarist and lead singer of Bush. He and five other artists are featured on the album. Bush broke up in 2002, leaving Rossdale free to work with a number of other artists (they reunited in 2010).
• Social media was a few years away, but chat rooms and forums were big in 2003 as the internet was becoming ubiquitous. The Complex explores how these computer connections rewire our relationships. The main character in the song lives underground and dreams of a day where he is transported to a better place.
  
  "This song takes place in the subterranean portion of the urban complex," Blue Man Group explained in a "song bio" they released for the album. "It's the place where all the phone lines, electrical wires, and internet connections snake out of sight to their destinations. We wanted to capture the modern paradox of having access to millions of people through electrical current but still being cut off from any real human contact. It's also about getting stuck in a pattern, becoming a slave to one's job or perhaps more specifically, a slave to technology."
• Much of Blue Man Group's music is based on homemade instruments like the PVC pipe creations they call tubulums. The Current is much more traditional in its instrumentation.
  
  "Musically, we wanted to express the kind of quiet rage that can build up over time when people feel trapped, alone and unable to control their own destiny," they explained. "To really play up the 'man versus machine' vibe, we decided to use synthesizer loops and drum machines in the verses. Real drums and guitars interrupt for a moment but then get sucked away and it's back to the cold, mechanistic sounds. At the chorus, when the protagonist fantasizes about getting away, the guitars and drums finally explode and become the dominant force. But again, it doesn't last. They never quite break free. The song ends with the machines back in charge."
• This was used in the movie Terminator 3 and features on the soundtrack. The video incorporates footage from the film. >>

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  Beth - MN
• "The Current" was written by Blue Man Group creators of the group (Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, Chris Wink) along with multi-instrumentalist Chris Dyas and guitarist Avram Gleitsman. It was released as the first single from the album and got a video starring Rossdale.
• On The Complex tour, Peter Moore sang this.