Back to School (Mini-Maggit)

Album: White Pony (2000)
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Songfacts®:

  • In "Back To School," Deftones frontman Chino Moreno lets us know exactly what he thinks about popularity cliques, whether they be in high school or in the music industry. In short, he's not into them.

    The clique topic was on his mind because "Back To School (Mini-Maggit)" is the only Deftones song written specifically to be a radio-friendly single that would have mainstream appeal. The tune didn't appear on the original release of White Pony, Deftones' third studio album, and was added only later on the white-covered version (they released black, red, gray, and white variations of White Pony, each with slight differences).

    The band's label (Maverick) wanted a hit. No one in Deftones liked the idea of making a song for purely commercial reasons, but they went with it.
  • "Back to School (Mini-Maggit)" is the result of that compromise with their label. It's a redo of "Pink Maggit," the closing track on White Pony. As Moreno recalls it, "I thought, I'm gonna show those f---ers how easy it is to create a hit. And so I rapped a hip-hop part on that song, we shortened it and half an hour later, the hit-single was ready to roll on."

    The band regretted making the song and decided they would never again cave under pressure to make music they didn't believe in.
  • I'll be the man, watch your backpack, pens and pencils
    Just like Keith now flippin' it, while you just keep it simple


    These lines refer to indie rapper Kool Keith, who Moreno was a fan of. The first line was lifted verbatim from Keith's "I Don't Play" on Black Elvis/Lost in Space, his fourth solo studio album and only one released on a major label. "I Don't Play" is basically a diss track against mainstream commercial rappers, so it fit in well with "Back To School (Mini-Maggit)."
  • In 2000 a pre-mix version of "Back To School (Mini-Maggit)" popped up on Napster (an early file-sharing technology that led to a major Metallica-led lawsuit over music pirating) with some subtle differences from the final. This version didn't make it to the airwaves, but some DJs played a leaked pre-release version of the other White Pony single, "Change (In The House Of Flies)," that they got off Napster.
  • The music video shows Moreno angrily waking up in a teenager's bedroom (he's wearing a Duran Duran T-shirt at 0:14), skateboarding through the halls of Grant High School in Los Angeles, and screaming in students' faces in classrooms. Sitting with the goth kids and punks as Moreno arrives at school is Chi Cheng, founding Deftones member and bassist who died in 2013 after falling into a coma after a car accident in 2008. The "students" in the video were made up of a mix of acting extras and Deftones fans.

Comments: 14

  • Vixen from Nowherei thought that it was about a school at first though tbh
  • Bud from Bellflower, Cait's not about fred durst. Chino and Fred are good friends and have been for a long time. They even used to play engine no 9 together.
  • Rudy from San Juan, TxMarty is absolutely right, Deftones were pressured by Maverick to make a catchier single, and did not think Pink Maggit was radio friendly. So they wrote Back to school hoping it wouldn't be a hit, but we all know how that played.
  • Ben from Vacherie, LaThe lyrics "I'll be the man, watch your backpack, pens, and pencils
    And just like Keith I'm flippin it
    While you just keep it simple" is refering to lyrics by Kool Keith in the song "I don't Play" off of Black Elvis / Lost in Space
  • Thecyndicate from Las Vegas, NvJust to let everyone know, this song was out before the original album ever dropped.

    I downloaded the entire album on Napster at least 2 months before it came out. It was very famously leaked, and the leak included this version of the song, along with the original version.

    This song is for a fact directly about Fred Durst.
  • Saguaro from Phx, AzI think Marty is full of it. What band doesn't want a successful single? And I think that the song is more literal than you think. There is a very telling line in the song that goes like this:

    "You just can't go wrong rocking' the clothes Coppin' the stance 'Cause really it's everything that you got!"

    I think this refers to all the people he went to school with that probably gave him a hard time for his clothes, hair, music, etc. but now love him because rock music became trendy again. I know that's what it means to me because I've witnessed it. All of sudden it was cool for the jocks to hang out with us and they grew their hair out and pretended like they invented the whole style. Just look around and see that it's now "cool" to sport a mohawk. Ten years ago any kid with a mohawk was getting beat up.
  • Tim from Pgh, PaI agree with both of the gentlemen from New Zealand. Where are either of those bands today? Nowhere.
  • Marty from Wellington, New ZealandAlso the Red and Black Limited Edition never had Back to school on it. Just The Boys Republic.

    PS...if you listen to the whole album you'll notice that Back To School is loader than the rest of the album....beacuse it was recorded later
  • Marty from Wellington, New ZealandOK. This was a joke that backfired. mavrick records wanted another single from white pony. Chino wanted to release Digital bath as the next single but the label freaked cause of the theme (about elecruting a chick). So they re-wrote Pink Maggot and where so pissed that their label wanted them to write a single that they wanted to make an OTT rap-metal song and Back to School was the result. Chino and Co wanted the song to fail so that the label would never want a hit signle out of them...but the song was a hit.

    The theme is about all other bands that come out and have milked their sound and made millions of it.

    PS Chino wrote the lyrics at the time they where doing a tour OPENING (yes you read right) for Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit...and we all know how vocal Chinos been on those two bands
    - Marty, Wellington, New Zealand
  • Sam from Champaign, IlI stand corrected. The original release was comprised of 50,000 red and 50,000 black jewel cases, and included both "The Boys Republic" and "Back to School (Mini Maggit)." The second version of the album contained neither, and the re-release only contained "Back to School (Mini Maggit)." (Info courtesy of thedeftones.com)
  • Tim from Pittsburgh, PaOn the re-release of White Pony, "Boys Republic" is not included with "Back to School".
  • Sam from Champaign, Il"Back to School (Mini Maggit)" was not released on the original version of White Pony, but was added along with "The Boys Republic" on a re-release of the album. The original version of the song, a longer, moodier "Pink Maggit," can be found on both the original release and the re-release.
  • Karol from Toronto, CanadaWhen I hear the song i think of people trying to fit in and compete with others for popularity, trying to be what they're not so they're overshadowed by the others, but they don't know how to be themselves because they've tried too hard to be better.
  • Jon from London, EnglandOr the band were analysing the state of high school education, and how people get so caught up and fixated on things at school that they forget of how little importance they really are, and that they're running around attempting to please because a higher power has put them into a competitive environment.
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