Black Heart Inertia

Album: Monuments and Melodies (2009)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song and "Midnight Swim" are the only two new tracks on Incubus' best-of collection Monuments and Melodies. The two songs were recorded in Los Angeles during guitarist Michael Einziger's winter break from Harvard University, where he explained to Billboard magazine that he'd "just taking courses for personal enjoyment."
  • Einziger told Billboard magazine that Monuments and Melodies started out as "a contractual obligation." He added that he and his bandmates "weren't really excited at first" about putting together a greatest hits package. But they eventually changed their minds. Einziger explained: "It was almost like we were trying to come up with an excuse to go on tour for the summer, and we started really thinking about the idea of putting out a greatest hits album and having that as the excuse to accompany the tour we were planning. And then as we started planning it, it became really obvious that greatest hits records are really important to the legacy of any band. I was introduced to most of the groups I grew up listening to - artists like Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley and the Doors - through their greatest hits records. So we began realizing that it's in fact really an honor to be able to put together a greatest hits package, and it started becoming nostalgic, like watching a home movie. It's really cool to take a step back and look at this collection of music we've spent all these years writing and playing. It's humbling."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Angelo Moore of Fishbone

Angelo Moore of FishboneSongwriter Interviews

Fishbone has always enjoyed much more acclaim than popularity - Angelo might know why.

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.

Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty

Rob Thomas of Matchbox TwentySongwriter Interviews

Rob Thomas on his Social Distance Sessions, co-starring with a camel, and his friendship with Carlos Santana.

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus WainwrightSongwriter Interviews

Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.

Classic Metal

Classic MetalFact or Fiction

Ozzy, Guns N' Roses, Judas Priest and even Michael Bolton show up in this Classic Metal quiz.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."