New Skin by Incubus

Album: S.C.I.E.N.C.E (1995)

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Songfacts®:

Incubus lead singer Brandon Boyd explained this song's meaning in a press release: "I attribute a scab to the present state of society. The way the scab looks in its worst state is gross and chaotic and horrible, but when it breaks away, there's a brand new piece of skin that's stronger than before. It's like creation out of chaos." >>
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Tim - Pittsburgh, PA
The song dates back to 1995, when Incubus released it on an EP called Let Me Tell Ya 'Bout Root Beer. They recorded a new version for their second album, S.C.I.E.N.C.E, after signing with Epic Records. It stayed in their setlists through 2002, including their September 15 and 16 shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City in 2001, the first major concerts following the September 11 attacks.
The spoken part ("Up to the Twentieth Century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see, and hear...") is a quote from the author Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983).
While the rest of us were watching Seinfeld and Friends, Brandon Boyd was reading Buckminster Fuller and reminding us that television was rotting our brains. Check the lyrics:

Fallacious cognitions
Spewed from televisions
Do mold our decisions

Another track on the album, "Idiot Box," is specifically about television.

Comments: 5

Luke from Manchester, UkAnd "ahhh" means thought.
"Arrrrrgh" is frustration or anger.
Luke from Manchester, UkStop doing that "putting numbers after exclamation points" crap (eg: "wow!!!!1111"), you look dumb.
Tara from Dallas, Tx"until the 20th century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see,
and hear. since the inital publication of the charged electromagnetic spectrum, humans
learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear...is less than one millionth of reality"

and then brandon starts singing...

"Fallacious cognitions,
spewed from televisions,
do mold our decisions.
So stop and take a look,
and you'll see what I see now."

and he proceeds to yelllllll!!!!!!!!!111111111

hahaha i love that because brandon can't explain chaos. but he does come to the conclusion that chaos has already been seen? and here is where he gets frustrated. and he says to us, "it's all been saved" maybe referring to "saved" as a biblical spew of what has been uncovered by what he seeeeeeeeees nowww ahhhhhhh1!!!!1111111#@123!2342

WHEN WILL WE BE NEW SKIN?
what is he asking?

it's new skin that makes chaos clear.
Mike from Edinburgh, ScotlandThe sample (though I don't know exactly where the audio came from) is a quote by Buckminster Fuller. I'm sure you can find it elsewhere on the web, but one version is found here: http://www.junkfoodforthought.com/quotations/R.htm
Nate from Aurora, Ilcrazy, awesome song...weird and wakes me up

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