The first song Chelsea Grin chose to debut off of their upcoming new album, “Self Inflicted“, was a scathing track titled “Clickbait“. In it, the band rallied against the unscrupulous tactics of the music media and while it was thought to be a generalization, the band’s frontman Alex Koehler has confirmed that it was written about one publication in particular. Given the lyrics (see below) and some of the comments Koehler recently made to Team Rock, it’s a pretty short list of suspects. Though Koehler refused to name the target of their ire, he did give Team Rock some hints:
“People have asked if it was about the media in general, but it’s more so about a certain media outlet that’s been a bastard for so many years. We’ve done so many things for them but it’s never been reciprocated. When our band first came out they gave us a bad review, but whatever, that happens. Then it kept happening, and we’d do things like signings for them, stuff like that, and always be very good to them and they’d turn around and shit on us. Finally I was like, these people are never going to benefit us in any way, ever, so I’m going to call ‘em out for what they are. And it ended up being a pretty fun song.”
When asked if he felt the publication’s attack was personal or just on their music, he offered:
“They were always bashing on the music, and I know people have their own opinions, but we’d do things for them on a daily basis that would bring them traffic, and we never got anything out of it apart from a shitty review and some guy talking shit. There was nothing on our character, we just feel like we respected them and had nothing but good things to say about them, but then they were like ‘fuck you’.”
“Clickbait” lyrics:
“ALL ROADS HAVE LEAD US HERE
THROUGH HARDSHIP THROUGH THESE YEARS
WE’VE SPILT OUR OWN BLOOD
HELLBENT ON GETTING UPYOU ALL HAVE DOUBTED US
YOU’VE DISRESPECTED US
BUT WE ARE HERE TO STAY
AND YOU WILL KNOW OUR NAMETHE WORDS I SPEAK, SINCERE
SO LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR
WE NEVER NEEDED YOU
YOU KNOW IT’S FUCKING TRUE
YOU’VE GOT A LOT OF NERVE
I CAN’T WAIT TO WATCH YOU BURNYOU’RE GONNA SCREAM OUR NAME
COME ON SCREAM OUR NAME
OUR FAME WILL BE YOUR PAIN
EVERYTHING’S ABOUT TO CHANGEFUCK THE MEDIA
FUCK YOUR MAGAZINE
FUCK YOUR WHOLE TEAM
THAT’S RIGHT
YOU ALL DON’T MEAN SHIT TO MEYOU DON’T MEAN A GOD DAMN THING
TO US
WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE
WE NEVER NEEDED YOUAND WE DON’T GIVE A FUCK
TALK YOUR SHIT
YOU HAVE NO SPINE
EYE TO EYE YOU WOULD BE MINE
YOU WILL BE MINEYOU’RE GONNA SCREAM OUR NAME
COME ON SCREAM OUR NAME
OUR FAME WILL BE YOUR PAIN
EVERYTHING’S ABOUT TO CHANGEFUCK THE MEDIA
FUCK YOUR MAGAZINE
FUCK YOUR WHOLE TEAM
THAT’S RIGHT
YOU ALL DON’T MEAN SHIT TO MESO THERE’S MY TWO CENTS
I’M GLAD I GOT IT OUT
HERE’S ANOTHER FUCKING SONG THAT YOU CAN TALK ABOUTI DID YOUR FUCKING WORK FOR YOU
GO AHEAD AND PUBLISH EVERY WORD I SAID TO YOU
EMPHASIZE THE FACT THAT YOU’RE A FUCKING BITCH
AND WHILE YOU’RE AT IT YOU CAN PUBLISH THIS DICK”
“Self Inflicted” is out July 01st on Rise Records.
