| Go Insane | |
| Cover: | Go_Insane_-_Lindsey_Buckingham.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Lindsey Buckingham |
| Album: | Go Insane |
| B-Side: | Play in the Rain |
| Released: | July 1984 |
| Genre: | Rock, New wave |
| Length: | 3:08 |
| Label: | Elektra/Warner Music Group |
| Producer: | Lindsey Buckingham, Gordon Fordyce |
| Prev Title: | Holiday Road |
| Prev Year: | 1983 |
| Next Title: | Slow Dancing |
| Next Year: | 1984 |
"Go Insane" is the title track of Lindsey Buckingham's second solo album. Released as a single in July 1984, it became Buckingham's second top 40 hit (after "Trouble", three years earlier). "Go Insane" is also Buckingham's most recent U.S. solo hit (peaking at #23 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart); on the other hand, it did not chart in the United Kingdom.
In 1985, "Go Insane" received four nominations at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards: Most Experimental Video, Best Special Effects in a Video, Best Editing in a Video, and Best Cinematography in a Video, although it did not win any of these categories.[1]
When asked about the lyrics of "Go Insane", Buckingham explained that the song was about being on the verge of insanity. "That song is not about going insane for all time but for the fact that we all go insane from time to time. There are times when we tend to go out a little bit and you're walking on that edge."[2]
In later years, Buckingham stated that the song, "Go Insane", was actually written about his post-break up relationship with former lover, Stevie Nicks.
Billboard described the song as "aggressive, electronic dance-rock."[3] The Washington Post commented that the song's "punchy mid-tempo rhythm, catchy guitar riff, melody hook and the chorus harmonies all make this reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac, even if there are some odd effects in the background and an unsettling theme in the lyrics."[4] AllMusic likened "Go Insane" to Buckingham's work with Fleetwood Mac and highlighted the song's "massed choral sounds."[5]
| Chart (1984) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[6] | 100 |
| Canada RPM Top Singles[7] | 57 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[8] | 23 |
| U.S. Cash Box Top 100[9] | 24 |
. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012 . Joel Whitburn . 2013 . Record Research . 122.
