| Shock to the System | |
| Cover: | Billy Idol - Shock to the System 1.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Billy Idol |
| Album: | Cyberpunk |
| Length: | 3:33 |
| Label: | Chrysalis |
| Producer: | Robin Hancock |
| Prev Title: | Heroin |
| Prev Year: | 1993 |
| Next Title: | Adam in Chains |
| Next Year: | 1993 |
"Shock to the System" is a single by English musician Billy Idol, released to promote his fifth album, Cyberpunk (1993). Released in June 1993 by Chrysalis Records, it became a top-40 hit in six countries, including Idol's native United Kingdom, but did not make it onto the US Billboard Hot 100.
The song was inspired by the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The accompanying music video, set in a dystopian future, features a man who becomes a cyborg after witnessing Cyber-cops brutally beating another individual. Idol aimed to capture the political and economic conflict of the LA Riots, using the camcorder as a metaphor for technology in rebellion. The video, which used special effects supervised by Stan Winston, was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards in 1993. The song and video have been analyzed for their themes of racial, sexual, and physical trauma. Several singles of the song were released worldwide, featuring various remixes and additional tracks.
Idol explained for MTV News, that he had originally created the song with an entirely different set of lyrics, but upon witnessing the Los Angeles riots of 1992 on television, he immediately rewrote and recorded them that day.[1] Speaking to Melody Maker in 1993, Idol commented,
Upon its release as a single, Terry Staunton of NME described "Shock to the System" as being "essentially 'White Wedding' for the Terminator 2 generation" and noted the "embarrassing lyrics".[2] Both the video and song were heavily analyzed for the overtones of racial, sexual, and physical trauma presented within them by Thomas Foster, associate professor at Indiana University, in his 2005 book, The Souls of Cyberfolk.
A music video was created for the song, and was set in a dystopian future controlled by Cyber-cops (referred to as such by director Brett Leonard). It depicted an individual who records the Cyber-cops beating a man, only to be noticed and attacked himself. His camera is destroyed and the Cyber-cops leave him unconscious on the ground, as they are busy trying to put down a riot elsewhere in the city. Alone, his camera equipment lands on him and is absorbed into his body, causing him to dramatically morph into a cyborg. The cyborg then joins the riot, leading the rebels to victory.
Idol explained that he was trying to capture the political and economic conflict that had created the LA Riots, and that the camcorder - as displayed in the witnessing of the Rodney King beating - was a "potent way of conveying ideas" and an important metaphor for technology used in rebellion.[3]
The make-up effects were achieved through stop motion, with Billy Idol moving in slow stages during points of the filming. Stan Winston, who had previously worked on the Terminator series and Jurassic Park, supervised and created the special effects for the video. The music video for "Shock to the System" was nominated for "Best Special Effects in a Video" and "Best Editing in a Video" at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, losing both times to Peter Gabriel's video for "Steam".
The video was later released on NTSC VHS along with a making-of documentary and a remix, as well as a video for Idol's previous single "Heroin".
Several singles for "Shock to the System" were released to various countries. Several included various remixes of "Heroin", a cover of The Velvet Underground's song of the same name, composed and written by Lou Reed. The cover of "Heroin" also included the lyric "Jesus died for somebody's sins/But not mine", written by Patti Smith for her cover of "Gloria". The Australian, Japan, Netherlands, and U.S. releases included the track "Aftershock", which was not included in the Cyberpunk CD.U.K. double CD release
| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[4] | 44 |
|---|---|
| Europe (European Hit Radio)[5] | 22 |
| Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[6] | 34 |
| Italy (Musica e dischi)[7] | 18 |
| UK Airplay (Music Week)[8] | 34 |
| Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 8 June 1993 | CD | Chrysalis | [9] |
| United Kingdom | 14 June 1993 | [10] | ||
| Japan | 28 July 1993 | Mini-CD | [11] |