"Dirt Room" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
||||
Single by Blue October | ||||
from the album Approaching Normal | ||||
Released | December 23, 2008 | |||
Format | Digital download | |||
Genre | Hard rock, alternative metal, alternative rock, art rock | |||
Length | 3:24 | |||
Label | Universal Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | Justin Furstenfeld, C.B. Hudson III*-, Jeremy Furstenfeld, Ryan Delahoussaye, Matt Noveskey | |||
Blue October singles chronology | ||||
|
"Dirt Room" was the first single from alternative rock band Blue October's fifth studio album, Approaching Normal. The song was released to digital outlet stores on December 23, 2008 and to radio on January 13, 2009. An acoustic version of the song was included on the band's album Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October, and a live electric version appears on the live album/concert film Things We Do At Night - Live From Texas.
The music video premiered on Yahoo! Music on January 27, 2009 and was directed by Kevin Kerslake. It is centered around a robber (played by frontman Justin Furstenfeld) who is captured by his attempted victim. He is tied up and the captor threatens him with premature burial. At the end of the video he is placed in an open grave and viewed by a great deal of people, including two police officers. These scenes are intercut with footage of the band playing the song in the living room of the captor's house. The music video shows Justin burning a hundred dollar bill with the initials, "M.R." clearly displayed to the camera before the flames erupt. Justin has admitted that this song was inspired by an ex-friend who matches those same initials. His initial discussions of this lawsuit were very vague due to the legal requirements during an ongoing lawsuit.
During the hushed period, Furstenfeld told Music Interviews Now: "That song is about not being a passive idiot anymore and not letting people take advantage of you anymore just because of who you are. I wouldn't say that we're famous… we are just normal people that get put on TV and stuff. That is just who we are… so if that makes us famous like the E! Entertainment crap, that's not us. People want to see you in that part and think you are rich, and they start to come out of the wood work…and they start asking for things over and over again, and that song's about just taking it too far. There was an incident that happened, I can't even talk about it… but I took care of it, wrote the song, and that's my revenge. I use my words as weapons. No one will take advantage of my family again. I usually do all the writing and on this new album everyone did some writing and it was really special to me."