Feel the Pain is a single by Dinosaur Jr. from their 1994 album Without a Sound. It was released as the debut single from the album the same year, reaching number four on the Modern Rock charts in the US and number 25 in the UK. A music video for the song was also released, helping boost the song’s popularity.
Since its release, the song has been praised by critics for its guitar work and lyrics. It has since become one of the band’s most popular songs. Written by Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis. The track originated from a riff that Mascis had written while on tour; he recalled the song’s creation in an interview, saying:
“I had a riff for it. It might have been on that Jesus and Mary Chain tour, on the tour bus or van; I don’t think we had a bus. I think it was in England. I was singing, “I feel the pain of everyone,” when I was playing the riff. Then a friend, John Brattin, who was with me, said, “and then I feel nothing.” And he let me keep the line”.
When interviewed by Billboard, Dinosaur Jr. producer and mixer John Agnello explained that he attempted to achieve a “dry” sound on “Feel the Pain”, saying:
“That song is bone dry, except for a little plate reverb on the vocals. Because it is so dry, it jumps out more. I think you reap the benefits of sounding good on music television when you do that.” The song opens with the sound of a cork being popped.
Tracklist:
- Feel the Pain
Feel the Pain was accompanied by a music video that saw success on music television upon its release. The video, directed by Spike Jonze, featured Mascis and bassist Mike Johnson playing golf in the streets of New York City. Mascis later claimed the video was intended to be more violent but had been edited to be more MTV-friendly. J Mascis attributed the song’s success to the song’s video, explaining:
“Right around when ‘Feel the Pain’ came out, it was on MTV, which was still happening then. If you had a video on, suddenly you were way bigger than you had been. So yeah, you could definitely tell. It was cool at the time. We weren’t huge but we’d gotten a bit bigger.”
Dinosaur Jr.
J Mascis: drums, guitar, keyboards, vocals
Mike Johnson: bass, vocals
