For My Sunday Song #329, we will talk about the song “I Dare You” by Shinedown. The song is off their 2005 album ‘Us and Them’. It was the 2nd single from the album and released in February 2006. The song was a minor hit reaching #2 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and was my introduction to the band. But not from the single release. I actually had heard of the band, but didn’t really know anything about them until I was watching American Idol and Chris Daughtry sang this song. That was October 3, 2008 over two years after its release. He did such a good job, it made me check out the band and I have been a fan ever since.
The song was written by Brent Smith, Brad Stewart and Tony Battaglia. I’ve seen a lot of interpretations about the song on what it means, but my view point is that is about the good & evil inside us all. That voice in your head that tells you do one thing while another tells you to another. The opening verse below is pretty clear in my book…
“Hello, let me introduce you to
The characters in the show
One says yes, one says no
Decide, which voice in your head you can keep alive“
The protagonist is daring the evil side to tell him to walk through fire, but he won’t do it. He struggles every day with that voice telling him to something he knows is wrong and it is tempting to give in. It feels like addict trying to deal with the demons of being an addict and struggling every day wanting that next hit, but fighting off those voices to choose the right way. Of course, you can say it is about whatever you think it is, but this is what I pull out of it.
The song is a slower track, but not a ballad. It has moments of softness and heaviness as the singer battles against those thoughts in heads. The guitar riffing by Jasin Todd is fantastic. A great guitar tone. The drumming though is an even brighter side of the song. Barry Kerch just pummels away on those skins. His fills are perfect. Brent’s vocals capture all the emotion from the lyrics as he is soft at times and aggressive and angry at others. You are taken on a wonderful ride through this song.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 