Go Insane (song)

"Go Insane"
Single by Lindsey Buckingham
from the album Go Insane
B-side"Play in the Rain"
ReleasedJuly 1984
GenreRock, New wave
Length3:08
LabelElektra/Warner Music Group
Songwriter(s)Lindsey Buckingham
Producer(s)Lindsey Buckingham, Gordon Fordyce
Lindsey Buckingham singles chronology
"Holiday Road"
(1983) 		"Go Insane"
(1984) 		"Slow Dancing"
(1984)
Audio sample
"Go Insane"

"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]

Lyrics

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.

“We were disintegrating as couples, by virtue of that, we were suffering as people. So in order to get work done, I had to go through this elaborate exercise in denial – leaving whole areas of baggage on the other side of the room, compartmentalize feelings... no time to get closure, to work things out... working in a very highly charged and ambivalent environment. So the go insane thing – would just be whenever I let my guard down and got back to all the things I hadn’t dealt with, it was almost like going insane – like I always do. Took a long, long time, working in an artificial environment on a personal level. So many things not worked through for a long, long time."[3]

Critical reception

Billboard described the song as "aggressive, electronic dance-rock."[4] 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."[5] AllMusic likened "Go Insane" to Buckingham's work with Fleetwood Mac and highlighted the song's "massed choral sounds."[6]

Personnel

Chart history

Chart (1984) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] 100
Canada RPM Top Singles[8] 57
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[9] 23
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[10] 24
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[11] 4

Other versions

In concerts, notably on The Dance, Buckingham did an acoustic fingerstyle version of "Go Insane", which featured just him and a nylon-string guitar. He first performed the song in this style on his 1992–1993 tour promoting the Out of the Cradle album.[12]

During the 2008 Gift of Screws tour, as well as Fleetwood Mac's 2009 Unleashed tour, he played the original version of the song. He returned to performing the solo acoustic version on his 2011 Seeds We Sow tour.

References

  1. ^ "1985". www.mtv.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2000. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  2. ^ Wasahla, Steve (May 1985). "Song Hits (05/1985), Lindsey Buckingham". The Blue Letter Archives. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
  3. ^ April 16, 2008 Rockline Radio interview
  4. ^ "Singles Reviews". Billboard. July 21, 1984. p. 57. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  5. ^ Himes, Geoffrey (September 16, 1984). "Lindsey Buckingham's Unusual Mix". Washington Post. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  6. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane Album Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
  7. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  8. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1984-10-27. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  9. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 122.
  10. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 29, 1984". Archived from the original on October 1, 2012. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
  11. ^ "Lindsey Buckingham Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  12. ^ Snyder, Michael (March 12, 1993). "Buckingham Goes His Own Way: Ex-Fleetwood Mac Guitarist On His First Solo Tour". The Blue Letter Archives. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2024.