You Suffer

"You Suffer"
Single by Napalm Death
from the album Scum
A-side"You Suffer"
B-side
Released1989
RecordedAugust 1986
StudioRich Bitch Studio
Birmingham, England
Genre
Length0:01
LabelEarache
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Digby Pearson
Music video
"You Suffer" on YouTube

"You Suffer" is a song by English grindcore band Napalm Death, released on the band's debut studio album, Scum (1987). The song is precisely 1.316 seconds long.[1][2] The song was written by Nicholas Bullen, Justin Broadrick, and Mick Harris during the March 1986 demo sessions for From Enslavement to Obliteration.

The song holds the world record for shortest song.[3] In March 2023, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 72 on their "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time" list.[4]

Background and influence

The official four-word lyrics to the song are: "You suffer, but why?". Justin Broadrick said about the song:

"You Suffer" was largely a comedy thing, one-second song...it's ridiculous, but it was hilarious. We played that song in front of 30 local kids, like, every weekend. We played that song 30 times. It was a laugh.[5]

Nicholas Bullen, writer of the song's four-word lyrics, said that the brevity of "You Suffer" was inspired by Wehrmacht's 1985 song "E!".[6] The song has since been recognized by Guinness World Records as the shortest ever recorded.[7] "You Suffer" would become an influence on the "noisecore" micro-genre, inspiring many bands such as Sore Throat, 7 Minutes of Nausea, Deche-Charge, Anal Cunt, and others to release full-length recordings of exclusively "microsong" content.[8] Swedish metal band Opeth and Finnish gothic metal band HIM have both covered the song live.[9][10]

Release

In 1989, "You Suffer" appeared on one side of a 7" single given away free with copies of a compilation album entitled Grindcrusher. The song on the other side, "Mega-Armageddon Death Part 3" by the Electro Hippies, also lasts approximately one second, making the disc the shortest single ever released. Each side features one groove at the outer edge of the disc containing the music, with the rest of the surface containing etched writing and cartoons.[11]

To coincide with the release of the Scum DualDisc in March 2007, a music video produced by Earache Records was released for the song.[12] The video shows a girl jumping up and down with fake blood/gunshot effects overlayed on the footage.

Track listing

Vinyl release

Side one
You Suffer – 0:01
Side two
"Mega-Armageddon Death Part 3" (performed by Electro Hippies) 0:01

Digital release

  1. "You Suffer" 0:01
  2. "Dead" 0:02

References

  1. ^ McPheeters, Sam (9 March 2006). "Extreme Extremeness". OCWeekly.
  2. ^ Rosenberg, Axl (7 June 2016). "What Happens When You Slow Down Napalm Death's 'You Suffer'?". MetalSucks. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  3. ^ Harrell, Ryan (1 December 2020). "The 25 Shortest Songs Ever Released Commercially". MIDINation. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  4. ^ "The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 13 March 2023. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  5. ^ Kory Grow, "Slaves to the Grind," Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces, Albert Mudrian, ed., Da Capo Press, p. 61.
  6. ^ Grow, p. 62.
  7. ^ Kennelty, Greg (8 June 2016). "Napalm Death's 'You Suffer' Slowed Down Is An Exercise In Noisey Futility". Metal Injection. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  8. ^ Camp, Zoe (9 April 2018). "See Hilarious 'Silicon Valley' Scene Featuring Napalm Death's 'You Suffer'". Revolver. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  9. ^ Divita, Joe. "Watch Opeth Cover Napalm Death's 'You Suffer' Twice in Germany". Loudwire. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  10. ^ "H.I.M. Covers NAPALM DEATH At London's GIVE IT A NAME FEST". Blabbermouth. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  11. ^ Grindcrusher page on Discogs.com
  12. ^ "New Napalm Death Videos of Classic Early Tracks Posted Online". Road Runner Records. 13 March 2007. Archived from the original on 16 March 2007.