Sick of It

Album: Rise (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Skillet frontman John Cooper frustrated with the state of the world in 2013. He told Noisecreep: "I try to write my songs about the way I feel and what I see around me and there is this feeling and most of us, I think, feel it. We see something like the Boston bombing and it's shocking, but not as shocking perhaps as it might have once been because of all the terrible things that happen today. And I think, 'you have got to be kidding me!' We are all sick of all this tragedy. The song is very angry sounding and very aggressive but that's real - that's how I feel about these things."
  • The song came as a little bit of a surprise to Cooper. "I wrote it with Scott Stevens and we just sat down and the idea of it came together," he told Digital Journal. "I had probably written about 55 songs at that point and what I really like about the song is that it is so aggressive and it sounds angry but it has a positive message to it and that is really cool. It is a call to change the things in your life that you want to change. I meet fans all the time that are struggling with addictions and abusive relationships and people have come up and told me that this song has helped them through their difficult times."
  • In 2014, Songfacts asked Cooper if their was a final straw that pushed him to write the song. He replied: "That had been brewing in me through lots and lots of events that I'd seen on TV. The one that was on my mind when I was writing the song was another school shooting. And at the moment, it feels ridiculous to say that I can't remember which one it was. It was in the process of writing the album. I was traveling. I had been overseas. I had some bag, I was traveling, and the news was on and I was just, like, 'Man, I have got to write a song about this high school shooting stuff, and I don't know how to do it.' And that was the trigger.

    But, of course, the song is not about high school shootings. It's much broader than that. But that was the event that finally led me to that moment."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Carl Sturken

Carl SturkenSongwriter Interviews

Hitmaker Carl Sturken on writing and producing for Rihanna, 'N Sync, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Donny Osmond, Shakira and Karyn White.

Ian Astbury of The Cult

Ian Astbury of The CultSongwriter Interviews

The Cult frontman tells who the "Fire Woman" is, and talks about performing with the new version of The Doors.

Graduation Songs

Graduation SongsFact or Fiction

Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?

Amanda Palmer

Amanda PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.

16 Songs With a Heartbeat

16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing

We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And Scandals

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And ScandalsSong Writing

Surprise exits, a catfight and some very memorable performances make our list of the most memorable Idol moments.