"Blurry" is a song by American rock band
Puddle of Mudd. It was released on October 16, 2001, as the second single from the band's debut album Come Clean (2001). It was 2002's most successful rock song in the United States, topping the BillboardMainstream Rock and
Modern Rock Tracks charts as well as their year-end listings. "Blurry" also found success outside the US, reaching the top 20 in Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
Background
Puddle of Mudd played small shows in the Kansas City area for most of the 1990s with little mainstream success.[3] However, singer Wes Scantlin got a demo tape to
Limp Bizkit singer
Fred Durst when Limp Bizkit were in town on October 12th, 1999, on the
Family Values Tour, and Durst's label
Flawless Records signed him to a recording contract. Unimpressed with Scantlin's bandmates, Flawless Records scrapped them all,[4] rebuilt the group with musicians Scantlin had never seen before, and flew him out to Los Angeles in late 2000 to record with them. He spent his days fiddling with his acoustic guitar in a hotel room on
Hollywood Boulevard, where he reworked a previous Puddle of Mudd song called "Electron Moon" into "Blurry".[5][6]
“’Blurry’ was basically about being flown to freaking Los Angeles and y’know, I didn't have any friends so they had put me into a hotel room,” Scantlin told American Songwriter. “I didn't know anybody at all. And I was just missing my family and son, I missed my grandma and stuff.”[5]
Composition
The song is written in the key of
E♭ minor with a moderately slow
tempo of 78 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of C♭–D♭–E♭m, and the vocals in the song span from D♭3 to A♭4.[7]
Commercial performance
"Blurry" is Puddle of Mudd's most successful song, reaching the number-one spot on the BillboardHot Mainstream Rock Tracks and
Hot Modern Rock Tracks charts for 10 and nine weeks, respectively. This soon propelled the single to mainstream success, reaching the number five spot on both the
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay[8] and
Billboard Hot 100[9] and number three on the
Pop Songs chart. "Blurry" was the eight-most played song on radio in Canada in 2002.[10] The song is also the band's highest selling U.S. single ever, with sales of 753,000 copies, as of 2010.[11] Additionally, the song's writers, Wes Scantlin,
Doug Ardito, and
Jimmy Allen, won
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Song of the Year and Pop Song of the Year for this tune.[12] "Blurry" also won two Billboard Awards in 2002, for Modern Rock Track of the Year and Rock Track of the Year. It also received the
Kerrang! Award for Best Single. "Blurry" reached number eight on the
UK Singles Chart on its release there in June 2002, becoming the band's highest charting single in the United Kingdom.
Music video
The music video shows Scantlin playing with his son Jordan, interspersed with shots of the band playing in a garage. Towards the end of the video, a man and a woman (presumably Jordan's mother and stepfather) are shown driving away with Jordan in the back seat as Wes watches sadly. The video was directed by
Limp Bizkit vocalist
Fred Durst.
^Blurry (European CD single liner notes). Puddle of Mudd. Flawless Records, Geffen Records. 2002. 497 709-2.{{
cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)
^Blurry (UK cassette single sleeve). Puddle of Mudd. Flawless Records, Geffen Records. 2002. 497 735-4.{{
cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)
^Blurry (UK CD1 liner notes). Puddle of Mudd. Flawless Records, Geffen Records. 2002. 497 734-2.{{
cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)
^Blurry (UK CD2 liner notes). Puddle of Mudd. Flawless Records, Geffen Records. 2002. 497 735-2.{{
cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)