Shock To The System (song)

"Heroin"
"****Shock To The System****"
"Adam In Chains"

"**Shock To The System**" is a song performed by Billy Idol. It serves as the fourth track on Billy's fifth album, Cyberpunk. It was released on June 8, 1993, as the second official single of the album.

## Background

The song was inspired by the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The music video, set in a dystopian future, features a man who becomes a cyborg after witnessing Cyber-cops brutally beating another individual. Idol aimed to capture the political and economic conflict of the LA Riots, using the camcorder as a metaphor for technology in rebellion. The video, which used special effects supervised by Stan Winston, was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards in 1993.

Several singles for "Shock To The System" were released to various countries. Several included various remixes of "Heroin", a cover of The Velvet Underground's song of the same name, composed and written by Lou Reed. The cover of "Heroin" also included the lyric "Jesus died for somebody's sins/But not mine", written by Patti Smith for her cover of "Gloria". The Australian, Japan, Netherlands, and U.S. releases included the track "Aftershock", which was not included in the *Cyberpunk* CD.

## Music and composition

Idol explained for MTV News, that he had originally created the song with an entirely different set of lyrics, but upon witnessing the Los Angeles riots of 1992 on television, he immediately rewrote and recorded them that day. Speaking to *Melody Maker* in 1993, Idol commented:

> "Of course there's an element of 'Wow!' to it. The three-quarters of people in L.A. who don't live in Beverly Hills saw one of their number being crapped on by the police and an all-white jury in an all-white neighbourhood. They weren't gonna take it anyomre and they actually did something about it. And, of course, no matter how people feel about it now, there was an element of glee when you saw some guy running off with a pair of Nike sneakers he'd only ever dreamed of having. There was a lot of sides to what was going on. There was police, civil corruption, fear, race, rape and revolution. And there was a man who would be King. And we tried to get it all in the song."
>
>

Within the biography section of the custom floppy disk included with the press pack edition of the *Cyberpunk* album, the song was described by Mark Frauenfelder:

> "Idol wrote the lyrics for SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM after witnessing the LA riots that were triggered by ''not-guilty'' verdicts in last year's King beating trial. Why do people need an actual riot to wake them up from something so fundamentally wrong with the system, when it is plainly clear that the world that has been burning with the fires of inhumanity since the beginning of history?"
>
>

## Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Terry Staunton of *NME* described "Shock To The System" as being "essentially 'White Wedding' for the *Terminator 2* generation" and noted the "embarrassing lyrics".

The video and song were also heavily analyzed for the overtones of racial, sexual, and physical trauma presented within them by Thomas Foster, associate professor at Indiana University, in his 2005 book, *The Souls of Cyberfolk*.

It became a top-40 hit in six countries, including Idol's native United Kingdom, but did not make it onto the US *Billboard* Hot 100.

## Lyrics

[Intro]

Woah, yeah

Yow

[Verse 1]

It was a night, oh, what a night

L.A. burning bright, oh, what a night

Say yeah, come on

It made my world stand still

Ah riot, rape, race and revolution, ah yeah

Here come the fire and my world burns still

I say yeah

Well, you can rock this land, baby yow

[Chorus]

Like a shock to the system

It feel good, well all right

Like a shock to the system

I say yeah, ain't it irie

[Verse 2]

It was a night, hell of a night

L.A., it really was, oh, what a riot

I said yeah, come on

It made my life feel real

Aww, fear, police and civil corruption, oh yeah

Is there a man who would be king?

And the world stood still

Oh yeah, loud

[Pre-Chorus]

You can rock this land, baby

Yeah

[Chorus]

Like a shock (shock) to the system

It feel good, well all right

Like a shock (shock) to the system

I said yeah, come on, baby

Shock to the system

Feel good, well all right

Like a shock (shock) to the system

I say yeah, I say yeah, I say yeah

Come on, baby

Yow

[Bridge]

Yeah, well, you can rock this land, baby yow

[Chorus]

Like a shock (shock) to the system

It feel good, well, all right

Like a shock (shock) to the system

I say, yeah, ain't it irie

Shock to the system

It feel good, well, all right

Like a shock (shock) to the system

I say yeah, I say yeah, I say yeah, come on, baby

[Outro]

Shock to the, shock to the

Shock to the system, loud, I gotta

Shock to the, shock to the

Shock to the system, yeah, I gotta

Shock to the, shock to the

Shock to the system, yeah, I gotta

Shock to the, shock to the

Shock to the system

(You got to shock) You could be king

(Shock the system) (laugh) Yeah

(You got to shock) Or I could be king

(Shock the system) Yeah, well

(You got to shock) You could be king

(Shock the system) Or I could be king, well, I gotta

(You got to shock) You could be king

(Rock the system) Say it louder, the world still burns

## Music video

A music video was created for the song, and was set in a dystopian future controlled by Cyber-cops (referred to as such by director Brett Leonard). It depicted an individual who records the Cyber-cops beating a man, only to be noticed and attacked himself. His camera is destroyed and the Cyber-cops leave him unconscious on the ground, as they are busy trying to put down a riot elsewhere in the city. Alone, his camera equipment lands on him and is absorbed into his body, causing him to dramatically morph into a cyborg. The cyborg then joins the riot, leading the rebels to victory.

Idol explained that he was trying to capture the political and economic conflict that had created the LA Riots, and that the camcorder – as displayed in the witnessing of the Rodney King beating – was a "potent way of conveying ideas" and an important metaphor for technology used in rebellion.

The make-up effects were achieved through stop motion, with Billy Idol moving in slow stages during points of the filming. Stan Winston, who had previously worked on the *Terminator* series and *Jurassic Park*, supervised and created the special effects for the video. The music video for "Shock to the System" was nominated for "Best Special Effects in a Video" and "Best Editing in a Video" at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, losing both times to Peter Gabriel's video for "Steam".

The video was later released on NTSC VHS along with a making-of documentary and a remix, as well as a video for Idol's previous single "Heroin".

 **Location** | Los Angeles, United States

## Audio

### YouTube

Billy Idol - Shock To The System (Live At Vota La Voce)Billy Idol - Shock To The System (Live At Vota La Voce)
## Credits

**Personnel**

* Billy Idol — songwriting, vocals,
* Mark Younger-Smith — songwriting
* Robin Hancock — producer
* Stephen Marcussen — mastering engineering

**Technical**

* Billy's Home Studio, Los Angeles, CA, United States

## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9LkXT26Zc0
2. ↑ The Stud Brothers (10 July 1993). "Generation Terrorist". Melody Maker. p. 39.
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQHM4KmDstM
4. ↑ Staunton, Terry (19 June 1993). "Singles". *New Musical Express*. p. 15.
5. ↑ *Cyberpunk: Shock to the System*. Brett Leonard. Billy Idol. ERG Video & Chrysalis Group. 29 June 1993.

## Navigation

"**Wasteland**"
"Pre-Shock"
"****Shock To The System****"
"Tomorrow People"
"**Adam In Chains**"
"**Neuromancer**"

"That Which Beareth Thorns"
"Love Labours On"
"**Heroin**"
"Injection"
"Shangrila"
"Concrete Kingdom"

"**Venus**"
"Then The Night Comes"
"Before Dawn"
"Mother Dawn"
"Recap"