Misery Business

The phrase "Misery Business" was first heard in the psycho-thriller film Misery (1990). The origin of the song is ambiguous with Williams giving conflicting explanations. The Fueled by Ramen website reports that Williams wrote the song based on feedback the band received after a question she posted on the band's LiveJournal asking what people were ashamed of. Later, Williams addressed the lyrics in the chorus: Williams joked on Twitter on May 27, 2013, that it was about London's Heathrow Airport. In May 2020, she finally revealed that it was about bandmate Josh Farro. She told Vulture, "When I was 13 or 14 and I had a crush on Josh, he didn't like me back. He would go hang out with his girlfriend, who I wrote 'Misery Business' about because I was a dick." ==Composition==

Sheet music for the song shows common time with a moderate tempo of 86 beats per minute, in the key of F minor. Hayley Williams' vocal range spans two octaves from F3 to E♭5. ==Controversy==

On September 7, 2018, Williams announced during a concert that the band will play the song "for the last time for a really long time", due to the lyric "Once a whore you’re nothing more, I’m sorry, that’ll never change", from the second verse that was deemed sexist and anti-feminist. Williams did not sing the song again until the 2022 Coachella Festival, when she performed an acoustic version with Billie Eilish. The song returned to Paramore's setlist during the band's Fall 2022 Tour. Williams no longer sings the line where she refers to the girl as a "whore" in the second verse of this song because of both the controversy it had produced and Williams since evolving in her views. Speaking on the controversial line, she said,What I couldn't have known at the time was that I was feeding into a lie that I'd bought into, just like so many other teenagers—and many adults—before me. ==Chart performance==

At the time of the release of "Misery Business", Paramore was a guest on MTV's "Discover and Download" which gave the band time in the spotlight to reach out and explain the purpose of their album and how they wish to see it grow. This song is the group's first single to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart. During the week of June 25, 2007, it debuted at #99 on the chart and reached #75 two weeks later before dropping off the chart in the following week. Due to increased digital downloads during the month of August 2007, it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 during the chart week of September 6, 2007 at #34. It reached its peak position of #26 during the chart week of January 12, 2008. It was the band's highest-charting single at that time, prior to the release of "Ain't It Fun" in 2014, but "Misery Business" still remains the band's most-played song on the radio to date whereas Ain't It Fun never succeeded on alternative radio due to the band's change of style as well as not having the staying power "Misery Business" had, despite charting higher; leaving "Misery Business" as their most popular song to date. It peaked at #3 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also attained moderate crossover success, reaching #12 on Pop Songs chart and #31 on Adult Pop Songs chart. The song was certified Platinum in the U.S on September 17, 2008, with over 1,000,000 digital downloads. In December 2010 the song topped the two million mark in paid downloads. It has sold 2,464,000 copies in the US as of June 18, 2014. The single was re-released in the UK Accorto Record Store on February 11, 2008 and included three vinyl records. To date, it has peaked at #17 on the UK Singles Chart. It is also the group's first charting single in the UK. It was a success in many countries including Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and others. It debuted on the Dutch Top 40 peaking at #28 and in Finland at #23. In 2009, the song was certified Platinum in Australia. Selling over 15,000 copies in New Zealand, the song was certified Gold on February 1, 2008, with the shipment of over 7,500 copies. ==Critical reception==

"Misery Business" is widely regarded as one of the band's best songs. In 2017, NME ranked the song number one on their list of the 10 greatest Paramore songs; and, in 2021, Kerrang ranked the song number five on their list of the 20 greatest Paramore songs. ==Music video==

The music video was filmed on December 21, 2006 at Reseda High School in Reseda, California. Directed by Shane Drake, who also directed Paramore's videos for "Pressure" and "Emergency", it features a band performance at a school. The video starts out and has cut scenes of Paramore performing the song with an assortment of "RIOT!"s (a reference to the album's name) in the background all throughout the video. At the same time, a girl (Amy Paffrath), presumably the "whore" as subject in the song, ensues terror onto students at a high school. She pushes aside cheerleaders, cuts off another girl's braid, further injures a boy in an arm sling, and ruins a relationship between a couple by kissing the boy right in front of the girl. In the end, the band members themselves confront her and Williams gives her a taste of her own medicine by taking out her bra inserts and wiping the make-up off her face, thus revealing the girl's true identity and putting an end to her egotistical reign at the high school. The video was nominated for the "Best Video" award at the Kerrang! Awards 2007 but lost to Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race." Fueled by Ramen (FBR+) also released an alternate cut of the video that removes the high school clips and features only performance segments. ==Live performance==

The band has consistently played the song live throughout their career apart from the gap where they decided to retire the song in 2018; Although the band no longer do this, they still keep it near the end of their setlist. Usually, in the band's live performance of the song, it is briefly paused midway in order for Williams to bring fans up to the stage to sing the rest of the song. Celebrities are also often invited to join the performance, with past participants including PinkPantheress, Lil Uzi Vert, and basketball player Stephen Curry. The track is also played differently live; the guitar riff in the bridge was altered and a different version was played live originally by Josh Farro prior to his departure and is now taken over by Taylor York. On the last line of the verse Williams used to change the line to the following, to reference the alternate guitar riff Farro used to play. This has been reversed since his departure. Though the band had already reinstated "Misery Business" into their setlist by that point, Paramore had no intention of playing it during their 2024 run as a supporting act on Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour. However, they were persuaded to do so by Swift herself, with the singer telling Williams,"Everyone knows you’re a feminist. [...] You’ve got kids in the crowd who will know that song and then follow you on what comes next. They will get to hear the other songs that you’re maybe prouder of or don’t have this sticky film on, but you’re still legacy building." ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==

In various media • It was in a season 7 episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation, and is included in the Music from Degrassi: The Next Generation soundtrack. • It is a playable track in the games Guitar Hero World Tour, in which Hayley Williams is also a playable character, as well as Rock Band 3 and Metal: Hellsinger. Covers • Metalcore band Sea of Treachery has covered "Misery Business". Williams has praised their cover. Other references • The Professional Bull Riders tour features a bull named Misery Business. However, Rodrigo did not give songwriting credits until the similarities between the two songs were noticed, leading to allegations of plagiarism. ==Release history==