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| artist = [[Lindsey Buckingham]]
| artist = [[Lindsey Buckingham]]
| album = [[Go Insane]]
| album = [[Go Insane]]
| released = July 3, 1984
| B-side = Play in the Rain
| released = July 1984
| format =
| format =
| recorded =
| recorded =
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| genre = [[Rock music|Rock]], [[New wave music|New wave]]
| genre = [[Rock music|Rock]], [[New wave music|New wave]]
| length = 3:08
| length = 3:08
| label = [[Reprise Records|Reprise]]/ [[Warner Music Group]]
| label = [[Elektra Records|Elektra]]/[[Warner Music Group]]
| writer = [[Lindsey Buckingham]]
| writer = [[Lindsey Buckingham]]
| producer = Lindsey Buckingham, Gordon Fordyce
| producer = Lindsey Buckingham, Gordon Fordyce
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}}
}}


"'''Go Insane'''" is the title track of [[Lindsey Buckingham]]'s second solo album. Released as a single on July 3, 1984, it became Buckingham's second top 40 hit (after "[[Trouble (Lindsey Buckingham song)|Trouble]]", three years earlier). "Go Insane" is also Buckingham's most recent U.S. solo hit (peaking at #23 in the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Hot 100]] chart); on the other hand, it did not chart in the [[UK Singles Chart|United Kingdom]].
"'''Go Insane'''" is the title track of [[Lindsey Buckingham]]'s [[Go Insane|second solo album]]. Released as a single in July 1984, it became Buckingham's second top 40 hit (after "[[Trouble (Lindsey Buckingham song)|Trouble]]", three years earlier). "Go Insane" is also Buckingham's most recent U.S. solo hit (peaking at #23 in the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Hot 100]] chart); on the other hand, it did not chart in the [[UK Singles Chart|United Kingdom]].

In 1985, "Go Insane" received four nominations at the [[1985 MTV Video Music Awards]]: [[MTV Video Music Award for Most Experimental Video|Most Experimental Video]], [[MTV Video Music Award for Best Visual Effects|Best Special Effects in a Video]], [[MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing|Best Editing in a Video]], and [[MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography in a Video]], although it did not win any of these categories.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/mtv/tubescan/vma_archive/1985.html|title=1985|website=www.mtv.com|access-date=November 21, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000609032507/http://www.mtv.com/mtv/tubescan/vma_archive/1985.html|archive-date=June 9, 2000|url-status=dead}}</ref>


==Lyrics==
==Lyrics==
When asked about the lyrics of "Go Insane", Buckingham explained that the song was about being on the verge of insanity. "That song is not about going insane for all time but for the fact that we all go insane from time to time. There are times when we tend to go out a little bit and you're walking on that edge."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wasahla |first=Steve |date=May 1985 |title=Song Hits (05/1985), Lindsey Buckingham |url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=72&c=9 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230161800/http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=72&c=9 |archive-date=December 30, 2015 |access-date=November 27, 2023 |website=The Blue Letter Archives}}</ref>
When asked about the lyrics of "Go Insane", he explained:


⚫
In later years, Buckingham stated that the song, "Go Insane", was actually written about his post-break up relationship with former lover, [[Stevie Nicks]].
{{cquote|"Insanity can be said to be very relative to the context you find yourself in. An example might be a very acceptable and typical behavior for a group of people in a little rock and roll microcosm, might be grounds for someone being committed if they worked in a bank".
⚫
{{cquote|“We were disintegrating as couples, by virtue of that, we were suffering as people. So in order to get work done, I had to go through this elaborate exercise in denial – leaving whole areas of baggage on the other side of the room, compartmentalize feelings... no time to get closure, to work things out... working in a very highly charged and ambivalent environment. So the go insane thing – would just be whenever I let my guard down and got back to all the things I hadn’t dealt with, it was almost like going insane – like I always do. Took a long, long time, working in an artificial environment on a personal level. So many things not worked through for a long, long time."<ref>April 16, 2008 Rockline Radio interview</ref>}}


==Critical reception==
"Looking at it that way we all tend to go insane a little bit, I think that's ok. I think that's one of the things the album is saying – it is ok to go insane, it can be quite cathartic actually, to watch yourself go out to the edge and sort of reel yourself back in – now hopefully you do reel yourself back in."<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/interpretations/g/goinsane.htm |title=Transcript of a 1984 interview with Lindsey Buckingham |work=fleetwoodmac.net |date=1984 |accessdate=July 14, 2016}}</ref>}}
''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' described the song as "aggressive, electronic dance-rock."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|title=Singles Reviews|date=July 21, 1984|accessdate=2023-02-08|page=57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j5I4br0t7cwC}}</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' commented that the song's "punchy mid-tempo rhythm, catchy guitar riff, melody hook and the chorus harmonies all make this reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac, even if there are some odd effects in the background and an unsettling theme in the lyrics."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Himes |first=Geoffrey |date= September 16, 1984|title=Lindsey Buckingham's Unusual Mix |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1984/09/16/lindsey-buckinghams-unusual-mix/7b25c92a-7b49-43bf-8b3f-487fc5986c84/ |access-date=December 15, 2023}}</ref> [[AllMusic]] likened "Go Insane" to Buckingham's work with Fleetwood Mac and highlighted the song's "massed choral sounds."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ruhlmann|first=William|title=Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane Album Review|website=AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/go-insane-mw0000649934 |access-date=2023-12-15 |language=en}}</ref>

⚫
In later years, Buckingham has stated that the song, "Go Insane", was actually written about his 7-year-old (at that time) post-break up relationship with former lover, [[Stevie Nicks]].
⚫
“We were disintegrating as couples, by virtue of that, we were suffering as people. So in order to get work done, I had to go through this elaborate exercise in denial – leaving whole areas of baggage on the other side of the room, compartmentalize feelings... no time to get closure, to work things out... working in a very highly charged and ambivalent environment. So the go insane thing – would just be whenever I let my guard down and got back to all the things I hadn’t dealt with, it was almost like going insane – like I always do. Took a long, long time, working in an artificial environment on a personal level. So many things not worked through for a long, long time." – Lindsey Buckingham <ref>April 16, 2008 Rockline Radio interview</ref>

“Stevie, at some point her persona onstage was latched onto and she was in a sense called away by a larger world and separated on her own from me.”- Lindsey Buckingham <ref>Sound Opinions August 2013</ref>


==Personnel==
==Personnel==
Line 49: Line 49:
!Chart (1984)
!Chart (1984)
!Peak<br />position
!Peak<br />position
|-
|Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref name="auchart">{{Cite book|title=[[Kent Music Report|Australian Chart Book 1970–1992]]|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=[[St Ives, New South Wales|St Ives, NSW]]|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6}}</ref>
|align="center"|100
|-
|-
|Canada ''[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]'' Top Singles<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.8962&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.8962.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.8962|title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=1984-10-27 |accessdate=2021-10-24}}</ref>
|Canada ''[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]'' Top Singles<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.8962&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.8962.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.8962|title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=1984-10-27 |accessdate=2021-10-24}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|57
| style="text-align:center;"|57
|-
|-
|U.S. [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]<ref>{{cite book |title= Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012 |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |authorlink=Joel Whitburn |year=2013 |publisher=Record Research |page=122}}</ref>
|U.S. [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]<ref>{{cite book |title= Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012 |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |authorlink=Joel Whitburn |year=2013 |publisher=Record Research |page=122}}</ref>
|align="center"|23
|align="center"|23
|-
|-
|U.S. [[Cash Box (magazine)|''Cash Box'']] Top 100<ref>[http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/80s_files/19840929.html Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 29, 1984]</ref>
|U.S. [[Cash Box (magazine)|''Cash Box'']] Top 100<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/80s_files/19840929.html |title=Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 29, 1984 |access-date=October 24, 2021 |archive-date=October 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001104209/http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/80s_files/19840929.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|align="center"|24
|align="center"|24
|-
{{single chart|Billboardmainstreamrock|4|artist=Lindsey Buckingham|access-date=January 14, 2024}}
|}
|}


==Other versions==
==Other versions==
*At concerts, notably on [[The Dance (Fleetwood Mac album)|''The Dance'']], he did an acoustic fingerstyle version of "Go Insane", which featured just him and a nylon-string guitar.
In concerts, notably on [[The Dance (Fleetwood Mac album)|''The Dance'']], Buckingham did an acoustic fingerstyle version of "Go Insane", which featured just him and a nylon-string guitar. He first performed the song in this style on his 1992–1993 tour promoting the ''[[Out of the Cradle]]'' album.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Snyder |first=Michael |date=March 12, 1993 |title=Buckingham Goes His Own Way: Ex-Fleetwood Mac Guitarist On His First Solo Tour |url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=6044&c=9 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230162056/http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=6044&c=9 |archive-date=December 30, 2015 |access-date=January 21, 2024 |website=The Blue Letter Archives}}</ref>

*During the 2008 ''Gift of Screws'' tour, as well as [[Fleetwood Mac]]'s 2009 ''Unleashed'' tour, he played the original version of the song. He returned to performing the solo acoustic version on his 2011 ''Seeds We Sow'' tour.
During the 2008 ''Gift of Screws'' tour, as well as [[Fleetwood Mac]]'s 2009 ''Unleashed'' tour, he played the original version of the song. He returned to performing the solo acoustic version on his 2011 ''Seeds We Sow'' tour.


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:Lindsey Buckingham songs]]
[[Category:Lindsey Buckingham songs]]
[[Category:1984 songs]]
[[Category:1984 songs]]
[[Category:Reprise Records singles]]
[[Category:Elektra Records singles]]
[[Category:Warner Music Group singles]]
[[Category:Warner Music Group singles]]

Latest revision as of 21:50, 24 November 2024

"Go Insane"
Single by Lindsey Buckingham
from the album Go Insane
B-side"Play in the Rain"
ReleasedJuly 1984
GenreRock, New wave
Length3:08
LabelElektra/Warner Music Group
Songwriter(s)Lindsey Buckingham
Producer(s)Lindsey Buckingham, Gordon Fordyce
Lindsey Buckingham singles chronology
"Holiday Road"
(1983) 		"Go Insane"
(1984) 		"Slow Dancing"
(1984)
Audio sample
"Go Insane"

"Go Insane" is the title track of Lindsey Buckingham's second solo album. Released as a single in July 1984, it became Buckingham's second top 40 hit (after "Trouble", three years earlier). "Go Insane" is also Buckingham's most recent U.S. solo hit (peaking at #23 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart); on the other hand, it did not chart in the United Kingdom.

In 1985, "Go Insane" received four nominations at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards: Most Experimental Video, Best Special Effects in a Video, Best Editing in a Video, and Best Cinematography in a Video, although it did not win any of these categories.[1]

Lyrics

[edit]

When asked about the lyrics of "Go Insane", Buckingham explained that the song was about being on the verge of insanity. "That song is not about going insane for all time but for the fact that we all go insane from time to time. There are times when we tend to go out a little bit and you're walking on that edge."[2]

In later years, Buckingham stated that the song, "Go Insane", was actually written about his post-break up relationship with former lover, Stevie Nicks.

“We were disintegrating as couples, by virtue of that, we were suffering as people. So in order to get work done, I had to go through this elaborate exercise in denial – leaving whole areas of baggage on the other side of the room, compartmentalize feelings... no time to get closure, to work things out... working in a very highly charged and ambivalent environment. So the go insane thing – would just be whenever I let my guard down and got back to all the things I hadn’t dealt with, it was almost like going insane – like I always do. Took a long, long time, working in an artificial environment on a personal level. So many things not worked through for a long, long time."[3]

Critical reception

[edit]

Billboard described the song as "aggressive, electronic dance-rock."[4] The Washington Post commented that the song's "punchy mid-tempo rhythm, catchy guitar riff, melody hook and the chorus harmonies all make this reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac, even if there are some odd effects in the background and an unsettling theme in the lyrics."[5] AllMusic likened "Go Insane" to Buckingham's work with Fleetwood Mac and highlighted the song's "massed choral sounds."[6]

Personnel

[edit]

Chart history

[edit]
Chart (1984) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] 100
Canada RPM Top Singles[8] 57
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[9] 23
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[10] 24
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[11] 4

Other versions

[edit]

In concerts, notably on The Dance, Buckingham did an acoustic fingerstyle version of "Go Insane", which featured just him and a nylon-string guitar. He first performed the song in this style on his 1992–1993 tour promoting the Out of the Cradle album.[12]

During the 2008 Gift of Screws tour, as well as Fleetwood Mac's 2009 Unleashed tour, he played the original version of the song. He returned to performing the solo acoustic version on his 2011 Seeds We Sow tour.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "1985". www.mtv.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2000. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  2. ^ Wasahla, Steve (May 1985). "Song Hits (05/1985), Lindsey Buckingham". The Blue Letter Archives. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
  3. ^ April 16, 2008 Rockline Radio interview
  4. ^ "Singles Reviews". Billboard. July 21, 1984. p. 57. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  5. ^ Himes, Geoffrey (September 16, 1984). "Lindsey Buckingham's Unusual Mix". Washington Post. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  6. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane Album Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
  7. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  8. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1984-10-27. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  9. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 122.
  10. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 29, 1984". Archived from the original on October 1, 2012. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
  11. ^ "Lindsey Buckingham Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  12. ^ Snyder, Michael (March 12, 1993). "Buckingham Goes His Own Way: Ex-Fleetwood Mac Guitarist On His First Solo Tour". The Blue Letter Archives. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
[edit]
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