Behind The Songs: Stockholm Syndrome

Hi! 

I've been playing this song non-stop today, so this Behind The Songs post is about Stockholm Syndrome. 

About Stockholm Syndrome

While this song was written on piano by Matthew Bellamy, it was recorded on both guitar and synths. Matt then mixed both of the sounds together. The main riff was inspired by System of a Down. Standard set closer throughout the Absolution tour and sometimes during the Black Holes and Revelations tour. Usually multiple riffs are played after the song. An example of this is the L.A Staples Centre Gig in which more than eight riffs were played after Stockholm Syndrome.

Stockholm Syndrome is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg, Stockholm in which the bank robbers held bank employees hostage from August 23 to August 28, 1973. In this case, the victims became emotionally attached to, and even defended, their captors after they were freed from their six-day ordeal. The term was coined by the criminologist and psychologist Nils Bejerot, who assisted the police during the robbery, and referred to the syndrome in a news broadcast. The majority of the hostages were okay, but one of them committed suicide and another changed his name to that of one of his captors and disappeared.

The song was added to Guitar Hero 3 on 8th May 2008 along with Supermassive Black Hole and Exo-Politics as part of a Muse track pack.

A cover of this song is featured on the String Quartet Tribute to Muse.

The effect that Matt uses on this song live on H.A.A.R.P (which he kicks on after the second chorus) is what's known as 'zero-through flange'; which, incidentally, is the earliest form of flange, back when recording engineers were pinching the actual tape to get the effect. However, zero-through flange is available on very few conventional flanger pedals. Matt achieves this effect by using his TC Electronic G Major (this effect is also available on the TC Electronic Vortex flanger, for those of you who want to replicate the sound at a much cheaper price).

When the chorus is played backwards, it sounds something like "You can't see me, we sneak off. I lost to love. Please ... save the night wind and high above, I lost to love. Sing, save". Allegedly.

Lyrics

I won't stand in your way 

Let your hatred grow

 And she'll scream and she'll shout and she'll pray 

And she had a name, yeah she had a name

 I won't hold you back

 Let your anger rise 

And we'll fly and we'll fall and we'll burn

 No one will recall, no one will recall 

This is the last time I'll abandon you 

And this is

The last time I'll forget you 

I wish I could 

Look to the stars

Let hope burn in your eyes 

And we'll love and we'll hate and we'll die 

All to no avail, all to no avail 

This is the last time I'll abandon you 

And this is 

The last time I'll forget you 

I wish I could 

This is the last time I'll abandon you 

And this is 

The last time I'll forget you

I wish I could 

I wish I could 

Music Video

I also found another video:

The actual song starts at about 0:25

Gasoline Diamond

Source: MuseWiki.org