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Medusa
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Medusa
Classical Greek depiction of Medusa from the fourth century BC
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In Greek mythology, Medusa (/məˈdjuːzə, məˈdʒuː-, -sə/, US: /məˈduː-/; Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress")[1] was a monster, a Gorgon, generally described as a winged human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Gazers upon her hideous face would turn to stone. Most sources describe her as the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto,[2] though the author Hyginus makes her the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto.[3] According to Hesiod and Aeschylus, she lived and died on an island named Sarpedon, somewhere near Cisthene. The 2nd-century BCE novelist Dionysios Skytobrachion puts her somewhere in Libya, where Herodotus had said the Berbers originated her myth, as part of their religion.
Medusa was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head, which retained its ability to turn onlookers to stone, as a weapon[4] until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. In classical antiquity the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion.
Contents
[hide]
1 Classical mythology
2 Modern interpretations
2.1 Historical
2.2 Psychoanalysis
2.3 Feminism
2.4 Nihilism
3 Art
3.1 Flags and emblems
4 Science
5 Popular culture
6 See also
7 Notes and references
7.1 Primary sources
7.2 Secondary sources
8 External links
Classical mythology
An archaic Medusa wearing the belt of the intertwined snakes, a fertility symbol, as depicted on the west pediment of the Artemis Temple in Corfu, exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Corfu
The three Gorgon sisters—Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale—were all children of the ancient marine deities Phorcys (or "Phorkys") and his sister Ceto (or "Keto"), chthonic monsters from an archaic world. Their genealogy is shared with other sisters, the Graeae, as in Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, which places both trinities of sisters far off "on Kisthene's dreadful plain":
Near them their sisters three, the Gorgons, winged
With snakes for hair— hatred of mortal man—
While ancient Greek vase-painters and relief carvers imagined Medusa and her sisters as beings born of monstrous form, sculptors and vase-painters of the fifth century began to envisage her as being beautiful as well as terrifying. In an ode written in 490 BC Pindar already speaks of "fair-cheeked Medusa".[5]
In a late version of the Medusa myth, related by the Roman poet Ovid (Metamorphoses 4.770), Medusa was originally a ravishingly beautiful maiden, "the jealous aspiration of many suitors," but because Poseidon had raped her in Athena's temple, the enraged Athena transformed Medusa's beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone.[6] In Ovid's telling, Perseus describes Medusa's punishment by Minerva (Athena) as just and well earned.
Coins of the reign of Seleucus I Nicator of Syria, (312-280 BC.)
In most versions of the story, she was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who was sent to fetch her head by King Polydectes of Seriphus because Polydectes wanted to marry his mother. The gods were well aware of this, and Perseus received help. He received a mirrored shield from Athena, gold, winged sandals from Hermes, a sword from Hephaestus and Hades's helm of invisibility. Since Medusa was the only one of the three Gorgons who was mortal, Perseus was able to slay her while looking at the reflection from the mirrored shield he received from Athena. During that time, Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon. When Perseus beheaded her, Pegasus, a winged horse, and Chrysaor, a giant wielding a golden sword, sprang from her body.
Jane Ellen Harrison argues that "her potency only begins when her head is severed, and that potency resides in the head; she is in a word a mask with a body later appended... the basis of the Gorgoneion is a cultus object, a ritual mask misunderstood."[7]
In the Odyssey xi, Homer does not specifically mention the Gorgon Medusa:
Lest for my daring Persephone the dread,
From Hades should send up an awful monster's grisly head.
The Medusa's head central to a mosaic floor in a tepidarium of the Roman era. Museum of Sousse, Tunisia
Harrison's translation states "the Gorgon was made out of the terror, not the terror out of the Gorgon."[7]
According to Ovid, in northwest Africa, Perseus flew past the Titan Atlas, who stood holding the sky aloft, and transformed him into stone when he tried to attack him.[8] In a similar manner, the corals of the Red Sea were said to have been formed of Medusa's blood spilled onto seaweed when Perseus laid down the petrifying head beside the shore during his short stay in Ethiopia where he saved and wed his future wife, the lovely princess Andromeda. Furthermore, the poisonous vipers of the Sahara, in the Argonautica 4.1515, Ovid's Metamorphoses 4.770 and Lucan's Pharsalia 9.820, were said to have grown from spilt drops of her blood. The blood of Medusa also spawned the Amphisbaena (a horned dragon-like creature with a snake-headed tail).
Perseus then flew to Seriphos, where his mother was about to be forced into marriage with the king. King Polydectes was turned into stone by the gaze of Medusa's head. Then Perseus gave the Gorgon's head to Athena, who placed it on her shield, the Aegis.[9]
Some classical references refer to three Gorgons; Harrison considered that the tripling of Medusa into a trio of sisters was a secondary feature in the myth:
The triple form is not primitive, it is merely an instance of a general tendency... which makes of each woman goddess a trinity, which has given us the Horae, the Charites, the Semnai, and a host of other triple groups. It is immediately obvious that the Gorgons are not really three but one + two. The two unslain sisters are mere appendages due to custom; the real Gorgon is Medusa.[7]
Modern interpretations
A Roman cameo of the 2nd or 3rd century
Historical
A number of early classics scholars interpreted the myth of the Medusa as a quasi-historical - "based on or reconstructed from an event, custom, style, etc., in the past"[10] , or "sublimated" memory of an actual invasion.[11][12]
According to Joseph Campbell:
The legend of Perseus beheading Medusa means, specifically, that "the Hellenes overran the goddess's chief shrines" and "stripped her priestesses of their Gorgon masks," the latter being apotropaic faces worn to frighten away the profane.
That is to say, there occurred in the early thirteenth century B.C. an actual historic rupture, a sort of sociological trauma, which has been registered in this myth, much as what Freud terms the latent content of a neurosis is registered in the manifest content of a dream: registered yet hidden, registered in the unconscious yet unknown or misconstrued by the conscious mind.[13]
Psychoanalysis
Medusa by Arnold Böcklin, circa 1878
In 1940, Sigmund Freud's "Das Medusenhaupt (Medusa's Head)" was published posthumously. In Freud's interpretation: "To decapitate = to castrate. The terror of Medusa is thus a terror of castration that is linked to the sight of something. Numerous analyses have made us familiar with the occasion for this: it occurs when a boy, who has hitherto been unwilling to believe the threat of castration, catches sight of the female genitals, probably those of an adult, surrounded by hair, and essentially those of his mother."[14] In this perspective the 'ravishingly beautiful' Medusa (see above) is the mother remembered in innocence; before the mythic truth of castration dawns on the subject. Classic Medusa, in contrast, is an Oedipal/libidinous symptom. Looking at forbidden mother (in her hair-covered genitals, so to speak) stiffens the subject in illicit desire and freezes him in terror of the Father's retribution. There are no recorded instances of Medusa turning a woman to stone.
Archetypal literary criticism continues to find psychoanalysis useful. Beth Seelig analyzes Medusa's punishment from the aspect of the crime of having been rape rather than having willingly consented in Athena's temple as an outcome of the goddess' unresolved conflicts with her own father, Zeus.[15]
Feminism
Medusa, by Caravaggio (1595)
In the 20th century, feminists reassessed Medusa's appearances in literature and in modern culture, including the use of Medusa as a logo by fashion company Versace.[16][17][18][19] The name "Medusa" itself is often used in ways not directly connected to the mythological figure but to suggest the gorgon's abilities or to connote malevolence; despite her origins as a beauty, the name in common usage "came to mean monster."[20] The book Female Rage: Unlocking Its Secrets, Claiming Its Power by Mary Valentis and Anne Devane notes that "When we asked women what female rage looks like to them, it was always Medusa, the snaky-haired monster of myth, who came to mind ... In one interview after another we were told that Medusa is 'the most horrific woman in the world' ... [though] none of the women we interviewed could remember the details of the myth."[21]
Medusa's visage has since been adopted by many women as a symbol of female rage; one of the first publications to express this idea was a feminist journal called Women: A Journal of Liberation in their issue one, volume six for 1978. The cover featured the image of the Gorgon Medusa by Froggi Lupton, which the editors on the inside cover explained "can be a map to guide us through our terrors, through the depths of our anger into the sources of our power as women."[21]
In issue three, Fall 1986 for the magazine Woman of Power an article called Gorgons: A Face for Contemporary Women's Rage, appeared, written by Emily Erwin Culpepper, who wrote that "The Amazon Gorgon face is female fury personified. The Gorgon/Medusa image has been rapidly adopted by large numbers of feminists who recognize her as one face of our own rage."[21] Griselda Pollock analyses the passage from horrorism to compassion in the figure of the Medusa through Adriana Cavarero's philosophy and Bracha Ettinger's art and Matrixial theory.[22]
Nihilism
An embossed plaque in the Art Nouveau style from 1911
Medusa has sometimes appeared as representing notions of scientific determinism and nihilism, especially in contrast with romantic idealism.[23][24] In this interpretation of Medusa, attempts to avoid looking into her eyes represent avoiding the ostensibly depressing reality that the universe is meaningless. Jack London uses Medusa in this way in his novel The Mutiny of the Elsinore:[25]
I cannot help remembering a remark of De Casseres. It was over the wine in Mouquin's. Said he: "The profoundest instinct in man is to war against the truth; that is, against the Real. He shuns facts from his infancy. His life is a perpetual evasion. Miracle, chimera and to-morrow keep him alive. He lives on fiction and myth. It is the Lie that makes him free. Animals alone are given the privilege of lifting the veil of Isis; men dare not. The animal, awake, has no fictional escape from the Real because he has no imagination. Man, awake, is compelled to seek a perpetual escape into Hope, Belief, Fable, Art, God, Socialism, Immortality, Alcohol, Love. From Medusa-Truth he makes an appeal to Maya-Lie."
—  Jack London, The Mutiny of the Elsinore
Art
Perseus with the head of Medusa, Benvenuto Cellini (1554)
Central motif of the "Medusa" mosaic, 2nd century BC, from Kos island, in the palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, island of Rhodes, Greece.
A Roman mosaic from Piraeus depicting Medusa, using opus tessellatum, 2nd century AD, National Archaeological Museum of Athens
Main article: Cultural depictions of Medusa and Gorgons
From ancient times, the Medusa was immortalized in numerous works of art, including:
Medusa on the breastplate of Alexander the Great, as depicted in the Alexander Mosaic from Pompeii's House of the Faun (c. 200 BC)
Medusa column bases of Basilica Cistern in Constantinople.
The "Rondanini Medusa", a Roman copy of the Gorgoneion on the aegis of Athena; later used as a model for the Gorgon's head in Antonio Canova's marble Perseus with the Head of Medusa (1798–1801)
Medusa (oil on canvas) by Leonardo da Vinci
Perseus with the Head of Medusa (bronze sculpture) by Benvenuto Cellini (1554)
Perseus and Medusa - bronze statue by Hubert Gerhard c.(1590)
Medusa (oil on canvas) by Caravaggio (1597)
Head of Medusa, by Peter Paul Rubens (1618)
Medusa (marble bust) by Gianlorenzo Bernini (1630s)
Medusa is played by a countertenor in Jean-Baptiste Lully and Philippe Quinault's opera, Persée (1682). She sings the aria "J'ay perdu la beauté qui me rendit si vaine."
Perseus Turning Phineus and his Followers to Stone (oil on canvas) by Luca Giordano (early 1680s).
Perseus with the Head of Medusa (marble sculpture) by Antonio Canova (1801)
Medusa (1854), marble sculpture by Harriet Hosmer, collection of the Detroit Institute of Art
Medusa (oil on canvas) by Arnold Böcklin (c. 1878)
Perseus (bronze sculpture) by Salvador Dalí
Medusa remained a common theme in art in the nineteenth century, when her myth was retold in Thomas Bulfinch's Mythology. Edward Burne-Jones' Perseus Cycle of paintings and a drawing by Aubrey Beardsley gave way to the twentieth century works of Paul Klee, John Singer Sargent, Pablo Picasso, Pierre et Gilles, and Auguste Rodin's bronze sculpture The Gates of Hell.[26]
Flags and emblems
The head of Medusa is featured on some regional symbols. One example is that of the flag and emblem of Sicily, together with the three legged trinacria. The inclusion of Medusa in the center implies the protection of the goddess Athena, who wore the Gorgon's likeness on her aegis, as said above. Another example is the coat of arms of Dohalice village in the Czech Republic.
Municipal coat of arms of Dohalice village, Hradec Králové District, Czech Republic
Flag of Sicily
Ceremonial French military uniform belt of World War I
Science
Medusa is honored in the following scientific names:[27]
Acanthemblemaria medusa Smith-Vaniz & Palacio 1974
Apodochondria medusae Ho & Dojiri 1988
Archimonocelis medusa Curini-Galletti & Cannon 1997
Atractus medusa Passos et al. 2009[28]
Australomedusa Russell 1970
Boeromedusa Bouillon 1995
Bothriopsis medusa Sternfeld 1920[28]
Cardiodectes medusaeus Wilson C.B. 1908
Chama oomedusae Matsukuma 1996
Cirratulus medusa Johnston 1833
Coronamedusae
Csiromedusa Gershwin & Zeidler 2010
Csiromedusa medeopolis Gershwin & Zeidler 2010
Discomedusa lobata Claus 1877
Discomedusae
Eustomias medusa Gibbs, Clarke & Gomon 1983
Gorgonocephalus caputmedusae L. 1758
Gyrocotyle medusarum von Linstow 1903 (taxon inquirendum)
Halimedusa Bigelow 1916
Halimedusa typus Bigelow 1916
Heteronema medusae Skvortzov 1957
Hoplopleon medusarum K.H. Barnard 1932
Hyperia medusarum Müller 1776
Hyperoche medusarum Krøyer 1838
Leptogorgia medusa Bayer 1952
Lilyopsis medusa Metschnikoff & Metschnikoff 1871
Limnomedusae
Loimia medusa Savigny in Lamarck 1818
Loimia medusa angustescutata Willey 1905
Lulworthia medusa (Ellis & Everh.) Cribb & J.W. Cribb 1955
Lulworthia medusa var. biscaynia Meyers 1957
Lulworthia medusa var. medusa (Ellis & Everh.) Cribb & J.W. Cribb 1955
Magnippe caputmedusae Stock 1978
Medusa Loureiro 1790
Medusablennius Springer 1966
Medusafissurella McLean & Kilburn 1986
Medusafissurella chemnitzii G. B. Sowerby I 1835
Medusafissurella dubia Reeve 1849
Medusafissurella melvilli G. B. Sowerby III 1882
Medusafissurella salebrosa Reeve 1850
Mesacanthoides caputmedusae (Ditlevsen 1918) Wieser 1959
Myxaster medusa Fisher 1913
Narcomedusae
Ophioplinthus medusa Lyman 1878
Phallomedusa Golding, Ponder & Byrne 2007
Phallomedusa austrina Golding, Ponder & Byrne 2007
Phallomedusa solida Martens 1878
Phascolion medusae Cutler & Cutler 1980
Philomedusa
Philomedusa vogtii Müller 1860
Polycirrus medusa Grube 1850
Polycirrus medusa sakhalinensis Buzhinskaja 1988
Sarcomella medusa Schmidt 1868
Stauromedusae
Stellamedusa Raskoff & Matsumoto 2004
Stellamedusa ventana Raskoff & Matsumoto 2004
Stygiomedusa Russell 1959
Stygiomedusa gigantea Browne 1910
Thylacodes medusae Pilsbry 1891
Trachymedusae
Popular culture
Main articles: Cultural depictions of Medusa and Gorgons and Greek mythology in popular culture
The petrifying image of Medusa makes an instantly recognizable feature in popular culture. Medusa has been featured in several works of fiction, including video games, movies, cartoons and books. In particular, the designer Gianni Versace's symbol is reflected through the Medusa-head symbol. It was chosen because she represents beauty, art, and philosophy.[29]
See also
Apotropaic symbols
Caput Medusae
Euryale
Medea
Medusa complex
Stheno
Theodontius
Tiamat
Humbaba
Notes and references
Jump up ^ Probably the feminine present participle of medein, "to protect, rule over" (American Heritage Dictionary; compare Medon, Medea, Diomedes, etc.). If not, it is from the same root, and is formed after the participle. OED 2001 revision, s.v.; medein in LSJ.
Jump up ^ as in Hesiod, Theogony 270, and Pseudo-Apollodorus Bibliotheke, 1.10.
Jump up ^ "From Gorgon and Ceto, Sthenno, Eurylae, Medusa".
Jump up ^ Bullfinch, Thomas. "Bulfinch Mythology – Age of Fable – Stories of Gods & Heroes". Retrieved 2007-09-07. ...and turning his face away, he held up the Gorgon’s head. Atlas, with all his bulk, was changed into stone.
Jump up ^ (Pythian Ode 12). Noted by Marjorie J. Milne in discussing a red-figured vase in the style of Polygnotos, ca. 450–30 BC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Milne noted that "It is one of the earliest illustrations of the story to show the Gorgon not as a hideous monster but as a beautiful woman. Art in this respect lagged behind poetry." (Marjorie J. Milne, "Perseus and Medusa on an Attic Vase" The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin New Series, 4.5 (January 1946, pp. 126–130) 126.p.)
Jump up ^ Philip Freeman (2013). Oh My Gods: A Modern Retelling of Greek and Roman Myths. p. 30. ISBN 9781451609981.
^ Jump up to: a b c Harrison, p. 187.
Jump up ^ Roger Lancelyn Green suggests in his Tales of the Greek Heroes written for children that Athena used the aegis against Atlas.
Jump up ^ Smith, "Perseus".
Jump up ^ "the definition of quasihistorical". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
Jump up ^ Graves, Robert (1955). The Greek Myths. Penguin Books. pp. 17, 244. ISBN 0241952743. A large part of Greek myth is politico-religious history. Bellerophon masters winged Pegasus and kills the Chimaera. Perseus, in a variant of the same legend, flies through the air and beheads Pegasus’s mother, the Gorgon Medusa; much as Marduk, a Babylonian hero, kills the she-monster Tiamat, Goddess of the Seal. Perseus’s name should properly be spelled Perseus, ‘the destroyer’; and he was not, as Professor Kerenyi has suggested, an archetypal Death-figure but, probably, represented the patriarchal Hellenes who invaded Greece and Asia Minor early in the second millennium BC, and challenged the power of the Triple-goddess. Pegasus had been sacred to her because the horse with its moon-shaped hooves figured in the rain-making ceremonies and the installment of sacred kings; his wings were symbolical of a celestial nature, rather than speed.
Jane Harrison has pointed out (Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion) that Medusa was once the goddess herself, hiding behind a prophylactic Gorgon mask: a hideous face intended to warn the profane against trespassing on her Mysteries. Perseus beheads Medusa: that is, the Hellenes overran the goddess’s chief shrines, stripped her priestesses of their Gorgon masks, and took possession of the sacred horses—an early representation of the goddess with a Gorgon's head and a mare's body has been found in Boeotia. Bellerophon, Perseus's double, kills the Lycian Chimaera: that is, the Hellenes annulled the ancient Medusan calendar, and replaced it with another.
Jump up ^ Ellen Harrison, Jane (June 5, 1991) [1908]. Prolegomena: To The Study Of Greek Religion. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 187–188. ISBN 0691015147.
Jump up ^ Campbell, Joseph (1968). The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology. London: Penguin Books. pp. pp.152–153. "We have already spoken of Medusa and of the powers of her blood to render both life and death. We may now think of the legend of her slayer, Perseus, by whom her head was removed and presented to Athene. Professor Hainmond assigns the historical King Perseus of Mycenae to a date c. 1290 B.C., as the founder of a dynasty; and Robert Graves–whose two volumes on The Greek Myths are particularly noteworthy for their suggestive historical applications–proposes that the legend of Perseus beheading Medusa means, specifically, that "the Hellenes overran the goddess's chief shrines" and "stripped her priestesses of their Gorgon masks," the latter being apotropaic faces worn to frighten away the profane. That is to say, there occurred in the early thirteenth century B.C. an actual historic rupture, a sort of sociological trauma, which has been registered in this myth, much as what Freud terms the latent content of a neurosis is registered in the manifest content of a dream: registered yet hidden, registered in the unconscious yet unknown or misconstrued by the conscious mind. And in every such screening myth–in every such mythology {that of the Bible being, as we have just seen, another of the kind}–there enters in an essential duplicity, the consequences of which cannot be disregarded or suppressed.". ISBN 978-0140194418. CS1 maint: Extra text (link)
Jump up ^ Freud, Sigmund (summer 2017). "Medusa's Head". The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. The Hogarth Press. Volume XVIII: 273. Check date values in: |date= (help)
Jump up ^ Seelig, B.J. (2002). "The Rape of Medusa in the Temple of Athena: Aspects of Triangulation". International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 83:895–911.
Jump up ^ http://gevrilgroup.com/versace/gianni-versace-medusa-logo/
Jump up ^ Pratt, A. (1994). Archetypal empowerment in poetry: Medusa, Aphrodite, Artemis, and bears : a gender comparison. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-20865-3
Jump up ^ Stephenson, A. G. (1997). "Endless the Medusa: a feminist reading of Medusan imagery and the myth of the hero in Eudora Welty's novels."
Jump up ^ Garber, p. 7.
Jump up ^ Garber, p. 1.
^ Jump up to: a b c Wilk, pp. 217–218.
Jump up ^ Griselda Pollock, "From Horrorism to Compassion" in G. Pollock (ed.) Visual Politics of Psychoanalysis, London: I.B.Tauris, 2013. ISBN 978-1-78076-316-3
Jump up ^ "Medusa in Myth and Literary History". Retrieved 2010-01-06.
Jump up ^ Petersen, Per Serritslev. "Jack London's Medusa of Truth." Philosophy and Literature 26.1 (2002). pp. 43–56.
Jump up ^ London, p. 121.
Jump up ^ Wilk, p. 200.
Jump up ^ WoRMS Editorial Board (2017). World Register of Marine Species. Available from http://www.marinespecies.org at VLIZ. Accessed 2017-09-06. doi:10.14284/170
^ Jump up to: a b Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Medusa", p. 175).
Jump up ^ [1]
Primary sources
Servius, In Aeneida vi.289
Lucan, Bellum civile ix.624–684
Ovid, Metamorphoses iv.774–785, 790–801
Secondary sources
Garber, Marjorie, Vickers, Nancy, The Medusa Reader, Routledge; 1 edition (February 26, 2003), ISBN 978-0-415-90099-7.
Harrison, Jane Ellen (1903) 3rd ed. 1922. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion,: "The Ker as Gorgon"
London, Jack (1914). The Mutiny of the Elsinore. ISBN 0-935180-40-0.
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Perseus"
Wilk, Stephen R. (2007). Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-534131-7
Walker, Barbara G. (1996). The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets. New Jersey: Castle Books. ISBN 0785807209 .
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Medusa.
Ancient coins depicting Medusa
"Medusa in Myth and Literary History" – English.uiuc.edu
On the Medusa of Leonardo Da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery, by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Theoi Project, Medousa & the Gorgones References to Medusa and her sisters in classical literature and art
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text:
Best Day of My Life
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Best Day of My Life"
Single by American Authors
from the album Oh, What a Life
Released
March 19, 2013 (2013-03-19)
Recorded
2012
Genre
Indie rock, indie folk, alternative rock
Length
3:14
Label
Mercury, Island
Songwriter(s)
Aaron Accetta, Zachary Barnett, Shep Goodman, David Rublin, Matthew Sanchez, James Shelley
Producer(s)
Aaron Accetta, Shep Goodman
American Authors singles chronology
"Believer"
(2013) "Best Day of My Life"
(2013) "Trouble"
(2014)
"Believer"
(2013) "Best Day of My Life"
(2013) "Trouble"
(2014)
Music video
"Best Day of My Life" on YouTube
Oh, What a Life track listing
11 tracks [show]
"Believer"
"Think About It"
"Best Day of My Life"
"Luck"
"Trouble"
"Hit It"
"Home"
"Love"
"Heart of Stone"
"Ghost"
"Oh, What a Life"
"Best Day of My Life" is a song by American indie rock band American Authors. The song was written by band members Zac Barnett, Dave Rublin, Matt Sanchez, and James Adam Shelley, along with producers Aaron Accetta and Shep Goodman. "Best Day of My Life" was originally recorded for release as a single by Mercury Records and Island Records on March 19, 2013, and later appeared as the second track on the band's third extended play American Authors (2013) and the third track on their debut studio album, Oh, What a Life (2014). "Best Day of my Life", was the official song of the 2017 Maltese Labour Party's General Election Campaign, entitled "L-aqwa żmien ta' pajjiżna." (The Best time for our country).
Contents
[hide]
1 Music and lyrics
2 Packaging
3 Commercial performance
4 Usage in media
5 Music video
6 Track listing
7 Personnel
8 Charts
8.1 Weekly charts
8.2 Year-end charts
9 Certifications
10 Release history
11 References
12 External links
Music and lyrics[edit]
Zac Barnett told an interviewer for Blueprint Magazine, "Recently we have been experimenting with a lot of different instruments including banjo, mandolin and various percussion toys. Africa-influenced rhythms have been taking more of a prominent role in our songs which has then opened up our ideas on melodies. We're always open to trying new things and we get very excited to learn new instruments and experiment with new sounds. ... "Best Day of My Life" was an idea that James and I had been messing around with. We had the pre-chorus and chorus but once we showed the idea to the rest of the guys they came in and restructured the verses and added the stuttered "life" chorus. Looking back on it, the song changed a lot from the initial idea but that's what I love so much about it. I'll always remember that song being started on acoustic guitars in my tiny Bushwick bedroom, but all of us together as a band really took the song to a completely different place."[1]
(Barnett mentions "the stuttered 'life' chorus"—as in "the best day of my li-i-i-i-ife"; the "stuttering" also occurs in a recurrent "whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh"—by which he refers to a lyrical tradition of stuttering in rock music, popularized by Buddy Holly,[2][3] David Bowie ("Ch-Ch-Changes"),[4] Elton John,[5] and others.)
Bill Lamb, writing for About.com, praised the song's "opening banjo lick" as "a perfect first hook," its "irrepressibly upbeat lyrics," and "a blend of key elements from across a wide range of current successful pop music." He added, "The bass drum heavy backing percussion sounds a little like Imagine Dragons, and backed by a pop-punk style "Whoa Oh" chorus, "Best Day Of My Life" takes some of the most distinctive elements of a variety of current pop hit genres and blends them into something new."[6]
Packaging[edit]
The single art for the "Best Day of My Life" single features a photograph of the skyline of Midtown Manhattan, with the Empire State Building in the center of the shot, from Brooklyn looking north. The photograph is overwritten by the American Authors logo on the majority of the photograph and the words "American Authors", with "Best Day of My Life" written underneath it.
Commercial performance[edit]
The song received significant airplay on the radio for it to debut at No. 49 in the Hot Rock Songs and No. 40 in the Adult Top 40 for charts dated October 5, 2013. It began climbing the various rock charts and became a crossover hit on both alternative rock and Top 40 stations, becoming big hits on those formats and peaking at No. 2, No. 18 and No. 4 on the Hot Rock Songs, Alternative Songs, and Mainstream Top 40 charts.[7] It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 93 for the chart dated November 30, 2013, and eventually peaked at No. 11 on the charts dated April 19 and May 10, 2014. By March, 2014 it had reached No. 1 on the Adult Top 40. The song reached its first million sales mark in the U.S. in March, 2014,[8] and its second million in August, 2014.[9] The song was certified double platinum on July 16, 2014 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[10] The song was ranked number one on Billboard's chart of Adult Pop Songs for 2014.[11] To date this remains to be the only single by the American Authors to break the Top 40 in the United States.
Usage in media[edit]
In media, the song has been featured in television advertisements for retail home improvement store Lowe's in the United States, which were aired during the Super Bowl,[12] automotive manufacturer Hyundai in the United Kingdom and France, an alcohol retailer in Australia and communications service provider Telecom New Zealand in New Zealand.[13]
The song additionally appears in the opening sequence for ESPN's coverage of the 2013 and 2014 World Series of Poker.
It appears in the movie trailer for the films Delivery Man, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty[14] in addition to the TV spots for St. Vincent.
The song has also been used in the Vampire Diaries episode "Total Eclipse of the Heart".[15]
The song was covered by Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss) and Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) in the 2014 Glee episode "New New York".
NHL on NBC has been using this song as a theme song for the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"Best Day Of My Life" was played at the conclusion of the 2015 Miss America pageant, during Kira Kazantsev's crowning moment.
The song is used in advertisements for Petron,[16] Datsun Go, Lays, Center Parcs, Graton Casinos
The Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) use the song in the 2014-15 pregame activities.
"Best Day of My Life" was part of the FIFA 14 soundtrack before being removed shortly after the game's release.
"Best Day of My Life" appeared as a playable track for the video game Guitar Hero Live.
"Best Day of My Life" also appeared as a soundtrack in Konami video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 as opening track.
A portion of "Best Day of My Life" can also be heard in the animated film Alpha and Omega: The Legend of the Saw Tooth Cave and in the 2015 film, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.
Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Chipettes covered the song for their 2015 live stage tour Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Musical.
This song is used for the Datsun Go commercial in Indonesia.
American Authors performed the song while in Human Centipede position on Season 4 premiere of The Eric Andre Show.
The BBC used the track during their closing montage for their 2016 US Presidential Election coverage.
The song was used in commercials for Best Western hotels.
The song was used in the 2015 film Top Cat Begins, and also plays during the credits.
The song is a mainstay on most Muzak stations, featured in American retail locations of all types.
Music video[edit]
The music video was released on October 18, 2013, via YouTube.[17] The video was filmed in Brooklyn, New York. It depicts a man engaging in various activities with a large furry monster, such as drinking in a bar called Sweet & Vicious in Nolita,[18] playing basketball, looking at the Brooklyn Bridge, getting matching tattoos, visiting a strip club, and going to a playground. At the end of the video it is implied that the monster is his imaginary friend, but then the puzzled bartender finds a photo of the two.
Zac Barnett, in an interview with the Jim & Kim Morning Show (Fresh 102.7 FM, New York, NY), explained that the video starts in Nolita and ends up in Brooklyn, and the journey of the man and his monster pal is the focus of the video. That journey is interweaved with shots of the band playing and singing as they also stroll through New York. "We started in Manhattan and walked across the bridge to the party which was down in DUMBO. What it was, we were kind of trying to do a reverse Where The Wild Things Are type thing. You know, instead of a human going into a monster dream world, what would it be like if a monster came into our world and experienced New York City and Brooklyn and all of these things. And playing off of that, it was kind of like an alter ego of a dude and these two, together, just showing each other the best days of their lives."[18]
Common Sense Media reviewed the video for parents: "There's nothing iffy to worry about in the song's upbeat, clean lyrics about having a positive outlook on life and never giving up, but the official music video shows a man and his furry monster friend drinking in a bar, going to a strip club, and getting tattoos. Kids will be more entertained by the adorable dog-version music video for Best Day of My Life, which shows one lucky bulldog's adoption day in an effort to promote pet adoption."[19]
Track listing[edit]
Digital download
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Producer(s)
Length
1. "Best Day of My Life" Aaron Accetta, Zachary Barnett, Shep Goodman, David Rublin, Matthew Sanchez, James Shelley Accetta, Goodman 3:14
Personnel[edit]
Adapted from Oh, What a Life liner notes.[20]
American Authors
Zac Barnett – lead vocals, guitar
James Adam Shelley – lead guitar, banjo
Dave Rublin – bass
Matt Sanchez – drums
Technical personnel
Aaron Accetta - production
Michael Goodman - production
Charts[edit]
Weekly charts[edit]
Chart (2013–14)
Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[21]
10
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[22]
20
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[23]
36
Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)[24]
15
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[25]
5
Canada AC (Billboard)[26]
3
Canada CHR/Top 40 (Billboard)[27]
7
Canada Hot AC (Billboard)[28]
3
Czech Republic (Rádio Top 100)[29]
21
Czech Republic (Singles Digitál Top 100)[30]
13
Germany (Official German Charts)[31]
34
Ireland (IRMA)[32]
28
Japan (Japan Hot 100)[33]
95
Mexico Ingles Airplay (Billboard)[34]
1
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[35]
72
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[36]
13
Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100)[37]
8
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[38]
15
Slovakia (Rádio Top 100)[39]
17
Slovakia (Singles Digitál Top 100)[40]
13
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[41]
10
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[42]
65
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[43]
17
US Billboard Hot 100[44]
11
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[45]
2
US Rock Airplay (Billboard)[46]
15
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[47]
2
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[48]
1
US Dance/Mix Show Airplay (Billboard)[49]
25
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[50]
4
Year-end charts[edit]
Chart (2013)
Position
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[51]
77
Chart (2014)
Position
Australia (ARIA)[52]
58
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[53]
24
Italy (FIMI)[54]
65
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[55]
24
US Billboard Hot 100[56]
31
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[57]
5
US Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard)[58]
22
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[59]
4
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[60]
1
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[61]
28
Certifications[edit]
Region
Certification
Certified units/Sales
Australia (ARIA)[62]
Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[63]
Platinum 80,000^
Italy (FIMI)[64]
Platinum 30,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[65]
Silver 200,000^
United States (RIAA)[10]
3× Platinum 3,000,000^
*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
Release history[edit]
Country
Date
Format
Label
United States[66][67][68][69]
March 19, 2013 Digital download Mercury Records
August 20, 2013 Modern rock radio Mercury Records, Island Def Jam
August 26, 2013 Hot adult contemporary radio
December 3, 2013 Contemporary hit radio Island Def Jam
United Kingdom[70]
March 7, 2014 Digital download (Gazzo remix)
United States[71]
United Kingdom[72]
April 29, 2014 Digital download (Just A Gent remix)
United States[73]
Germany[74]
May 9, 2014 Compact disc Island Records
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Dersch, Alexandra (2013). "American Authors". Blueprint Magazine. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
Jump up ^ Valdez, Stephen (2013). "Buddy Holly". In Stacy, Lee. Encyclopedia of Music in the 20th Century. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 296. ISBN 1-57958-079-3. The Buddy Holly sound was unmistakable. His hiccuping, stuttering vocals...
Jump up ^ Jones, Chris (2009). "Buddy Holly, The Very Best of Buddy Holly and the Crickets: Review". BBC. Retrieved September 12, 2014. ...topped off with Holly's amazing nasal stutter. Quite literally, nothing had ever sounded like this before.
Jump up ^ "Changes by David Bowie". Song Facts. Retrieved September 12, 2014. Bowie's stuttered vocals in this song ("Ch-Ch-Changes") are some of the most famous stutters in rock.
Jump up ^ "Bennie and the Jets by Elton John". Song Facts. Retrieved September 12, 2014. It was Elton's idea to stutter the vocal: "B-B-B-Bennie..." Bernie Taupin thought this worked very well with the futuristic, robotic theme of his lyrics.
Jump up ^ Lamb, Bill (2013). "Review: American Authors "Best Day Of My Life"". About.com. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
Jump up ^ Geller, Wendy (February 26, 2014). "Hear It First! American Authors Premiere Track From Debut Studio Album". Yahoo Music.
Jump up ^ Grein, Paul (March 19, 2014). "Chart Watch: "#Selfie" Is A #Smash". Yahoo Music. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
Jump up ^ Grein, Paul (August 27, 2014). "Chart Watch: Nicki Minaj Zooms To #2". Yahoo! Music.
^ Jump up to: a b "American single certifications – American Authors – Best Day of My Life". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
Jump up ^ "Adult Pop Songs". http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2014/adult-pop-songs. External link in |website= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
Jump up ^ "New Music to Know: American Authors Are Having the Best Days of Their Lives". radio.com. February 20, 2014.
Jump up ^ 2013 Telecom NZ Advertisement on YouTube
Jump up ^ "American Authors Release Debut Album 'Oh, What A Life' On March 4th 2014". Contact Music.
Jump up ^ Theo (February 10, 2014). "The Vampire Diaries Music Playlist For Season 5 Episode 13: "Total Eclipse of the Heart"". Alloy Entertainment. Retrieved September 12, 2014. Best Day of My Life by American Authors: Plays while Katherine (pretending to be Elena) is writing in her doppelganger's diary and rejoicing over how wonderful the world is and how she finally has everything she's ever wanted.
Jump up ^ Petron Fuel Happy on YouTube
Jump up ^ American Authors - Best Day Of My Life (Official Music Video) on YouTube
^ Jump up to: a b Steagall, Cameron (March 12, 2014). "American Authors Take Us Behind The Scenes Of Best Day Of My Life". Fresh 102.7 FM. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
Jump up ^ Nojadera, Amanda (2014). "Best Day of My Life (CD Single)". Common Sense Media. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
Jump up ^ Oh, What a Life (liner notes). American Authors. Mercury Records. 2014.
Jump up ^ "Australian-charts.com – American Authors – Best Day Of My Life". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Austriancharts.at – American Authors – Best Day Of My Life" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
Jump up ^ "Ultratop.be – American Authors – Best Day Of My Life" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Ultratop.be – American Authors – Best Day Of My Life" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
Jump up ^ "American Authors – Chart history" Canadian Hot 100 for American Authors. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
Jump up ^ "American Authors – Chart history" Billboard Canada AC for American Authors. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
Jump up ^ "American Authors – Chart history" Billboard Canada CHR/Top 40 for American Authors. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
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Jump up ^ "Best Day of My Life (2-Track)" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
External links[edit]
"Best Day of My Life" Official Music Video on YouTube
[hide]
v
t
e
American Authors
Zac Barnett
James Adam Shelley
Dave Rublin
Matt Sanchez
Studio albums
Oh, What a Life
What We Live For
Singles
"Believer"
"Best Day of My Life"
"Trouble"
"Luck"
"In a Big Country"
"Go Big or Go Home"
"Pride"
"What We Live For"
"I'm Born to Run"
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