Post by Lydia Purple on Dec 10, 2013 14:11:45 GMT -8
Eminem topped the British chart for one week with "Stan". The song was produced by The 45 King, and uses a slightly modified break from Dido's "Thank You" as its base sample. The track also samples the opening lines of "Thank You" as its chorus. Coincidentally, both songs were released as singles in late 2000. "Stan" has been called one of Eminem's best songs and is considered one of his signature songs. Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Stan" at no.296 in their list in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song was also listed at no.15 on VH1's list of the greatest hip hop songs of all-time.
The song was nominated for multiple awards like the Best Song at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Video of the Year, Best Rap Video, Best Direction, Best Cinematography at the MTV Video Music Awards. The only award it won was the Best International Artist Video at the MuchMusic Video Awards. In April 2011, Complex magazine put together a list of the 100 Greatest Eminem songs, ranking "Stan" at no.2. The name of the character in the namesake song has given rise to a slang term online which refers to overzealous maniacal obsessed fans of a celebrity or personality. During his performance on the 2001 Grammys, Elton John is a surprise guest playing piano and helping with Dido's chorus. At the end they both hug and thank the crowd.
The MTV "clean" version of the song and video is extensively and exhaustively censored, with significant portions from the first two verses and most of the third verse removed. In the MTV full version, which is 8:15 long, verse 3 censors Stan mentioning his girlfriend in the trunk (so "Shut up bitch" and "screaming in the trunk" is censored), and about him not slitting her throat, but tied her up, and "If she suffocates, she'll suffer more, then she'll die too", which "slit", "tied her up", "suffocates" and "die" is censored.
Dido has stated that she was gagged in the third verse of the video, but this was censored so widely that versions with her gagged are rare. In the uncensored version, Stan is shown drinking at the wheel of the car before showing Dido struggling in the trunk of the car. She manages to remove the duct tape from her mouth and screams before struggling for breath. Most versions were censored so that there is only a brief clip of Dido in the boot of the car towards the end of the verse. It also censors when Stan says he "drank a fifth of vodka", which censors "drank" and "vodka", and censors when he says he's on "a thousand downers", which "downers" is censored, and also censors from showing Stan drinking while driving. Also, at the end of the third verse, "Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the bridge now" is changed to "Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the end of the bridge now". While in the fourth verse, the line "[And what's this] shit about us meant to be together" is completely censored. All references to the girlfriend in the trunk are censored out, including the line "And had his girlfriend in his trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid."
(Source: Wikipedia)