I Don't Care (Apocalyptica song)

"I Don't Care" is a song by Finnish rock band Apocalyptica, the song is released as the third and final single from their sixth album Worlds Collide. The song features Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace on lead vocals. The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for one week and No. 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart where it spent a year in the top 20.

Despite the fact that the song was released towards the end of the 2000's, "I Don't Care" made it to No. 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 Rock Songs of the Decade chart. ^[1]

A radio edit version of this song exists where most of the explicit content, including the chorus's second half, are replaced. The radio edit version is available only on the single and the US and Canadian edition of the album. In a February 2008 interview for Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles magazine Eicca Toppinen from Apocalyptica explains why there are two versions of the song: "Actually we’ve reworked the song. Adam [Gontier] originally recorded his vocals in the spring (of 2007) with our producer (Jacob Hellner), but Adam wasn’t entirely happy with the result. So a couple of weeks ago, Adam went to the studio with (3DG producer) Howard Benson to record a new version of the song. It’s really great. It will actually be on the US/Canadian edition."^[2]

"I Don't Care" was based upon the instrumental track "Love Song", written by Eicca Toppinen for the Black Ice movie soundtrack.

Eicca Toppinen told about the song in an interview for Dutch metal webzine in 2007: "I wrote some of the lyrics to "I Don’t Care." Max Martin wrote most of the lyrics, though. The song is about a fantasy and not about anyone in particular, but I think everyone can find a sense of truth in the lyrics."^[3]

Media

The track was used in CW's hit series "Smallville" in season 8, episode 16, called "Turbulence".

Formats and track listings

• Maxi-CD

1. "I Don't Care" (US Version)
2. "Severe Area" (Main Version)

Music video

As far as the concept of the video goes, "It's going to be a bit freaky," says Eicca. "It'll be surrealistic in many ways, maybe a little bit in the spirit of Tim Burton. There's acrobats, strange-looking people doing strange things. It's going to be shot in an old house where nobody lives; it's a big mansion. It's really spooky. Of course, the director, Lisa Mann, is the only person who really knows at the moment, but it's exciting for us. She really wants to bring out the people inside the band. It feels completely different. It has a really special look."^[2]

The video shows the band playing in a decrepit house. The band plays in a small room with a low ceiling (Adam Gontier has to hunch over in order to stand) next the video shows members from the band and other women entering in and out of little doors. In the next scene, it shows the band, Gontier, and more women in a hallway standing still, dancing, walking and playing. Next, there enter three women. In this dance sequence, the women dance around the three cello players, trying to seduce them, but they pay no attention. In a cutaway, it shows the three men playing. Cut back, and the three women sit in their laps. Then it shows the men playing the women like cellos. Next scene shows a friend of Gontier, dancing with a woman trying to push her away. In a cutaway scene continuing from the dance sequence, the women take their cellos away. In the last scene, it shows everybody in a room surrounding a table, eating, drinking, laughing, talking, dancing, and kissing. In the end, the band and Adam Gontier finished playing and a green light is shown shining behind them.

Chart positions

References