Liar (Rollins Band song)

"Liar" is a song by Rollins Band and the lead single from their fourth full-length album, Weight, released in 1994. It was the album's only charting single and one of the group's best known songs. "Liar" is something of a live favorite for Rollins Band, with its spoken verses usually improvised or changed somewhat from the studio take.

Both a short edit (4:19) and a longer "video edit" (4:49) were distributed as CD singles in various territories, often with one or more unreleased tracks from the Weight sessions added; these and other outtakes were included in the 2004 release Weighting.

The video edit of "Liar" was featured in the song's music video and features a different vocal track and slightly different lyrics in the opening section. Directed by Anton Corbijn, the video itself features alternating depictions of vocalist Henry Rollins: during the song's verses, he is dressed in a plain black T-shirt as he speaks in a calm, soothing tone about trust and friendship; during the chorus segments he is shirtless and painted red, wildly jumping and flailing about as he screams derisively at his audience. He is also seen dressed in a Superman parody costume, a police officer uniform and a nun's habit.

Upon release, the "Liar" video gained heavy airplay on MTV and appeared on Beavis and Butt-head. In the episode, Beavis becomes excited about the chorus, repeating the word "Liar!" in the same way he typically says "Fire! Fire! Fire!". Butt-head comes to the conclusion that lying is "cool."

"Liar" was named the 64th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.^[1] It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. Rollins Band performed the song at the 37th Grammy Awards Ceremony.

Accolades

Charts

References