Outside (5:39)

“Outside” is a single by the alternative metal band Staind. It is the second single released off their 2001 album Break the Cycle. “Outside” was originally performed live during the 1999 Family Values Tour in Biloxi, Mississippi, with Aaron Lewis (vocals/guitar) on the stage by himself and Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst providing backing vocals. Lewis was asked to perform a song solo and he decided at the last moment to play a song he had been working on since the early days of Staind. He finished the lyrics to “Outside” on the spot while singing the song live.

“It’s really an accidental phenomenon,” Lewis explains. “I’ve been playing it for quite some time. In the early days of the band, any money we made went back into the band, so two or three times a week I played acoustically to make money to live off. ‘Outside’ was one of the songs I played, but it wasn’t really finished, so I made up different words every time. We almost put it on Dysfunction. Then, one night on the Family Values Tour, ten minutes before going onstage, we decided to do it. There was never any thought of releasing it this way.”[1]

This live acoustic version was picked up by radio stations across the country and became an instant hit. In many ways, the buzz generated by the live version of “Outside” provided the perfect bridge between Staind’s debut album Dysfunction and their breakthrough follow up, Break the Cycle, introducing new fans to the band just a few months before Break the Cycle was released. “Outside” also showed a much softer side of Lewis and Staind that would be explored further in Break the Cycle and 14 Shades of Grey.