Today was the release of Shinedown’s new single, “Bully”. Check out this post that guitarist Zach Myers made on his facebook page as well as twitter.
I wrote this story for myself on facebook. . due to the overwhelming response i figured I’d post it here as well. . .
I feel compelled to write this now that “Bully” has hit the airwaves. . . so stay with me on this. . .
“Bully” was written by Myself , Brent , and Dave Bassett who has written with us since the beginning of “Sound of Madness” . . . When you write a song with such a serious and sometimes controversial topic most feel you have to tread lightly and watch what you say. On this one we didn’t really feel like that . . .I can’t speak for Dave but I know that Brent and I had issues with Bullying in school . . all through Middle School i was bullied . . and this isn’t a “Whoa is me” or give me pity story. . It’s me being honest. I was bullied all through middle school it got me in fights and it also got me kicked out of a middle school after fighting oddly enough by future best friends dad who was my principle at the time. In the mid to early 90′s when I was in school the term used about me was ” Freak ” or “Fag” . . Here’s why. . I had long hair , I didn’t really like sports at the time , I played music , And all my friends looked like me. Another reason for me getting bullied by certain members of my school was the fact that I kinda had a thing for the ladies =) . . and they kinda had a thing for me. .haha. . I didn’t really get it. It was all the jocks girlfriends or the cool guys girlfriends who always would slide me their #’s on sheets of paper. often times in those days you worried if the girl had what we called at the time “Her own line” . .haha. .there weren’t cell phones. . (They were around but were the size of a scooter) a lot of the times this female attention got footballs , Social studies books , and various other things thrown at my head. Or insults hurled my way. . I never got my ass kicked though. . .Lucky for me I was a good enough smart ass to be funny and comedic to get out of situations. But I got threatened upon me a lot. I had my OWN group of friends though. Who’m always had my back . And even if they weren’t around I was fine enough in my own life to be ok. By the time I left 8th grade I had a record deal. . All these people who picked on me kind of changed their tune a little. And its funny to still see this happening today. . . Here’s where im getting. I made it out alive. Bullying in those days weren’t as bad as it has gotten now. There are kids who TAKE THEIR OWN LIVES. because they feel there is now way out! . . I promise there are more of US people who got picked on or ridiculed than there are of THEM . And im not saying start fights or start a war. But STAND UP! if you know someone getting bullied or your kids are bullying someone ELSE. Get involved! This HAS to stop! . . . When I look back it DROVE me . . and made me who I am today. and too the Bullied . . YOU are the answer. . Stand up! and make an effort to ignore anything and everything hurled your way. . I was there too. . and I made it out alive. . And I look at these people now. . And watched most of them on their long journey to the middle! . . Be a leader. . .You WILL make it out Alive! . . .Stronger . . and better than you were before.
But you have to stand up.
It starts with you!“We don’t have to take this. . . Back against the Wall. . . We don’t have to take this. . WE can end it all” . . .
[...] “Bully”, new single for Shinedown Release Today [...]