Alternative Character Interpretation: According to Maynard, “The Outsider” is from the point of view of an uncaring person who does not understand the struggle of their drug-addicted friend and thinks they can just “walk it off.” However, it is possible to instead interpret the narrator as someone who has been trying to help their friend for a long time, only for the friend to fall back into their self-destructive habits time and time again, leaving the narrator emotionally burned out from the fallout of trying and failing to help while having to worry about their friend’s well-being constantly. Helping a drug addict recover can take money, time, and resources, and some addicts engage in behaviors that harm others as well as themselves, like stealing money for drugs.
Angst Dissonance: "The Outsider" is sung from the perspective of a frustrated friend of an addict who doesn't really understand what they're going through and thinks that they're being a Drama Queen because they have no insight into what their friend's struggles feel like; they don't get that it isn't something that you can just plow through with sufficient willpower.
While the lyrics "Pet" are most likely describing a Big Brother-like figure (considering the lines "Head down, go to sleep to the rhythm of the war drums" and "Swinging to the rhythm of the new world order"), they can speak for any person who abuses their power over others, such as an overprotective parent, a domestic or sexual abuser, corrupt or fascist politicians or a Villain with Good Publicity. It could also be a metaphor for substance abuse, something that makes you feel safe from the horrors of the world but is actually killing you inside.
"The Outsider" is about someone who can no longer stand to watch their friend's self-destructive behavior. It's about a drug addict, but the lyrics could also apply to someone suffering from a severe mental illness or depression.
Covered Up: Many APC fans had no idea that "The Nurse Who Loved Me" was a cover. It was originally performed by the band Failure.
Epic Riff: The lead on "Pet". Never before has three notes sounded so chilling.
Harsher in Hindsight: One that actually works in the band's favor: their cover of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" for an anti-Bush covers album was released one year before Hurricane Katrina, making an astonishingly accurate protest of his administration.
Memetic Molester: The narrator for "Pet" and, by default, "Counting Bodies Like Sheep..."
Memetic Mutation: "A perfect circle?!"Explanation In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Artist Unknown", Squidward is teaching SpongeBob art and asks him to draw a circle, and exclaims, "A perfect circle?!" in shock when SpongeBob is able to draw one effortlessly. People started joking that he was actually talking about A Perfect Circle.
Nightmare Fuel: The "trilogy" of the song "Pet," "Lullaby" and "Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums" are some of the scariest songs ever committed to tape.
"Lay your head down child, I won't let the boogie man come / Head down! Go to sleep! To the rhythm of the war drums"
The track after it, "Lullaby", is even worse, consisting of literally nothing but whispered repetitions of "Go back to sleep" and unnerving, vaguely musical-sounding mumbled gibberish over a steady drumbeat that's just a little bit too quiet and seems to evoke a Heartbeat Soundtrack. One could be forgiven for anticipating a Jump Scare at the end of it, but the fact that there isn't one might count as Nothing Is Scarier.
And then there's the Sequel Song "Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums," which remixes the original into a cacophonous industrial track about mass enslavement, complete with disturbing sound effects like babies crying, news broadcasts, metallic scraping sounds and shotgun shells being fired. If the part where the instruments drop out and a Broken Record of Keenan shouting "GO! TO! SLEEP! GO! TO! SLEEP!" starts playing doesn't make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, nothing will. There's a reason it was used for the season 3 trailer to House of Cards (US).
From the same album, "Blue" is about someone who's in such heavy denial that their loved one is a heroin addict that they don't believe it even as said person is literally overdosing in front of them.
Call an optimist, she's turning blue Such a lovely color for you Call an optimist, she's turning blue While I just sit and stare at you
"Judith": About Maynard James Keenan's ill mother who continued to believe in religion despite Maynard being outraged that a so-called benevolent god would do such a thing to her.
"The Outsider": The lyrics are so aggressive that they physically hurt, detailing a drug addict's friend who's tired of dealing with their friend's problems, and are content to just leave them to die.
Most of Thirteenth Step is from the perspective of a desperate and ailing drug addict, that alternates between Nightmare Fuel inducing-compulsion and tragic desperation.
"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish," a List Song of many of the talented people that passed away in 2016.
and start feeling resentful and angry towards them.