The Best Things

This song isn't just another track on the album: its sound is built on a loop that moves in an irregular seven-beat meter, something that gives it that hypnotic and distinct feel unlike almost everything else at the time. The mix of distorted guitars with a bassline that weaves through the rhythm without ever losing tension makes the chorus explode with an unforgettable force. It's not a riff that repeats predictably; instead, it plays with silences and attacks, as if each note were calculated to create that sense of controlled urgency.

They recorded it in the middle of a complicated process: the album Title of Record had slow sessions due to lineup changes and because Richard Patrick set up his own studio to experiment with sounds. But once the team was solid and the producers arrived, things changed. Ben Grosse handled the mixing and gave it that dirty shine that makes the vocals sound like a whisper amid the chaos. The song lasts four minutes and twenty-six seconds—just enough time for the asymmetrical loop to avoid fatigue while keeping that tension until the end. When it was released in 1999, the album reached position 30 on the Billboard 200, and by 2001 it had already sold over eight hundred thousand copies. Later, the RIAA certified it as platinum, but the most interesting part isn't the numbers—it's how that sound seeped into the Family Values Tour and became a key moment in the concerts.