THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

671-Drowning Pool-Bodies.

2001-Number 34 single.

Best Bit-At 0.08. The Mosh Pit is their church, this is where they heal their hurts.

Drowning Pool are a Alternative, Metal, Nu Metal, Hard Rock, and Post-Grunge group, who were formed in Dallas, Texas, United States, in 1996, and at the time of writing they remain active. Drowning Pool were formed by the groups two constants C. J. Pierce (guitars) and Mike Luce, (drums) and were soon joined by Stevie Benton, (bass) who is also still a group member. Drowning Pool who took their name from the 1975 American thriller film ‘The Drowning Pool,’ starring Paul Newman, performed only instrumentals until the arrival of the vocalist Dave Williams (1972-2002) in 1999. Williams who sang lead vocals on ‘Bodies,’ was found dead in the groups tour bus in Manassas, Virginia, on August 14th, 2002, with an autopsy establishing that he had died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, (heart disease) which had been undiagnosed until his death, he was 30 years old. Since the death of Williams, the group have used a further three lead vocalists, Jason Jones, between 2003–2005, Ryan McCombs, between 2005–2011, and then again in 2023 to the present, and Jason Moreno, from 2003-2005.

The discography of Drowning Pool includes seven studio Albums released between 2002-2022, and 20 singles released between 2001-2022, there are also two extended plays, and one official live Album available. In America on Billboard their first two studio Albums reached the top 20, while none of their singles have made the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, although 16 of their tracks have reached the Billboard ‘Mainstream Rock’ chart, with ‘Feel Like I Do,’ peaking the highest at Number 4 in 2010. In the UK, ‘Bodies,’ remains their only charting single to date, reaching Number 34 in 2001.

‘Bodies’ was the first of three singles released from Drowning Pool’s debut studio Album ‘Sinner,’ from June 2001. It was the groups guitarist C. J. Pierce who came up with the songs riff, and it was Dave Williams who wrote the lyrics, but all four group members at that time officially receive the song writing credits. ‘Bodies,’ and it’s parent Album ‘Sinner,’ was produced by the American music producer, and engineer, Jay Baumgardner, who since 1989 has worked with other artists, including ‘Bush,’ ‘Ugly Kid Joe,’ and ‘Alien Ant Farm.’ Dave Williams has spoken about ‘Bodies,’ ‘CJ came up with the riff, and I thought that was cool, and I said, ‘Let the bodies hit the floor,’ and they looked at me and said, ‘That’s pretty cool.’ We just built it around that hook and the rest fell in place. It’s about my perspective when I look out and see the pit. It’s about forgetting everything that has happened to you that week, leave your bull..it at the door and get it all out. But you have to have respect for the others in the pit. If you push them down, you have to pick them back up. I’m not going to get behind the violence thing, it is violent, but there is a certain amount of respect and a code.’

The ‘Mosh Pit’ has a fascinating history. ‘Moshing’ which is also known as ‘slam dancing,’ or simply ‘slamming,’ is an extreme style of dancing, in which participants push or slam into each other. Taking place in an area called the mosh pit, or simply the pit, it is typically performed to aggressive styles of live music, such as ‘Punk Rock,’ and ‘Heavy Metal.’ The direct predecessor to moshing was the ‘Pogo,’ which was a style of dance done in the 1970’s English ‘Punk Rock’ scene, in which the crowds members would jump up and down while holding their arms beside them. According to the 2000 ‘rockumentary’ film ‘The Filth and the Fury,’ the ‘Pogo’ was invented by the Sex Pistols (see also best songs 576-92 and 27) bassist Sid Vicious (1957-1979) in 1976. ‘Moshing’ became popular with fans of other musical genres over the years, entering ‘Hip-Hop’ in the mid 1980’s, during live performances by the Beastie Boys, (see also best songs 610) leading to other ‘Hip-Hop’ artists such as Public Enemy, (see also best songs 578 and 37) and Ice-T witnessing similar scenes. ‘Moshing’ has also crossed over in to ‘Electronic Dance Music,’ following the Prodigy’s (see also best songs 925 and 151) live performance at the ‘Endfest’ music festival in Seattle, Washington, in 1996.

‘Skin against skin, blood and bone, you’re all by yourself, but you’re not alone. You wanted in, and now you’re here, driven by hate, consumed by fear. Let the bodies hit the floor.’