Machine Gun Kelly has kept himself busy during self isolation by covering popular songs as part of his #LockDownSessions. For his latest installment, the Cleveland rapper recruited blink-182 drummer Travis Barker to take on Paramore’s breakout 2007 hit, “Misery Business.”
As Genius previously reported, many rappers have named emo and pop punk bands like Paramore (and blink-182) as influences. Lil Uzi Vert has cited Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams as his biggest songwriting inspiration, while other artists like the late Juice WRLD and XXXTentacion were also big fans of the Nashville group.
In September 2018, Paramore retired “Misery Business” from its live sets. “This is a choice that we’ve made because we feel that we should, we feel like it’s time to move away from it for a little while,” Williams said at the time. “This is to every bad decision that led us here, this is to all the embarrassing things we might have said, but we owned up to it and we grew.”
The track was previously called anti-feminist over lyrics in the second verse, when Williams sings:
Second chances, they don’t ever matter, people never change
Once a whore you’re nothing more
I’m sorry, that’ll never change
And about forgiveness, we’re both supposed to have exchanged
Written when Williams was 17 years old, “Misery Business” was Paramore’s first Billboard Hot 100 hit. The Riot! cut peaked at No. 26 on the chart, and has since been certified quadruple Platinum.
On March 31, MGK released an official version of the cover to streaming services:
In prior installments of the series, MGK covered Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” The Beatles‘ “Here Comes the Sun,” and Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness.”
Watch the full performance above, and read all the lyrics to Paramore’s “Misery Business” on Genius now.
