The Singles Jukebox

I don’t think those people are in the band anymore, or that anyone noticed.

[Video][Website]
[4.33]

Pete Baran: This song, from its own publicity, is “Inspired by the upcoming film Transformers: Dark Of The Moon.” It’s not all that interesting, but if it’s inspired by a Transformers movie, it should be shittier.
[3]

Jer Fairall: I’ve always found these guys aggressively mediocre in the manner of just about every faceless Modern Rock radio band of the last 20 years, apparently given a pass on the grounds that their particular face belongs to Hayley Williams, whom a lot of people who aren’t me seem to find interesting. Imagine my surprise, then, that this is actually not bad, especially given that its purpose as the lead soundtrack single for one of the two worst film franchises of the last five years (Twilight, the other, also prominently featured Paramore music). The guitars are tense and chiming, Williams voice sounds considerably more weathered and mature than it ever has in the past, and for as much of a melodramatic slow-mosh as the chorus (the song’s weakest link, really) is, the whole thing feels rather less gargantuan than what a combination of “Monster,” Paramore and Transformers would seem to outright guarantee.
[6]

Alfred Soto: The power chords come straight out of the Linda Perry riff book, but Hayley Williams isn’t Katy Perry; she sounds terrific atop the twelve-string jangle over the verses and frightening as she embodies the titular metaphor. Teenage emotions writ large, for better or worse.
[5]

Chuck Eddy: Their usual by-the-numbers Evanescence/Flyleaf via Kelly Clarkson or whoever shemo-goth-pop –I get the idea that people just like that Paramore are less offensive than other supposed rock bands on the radio this millennium. Still, there is a vague desperation communicated here, and I can see how a mopey 12-year-old girl whose world is turning monstrous might find some solace in it, somehow. But I’m not 12, and I could use more specifics.
[5]

Isabel Cole: I like Hayley Williams’ voice a lot, but she’s a better singer than musician, someone gifted with a terrific instrument who has yet to figure out how to inject it with much individuality, relying instead on chewing through her words with an affect that lands somewhere between a snarl and a pout. There’s a place for that kind of singing; I think Paramore’s fast songs are fantastic, and I wouldn’t change a thing about her delivery when she’s bolstered by such a tightly executed explosion of kinetic energy as on “Misery Business.” She toys with something almost interesting when she brings the volume down on the verses with their haunting guitars, but the chorus’s gritted-teeth stabs at seriousness come across as posturing rather than powerful, and it doesn’t help that I can too easily picture Chad Kroeger grinding out the leaden melody. This isn’t as bad as when Avril tries to go “dark,” but I need Hayley to bring more versatility to her performance if she’s going to hold my interest at this tempo, especially with the limp drumming my minimal background knowledge leads me to believe is the result of their recent line-up change.
[4]

Alex Ostroff: There’s an instrumental bit post-chorus that chugs along and gives some dynamism to ‘Monster’, but the chorus plods, and for the first time ever Hayley’s voice drags it further down. It all codes very passionate, but my love of female fronted rock stems from the fact that it doesn’t remind me of Nickelback and the rest of the boring post-grunge dude bands.
[5]

Michaela Drapes: The reconfigured Paramore seems to be having an empty, overproduced No Doubt moment. Something’s just not right here. Though there’s interesting things going on with the guitars that I think were swiped from some venerable predecessor (Modest Mouse or maybe even Sunny Day Real Estate), Haley Williams’ usually massive voice is utterly lost in a sea of excessive multitracking. Then again, this track is probably as bloated and flimsy as the next film in the Transformers franchise, so perhaps it’s just fine after all.
[3]

Al Shipley: At the very least, it’s proof that the band, or whatever studio pros are propping it up at the moment, can pull of nice guitar tones and drum fills without the Farros. But they’ve got plenty of midtempo slogs like this on the old records and they were never the band’s strong suit.
[5]

Doug Robertson: This is by Paramore. It is on the soundtrack to the new Transformers movie. This is exactly everything you need to know about this song.
[3]