Stan (song)

"Stan" was the third single (after The Real Slim Shady and The Way I Am) released from The Marshall Mathers LP, the second LP from rapper Eminem. The song samples Thank You by Dido. It is a haunting story of a fan who writes to Eminem but doesn't receive a swift reply. Unhinged already, the fan (Stan) drives his car off a bridge with his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk. The first three verses are delivered by Stan, with the third actually being spoken in the car itself as he is about to drive off a bridge. The fourth verse is Eminem responding too late to Stan, only realizing at the last second that he has heard about Stan's death as he was writing to him. The video features Devon Sawa as Stan, the obsessive fan and Dido as his pregnant girlfriend.

Legacy of the song

The song was released in the United Kingdom over the Christmas period, however it was prevented from getting to the Christmas No.1 spot by children's cartoon character Bob the Builder. British DJ Chris Moyles performed a parody of the song entitled Stanta, featuring Moyles taking the part of Stan writing a similar series of letters to Santa Claus with similar results. The parody was never commercially released. Alistair McGowan also parodied it on his TV show, as an obsessive fan of Jimmy Saville.

Related Topics:
United Kingdom - Bob the Builder - Chris Moyles - Parody - Santa Claus - Alistair McGowan - Jimmy Saville

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Rapper Canibus released a response track to this song entitled U Didn't Care, in which Canibus, as Stan, accused Eminem of not caring about him at all.

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At the 2001 Grammy Awards, Eminem was facing a lot of criticism from GLAAD over his lyrics, as a result Eminem responded by performing "Stan" with homosexual singer Elton John singing Dido's lines.

Related Topics:
2001 Grammy Awards - Eminem - GLAAD - Elton John - Dido

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