Run That Back: 3 Doors Down - The Better Life

3 Doors Down has been called sell-outs and labeled pop-rock due to a decade of chart topping, radio friendly singles. With the band's pop categorization, it's easy to forget that The Better Life was an extremely dark venture into life's struggle that would make radio shutter.

Maybe Life Isn’t Getting Better

When 3 Doors Down hit the scene with their debut album, The Better Life, many memories surrounding the band, the CD’s marketing, and album’s tone were fun, airy, and even comedic. The band released a hilarious video for their first single, Kryptonite, featuring an elderly man running through a city dressed up like a superhero. The follow-up single, Be Like That, was included in the teen comedy movie, American Pie 2. Between the pop culture tie-ins and the whimsical release of the album’s most popular singles, it’s easy to forget 3 Doors Down guided us through some dark and depressing subject matter on The Better Life.

Sure, the early 2000s saw their share of melancholy albums, from Eminem’s The Marshall Mather’s LP to Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory, and while 3 Doors Down’s The Better Life is not as immortalized as those other examples, it hits some dejected tones that at least match, the sound delivered by Eminem or Linkin Park.

The alternative rock single, Loser, discusses a relationship that is so destructive that it raises imagery of suicide. Another song from the album, Not Enough, communicates the perspective of a beaten down, overworked individual that is struggling to tread water. While plenty of jokes have been made regarding 3 Doors Down hitting the same pop-rock chords as the Creeds or Nickelbacks of the world, a re-listen of The Better Life is a reminder that 3 Doors Down has some grit underneath a marketing approach filled with over-the-hill superheroes and guitar chords forming the backdrop for “Stifler’s mom” jokes.

Backround

3 Doors Down enjoyed a traditional and old school rise to fame. The band gained momentum by having a song impact on local radio and advance into bigger markets. Kryptonite was introduced on a local Mississippi radio station and was so popular that it became the most requested song on the station for over fifteen weeks. After garnering that level of interest and popularity, the program director at the station sent the song demo to a record label. The label signed the band, Kryptonite started to catch on nationally, and the rest is history.

The Better Life would mark the first chapter in 3 Doors Down’s radio domination for almost a decade, which was powered by Brad Arnold’s unique voice and Matt Robert's entrancing guitar work. Kryptonite would reach number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Be Like That would be another top-20 entry. Later singles, such as When I’m Gone and Here Without You would continue the band’s chart dominance. Although their first two albums would eventually sell a combined 9 million copies in the United States, the chart topping, radio friendly singles would eventually define 3 Doors Down. In many circles of fans and critics, the band were categorized as watered-down pop rock, leading to the popularity of their songs migrating from a rock radio audience to Top-40 radio.

High Note: Be Like That

The aforementioned American Pie 2 theme song starts with an entrancing acoustic guitar intro that could grab any listener’s attention quickly. Brad Arnold’s resolute voice powers the song as he croons meaningful lyrics of the common “everyman” yearning for the taste of Champaign and caviar. The song’s production value is simple but effective with only a simple drumbeat and keyboard. Having a stripped down instrumental works in accentuating Arnold’s message of desire as he sings, “If I could be like that, I would give anything, just to live one day, in those shoes.”

Under the Radar: Duck and Run

Powered by guitar riffs, Duck and Run presents a blue-collar anthem full of resolve toward an unrelenting world. The lyrics of determination are what is expected to accompany such a theme, but the high point of this track is the guitar solo and the pulsating drum beat that picks-up halfway though the song. These grizzly instrumentals perfectly accompany Brad Arnold’s chants that harken to the old saying, “when the going get tough, the tough get going”.

“I'm about to be on the floor again. Surely you're gonna find me here. Well I'm about to sleep until the end of time.” - Better Life

Very Vintage: The album's range

While The Better Life features radio friendly tracks, which provide respite to the album’s overall melancholy tone, the majority of the songs convey a similar dark viewpoint. This uniformity in sound causes the album to become stale toward the end. The only distinguishing element between each somber song is the various topics Brad Arnold addresses in his lyrics. As seen by the lyrics above, the title song, Better Life, presents the disheartening perspective of an individual using substances to escape the pain of reality to reach “the better life”. The same grim sound is shared in the song By My Side, which discusses the distress Arnold feels from a fear of losing a meaningful relationship. Almost every song focuses on dark feelings and intentions, straight, no chaser, which causes The Better Life to lack range. The theme of life’s struggle is so dominant throughout the album, causing the subject matter to hover into predictability and the listen to edge into tediousness.

“Body withered, body died, Time to take away this life. Bad enough to die from one, not to mention four or five. - Down Poison

Hitting the Point Home

The lyrics from Down Poison, one of the more melancholy songs on The Better Life, shares the perspective of an individual realizing their commitment to a relationship was not reciprocated. After a build up in the first two verses, Down Poison concludes with the narrator admitting they died in vein for this failed relationship. The song presents the extreme of an unforgiving world that 3 Doors Down is trying to present on their album. Through Matt Robert’s aggressive guitar riffs, Brad Arnold’s gritty voice, and the blunt presentation of some dark themes, The Better Life spells out the hardships and struggle of life and presents the common crossroad of whether to continue on or admit defeat.

Top of the Charts

The Better Life will be 3 Doors Down’s best selling album at 5,600,000 copies to become the 11th best selling album of 2000. It will represent an impressive debut for a small-town Mississippi band that will lead to a decade of commercial success. The Better Life is not the band’s best album and will not be the peak of 3 Doors Down’s career. The album will continue the momentum of alternative rock acts invading pop radio, which was ushered in by Creed and will continue with bands such as Nickelback and Puddle of Mudd.

The Crescendo

Even though 3 Doors Down will eventually be labeled as a sell-out pop-rock act, The Better Life is a reminder of the band’s gritty blue-collar identify. Musically the album hits some impactful themes surrounding life’s struggles, embodied by toxic relationships or unfulfilling jobs, which can push individuals to the edge. Although the picture the album paints comes off a little exaggerated at times to the average listener, The Better Life musically leads to an important crossroad symbolized by opposing themes on two of the album’s songs. Duck and Run presents an individual that will not back down, while Down Poison represents an individual defeated from the struggle.

Whether it was an intentional or unintentional decision, 3 Doors Down presents the classic fork-in-the-road of giving up versus giving in. The Better Life concludes without informing the listener of the route the narrator takes. The album fails to provide a guiding light or even any hope. 3 Doors Down just presents the hardship, and unlike Creed, The Better Life is an album doesn’t guarantee any happy ending that would appease radio or pop-culture. Maybe the star of the Kyrptonite music video, the man in the super hero costume, was truly just a joke in 3 Doors Down’s world.