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Photo: Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
By Hayley Williams' own admission, the song Ignorance saved Paramore from breaking up. In early 2009, about 18 months after the release of their second album, Riot!, Tensions were high as they worked on their next album at Lightning Sound Studios, owned by Green Day and My Chemical Romance producer Rob Cavallo, at his home in Hidden Hills, California.
The song was written after a particularly tense day in their rehearsal room in Franklin, Tennessee. Under pressure to deliver a worthy follow-up to their breakthrough album, the five band members struggled to find common ground.
«"Nobody was coming up with anything," says Hayley. "I could tell Josh [Farro, former guitarist] was really upset. He looked at us and said, 'Listen, guys, I'm never writing a song like that again.' Misery Business , so deal with it." Then he turned around and started playing this riff. I thought, "Well, that'll do," and wrote the lyrics on the way home in the car. Ignorance »It’s like a stream of words recorded on a guitar.”.
In the days that followed, Hayley felt that her hasty words might have been too much, and as the song took shape, she tried to mumble.
«"Taylor [York, guitarist] was standing right next to the speaker and heard every word," she admits. "He gave me this glare and said, 'So you want to tell me about those words?'"»
«"I ran to the bathroom, I was so nervous," she adds. "But we talked for two hours and discussed a lot of difficult and challenging things. That song saved our band.".
Indeed, Hayley is at her most aggressive on this energetic song, built around a riff that hints at ska, all underpinned by Zac Farro's powerful, off-kilter drumming.
Her aggressive delivery of the song's lyrics, in particular, , the phrases "Where's your gavel? Your jury? What's my crime this time?"« – seems to be aimed directly at solving the problems of an unbalanced group with a certain amount of enthusiasm and a touch of sarcasm.
«"The truth is, growing up isn't easy," she told this author as the band was finishing the album. "There were many moments when I felt very lonely, angry, or insecure. I don't always feel comfortable talking to people, especially people I love, like these guys. Sometimes you need songs to get your message across.".
But despite rave reviews from critics, the song, released as the first single from the album Brand New Eyes , merely papered over the cracks in the band. On December 18, 2010, 14 months after the album's release, brothers Josh and Zach left the band. Josh expressed his displeasure in a particularly vitriolic statement.
«"Hayley claimed that this album reunited us as a band and brought us closer together, when in reality we were drifting further apart," he wrote, adding, "The friendship that once held our band together no longer existed.".
However, the remaining members quickly responded, and in an interview with MTV News, Hayley admitted that much of the album dealt with conflicts within the band. "It was really hard because we were all friends, and any disagreements within the band would greatly influence the lyrics.".
Although the band is currently on hiatus – Taylor York and Zac Faroe were primarily in the lineup with Williams – the legacy Ignorance The only thing that matters is that it's a brilliant song. It has remained a fixture in Paramore's live sets and was performed as recently as 2022, when the band performed at the When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas.