Pardon Me

Incubus lead singer Brandon Boyd was going through a period of unrest when he wrote this song where he vents some steam, particularly on the memorable chorus line, "Pardon me while I burst into flames." Boyd explained the meaning: "I was in a bookstore, browsing through an old Life magazine, when I saw a picture of what the article called spontaneous human combustion. There were an old guy's legs and shoes, perfectly intact - then, right around his knee area, was just a pile of charred ashes. I was going through some turmoil in my life, both good and bad, and the image struck a chord, so I wrote a song about it."

I never thought I would be at 23 On the verge of spontaneous combustion Boyd really was 23 when Incubus released this song on their third album, Make Yourself. He was 15 when the band formed in 1991.

"Pardon Me" was the first single from the Make Yourself album. It got a lot of airplay on Alternative radio and drew many new fans to the band. It dented the Hot 100 pop chart at #102 but reached #3 on the Modern Rock Tracks, the band's first Billboard showing. The next single was "Stellar," which spent a week at #107 on the Hot 100 but was also a Modern Rock hit, climbing to #2. Finally, a more mellow song from the album called "Drive" was issued, and it crossed over; Incubus fans and their moms both liked it. The song climbed to #9 on the Hot 100 and got loads of airplay. It also reached #1 on Modern Rock Tracks, giving the three singles from the album a progression of 1-2-3.