Screamager

The lead track from Therapy?'s Shortsharpshock EP, "Screamager" proved to be the breakthrough for the Northern Irish rockers, catapulting them into the upper reaches of the UK Top 40. It also reached #2 on the Irish Singles Chart.

The song originated when vocalist Andy Cairns and bassist Michael McKeegan found themselves TV channel-hopping one dull Sunday. "Me and Michael were sharing a hotel room, and it was about three in the afternoon, and we were sat there like the two old blokes off The Muppet Show, Statler and Waldorf," recalled Cairns to Classic Rock magazine. "We were like grumpy old men, although we were young at the time, shouting at the telly. The Smash Hits Awards were on TV, and Michael was talking about all the young girls screaming at Phillip Schofield and whoever else was on, and he said: 'Look at all those screamagers.' I thought: 'That's a great title for a song.'"

The instantly recognizable riff of "Screamager" had sat on the band's shelf for years. The guitar figure originally appeared as the outro to an obscure early demo called "Spide With Tache," a title drawn from Belfast slang ("a spide was what you called a chav, because they had spider-web tattoos on their necks"). Andy Cairns eventually dug the riff back up and gave it a new life at the center of the song.