Three Days Grace released “Pain” as a digital single on September 19, 2006. Already part of their second album, One-X, the song followed “Animal I Have Become” as the record’s second single. Its central line made an uncomfortable feeling immediately understandable: “I’d rather feel pain than nothing at all.”
The setting where the song came together was considerably more relaxed than the subject. In a tour diary published on the band’s website, Adam Gontier recalled the group sitting on the deck of their friend Art’s cottage in Bancroft, Ontario. They had guitars, beer and a barbecue. Away from the demands of touring, that gathering became a writing session for “Pain.”
Gontier described the song as an expression of frustration with becoming numb to the world through his own actions. The desire to feel something again was its starting point. Before One-X had even been released, he singled out the chorus as one of the album’s strongest lyrics. He also invited fans to write back with their own reactions once they heard the record.
Produced by Howard Benson, One-X gave that directness room across an entire album. Gontier was writing about problems that had followed him through the band’s years on the road, including isolation and the feeling that nobody understood what he was going through. “Pain” focused those concerns on a specific emotional state, without requiring listeners to know his personal history first.
Speaking to BMI in 2008, Gontier explained that recognizing how many other people shared those feelings had changed his perspective. Guitarist Barry Stock described hope as an essential part of the band’s writing, even when the subject was dark. The songs could acknowledge a bad situation while leaving room for someone to get out of it. Stock said listeners, particularly teenagers, had told the band that their music had helped save their lives.
The band was already finding ways to have those conversations in person. In an August 2006 diary entry, Gontier described a series of small acoustic performances at rehabilitation, treatment and youth centers, separate from Three Days Grace’s regular concerts. The first took place at Cirque Lodge in Utah. After performing, he stayed for an unrestricted question and answer session, sharing his experiences with the people receiving treatment there.
That same diary entry caught the band preparing “Pain” for its next step. They had just filmed the music video with director Tony Petrossian, and Gontier identified it as the second single from One-X. The record’s private struggles were becoming the subjects of videos, radio singles and face to face conversations.
The band also recorded “Pain” in a stripped acoustic arrangement. A digital release in February 2007 paired it with the original recording and an acoustic version of “Animal I Have Become,” giving listeners another way into two songs at the center of One-X.
