About Paralyzer

"Paralyzer" is the first single from the Canadian rock band Finger Eleven's fourth album, Them vs. You vs. Me. It was released in 2006. Finger Eleven's frontman Scott Anderson has said that the single has a feel distinct from the rest of Finger Eleven's music, possessing more of a funk rock or dance-rock sound. However, the song has also been characterized as alternative rock. The song received high airplay in both the United States and Canada, and was performed live on the March 14, 2007 episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and again ten months later on January 9, 2008, in a testament to the longevity of the single's success. The song has surpassed "One Thing" to be Finger Eleven's most successful single.

The single has three versions. One is the original CD version, while the other two are radio edit versions, in which the line containing the word "shitty" is either censored or replaced with "shady". The song alludes to the band's prior hit "One Thing" with the lyric "I should just stay home, if one thing really means one"; in addition, the recurring guitar riff quotes The Cars' "Moving in Stereo." The style of the song has been compared to (though inspired by) "Take Me Out", a 2004 single by indie rock band Franz Ferdinand. Finger Eleven occasionally performed "Take Me Out" during the middle of Paralyzer in live performances as a part of a medley along with "Trampled Under Foot" by Led Zeppelin and "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" by Pink Floyd. The song has been featured on the television series Gossip Girl and Greek. It is also a playable song in the rhythm game Rock Revolution by Konami; although the game's producers have stated that all songs will be covers, the song is one of two for which the game uses the original master recording (the other being "Given Up" by Linkin Park). The song is also a playable song in the rhythm game Band Hero by Activision. The song is also on the Rock Band Network, and was introduced as DLC into Rocksmith by Ubisoft. The song is also part of the third game in the Guitar Hero On Tour Series for the Nintendo DS, Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits. The song is also well known in certain internet circles due to its frequent usage in early YouTube videos.