Song History
Garbage debuted "I Think I'm Paranoid" live on May 15, 1998 at a concert Ryan's Ballroom in Combined Locks, Wisconsin; the first date of the Version 2.0 tour. Garbage took to Europe from June 1 to join the festival circuit, as well as perform a number of their own headline shows, helping support the single release for "I Think I'm Paranoid". The single was preempted by a televised performance of both "..Paranoid" and "Push it" on French show Nulle Part Ailleurs, and on British entertainment show TFI Friday.
Like its preceding single, "I Think I'm Paranoid" was A-listed at Radio One and XFM, reaching #14 in the UK Airplay chart. On July 6, 1998, Mushroom Records issued "I Think I'm Paranoid" in the United Kingdom in a two-part CD single set and cassette single formats, backed with b-sides "Deadwood" and "Afterglow" and remixes of "...Paranoid" by Purity and The Crystal Method spread across the two CDs. The song debuted at #9 on the UK Singles Chart the following Sunday, becoming Garbage's fourth UK top ten hit in a row. On the same day (July 12), Garbage completed their European tour with a "homecoming" slot at Scotland's T In The Park festival. On July 13, Mushroom then released the single as a collectible 3-inch CD in a blister pack as a limited edition of 3,000. This special format collected together all the tracks onto one single disc; however the release was only on sale for one week and its sales were chart ineligible. Garbage appeared on British chart show Top of the Pops to mark its high chart placing.
Across Europe, Mushroom Records then-distributor BMG released "I Think I'm Paranoid" on CD maxi and CD single formats in various territories from July 6. In Germany, "...Paranoid" placed a single week at #98 on August 3, in the Netherlands, the song spent the single week of August 8 at #94 following heavy rotation from Kink FM and TMF, while in France, the song debuted at #100 on September 19, peaking in its second week of three at #80 ("..Paranoid" reached #21 on the French airplay charts). In Finland, "...Paranoid" spent eighteen weeks on the airplay charts, and reached the Top 20 on their sales chart; in Austria, the single was heavily supported by FM4 radio, and licensed to a Megacard sampler CD as a youth incentive from Bank Austria; in Brussels, "...Paranoid" was heavily supported by stations Studio Brussel (where it was voted listener's #1 choice) and Radio 21; in Spain, "I Think I'm Paranoid" topped their airplay chart for a single week in September 1998. In Italy, "I Think I'm Paranoid" featured on a 30-second advert campaign for Breil and received heavy rotation from MTV Italy, shifting 9,000 sales of the single there. Other major supporters of "I Think I'm Paranoid" were Norway's NRJ, Poland's Radio 3 and Atomic TV, Portugal's Antena 3, Sweden's ZTV, Switzerland's DRS 3 and One FM ("...Paranoid" was the #2 newcomer on Swiss radio the week of airplay impact) who all playlisted the track. "I Think I'm Paranoid" reached #25 on the European Top 50 Airplay chart and #35 on the European Top 100 sales chart.
In Argentina, BMG released "I Think I'm Paranoid" as a commercial single, where it had reached #4 on their airplay charts. Argentina was the only Latin American country to see a commercial release. In Chile, "..Paranoid" reached #4 and spent five weeks in the airplay top ten; while in Venezuela the single spent thirteen weeks on their airplay charts. In Mexico, "...Paranoid" reached the airplay top five. Over in South Africa, "..Paranoid" was the #1 track on two radio stations, including 5FM. White Records released "I Think I'm Paranoid" in Australia and New Zealand on July 27 as a two CD set. In Australia, the song peaked at #57, over a five week chart run, however in New Zealand, the song debuted at #29, before peaking on its second of five weeks at #19. Australia's Channel V and Triple-J radio heavily supported "...Paranoid".
In North America, Almo Sounds opted to give "I Think I'm Paranoid" an airplay-only release, where it debuted on the Modern Rock chart at #30 on July 18, and peaking for five weeks at #6 across September of that year, eventually registering twenty six weeks on the chart. On August 15, the same week that "I Think I'm Paranoid" broke into the Modern Rock Top 10, the song made its debut appearance on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, peaking at #70 on the fourth of six consecutive weeks on that chart. Remixes of the song by The Crystal Method (in which the song was retitled "I Think I'm Crystalized") would later be given a physical distribution on 12" vinyl on a double A-side release with remixes of "Push It" by Victor Calderone. The song's North American chart run was concurrent with the band's headline tour of the United States and Canada, which ran from September to December.
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