"Inertia Creeps" is a single by the trip hop group Massive Attack, released on 17 November 1998. It is the fourth and final single released off their third albumMezzanine, and is the tenth single overall. It is the least commercially successful of the four singles released from Mezzanine, charting only on the New Zealand Singles Chart at No. 16 and the Polish LP3 chart at No. 47, but has been noted as one of the best singles from the album.
Background and composition
The song describes a relationship that Robert del Naja had, which at the time had just ended:
I already had a lot of the lyrics written before. It was just about a relationship I had been going through. It's about being in a situation but knowing you should be out of it but you're too fucking lazy or weak to leave. And you're dishonest to yourself and dishonest to the other person. You're betraying them and the whole scene feels like it's closing in on you, d'ya-know-what-I-mean? The idea is a combination of movements propelling yourself forward and pulling yourself back at the same time. That's what the track's about—a fucked up relationship basically and there it is.
The rhythm of "Inertia Creeps" has a strong çiftetelli influence, inspired by nights out in Istanbul. Robert del Naja acquired some tapes of such music, which were used as a basis for the song. The song is composed in the key of D-sharp minor and it runs at a tempo of 84 beats per minute. It samples the song "ROckWrok" by New Wave band Ultravox.
Other featured songs
The single contains three remixes of the original song, the first from Welsh rock bandManic Street Preachers, the second from British DJ State of Bengal, and the third from fellow Bristol trip hop group Alpha, along with two other tracks titled "Back She Comes" and "Reflection".
Music video
The music video for "Inertia Creeps" features Robert del Naja sitting on a sofa. He is watching an explicit clip of his partner having sex with what appears to be Mushroom. The clip is directed and recorded by Daddy G, who is in the same room as the extramarital couple. Del Naja is shown to be frequently shocked by the clip ; he breathes heavily while watching it, turns away a lot from the camcorder, fast-forwards a lot of the video, and at one point he ends up hiding behind a blanket. The video has received over 7.5 million views on YouTube.
Reception
In the album review of Mezzanine, John Bush of AllMusic gave "Inertia Creeps" critical acclaim, describing the song as the highlight of the album: "Inertia Creeps" could well be the highlight, another feature for just the core threesome. With eerie atmospherics, fuzz-tone guitars, and a wealth of effects, the song could well be the best production from the best team of producers the electronic world had ever seen." A separate review for the single, also carried out on AllMusic but by Matt Whalley, gave the single 4 stars out of 5, praising the song itself, saying "Between 1990-1998, Massive Attack has never made a single that was more interesting and unmatched in style." The three remixes also received positive attention, with Whalley stating that they took the track into "two unique directions which ensure replay value."
