"Last Resort" is the debut single by Americanrock bandPapa Roach. The song first appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 filmReady to Rumble and appeared on Papa Roach's second studio album,Infest, shortly after. "Last Resort" was released as the album's lead single on March 7, 2000, and reached number 57 on the USBillboardHot 100 in December 2000. It also topped theBillboardModern Rock Tracks chart for seven weeks and became a top-10 hit in Austria, Germany, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
The track has been called "one of the defining songs of the 2000s nu metal era."[1]
"Last Resort" has been described asnu metal[2][3] andrap metal.[4] Bassist Tobin Esperance said: "I've written songs on piano – actually, 'Last Resort' with that whole little riff/melody thing, that's done on the piano. And then I just transferred it to the guitar."[5] Speaking about the making of and inspiration behind the song, Esperance said:
Well, of course at the time we were listening to a lot of Wu Tang Clan, a lot of hip-hop, and a lot of Fugees and a lot ofEast Coast hip-hop, and we were samplingclassical music behind simple pocket grooves. I was playing something on piano and Jacoby came in and started scatting over it. And we just did our typical mixing of a funky kind of hip-hop groove with apunk rock chorus. And that song just came together like that. Jacoby said, "That's a cool riff, keep playing that noodle" – we called it a noodle. We did it over and over again, and Jacoby put his lyrics to it, and the song just morphed into what it is now. No one ever thought it was going to be a huge, huge hit, but I guess you never expect anything, really, when you're first starting out.[5]
"Last Resort" is aboutsuicide. In an interview with Songfacts, Papa Roach memberTobin Esperance spoke about the song and its lyrics, saying:
I think the lyrics had a lot to do with it. Because originally the song was about a friend of ours that we grew up with, and he was going through a rough time in his life. And there was that suicide element to it, just like growing up and the struggles of life and questioning whether or not you want to keep going on, and I think a lot of people connected with that. For the kids who had also gone through those kinds of feelings, those kinds of emotions, the lyrics really helped connect with that song.[5]
Papa Roach vocalistJacoby Shaddix described the song as a "cry for help". He also said "That song was about one of my best friends, and then 12–13 years later, that song was about me. I found myself in that place, where I was like, 'I can't go on this way. I can't do it anymore.'"[6] Shaddix said that "Last Resort" is about a roommate he had who tried to commit suicide. Shaddix then said: "We caught him and took him to the hospital and he went into a mental facility and then he came out the other side better. He actually found God through the process, which was kind of crazy. So he's on a whole different path of his life now, which is cool. I'm really proud of him for the changes he's made in his life."[7]
"Last Resort" achieved mainstream success, peaking at number one on the USBillboardModern Rock Tracks chart in August 2000[8] and number 57 on theBillboard Hot 100 in December 2000.[9] The popularity of "Last Resort" helped Papa Roach's albumInfest get certified 4× Platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in December 2024.[10] The song itself was certified 6× Platinum by the RIAA on December 6, 2024.[11]
The music video was directed byMarcos Siega.[12] In the music video, the band performs on a floor surrounded by fans. Throughout the video, the camera zooms in on some fans near the stage and shows them in places that appear to be their rooms. The purpose was to show the people being taken from where they did not want to be to where they did – from lonely despair to the rock show where they could have fun with their friends.[13] There are many posters for radio station98 Rock. This is the rock station out ofSacramento, California that the band credits for jump-starting their career. Inside theInfest album booklet are thanks to DJs of the radio station.[14] About five hundred people, including local fans, came to the shooting of the music video for "Last Resort".[12]
According toScreen Rant, "Last Resort" helped bring thenu metal genre to a wider audience.[15] The song has since become a popularinternet meme. American screenwriterJustin Halpern wrote: "It's the perfect joke, that song. The punchline hits the moment you press play. It's a comedy writer's dream."[16] Among the first of these memes was the altered lyric, "Cut my life into pizza / This is my plastic fork."[17] In 2018, the band ran a line of T-shirts bearing reference to this meme, accompanied by an image of a pizza.[18]
Papa Roach frontmanJacoby Shaddix is quoted as follows regarding his feelings towards the song's impact on popular culture: "It's everywhere, dude. It's even in my house, with my kids. It's funny, dude. [...] You could be at abar mitzvah and drop that song and somebody there would be, like, 'That's my fucking jam.' Or I could be atTSA fuckingairport security, and [someone will be like], 'Are you the 'cut my life...?' And I'm, like, 'I am the 'cut my life into pizza' guy. That's right, dude. Let's go.' I'll be that guy."[19]
In 2025, American actorJohn Stamos made headlines when he drummed along to the song without having ever heard it before in his life.[20][21] That same year,Carrie Underwood joined the band onstage to perform the song during a performance inLas Vegas.[22]
"Last Resort (Reloaded)" is a song by Americanrock bandPapa Roach with American rapper and singerJeris Johnson. This is a new version of the original song, it was released on January 27, 2021.[64] The song shows a new sound, this time mixinghip hop.
In 2020, Jeris Johnson began to be known on TikTok and uploaded a 40-second video showing his version of the song "Last Resort" by Papa Roach, the video went viral and was seen by Papa Roach's vocalist,Jacoby Shaddix.[65] At the end of 2020, Shaddix had announced that he wanted to re-record his hits with the band in different versions. Finally, the song with Jeris Johnson was released on January 27, 2021, the song on its debut received mixed reviews.[66]
"Last Resort (Reimagined)" is a song by Americanrock bandFalling in Reverse. It was released on June 26, 2023 throughEpitaph Records.[70] It was released as a standalone single and was later included on their fifth studio albumPopular Monster.[71] This is a symphonic version of the original songPapa Roach, with the vocals being recorded by frontmanRonnie Radke, while the piano and other instruments were recorded by Sean Rooney. The music video shows Radke in an alternate world all alone, singing as buildings collapse. The song was also promoted by Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix.[72]
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