“Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence with Paul McCoy

"Bring Me to Life" was Evanescence's debut single and the opening shot from their first album, Fallen, in 2003, and it had already turned up on the soundtrack of the film Daredevil. Amy Lee wrote it at 19 about going numb inside an abusive relationship and waking up to everything she had been missing, with guitarist Ben Moody and David Hodges sharing the credit.

Dave Fortman produced it as a slab of nu metal and rap rock, with Hodges' piano set against the crunch of Moody's guitars, Francesco DiCosmo's bass and Josh Freese's drums. Lee's voice soars over the wreckage, and critics singled out her vocals and the melody. The male vocal from Paul McCoy of 12 Stones was the label's idea, pushed through against Lee's wishes to fit the sound on radio at the time.

It topped the charts in the UK, Australia, Italy and more, went multi-platinum in several countries including the US, and won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance while picking up a nomination for Best Rock Song. Philipp Stölzl's video has Lee clambering on a skyscraper as nightmares invade her bedroom. The band later rebuilt the song for their orchestral-electronic 2017 album Synthesis.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.