“Alert Status Red” by Matthew Good

"Alert Status Red" was the lead single from White Light Rock & Roll Review, Matthew Good's second solo album, and in 2004 the Canadian songwriter aimed it squarely at a world living on permanent alert. The title nods to America's terror warning system, and the song circles terrorism and violence with the jittery anger of someone who has read too many headlines. Good handles the vocals, guitar, piano and keyboards, Rich Priske plays bass and Pat Steward drums, and Warne Livesey produced, engineered and mixed it.

The video stirred up more trouble than the song. Good posted it on his website on June 1, 2004, then pulled it after complaints: alongside footage shot at a school in Coquitlam, British Columbia, it flashed brief glimpses of the Columbine massacre. After thinking it over, he put it back up.

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