“Fall to Pieces” by Velvet Revolver

"Fall to Pieces" was the third single from Contraband, Velvet Revolver's 2004 debut, and it's the album's open wound. Singer Scott Weiland wrote the words about his fight with heroin and what it was doing to his marriage to the model Mary Forsberg, while Slash, Duff McKagan, Dave Kushner and Matt Sorum wrote the music.

The guitars are tuned down a half step, unusual for this band, and the song rides an arpeggiated riff that recalls "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses, the old band of Slash, McKagan and Sorum, right down to the key. Josh Abraham produced it with the band, Doug Grean added keyboards and Andy Wallace mixed it into a slow-burning power ballad that aches rather than preens. It held number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 11 straight weeks, peaked at 2 on Modern Rock Tracks and reached 67 on the Hot 100.

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