By Spinfork Staff | Score: 7.8
It’s been twenty years since Staind’s gravelly confessional “It’s Been Awhile” first saturated the airwaves with its particular brand of regret-soaked masculinity. And while critics dismissed it as angsty radio rock at the time, a reexamination reveals something much rawer, much sadder, and, dare we say—much more honest than anyone was ready to admit.
Let’s be clear: this is not a perfect song. The guitars feel like they were recorded in a warehouse of bottled-up emotion. The drums sound like someone punching drywall with rhythm. But that’s exactly the point.
In an era where therapy was still a punchline, and masculinity was defined by how tightly you clenched your jaw during feelings, “It’s Been Awhile” offered something radical: a man who said out loud, “I messed up,” “I’m not okay,” and “I still smell her on my sheets.”
That last part didn’t age well. But it’s important.
Where modern emo tends to romanticize depression into Instagram-ready melancholy, Staind gave us something messier: the actual sound of a man trying to cry but accidentally bench-pressing instead.
“And everything I can’t remember / As f**ed up as it all may seem”*
This isn’t poetic abstraction. This is word salad with feelings on top. It’s what happens when you don’t have the vocabulary for your pain, but you do have a Les Paul and a Marlboro habit.
Aaron Lewis didn’t offer solutions. He didn’t ask for empathy. He just admitted things—on a mic, on the radio, in cargo shorts. It was vulnerability smuggled inside a genre that was still recovering from Limp Bizkit’s last tantrum.
In retrospect, “It’s Been Awhile” wasn’t just a song. It was a time capsule from a generation of emotionally constipated men who weren’t allowed to process grief unless it rhymed and got airplay on 96 Rock.
There’s something beautiful in that. Tragic, yes. A little sweaty, definitely. But beautiful.
Staind’s opus isn’t flawless. It’s not even fully coherent. But twenty years later, “It’s Been Awhile” still speaks to the haunted lizard brain of anyone who’s ever said “I’m fine” while visibly shaking. And that kind of honesty? Well, it’s been awhile.
