On This Day in Pink History… 3rd August 2009, Funhouse single was released

Funhouse is the fifth single from Pink’s fifth studio album of the same name. The track was written by P!nk, Jimmy Harry and Tony Kanal who also produced the song. It holds the title of the album and, just like most of the album’s tracks, the song speaks about P!nk’s split with motocrossrider Carey Hart.

Funhouse received acclaim from critics, being regarded as one of the musical and lyrical highlights of the album. There’s More Where That Came From’ gave the song an A- stating, “‘Funhouse’ has the energy of ‘So What’ but surpasses it half-way through, when the song breaks into true rocker mode. Something we haven’t seen from Pink since ‘Trouble’ back in 2003!” Billboard also gave the song a very positive review, saying “Pink again displays her versatility on this complex number, which calls for blues, funk and rock vocal stylings that few other pop stars could pull off. The singer delivers with full force, colliding with lively guitar licks and hints of synth” and giving it an 81% approval.

Funhouse became Pink’s 16th Top 10 single in Australia, climbing to a chart peak of number six. The song also became Pink’s 5th consecutive #1 single on the Australian Airplay Chart, with all 4 previous singles from Funhouse peaking at #1 too. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 18, becoming Pink’s fifth consecutive top twenty hit from the Funhouse album. It has since peaked at number 15. It also made its chart debut on the Turkey Top 20 Chart at number twenty-five. Funhouse first appeared on the UK Singles Chart in July, 2009 at number 155. It climbed 30 spots to 125 a week later. It currently peaks at twenty-nine. Also in the UK, the song has been added to the B List of the Radio 1 Playlist. It is expected to climb in the following weeks due to the physical release of the single. In August 2009, Funhouse debuted at the Dutch Top 40 at number 31, making this her 19th entry on the chart. Funhouse debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 at #80 and has risen to a peak of #21. The song was released in later August, 2009 in the U.S., and in October, the song debuted at number 23 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. The following week, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #97 and peaked at #44.

The music video was directed by Dave Meyers and premiered in June, 2009 in the United Kingdom on 4music. Tony Kanal of No Doubt, also the co-writer and the producer of the song, appears in a cameo, playing a piano. The video takes place in a barren lot that is later shown to be what’s left of a house that is still burning. There are ‘evil clowns’ throughout the area who are picking though the rubble and playing the instruments as the band. The video begins as it pans low to the ground showing an “Elvis” grave briefly. Pink emerges from an old empty pool and begins to sing the first verse. She proceeds to kick over a toilet and picks up a framed photo. She throws it behind her. She passes a toaster and now it shows that she is in a burning fun house. She dances past a few ‘evil clowns’. It shows more of the burning remains of the building. She picks up a stick and throws it down. Then an ‘evil clown’ turns around and the camera has a close up of its face. She counts down from 9. (She quickly shows her middle finger on ‘5’ but on most versions of the video that is blurred out.) She moves to a table and takes a sip of some red liquid but becomes disgusted and throws it down. She jumps onto a mattress attached to a chain which two ‘evil clowns’ are pulling. She gets off the mattress and climbs onto the burning fun house. It shows four ‘evil clowns’ (Two are miming with each other, one is playing the guitar and the last is just standing on its own.) She goes over to the guitar playing clown and dances with it. She proceeds to count down from 9 again. She climbs through a doggie door to find Tony Kanal playing the piano. Pink moves to a motorcycle and puts on sunglasses and a leather jacket. In the background a voice is counting down from 9. At one she rides away on the motorcycle as the house explodes. It then shows her riding her motorcycle on a road as the song ends.

Wikipedia