Was Stan Premature?

[Kukahara]

When Stan was written, Eminem had only 1 album out. It's a brilliant song, of course, but was he famous on the level where someone would be obsessed with him?
I don't know how big and popular Eminem was with SSLP alone, but I always felt like he wasn't THAT famous that someone would stalk him and kill himself because of him. It would have made more sense if Stan was released after MMLP, when he was the biggest celebrity around.
Don't get me wrong, the song stands on it's own no matter what. It's just that it seems a bit premature at the time considering he only had one album out.

I may be underestimating how big he was when SSLP came out.

[TonyTilt]

Stan was perfect and I think it was released at a perfect time. Couldn't have been any more perfect imo. Stan blew people away, still does.

[EvryOnesACrtc]

It was perfect then because that was the time that people, including a lot of his fans, couldn't really tell if he was actually crazy or if he was just doing it as a schtick. That was one of the things Stan, the character, struggled to decipher. After this period, though, when he came out with more serious songs like The Way I Am and then entered into The Eminem Show era there was no doubt in people's minds that he was just a regular guy with a vivid imagination.

[Mr Evil]

Phew. I got the complete wrong idea from the title

And what those guys said ^

[sbolli1]

Em was confident enough in knowing just how big MMLP was going to be. That's one of the most amazing things about MMLP, how he basically foresaw the popularity and backlash that would eventually come from releasing the album.

[Ares]

I think it was the perfect timing. It showed how confident he was back then. Noone would expect him to release such a track at that point of his career.

[OutlawƎ]

It was perfect then because that was the time that people, including a lot of his fans, couldn't really tell if he was actually crazy or if he was just doing it as a schtick. That was one of the things Stan, the character, struggled to decipher. After this period, though, when he came out with more serious songs like The Way I Am and then entered into The Eminem Show era there was no doubt in people's minds that he was just a regular guy with a vivid imagination.

Great post

[Him Shadow]

MTV Fanatic - Eminem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxg9axJSKas

she's not that crazy tho

[slims]

People still think he's crazy though.

[OutlawƎ]

People still think he's crazy though.

No?

[bingo bongo]

I find myself feeling the same about the whole homophobia thing. I mean, I think his constant jabs at people who got offended for his use of the word faggot should have come after MMLP. It's like he wrote Criminal foreshadowing the reactions of the public to the previous songs in the album

[Dirrt]

What TT said

[Elision]

I don't know how big and popular Eminem was with SSLP

I may be underestimating how big he was when SSLP came out.

Em was massive leading up to MMLP and he was only getting bigger every day, i remember it vividly. the song was absolutely necessary.

[shadyblogger]

A premature birth that was four minutes late

[Emadyville]

I've said this for fucking years...that song was amazing but premature in the sense that, he was that genius to have the foresight for such a concept. this is the type of shit that blows my mind. this type of song, to me, should have not have happened until at the least after the mmlp, but would make even more sense after tes. this is what makes him great. he had a concept like that after one album. i've said it for many years, shit like this is what makes him THAT great.