F.I.N.E.*

"F.I.N.E.*"
Song

"F.I.N.E." is a song by the American hard rock band Aerosmith. It was written by lead singer Steven Tyler and lead guitarist Joe Perry. The song title is an acronym for "Fucked Up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional", as stated in the album's liner notes. The song, totaling four minutes, nine seconds, is the second track on the band's 1989 album Pump. It was released as a promotional single to rock radio in 1989, and reached #14 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Song information

"F.I.N.E." is a more upbeat hard rocking song, similar to "Young Lust" both lyrically and musically. The song's lyrics are very raunchy and focus on youth angst and lasciviousness, and the verses feature the line "I'm ready" after each line, suggesting sexual arousal, or being "ready" for sex. Many tongue-in-cheek lyrics are prevalent throughout the song including "she's got the Cracker Jack, now all I want's the prize", "I got the right key baby, but the wrong keyhole", "I shove my tongue right between your cheeks", etc. The chorus features a repeating of the word "Alright", followed by a person who thinks the narrator is alright, including "your daddy", "your mama", "my old lady", "my little sister", "my brother", "even Tipper" (a reference to Tipper Gore who headed the Parents Music Resource Center censorship campaign during this time), and "Joe Perry" (a reference to Aerosmith's lead guitarist).

The only mentions of the term "F.I.N.E." are in the line "my brand new baby looks so F-I-N-E fine" and in a bridge towards the end of the song, where Tyler sings "everything about you is so F-I-N-E fine". Later on in the Pump album, in the song "What It Takes", there's a line that goes "girl, before I met you I was F-I-N-E fine". "F.I.N.E." was one of the potential album titles brainstormed for the album which eventually became Pump, but Geffen A&R man John Kalodner insisted he wouldn't have an album called "FINE". If one looks closely on the trucks on the front cover of the album, the word FINE can be seen on the side of them.

Meaning of acronym

In the album liner notes, F.I.N.E. is said to stand for "Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional."

This may have an association to the rehabilitation programs such as A.A. and N.A.. Many such programs use this phrase to describe the feeling of your life being out of control.

The acronym is also discussed in the movies The Italian Job and Scream 2 and in the show Happy Valley (series 1 episode 4).

Liv Tyler also references this as a nod to her father at the end of the movie Super starring Rainn Wilson. During her scene with the rehabilitation group session she is heard stating "fucked up, insecure, neurotic, and emotional."

In other media

The song is featured in Walt Disney World's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith in the coaster car with the license plate "BUHBYE" which also features Young Lust and a reworked version of Love in an Elevator that is re-titled as Love in a Rollercoaster.
F.I.N.E. was also the name of a hard rock band from Portland, ME.