"Bent" is the first single from
Mad Season, the second album by the rock band Matchbox
Twenty. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on
July 22, 2000, and stayed there for one week before being
unseated by 'N Sync's "It's Gonna Be Me".
The song had an interesting reception in the UK market, as
"bent" is a slang term synonymous with "gay": the chorus of the
song contains the lyric
"Can you help me? I'm bent."The song also contains
suggestive lyrics in this vein:
"Keep breaking me in", a slang term for being sexually
penetrated.
This song has no links to homosexuality; Thomas spoke on
Storytellersthat this song is about two people who are
both messed up, but because they're together, it doesn't
matter. This was Thomas' first attempt at a love song and he
believes it is co-dependent of the 21st century.
The video, directed by Pedro Romhanyi, seems to be a bit of
a play on Rob Thomas' increased profile following the 1999
mega-hit, "Smooth", since it features other members of the band
mistreating him. It starts with him being hit by a car driven
by Adam Gaynor. As he lies on the ground, Kyle Cook shows up
and empties Thomas of all money in his wallet. After this, Rob
recovers from the car hit and walks off, singing the chorus.
After the first chorus, he bumps into Paul Doucette. Rob sings
a few more lines to a clearly unimpressed Paul, who basically
shoves Thomas out of his way. At this point Rob walks off
again, singing the second chorus, and the wind seems to hit him
stronger than it hits other people. He then heads into an alley
where day and night intermix. He's assaulted yet again, at
which point Brian Yale shows up apparently to help him off the
ground. Rob refuses the hand and walks off, eventually leaving
the alleyway and emerging back into the daylight, when the
events seem to re-occur from the beginning of the video.