"Slave to the Wage" is a single by alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Placebo

Placebo (band)

Placebo are a British rock band from London, England, formed in 1994 by singer and guitarist Brian Molko and bass guitarist Stefan Olsdal. The band was joined by drummer Robert Schultzberg, who was later replaced by Steve Hewitt after conflicts with Molko. Hewitt left the band in October 2007 and...

. Taken from their third album

Black Market Music

Black Market Music is the third studio album by British alternative rock band Placebo, released in 2000 by Hut Records.- Background :Black Market Music took nine months to record, the longest that the band have ever spent recording an album to date, and is dedicated to the memory of Scott...

, it reached number 19 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. The song, inspired by the drudgery of having a "9 to 5" job in the modern world, is about not working oneself into an early grave. Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's "Maggie's Farm

Maggie's Farm

"Maggie's Farm" is a song written by Bob Dylan, recorded on January 15, 1965, and released on the album Bringing It All Back Home on March 22 of that year...

" is also mentioned in the lyrics. The song samples the intro of "Texas Never Whispers" by Pavement

Pavement (band)

Pavement is an American alternative rock band that formed in Stockton, California in 1989. In their career, they achieved a significant cult following, and they were called the best band of the 1990s by prominent music critics Robert Christgau and Stephen Thomas Erlewine...

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The music video is directed by Howard Greenhalgh and was inspired by the movie Gattaca

Gattaca

Gattaca is a 1997 science fiction film written and directed by Andrew Niccol. It stars Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law with supporting roles played by Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, Gore Vidal and Alan Arkin....

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Track listings

CD1

1. "Slave to the Wage" (Radio edit) – 3:50
2. "Leni" – 4:39
3. "Bubblegun" – 5:13

CD2

1. "Slave to the Wage" (Album version) – 4:09
2. "Holocaust" – 4:26
3. "Slave to the Wage" (Les Rythmes Digitales remix) – 4:29