"Outside" was originally performed live during the 1999 Family Values Tour in Biloxi, Mississippi, with Aaron Lewis on the stage by himself and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst providing backing vocals. Lewis was asked to perform a song solo and he decided at the last moment to play a song he had been working on since the early days of Staind. He finished the lyrics to "Outside" on the spot while singing the song live.
"It's really an accidental phenomenon," Lewis explains. "I've been playing it for quite some time. In the early days of the band, any money we made went back into the band, so two or three times a week I played acoustically to make money to live off. 'Outside' was one of the songs I played, but it wasn't really finished, so I made up different words every time. We almost put it on Dysfunction. Then, one night on the Family Values Tour, ten minutes before going onstage, we decided to do it. There was never any thought of releasing it this way."
The live acoustic version from the albumThe Family Values Tour 1999 was picked up by radio stations across the country and became a hit peaking number-one on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks, number 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks, and number 56 on the BillboardHot 100. In many ways, the buzz generated by the live version of "Outside" provided the perfect bridge between Staind's major label debut Dysfunction and their breakthrough follow up, Break the Cycle, introducing new fans to the band just a few months before Break the Cycle was released. "Outside" also showed a much softer side of Lewis and Staind that would be explored further in Break the Cycle and would also fully replace their original nu metal sound on 14 Shades of Grey. The studio version managed to have moderate success due to the popularity of both the acoustic live performance and their breakthrough hit, "It's Been Awhile". The studio recorded version peaked number 11 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks and number 16 on the Modern Rock Tracks charts but it failed to be a pop hit like the live acoustic version or "It's Been Awhile". The studio recorded version hit number 11 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
Music video
A music video was released for the original live performance of the song which, on its release, had frequent play on MTV2. The studio-recorded electric version of the song had a music video as well, but perhaps received less attention than its acoustic predecessor. This video also features Mike Smith, who played guitar in the band Limp Bizkit from 2002-2004, and now plays guitar and sings in the band Shedding Light.
