Discover the story of the song > Vicarious – TOOL

The song is about a person who enjoys and gets excited about watching tragedies on TV. They feel like it's not entertaining until someone dies and they can watch it from a safe distance. The protagonist thinks everyone enjoys it as much as they do but are afraid to admit it. They compare themselves to a vampire who feeds on blood, but instead they feed on tragedy. In the end, the protagonist believes that the universe is hostile and people have to devour to survive.