In nearly every aspect, "Hey Man, Nice Shot" plays on both sides, with the deep, gloomy verses standing in stunning contrast to the unrestrained choral sections. At times the drums bounce, giving the song a great amount of depth, while at other times the drums his rapid-fire, almost sounding like a machine gun. Taking a note from Nine Inch Nails, the programmed and live drums are the brainchild of the core of the group, Richard Patrick and Brian Liesegang. Filter's song, "Hey Man, Nice Shot" perfectly captures this dark, almost helpless mood, and one can easily "feel" the connection to this tragic event. Having been convicted of taking bribes, the day before his sentencing, Dwyer called a press conference where he re-stated his innocence before taking out a gun and killing himself, an episode that was captured and aired by countless television stations. In truth, the song speaks to a very specific event: the public suicide of Pennsylvania State Treasurer Budd Dwyer on January 22, 1987. Like so many songs in music history, the true meaning behind "Hey Man, Nice Shot" is largely unknown to a majority of listeners, and while lacking this knowledge does not really detract from the overall impact of the song, understanding the true meaning behind it can make "Hey Man, Nice Shot" an even more intense musical experience. Bringing an amazingly dark, yet mesmerizing sound, with enough power to hook even the most hardcore listener, Filter's 1995 debut single, "Hey Man, Nice Shot" remains one of the most impressive and memorable songs of the entire decade. Rising from the depressed, downtrodden, and deteriorating city of Cleveland, OH, the bands' first single almost instantly catapulted Filter to the top of the mainstream charts. Though a majority of the successful acts of this style relied heavily on computer-based sounds, in the mid-1990's, a band arrived that was able to take this uniquely aggressive sound and merge it in an uncanny way with the sounds of hardcore. The so-called "industrial" sound took this aggressive, in-your-face approach, and made it far darker, giving it a rhythm and mood like nothing else. From early influences like Black Sabbath to the hardcore innovations of Fugazi and Black Flag, the more aggressive styles of music kept branching off into different areas, and as the 1980's began to wind down, a new sound was emerging. The history of music is scattered with countless bands who attempted to deliver heavy or hardcore style music, but only ended up coming off as silly due to either sounding too much like a band that came earlier, or simply falling into one of the many traps that made them come off as "trying too hard." Obviously though, within this haystack of bands that missed the point, there are a handful of needles that kept the genres moving forward. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN (will open in new tab)Īcross every genre and every era of music, there is perhaps no more difficult a line to walk than that between "heavy" and cliché.
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