For decades, there have been rumors that Filter’s 1995 debut single, “Hey Man, Nice Shot,” is about late Nirvana frontman and grunge icon Kurt Cobain. Filter founder and frontman Richard Patrick has addressed this in the past, but is now once again confirming that these rumors are false, while noting that it is about another high-profile death.
In a new interview with The Jesea Lee Show, Patrick spoke about the hit song, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. “God, I remember [when the song was first released] just being, like, ‘Boy, I hope this makes it.’ And the song was already taking off from the ‘Demon Knight’ soundtrack,” he recalled, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “And then it just kept building and building and building. And, yeah, it’s a staple of the set. We play it last every night, usually. And it’s awesome.”
Patrick later addressed the origins of “Hey Man, Nice Shot,” explaining that it was written about the death of Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer, who publicly took his own life on January 22, 1987, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The politician had been convicted of bribery charges one month prior and was expected to be given a lengthy prison sentence. He held a live, televised press conference where he lamented the justice system and proclaimed himself to be innocent, then he pulled out a .357 Magnum revolver and shot himself.
“I never wanted to say that it was inspired by R. Budd Dwyer, but people were mistakenly saying it was about Kurt Cobain, because he had killed himself,” Patrick said. “But I wrote the song in ’91 [which was three years before Cobain’s death, also by suicide].” At some point, Patrick says his record label leaked the true story behind the song, which he wasn’t thrilled about but understood why it was necessary.
When rumors got out of control, Richard Patrick explained to Dave Grohl that “Hey Man, Nice Shot” was not about Kurt Cobain
“I saw it as a young man and wrote lyrics about it and it just resonated with me and I just found it to be shocking and I tried to understand it,” Patrick said of Dwyer’s shocking death. “And so that’s what the song is about, trying to wrap my head around, like, why would someone do this? And [it’s] interesting fodder for lyrics, in my opinion. ‘Cause I was so over — and a lot of people were too — I was just so over songs about like hot rods and chicks and all that crap that they had spoonfed us in the ’80s.”
Offering some additional insight into the song’s history, Patrick shared: “Urban legend is that it’s about Kurt. But the great thing is, is I went up to Dave Grohl [Nirvana’s drummer] and I explained that the song was written way before Kurt killed himself. And I was already signed because of it. And then Kurt killed himself, and the record came out like a little bit later.”
“I explained it to Dave Grohl and I explained it to Krist [Novoselic, Nirvana’s bass player]. And those are the only two people I care about. They acknowledged that they understood, like, ‘We know you didn’t do it.’ So, once I made it clear to them that it was written in ’91 and that it wasn’t about Kurt, and they reassured me that, like, ‘Hey, it’s okay. Don’t feel the weight of this.’”
“No one wants to profit on someone’s demise, but at the same time, it is about suicide and it is about someone killing themselves,” Richard added. “It’s wild.”
The post Filter’s ‘Hey Man, Nice Shot’ Is Definitely Not About Kurt Cobain, but It Does Have Dark Origins appeared first on VICE.
