Rock singer addresses 30-year Kurt Cobain rumor
It's been 30 years since the song was released, and the singer is still addressing the rumors of what it's about.
So when Filter's frontman, Richard Patrick of Massachusetts appeared on The Jesea Lee Show , it gave him the opportunity to speak about the band's rock hit, "Hey Man, Nice Shot."
Rumors swirled during the release that the song was about Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain, who took his own life in 1994. But Patrick said this was not the case.
In fact, "Hey Man, Nice Shot" was written about the public suicide of Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer who died on Jan. 22, 1987, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Dwyer was convicted of bribery charges in December 1986 and was expected to face a length sentence, according to Blabbermouth . He claimed to be innocent and denounced the legal system before he shot himself with a .357 Magnum revolver during a live televised press conference.
"I never wanted to say it was inspired by R. Budd Dwyer, but people were mistakenly saying it was about Kurt Cobain, because he had killed himself," Richard said during the interview. "But I wrote the song in '91. So the record company kind of just leaked it and said it's about R. Budd Dwyer... And I just was like, 'Well, the cat's out of the bag.'"
Patrick went on to say that he "never wanted it to be out what the song was about, but it's out. And he did what he did. He made the point he wanted to make."
While writing the song, Patrick said the lyrics resonated with him and it made him wonder "Why would someone do this?"
"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 spooned us in the '80s," he said.
After the rumors came out about Patrick's song, the singer spoke with Nirvana's former drummer Dave Grohl and bass player Krist Novoselic and explained what the song was actually about.
"They acknowledged that they understood, like 'We know you didn't do it,'" Patrick said. "So, once I made it clear to them that it wasn't written in '91 and that it wasn't about Kurt, they reassured me that, like, 'Hey, it's okay. Don't feel the weight of this.'"
Richard added, "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. It's wild."
Filter is set to go on tour come August. The closest they'll be to Massachusetts is New Haven, Connecticut, on Sept. 3.
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Read the original article on MassLive .
