Short Bus is the debut studio album by the rock band Filter, released on May 8, 1995 via Reprise Records. Lead singer Richard Patrick said in an interview that Trent Reznor had told him he should make his own record while he went off to work on Nine Inch Nails‘ 1994 album The Downward Spiral. Patrick, while still retaining industrial elements in the music, chose to focus on the guitars, which he felt was something missing when he played with Nine Inch Nails; he also chose not to go with the standard industrial rock sound, which he felt would set them apart. Short Bus has sold over one million copies in the United States, and is best known for the hit single Hey Man Nice Shot.
Described as an industrial rock, post grunge, hard rock and nu metal record, Short Bus blends the industrial sound with grunge music. The Rough Guide to Rock writer Essi Berelian described the record as “a broad and imaginative slab of industrial noise, distinguished by Patrick‘s ability with a strong hook and melodic chorus.” Richard Patrick has gone on to name bands such as Pantera, Butthole Surfers and Skinny Puppy as influences on the album’s sound; Deftones, Helmet and Soundgarden were also other early influences on Filter. The album’s guitar-heavy sound features the use of a drum machine for percussion; the band’s adoption of the digital instrument was influenced by the works of Big Black and Ministry‘s 1988 record, The Land of Rape and Honey. Music software was also used to process guitars and other sounds; the verses of Hey Man Nice Shot featured a looped feedback of a pick stratch. The band also incorporated the sounds of a broken toilet on the track Stuck in Here. The It’s Over features a guitar drop that was recorded on a low quality mini cassette recorder; Liesegang has described the resulting recording as “Robert Johnson spooky kind of sound.” Other incorporated sounds on the record include answering machine vocals on Spent and television recordings on White Like That.
Lyrical themes include religion and suicide, with the album’s opening track and lead single Hey Man Nice Shot being written as a response to Budd Dwyer‘s televised suicide. The track was, at one point, rumored to be about the death of musician Kurt Cobain; however, the band has denied said rumor in the past. Similarly, “It’s Over” was written about a mutual friend of the band who died by suicide, and was one of the first few songs written by the group. The album is named after the slang short bus, which refers to the smaller school busses used by students with disabilities. Liesegang stated that the band chose the title for solidarity and reclamation.
Tracklist:
- Hey Man Nice Shot
- Dose
- Under
- Spent
- Take Another
- Stuck in Here
- It’s Over
- Gerbil
- White Like That
- Consider This
- So Cool
Filter
Richard Patrick: vocals, guitars, bass, programming, drums, producer, engineer
Brian Liesegang: programming, keyboards, guitars, drums, producer, engineer
Additional personnel
Scott Kern: additional live drums, answering machine vocals
Matt Drvenkar: answering machine vocals
Jeff “Critter” Newell: additional engineering on “Dose”
Kevin Hanley: additional guitar noise
Mike Peffer: additional live drums
Ben Grosse: mixing
Deborah Norcross: art direction & design
Chris Beirne: photography
Richard Bishop and Gail Perry for 3 A.M.: management
