Their first album, Short Bus, was released in 1995. The album was commercially successful, and included the hit single "Hey Man, Nice Shot". The song was somewhat controversial, as it was seen as capitalizing on the public suicide of Budd Dwyer. Kurt Cobain's suicide was widely rumored to have inspired the song, but the band refuted this. In need of a live band to tour the album, Patrick and Liesegang recruited Geno Lenardo on guitar, Frank Cavanagh on bass, and Matt Walker on drums. They would all later be featured in the video for the album's second single, "Dose".
Between Filter's first and second albums, the band became known for their soundtrack contributions, The first of these tracks, "Thanks Bro", landed on the Songs In The Key Of X: Music From And Inspired By The X-Files album. In 1996, Filter recorded and filmed the video for the song "Jurassitol", for The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack. They also released the home video Phenomenology in 1996, which showcased some of the band's live performances and music videos, as well as an interview with Patrick and Liesegang filmed in New Mexico.
Liesegang left in 1997 shortly after recording the Filter/The Crystal Method collaboration "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do" for the Spawn movie soundtrack, due to creative differences with Patrick. In 1998, for the X-Files film soundtrack, Patrick decided to keep the Filter name and recorded a cover of Harry Nilsson's "One".
Patrick continued with 1999's Title of Record with returning members Lenardo and Cavanagh, as well as Steve Gillis on drums, filling in the gap left by Walker after he left to work with The Smashing Pumpkins. Title of Record moved away from industrial rock somewhat, and resulted in the band's biggest hit, the mellow ballad "Take a Picture", along with other lesser-heard singles "Welcome to the Fold" and "The Best Things". The song "Take a Picture" is about a dispute on an aircraft, when Richard Patrick drunkenly stripped down to his boxers, alarming the other passengers.
The song "Captain Bligh" (after Vice-Admiral William Bligh of the HMS Bounty) was written by Patrick after leaving Nine Inch Nails and was about Trent Reznor's notoriously anti-social habits. "Miss Blue" is said to have been about Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'arcy Wretzky. She can be heard on the songs "Cancer", and "Take A Picture".
2002 saw the release of The Amalgamut, featuring the singles "Where Do We Go from Here?" and "American Cliché". "The Only Way (Is the Wrong Way)" was also featured in the first wave of Hummer2 commercials that year and in the 2003 movie Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. Alan Bailey was recruited for live guitar when they set off to tour the album; however, the tour ended abruptly in a matter of weeks when Richard Patrick voluntarily checked himself into rehab. He has since tattooed his date of sobriety, September 28, 2002, on his forearm.
Richard Patrick was part of the supergroup The Damning Well, which has only released one track on the Underworld movie soundtrack in 2003, despite an entire album's worth of recording. While nothing has directly surfaced, it is rumored that some of the material from these sessions have been an influence or has been reworked in Filter's 2008 release Anthems for the Damned and Black Light Burn's first album Cruel Melody, due to the fact that Wes Borland was the guitarist of both The Damning Well and Black Light Burns.
Army of Anyone, a second supergroup side-project with drummer Ray Luzier and Stone Temple Pilots members Robert and Dean DeLeo, released its debut album on November 14, 2006. Low album sales, coupled with Richard Patrick's desire to do more work with Filter, led the band's break-up around mid-2007.
As Army of Anyone wound down, Patrick began working on material for a new Filter album, to eventually be titled Anthems for the Damned. Released to the public in May 2008, it was more serious in tone than some expected and expressed more of his mixed emotions regarding the state of the world and the state of his life.
On March 7, 2008, it was announced that Frank Cavanagh had reunited with Filter and would play as a live member at the Operation MySpace concert in Kuwait. It was confirmed at Operation MySpace that he would not be joining Filter on the full tour as he would be shipping off to Iraq in April. The only song played live during the March 10 performance by Cavanagh, now a Sergeant and Paralegal in the U.S. Army Reserve, was the band's first mainstream hit, "Hey, Man, Nice Shot".
Patrick also announced a remix album to Anthems For the Damned on November 4, titled Remixes For the Damned. Remixes For the Damned was released on November 21, 2008 in the U.S. and Canada, and internationally on December 1, 2008. The lead-off single was "I Keep Flowers Around".
A greatest hits album entitled The Very Best Things (1995-2008) was released March 31, 2009. It featured tracks from all four previous studio albums and various movie soundtrack contributions, but no new content. There are 14 tracks total, with some tracks being radio edits.
Filter started work working on a fifth album shortly after the release of the remix and greatest hits albums, with Bob Marlette as a producer. The album, said Richard Patrick, would be a lot heavier than Anthems for the Damned and was to have a song written for The Amalgamut on it. He also stated he would be moving away from the political lyrical content present in Anthems for the Damned.
When asked about the direction of his upcoming music style in an interview with Suicide Girls on September 13, 2008, Patrick said, "Actually the stuff I’m writing right now for a record that I’m going to release sometime next year is actually way more heavy industrial, more electronic. There’s probably not going to be that many live drums on it." It's important to note that he originally saw this album releasing in 2009, while it has now obviously slipped into 2010.
Richard Patrick has stated on the Filter website that he has been recording songs for movies recently. Filter covered the song "Happy Together" by The Turtles for the soundtrack to the movie The Stepfather (2009). The song features ambient sound with alternative metal.
Filter also contributed a new song "Fades Like a Photograph" for the soundtrack of the movie 2012 (2009). The song has a similar lyrical mood to "Take a Picture" and saw Patrick reuniting with former Filter co-conspirator, Brian Liesegang, who co-produced the track.
Through the end of 2009 and into 2010, Filter released a series of fourteen studio updates chronicling the progress made on the album. Each update touched on a certain part of the album process, such as "recording guitar parts" or "mixing the album". The last studio updates confirmed that the album recording had been completed. In their last studio video update, Richard Patrick showcased two clips from final mixed songs on iTunes that listed track listing and track lengths. While the video was legitimate, it was not the actual final track list, it was only a collection of new Filter songs on a playlist.
The album has been recorded, mixed and mastered, and band is currently signed with the label Rocket Science Ventures. Filter released a new single, "The Inevitable Relapse", as their first single on May 26th. The song is available on the band's official website as a free digital download. The Trouble with Angels will be released in August 17, 2010, with touring starting in the summer. The second track on the album, titled "Drug Boy," was released on the band's website on August 3rd.
It's Gonna Kill Me
Filter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
This girl's trying to kill me
She's my favorite piece of plastic held to my ear
Where do I go?
I don't know
Where to play?
I don't know
What do I say?
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
This girl's got a grip- where's mine?
I spent the night walking home
Spent the last night dreaming
I, spent the last night screaming
What do you mean?
I don't know
Where do you stay?
I don't know
What do you mean?
I don't know
Where do you go?
I don't know
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
The song "It's Gonna Kill Me" by Filter is about a girl who is slowly killing the singer. The first two lines of the song repeat the phrase "This girl's trying to kill me," which sets the tone for the lyrics to follow. The chorus repeats "Yeah, it's gonna kill me" multiple times.
The second verse suggests that the girl has a strong grip on the singer, but he doesn't have one on her. He spent the last night dreaming and screaming, perhaps trying to break free from her grip. The rest of the lyrics ask questions about where to go, what to say, and where to stay, as if the singer is lost and doesn't know what to do.
The overall theme of the song is one of being trapped, powerless, and slowly dying. The girl is like a piece of plastic held to the singer's ear, suggesting that she's in control of what he hears and what he does. The repeated phrase "It's gonna kill me" suggests that the singer knows he's in a dangerous situation, but he can't break free from it. Perhaps the girl represents addiction, obsession, or a toxic relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
This girl's trying to kill me
This woman is having an immense impact on my life which I cannot deal with
This girl's trying to kill me
I am constantly thinking about this woman, and she is consuming me
She's my favorite piece of plastic held to my ear
Talking to her on the phone feels like my most beloved source of comfort and security
Where do I go?
I have no idea where to turn next or what to do about this situation
I don't know
I truly am lost and without direction
Where to play?
Where can I escape this feeling that I am being consumed by this woman?
I don't know
I truly am lost and without direction
What do I say?
What can I possibly say to this woman or anyone about this situation?
Whatever you say
I'll just agree with whatever the other person suggests, I have no ideas of my own
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
This situation is having a profound impact on me and causing me great pain and suffering
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
I am truly afraid that this situation will be the end of me
This girl's got a grip- where's mine?
This woman seems to have such a strong hold on me, I don't know how I can break free
I spent the night walking home
I was so distraught that I could not even face coming home and instead walked around aimlessly for the entire night
Spent the last night dreaming
My dreams are consumed with thoughts of this woman
I, spent the last night screaming
I am so full of pent-up anxiety that I cannot help but scream out in frustration
What do you mean?
I am completely confused and cannot understand what is happening
Where do you stay?
I do not know where to find solace or comfort
What do you mean?
I am completely confused and cannot understand what is happening
I don't know
I truly am lost and without direction
Where do you go?
Where can I escape this situation?
I don't know
I truly am lost and without direction
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
This situation is having a profound impact on me and causing me great pain and suffering
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
I am truly afraid that this situation will be the end of me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
This situation is having a profound impact on me and causing me great pain and suffering
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
I am truly afraid that this situation will be the end of me
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GENO LENARDO, RICHARD MICHAEL PATRICK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@gabrielwillames
This girl's trying to kill me
This girl's trying to kill me
She's my favorite piece of plastic held to my ear
Where do I go?
I don't know
Where to play?
I don't know
What do I say?
Whatever you say
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
This girl's got a grip- where's mine?
I spent the night walking home
Spent the last night dreaming
I, spent the last night screaming
What do you mean?
I don't know
Where do you stay?
I don't know
What do you mean?
I don't know
Where do you go?
I don't know
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
Yeah, it's gonna kill me
@joshdavis7625
One of the greatest bands of this generation who agrees with me
@azfunbi4606
Hear, Hear…..I agree 😊
@bethschuler463
Yessir
@bold810
All my pieces agree.🎉
@dondon98
I do... he and I talked for awhile but we disagree on some Social issues. I remember he got broken in on and had pictures from the cameras and showed me. Richard a cool m f er...
@stardust2841
Realllll! but also, learn how to use comas pls
@BlueSharkRides
Underrated song. One of my top 10 still to this day.
@djjayem100
That chorded "Yeaaaaaaahh" Gets me everytime.
@Cee_B
Saaame dude! then the drums just drop on your head and he holds that “yeah” and it just Woo!!..Woo! Just gets me fckn wild man😂
@jjones3380
I remember falling in love with this album all those years ago and I still get excited when I hear a Filter Song🎵