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.
Stuck in Here
Filter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Once again I'm in low gear
Once again I have a fear
Once again I'm stuck in here
Hey just close the door
Think back and just ignore
Hey just close your eyes
Think back and realize
Oh no, still stuck in here
What makes you think that it's okay?
Don't start it off don't relate
Take the job but not the pay
Forget the hours but not the day
Hey just close your eyes
Think back and realize
Hey just close the door
Back up and just ignore
Oh no, i'm stuck in here
The lyrics to Filter’s “Stuck in Here” seem to touch on themes of frustration, anxiety, and a sense of being trapped. The repetition of “once again” and “stuck in here” seems to emphasize a cyclical nature to these feelings, as if the singer is stuck in a loop of negative emotions. The repetition of “just close your eyes” suggests that perhaps the singer is trying to escape these feelings of being trapped by mental distraction. However, the line “what makes you think that it’s okay?” suggests that the singer is also feeling existential angst, perhaps questioning the state of their life and society as a whole.
The line “take the job but not the pay, forget the hours but not the day” seems to speak to the dehumanizing nature of labor under capitalism. The singer is being forced to perform a job that they may not enjoy, for a pay that does not reflect the true value of their work. They are asked to forget the time they spend working, as if their lives outside of their labor are unimportant. This may contribute to the feelings of being trapped and anxious, as the singer is stuck in this system that they cannot control.
Overall, “Stuck in Here” seems to be a song that examines the difficulty of navigating the pressures and anxieties of contemporary life. The repetition of certain lines suggests a cyclical nature to these problems, as if the singer cannot escape their own negative mental state. The song also touches on themes of labor and capitalism, as the singer is forced to perform work that may not fulfill them, while feeling like they are trapped in a system that dehumanizes them.
Line by Line Meaning
Once again I'm stuck in here
I find myself trapped in the same situation, feeling helpless and unable to move forward.
Once again I'm in low gear
I feel like I'm not making progress and stuck in a rut, unable to accelerate or gain momentum in life.
Once again I have a fear
I'm filled with dread and anxiety about what the future holds or how to escape my current predicament.
Once again I'm stuck in here
Despite my previous efforts to break free, I am still stuck in this same place.
Hey just close the door
Let's shut out the world and pretend that everything is alright even when it's not.
Think back and just ignore
We can avoid our problems by burying them in the past and pretending like they never happened.
Hey just close your eyes
If we shut out reality and refuse to see the truth, we won't have to deal with the consequences of our actions.
Think back and realize
We need to confront our past mistakes and take responsibility for our actions if we want to move forward.
Oh no, I'm stuck in here
I'm overcome with a sense of despair and hopelessness that comes from being trapped and unable to escape my current situation.
Oh no, still stuck in here
Even though I've been trying to change my situation, I'm still struggling and can't seem to break free from my current circumstances.
What makes you think that it's okay?
I'm questioning someone's judgment or actions, and wondering why they think it's acceptable to act in a certain way.
Don't start it off don't relate
I'm advising someone not to get involved in something that will only bring them trouble or pain.
Take the job but not the pay
I'm warning someone that they shouldn't accept a role or responsibility without first considering the compensation or benefits that come with it.
Forget the hours but not the day
I'm saying that we can't forget or ignore the consequences of our actions in the long-term, even if they seem insignificant or minor in the short-term.
Hey just close your eyes
Once again, I'm urging someone to avoid reality and the truth by shutting out the world and pretending like everything is alright.
Think back and realize
Again, I'm reminding someone that they need to confront their past mistakes and take responsibility for their actions if they want to move forward in life.
Hey just close the door
Once again, I'm suggesting that we try to escape our problems and hardships by closing ourselves off from the world instead of facing them head-on.
Back up and just ignore
I'm advising someone to take a step back and ignore the situation, rather than facing it head-on and dealing with it directly.
Oh no, I'm stuck in here
Finally, I'm once again expressing my despair and hopelessness about being trapped in my current situation and unable to escape or change it.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: RICHARD MICHAEL PATRICK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind