A to Z 2017: FILTER

Just as with the letters before this, "F" presented a handful of bands/artists I'd love to feature, but there was no way I wasn't going to do Filter, one of my favorite bands. It sounds weird saying "favorite" because I love so many that it doesn't make much sense to bother using the word. Honestly, if making a Top Five list, I'd be screwed. Maybe I'll try that someday.

If I did, Filter would be on that list! It's hard to pinpoint exactly what style of music they are, beyond Alternative, being they've pretty consistently changed their sound over the years. Rock, Industrial, what have you. Ironically, they've swapped out as many band members just the same, the only constant being Filter's founder, Richard Patrick (baby brother to the T-1000, for those Terminator fans out there). A lot of these lineup changes may have resulted from Richard Patrick's drug and alcohol addictions, but many are cited as musical differences.

Their first single "Hey Man Nice Shot" from their debut release, Short Bus, is still one of my favorites, but I first heard it in the movie Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight:

You've probably heard that song in a movie or TV series, it's a popular choice. One thing that I love about Filter is their contributions to soundtracks (The X-Files, Spawn, The Stepfather), which I used to collect in my early years, because I was a movie buff/freak. While some were just songs pulled from their studio albums, many are originals or covers. This next song is another of my favorites and was written specifically for The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack:

Did I mention that Richard Patrick started out with Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails while touring Pretty Hate Machine? After leaving and forming Filter with Brian Liesegang (who left promptly after Short Bus), Patrick supposedly wrote a song inspired by Reznor (and the relations between Fletcher Christian and William Bligh aboard the HMS Bounty). Whether this is true or not, I have no idea, but I really like the song, which is featured on Filter's second release, Title of Record:

Okay, so I've only touched on two of seven albums and I really want to keep posts limited to four videos... I'm screwed, the ship is going down! I'd recommend checking out "Take a Picture", "Where Do We Go from Here", and "Soldiers of Misfortune", which were all mainstream singles from various releases and I can highlight more of their work in my Soundtrack of the Imagination series, because Filter has played a large role in my writing.

I'll end this with one of their collaborations, something Filter and/or Richard Patrick have done a lot of. This one in particular is an earlier pairing with The Crystal Method. And as mentioned in my "C" post, I was going to try to sneak them into this challenge!

Did you enjoy the songs/videos? Are you familiar with Filter? Do you have a favorite song and/or album? Do you like how they've changed up their sound throughout their history? Have you ever seen them live? If so, how was the performance? Do you know a band that is featured on many soundtracks? Could you easily make a Top Five list consisting of your all time favorite bands/artists?