May 7: Hey Man, Nice Shot

Any Filter fans out there? I like a few of their songs, but not everything that they've done. I'm sure most of you are familiar with their 1995 hit "Hey Man, Nice Shot". I never really listened to the lyrics of the song, but rather always knew it as part of the playlist for Red Wing hockey games. Today, while getting a haircut at Lady Jane's (yes, I returned to Lady Jane's), this song was playing overhead and my stylist asked me if I knew what the song was about. Of course, I did not, so she explained that it was written about some politician who committed suicide, by way of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, about 10 years ago on national TV. Now, I could not recall anything like that happening over the past 10 years. Especially with the way the media jumps on things like that so quickly and so widespread. So, I did a little research this evening to get the facts. The song was in fact written about Budd Dwyer, who served as the 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1981-1987. Apparently, Mr. Dwyer was charged and convicted of accepting a rather large monetary bribe for using his power and influence to guarantee a business contract for a computer technology company. On January 22, 1987, the day before his sentencing, during a network televised news conference, he made a brief, but strange, speech before brandishing a .357 magnum and taking his own life. Since he was still officially in office at the time, some claim it was his way of guaranteeing that his family would still receive his pension, which could be used to cover the legal costs that had accrued as a result of his criminal actions. The band, Filter, I guess, faced a lot of scrutiny for what many deemed as trying to capitalize on Dwyer's suicide by writing the song "Hey Man, Nice Shot". But, the band clarified their intentions were not such during a 1996 interview, which you can read more about here.