Shatter (song)

"Shatter" is a song by the British rock band Feeder. "Shatter" and "Tender" (album track from Pushing the Senses) were released by the band as a double a-sided single in October 2005, reaching #11 in the UK Singles Chart. Shatter was first released as B-side to "Tumble and Fall" and as bonus to the Japanese edition of Pushing the Senses; it has since been included on the band's compilation album The Singles. The song is still performed live by the band at their shows, but has been rested since 2010. The single was backed up with "Tender" from their fifth studio album Pushing the Senses, and appears alongside "Shatter" in the end credits of the English dub of the Russian film Night Watch (Russian: Ночной дозор, Nochnoy Dozor).

The track was released as a single after a petition of over 1,000 names was submitted to the bands label, and was a b-side on "Tumble and Fall" after appearing on the video game Gran Turismo 4. The names of the petition, appear on a scrolling list in movie credits style on the DVD format of the single, while "Tender" plays.

Style

While "Tender" is a piano driven ballad, with guitar and bass effects driving the song along at the same time and the drums acting as a backbone of the songs musical structure, "Shatter" is somewhat far removed from the latter.

"Shatter" is more akin to earlier Feeder, and that of the pop/rock styles visited on Echo Park. It uses loud guitars and drumfills throughout and breaks in the track, where ticking sounds can be heard after every verse is completed and before the chorus starts. The song wasn't seen as very radio friendly and was not played very often in the busiest hours of audience ratings. It charted at #57 on the top 100 UK airplay chart. "Tender" reached #55 but did not pick up as much audience figures overall, while not given very much radio play due to "Shatter" being the main track to promote the release.

Music video

The music video for "Shatter", sees the band appearing in various scenes of the film Night Watch. The video can be seen as unique, as most music videos for singles related to soundtracks usually incorporate actual footage from the film and use these as jump cuts.

In the video the band are seen as drivers in the yellow van as seen in the film, and are involved in a 180 degree stunt as seen exactly in the film itself. Later the van arrives to a block of flats where the vortex from the film itself is seen, with frontman Grant Nicholas armed with a glowing tube that resembles a light saber, exploring the levels before forcing a locked door open and entering a flat. It isn't made clear what he was looking for, but once said you need to see the film to understand it. Footage of the band performing the track in a similar setting as seen in the film are added in between. The glowing tube was actually a long plastic tube with a long tube-light inside it, similar to those seen in energy-saving lightbulbs. From the light, wires ran down from it which were then running down Grant Nicholas's arm into a battery pack strapped to the back of his body.

The video for "Tender" is a band performance video, and first appeared on the "Depot sessions" section of the Pushing the Senses DVD bonus disc. The version used to promote "Tender", has an added effect of clouds and blue tints.

Reception

The single failed to give Feeder their fourth top ten single in the UK, stalling just outside at #11, but still became Feeder's 10th top 20 single of their career after previous single "Pushing the Senses" was their smallest in six years by charting at #30 during July earlier on in the year, therefore creating a return to chart form for the band and also became one of the bands most regarded and successful songs. The chart placing was seen as successful, due to being their 4th highest placed single from 22 releases at the time, and also all of the singles in the top ten receiving a lot more airplay and bigger radio audiences, with 9 of those also reaching the airplay top ten. It was also effectively a track being re-issued after reaching the top five as a b-side, which was at the time nine months prior. This caused some fans of the band to say that it wasn't worth releasing the track as a single, as the chart placing of "Tumble and Fall" would affect its chances, but many fans also wanted to see the track become a hit in its own right, regardless if it reached the top ten or not and would enable the song to be exposed to the general public, rather than just single buyers. A wide majority of consumers who bought the "Tumble and Fall" single, bought CD1 amongst the three formats (which had "Shatter" on), many of them preferred "Shatter" to the main track, therefore meaning the chart placing did not totally reflect the true popularity of the song, with the possibility that enough of those did not buy the Shatter/Tender single or "Shatter" track download due to already owning the track, to bring it into the top 10. The video for "Shatter", reached #1 on the UK 3 Mobile download chart. Another factor that was important towards the single's success was that it officially became their highest-charting final single from any one calendar year, beating the #12 of "Just a Day" from 2001 and the #24 of "Find the Colour", the final retail single from Comfort in Sound in 2003.

The single despite its #11 chart placing causing an overall mixed feeling if the single was a success or not, it still like the Manic Street Preachers "Motown Junk" single (which charted only at #94) has a very dedicated fan following claiming it to be one of the band's best songs, while being voted highly in fans polls reaching #4 in a 2005 vote on fansite "Feeder Fan Site" (the website that also started off the petition). Due to the small airplay audience figures, it had very little awareness outside of their fanbase, with mainly fanbase sales getting its chart position in a busy week for single sales hence the drop to #32 the following week. Kerrang! magazine and Planet Sound both gave the single a review score of 4/5, after being critical of the band during the year up until that point. It has also been played at nearly every Feeder gig since its release as a single. The song has only been omitted from some TV performances, Camden Proud Galleries, iTunes London Festival and the Leeds festival of 2006 due to Grant Nicholas feeling that the band had to drop the song from the setlist, after experiencing throat problems near the end of their set at the Reading festival the day before, but has been rested since 2010, so the band can promote their Renegades album at live performances as much as possible. The track later reached #2 in May 2006 as part of its inclusion on The Singles, an album which went platinum in the UK, therefore meaning that the track was after all exposed to the general public. At the time of the compilations release, "Shatter" was with the exception of "Lost and Found" Feeder's most recent single release, therefore meaning that "Shatter" was one of the songs mostly fresh in the public's memory when buying the album.

References in popular culture

The two tracks on the single are played during the end credits of the English dub of Night Watch. Shatter was a part of the Gran Turismo 4 Original Soundtrack.

Track listing

CD

1. "Shatter" (New version)
2. "Tender" (Radio version)
3. "Everybody Hurts"
4. "Tender" (Enhanced video)

DVD

1. "Shatter" (video)
2. "Making Of Shatter - behind the scenes"
3. "Tender- We The Undersigned - 'The Shatter Vote'"
4. "Everybody Hurts - Your War Is Not With Me" (War Child Video) .

7"

1. "Shatter" (original version)
2. "Tender" (radio version)