"Hush" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

from their 1992 debut EP ''

Opiate An opiate is an alkaloid substance derived from opium (or poppy straw). It differs from the similar term ''opioid'' in that the latter is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain ( ...

'', recorded by producer

Sylvia Massy Sylvia Lenore Massy is an American record producer, mixer, and engineer. Her first major breakthrough occurred with 1993's ''Undertow (Tool album), Undertow'', the full-length triple platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles alternative metal band ...

Sound City Studios Sound City Studios is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, United States, known as one of the most successful in popular music. The complex opened in 1969 in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles. The facility had previously been a p ...

Background

It was the first song that helped establish the band's reputation. The lyrics protest

Tipper Gore Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore (née Aitcheson; born August 19, 1948) is an American social issues advocate. She was the second lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001 through her marriage to the 45th vice president, Al Gore in 1970, from who ...

and

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

, which is a recurring theme in Tool songs. The song was first recorded on a self-titled

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

variously known as '' Toolshed'' and ''72826'', recorded in mid-1991. This demo version is not the same as the studio recording that appears on ''Opiate''.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Hush" was Tool's first ever music video. The video is shown in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

-style, the band members appear nude in a white room, with black tape over their mouths. Toward the end of the video the band members are seen to be foaming at the mouth through the tape and eventually remove the tape itself. Signs shown over their genitalia read "Parental Advisory: Explicit Parts", a parody of the " Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" sticker. The

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

music channel

MuchMusic Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...

played it regularly. There is a misconception that

Ken Andrews Ken Andrews (born Kenneth Andrew Doty; June 18, 1967) is an American musician, record producer, and songwriter. He was born in Seattle and attended film school in Los Angeles before his band Failure received a record deal from Slash Records. Ca ...

was the director, but the concept was entirely provided by vocalist

Maynard James Keenan Maynard James Keenan (born James Herbert Keenan; April 17, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, philanthropist, record producer, and winemaker. He is best known as the singer and primary lyricist of the rock bands Tool (band), Tool, A Perfe ...

. It is the only Tool music video other than " Sober" in which the band members appear, and the only one in which they appear in a prominent fashion. The music video was released in 2000 as a bonus on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

, but not the

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

,The Tool FAQ, D3 and H7. of the ''

Salival ''Salival'' is a live, outtake, and video album, released as a limited edition box set in CD/ VHS and CD/ DVD formats in 2000 by American rock band Tool. It includes a 56-page book of photos and stills from their music videos. Background T ...

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Adam Jones –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Paul D'Amour Paul D'Amour (born 1968 or 1969) is an American musician who was the original bassist for Tool. His bass sound is recognized by the aggressive picked tone he developed with his Chris Squire Signature Rickenbacker 4001CS, which can be heard on ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Danny Carey Daniel Edwin Carey (born May 10, 1961) is an American musician who is the drummer for the progressive metal band Tool. He has also contributed to albums by artists such as Zaum, Green Jellö, Pigface, Skinny Puppy, Adrian Belew, Carole Kin ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Background

Music video

Personnel

References

Further reading