Ice Nine Kills, The Shower Scene | FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘

In the 3^rd edition of FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘, we highlight “The Shower Scene” performed by Ice Nine Kills.

Bring on the bold, FIERCE tracks! FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘 provides background information and insight into pop, rock, and metal songs that raise eyebrows and stir the pot.  Featured records can be classic or brand new. In the 3^rd edition of FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘 (2023), we explore 🎵 “The Shower Scene” performed by 🎙 Ice Nine Kills.

“Don’t mind mother, she is not well / The doctors say she’s not all there.” 🎙 Ice Nine Kills totally kick ass and take names when it comes to creating songs surrounding cinematic horror.  🎙 Spencer Charnas is the sugar honey iced tea – WOO! On their 2021 album, 💿 The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood, Charnas and company drop a song, 🎵 “The Shower Scene”, based on the infamous shower murder scene from the 1960 🎬 Alfred Hitchcock film, 🎦 Psycho. This song specifically channels the fictional character Norman Bates, who has dissociative identity disorder. In the excerpted lyric, sung by Charnas from Bates’ perspective, he appears to characterize his mother as mentally unstable.  Of course, ‘Mother’ ends up being one of Bates’ multiple personalities, and an abusive, murderous one at that (“She’s crazy, I must confess / I’m so sick of cleaning up her mess”)!

What makes “The Shower Scene” such a brilliant song – a prime example of FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘 – is how the record navigates Norman Bates’ main personality and his dissociative ‘Mother’ personality.  Charnas goes between both extremes, weaving in quotes from the film too.  It is fitting when Charnas asserts, “You got caught up Inn between,” as the murderous shower scene in the book (📚 Robert Bloch) and film takes place at an inn.  Also, it is fitting as Charnas asserts, “You can’t escape the shower scene!” It is two-fold because (1) it is one of the most famous cinematic scenes in history and (2) Bates murders Marion Crane, so, she’s not coming out alive.  You can’t unsee this one, folks.  The chorus is a dark, fierce vibe too as Charnas sings, “I hope saying goodnight / Doesn’t mean saying goodbye! / Now under pressure, we’re drowning together / Going down the drain tonight.” The drain is a key part of the shower scene in the film too. Besides a great narrative within the songwriting, and awesome lead vocals by Charnas, the music is lit too – dark, dramatic, dynamic, unsettling. 

🎙 Ice Nine Kills • 💿 The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood • 🏷 Fearless • 📅 2021

Ice Nine Kills, “The Shower Scene”: FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘 No. 3 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Fearless; Conna Lee, Madelin Berry, anna-m. w., Johan  Duran, RODNAE Productions via Pexels; Pete Linforth via Pixabay]