Link to: Discography Graven Images Next Song (Frontier Dreams)
		Cliché Hear It! (763k)

...Where to begin... For those of you unfamiliar with HBI (the band and the music), you should be aware that if HBI had a "one-hit-wonder" song, this would be it. The sad part is, we did this song as a goof. How's that for artistic irony? 'Cliché' came about when Mark and John were discussing the music of the current era (late 80s to early 90s). We observed that so much music was lacking originality, especially the lyrics. It seemed to be and endless string of tired clichés. That's when one of us said, "wouldn't it be funny if we wrote a song that consisted of nothing but clichés from start to finish..." We purposely set out to write a meaningless song as a joke. John found a Dictionary of Clichés at work. One night, he and Mark went through the book writing down all of the clichés they wanted to incorporate into the song. John cut out each individual phrase, and then it became a matter of putting the puzzle pieces together. One thing, however, was certain. No matter how the lyrics ultimately came together, the song HAD to begin with the ultimate rock 'n roll cliché "oh, baby!" The actual writing of this song occured during the week between Christmas of 1991 and New Year's Day 1992, when HBI was recording the final songs for "Graven Images." This was the last song to be written for the album. In fact, we knew we would be writing the song, but it wasn't done before we printed up the lyric/liner notes for the cassette cases. So, we printed the lyrics sheet without lyrics for 'Cliché', and as an excuse, we wrote "(oh what's the point, you've heard it all before)." Once the lyrics were done, we set about writing the music. What evolved was a riff in the style of early Red Hot Chili Peppers, mixed with a traditional rap bass line and some heavy metal accents. Mark, being a little less comfortable with rap-style singing, deferred lead vocal duties for this song to John (the only HBI song to date featuring John on lead vocals). HBI also included some of their favorite samples in the song. For the first time in print, here is a list of all the samples included in 'Cliché' (in the order which they appear): "Not!"--Inspired by Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, but actually performed by John and Mark "Forget about the curveball Ricky, give him the heater!"--Major League "Engage!"--Star Trek, The Next Generation "Workshed!"--Evil Dead 2 "Let's Go!"--Evel Dead 2 "Up you butt, Jobu!"--Major League "Groovy!"--Evel Dead 2 As you could probably guess, the song was a big hit with our fans (which at the time numbered about ten...okay, eight).

Oh baby well you know you can't win them all and I can read the writing on the wall I guess that only time will tell that I've a snowball's chance in hell and I can put two and two together to know I'm old enough to know better you may say enough's enough but you can count on me when the going gets tough for you I'd move heaven and earth but its easier said than done since actions speak louder than words I guess I'm back to square...one you say I've got a one track mind but a love like mine is hard to find its time to put up or shut up you mark my my words I love you in no uncertain terms 'cause when all is said and done its crystal clear you're second to none baby this seems to good to be true you hit me like something out of the blue for you I'd move heaven and earth but its easier said than done since actions speak louder than words I guess I'm back to square one I knew that I'd won your heart when you said we'd never be apart and now that we see eye to eye I know you're down with HBI well I'll hit the ground running, keep my chin up, keep my fingers crossed and with all of my heart I'll hope and pray that you don't see my love as just another cliché Lyrics by Mark Schaefer and John Henderson ©1992 by HBI and Red December Music