My Own Summer (Shove It)

An overabundance of sunshine is rarely a complaint associated with notoriously gray and dreary Seattle, but that happens to be the inspiration for this song. Deftones recorded Around the Fur, their second album, at Studio Litho in the Emerald City from April to June 1997. Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard owned the studio and had his band break from the recording of their fifth album, Yield, so that Deftones could use the space (Pearl Jam moved to Studio X, also in Seattle). Deftones would stay up late into the night recording and partying. Frontman Chino Moreno came to despise the sunlight beaming through his windows in the morning. It got so bad that he taped foil over the windows. That's when Moreno penned the lyrics to this tune (in contrast to widespread, unsupported internet claims that it was during the infamously hot 1994 Seattle summer). They brought the song together in studio. The "big star" in the opening line is the literal sun, and the command to "shove it" is directing the sun to get out of the sky. At least, that's how the song originated. Like any true artist, Moreno described the situation with lyrics broad enough to hit listeners in a more metaphorical sense. It gives each fan the freedom to make their own interpretations, which is a particularly good thing in this case. A song about a rock star disliking the sunshine is hardly inspiring, after all.

After recording but before releasing Around the Fur, Deftones did a couple promotional shows in California. During their September 11, 1997, performance at The Press Club in San Francisco, they played "My Own Summer (Shove It)" live for the first time. From that debut forward, it remained a staple of their live shows.

"My Own Summer (Shove It)" is one of the most popular Deftones' songs. In the UK it charted at #29, and in the US it earned some plays on MTV (at a time when MTV was very relevant) and on rock radio.