"Mudshovel" is a song by American heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Staind

Staind

Staind is an American rock band that was formed in 1995 in Springfield, Massachusetts. For 16 years, the band consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist Johnny April, and drummer Jon Wysocki...

. It was the second single from their 1999 studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

, Dysfunction

Dysfunction (album)

- Personnel :*Johnny April – bass, backing vocals*Gregory Burke – artwork, design, concept*John Burton – mixing assistant*Terry Date – producer, engineer, mixing*Fred Durst – producer*Aaron Lewis – vocals*Roger Lian – mastering...

, and served as a breakout hit. "Mudshovel" song reached #14 on the Modern Rock Charts and #10 on the Mainstream Rock charts. It was originally on Staind's first album Tormented. It was included on The Singles: 1996-2006. A live rendition of the song was included on The Family Values Tour 1999 compilation. During Staind concerts, "Mudshovel" is usually played as an encore

Encore (concert)

An encore is an additional performance added to the end of a concert, from the French "encore", which means "again", "some more"; multiple encores are not uncommon. Encores originated spontaneously, when audiences would continue to applaud and demand additional performance from the artist after the...

.

A music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 was filmed for the single. It mostly consists of the band playing in an enclosed arena with frontman Aaron Lewis

Aaron Lewis

Aaron Lewis, , is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and founding member of the rock group Staind, with whom he has released seven studio albums. He has since ventured into country music with his debut solo album, Town Line...

 clutching a loose gate. Interspersed with this is a storyline involving a man being cheated on

Infidelity

In many intimate relationships in many cultures there is usually an express or implied expectation of exclusivity, especially in sexual matters. Infidelity most commonly refers to a breach of the expectation of sexual exclusivity.Infidelity can occur in relation to physical intimacy and/or...

 by his wife/girlfriend, only for her to be cheated on as well in the ending.

Musically, "Mudshovel" relies in a distinctive three-note bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 line that shifts into a rumbling low. It opens the song and is preceded by tense vocals and a heavy ensemble of sliding guitar

Slide guitar

Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...

 and drums which make up the verses. The chorus features chunky guitar riffs and a repeated murmuring of the song title.

The song was featured in Midway Entertainment's Hockey game "NHL Hitz 20-02

NHL Hitz 20-02

NHL Hitz 2002, also known as NHL Hitz 20-02, is an arcade-style ice hockey video game released by Midway Games. Midway launched this game along with NFL Blitz.-Summary:...

". The single stayed in the top ten Mainstream Rock Charts for only 1 week.