Those of you who follow us on TikTok (@TheIndyReview) will likely have seen an episode in our series “Obscure 2000’s Jams“, where I feature five little-remembered songs from the early 2000’s that I think deserve some more attention. While digging back for some of these obscurities, I rediscovered “Shhh…(Hope Diggy)” from Los Angeles band The Apex Theory.
I remember first discovering this song when it came up as Buzzworthy on MTV. My initial reaction to the song was “what the fuck is this?” It was definitely hard rock, with rap-like delivery, but there was also this hypnotic, Middle Eastern-style melodic aspect to the track that really separated it from the rest of the early 2000’s nu-metal acts (with the exception being elevated groups like System of a Down, whom the frontman originally was a member of).
At the time this came out, I wasn’t really listening to any music like this, but something about this song really stuck, and after rediscovering it for my TikTok series, I’ve found it getting stuck in my head again and again. Just that syncopated delivery on “I can’t take the squeaks anymore/Than I can’t take you/I’m sure your sick of me/Well I’m sick of you too” hits so well and so hard, it makes me surprised the track didn’t become a bigger rock radio smash.
Maybe it was because a few months after the band released their debut album, the group’s lead vocalist Ontronik “Andy” Khachaturian left at the band. Art Karamian took over vocals and the group rebranded themselves as Mt. Helium for future albums.
“Shhh…(Hope Diggy)” is still a straight-up banger in my book, so let’s give it some honors here in our Bangers of the Week Playlist.
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