DEAR METAL BANDS: STOP IRONICALLY COVERING POP SONGS
Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 10:41am by Axl RosenbergMetalSucks Maniac Matt Clark sent us the link to the below video of the unsigned band YEAH! Destroyer covering Katy Perry’s “Hot N’ Cold.” And while I’m fairly certain Matt meant for us to see this cover as a good thing, I have to say – it fucking sucks. And I’m sick of bands doing this kind of shit.
It’s not like I’m offended that someone would butcher the classic work of Katy Perry or something – Katy Perry sucks. Based on the two songs of hers I’ve actually heard, she can’t sing worth a shit without the help of auto-tune, and therefore finds herself part of a pop legacy that teaches aspiring singers they don’t need any actual skill or talent so long as they look appropriately photogenic.
No, mostly, I just don’t think there’s any point to these covers; they don’t sound good and they’re not at all funny. Metal bands have proven in the past that there is a place for sincere covers of pop tunes in their catalogs. Just as an example, there Type O Negative’s “Summer Breeze” and In Flames doing Genesis’ “Land of Confusion,” and there’s Disturbed doing the same song a few years later and pretending that In Flames hadn’t just done it (Yes, I know there’s a million other examples – I’m not making a fucking list here because it’s beside the point). As far as I can tell, these covers were not meant to be cute or mocking; the bands seemed to legitimately enjoy these songs, and were expressing some desire to put their own spin on the material.
YEAH! Destroyer just belong to the same cretinous class as I Set My Friends on Fire and their version of “Soulja Boy,” which somehow managed to be both devastatingly unfunny and even more irritating than the original. Note to bands: if you think that covering a song people wouldn’t expect you to cover is going to be hilarious, you’re just fucking wrong.
-AR
I kinda liked the Plea for a purging cover of “live your life”…only cuz that shit was written in drop B below D…
but other than that records industries make money off that shit…especially those “punk goes…” records…
yeah, plus it doesnt help that this band is fucking terrible anyway. id rather watch the original song ffs.
alright mr. carter. Watch this video and tell me who’s terrible at guitar. I realize that this is a little unfair since i don’t know you or if you even play an intstrument, but if your flat out gonna tell me i suck, i’m going to give you proof that i don’t. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy45YOHTsrs&feature=channel
Well that was pretty fast, it’s just a shame it sounded like shit :/
There’s more to it than speed. Was totally disjointed.
Not disputing that you CAN shred, merely suggesting your ability to make it sound good.
it’s called a built in laptop microphone. Trust me i didn’t have it close mic’d. I’m an audio engineer. Believe me it’s the microphone.
i think he means it was fast yes, but sloppy
Ok, i have a question, if you the same guy in both videos, do play both right handed and left handed guitat? Or was that ’shred’ video reversed or recorded in a mirror? because the katy video is a right handed guitar, but the shred was a left handed guitar. What gives?
i play right handed guitar. However i now realize what the guy above was saying, and i apologize for being such an ass an blaming on sound. However this wasn’t a written solo, this was me fiddling around with some licks and stuff. I wish i could play left handed guitar, i can play both ways on drums though!
I guess that would explain the random pauses and disjointed nature of the shreddage ;)
Though, the above “I” chap does have a point in that you appear to be a lefty in the video linked in the OP and a righty in your video.
I suspect shenanigans.
oh yeah, sorry it was just when i got my mac, i was using photobooth and when you film it reverses it.
I foresee this being an ongoing trend with bands posting stuff like this on youtube purely for attention. It’s smart promotion.
That said, this was pretty bad.
haha thanks
youre so right..people should just stick to metal and stop tryin to make “pop-metal” or “rap-core”…because it just sucks…
hahaha this is rapcore??? YES!!! then i hope we become the next Limp FUCKING bizkit…KEEP ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN….WHAT!?!?!?!
I’m not really sure if they’re considered ‘metal’, but The Devil Wears Prada’s version of “Still Fly” is kinda good
Fact.
shitty shit shit. it pisses me off when decent bands (e.g. august burns red) do this shit (when they covered shitney spears) and make me not respect them. this band is not decent though, so whatever. i couldnt care less if a shitty band covers shitty music.
hahah thank you we appreciate you judging us on a joke KEEP IT UP woooot
Sheesh Axl, who took a dump in your coffee?
Sounds like irritability asociated with the Swine Flu Pandemic sweeping the globe!!!!
actually right after this happened our guitarist took a CRAZY SHIT all over the place… we then proceded to eat it…. now we all have the flu
Hm.. Funny. Just like your video.
You guys don’t seem like the most mature bunch.
I think in the long run we can talk all the shit on here all day. But in the end, there are always gonna be 16 year old girls wanting to suck these guys’ chodes every night…
hahaha thanks… but truth be told 2 of us are single and NONE of us have chodes…haha BUT THANKS ANYWAYS
haha. yea man I wasn’t trying to be offensive. I am on your side. I listen to Static Lullaby’s cover maybe once a week. And I dig it. If its done right. Metal dosnt have to be this fucking macho show off thing. Its whatever floats the persons boats, and in the end of the day…gets you off! haha
I honestly didnt even watch the vid cause im sitting here at work right now. I was just making a point.
My band wants to cover a Beach Boys tune….
I hope Metal Sucks hates it and post’s it too!! haha
Cool guys…
Peace
I like you Mr. Plague.
haha no dude i know you werent… i was serious tho…. we have small weiners and are single… KNOW ANY GIRLS WITH THOSE INTERESTS lol but yeah ppl take shit way to serious yak now… what beach boys song??? you guys BETTER get the harmonies down
Yea, I think my girlfriend must have that interest seeing as how we are together…Oooo. Self burn. ouch.
We will be trying to do “Get Around”.
Musically speaking it should be just a fun catchy gallopy song. But the vocals are gonna be excruciating. haha
“Round, round, get around, I GET AROUND!”
From deathcore to “beachcore”
haha
Meh. Depends on the band. It’s simply a matter of knowing your identity as a band. The more light hearted the band is, the easier they can get away with it. I think Local H’s cover of “Toxic” is pretty cool, and it works because of the band’s personality. Obviously if a band like The Haunted were to do the same cover it would piss people off, myself included. The thing you also have to understand is that, bands fuck around. For all we know Gojira warms up to Beyonce songs every time they rehearse. Some bands are just stupid, and without thinking about their target audience, decide to record said fuck arounds.
BTW Type O Negative’s “Summer Breeze” is gay…. like all things Type O.
I think the idea of metal bands covering pop songs is so appealing because the songs are already bubblegum, or just plain shit, and thus you can’t really fuck them up. It’s about exceeding a lowered expectation. No one is going to be up in arms because you fucked up a Beyonce song, but if you butcher Led Zeppelin, out comes the lynch mob.
Fucking Fact.
the best part of all this…. besides the fact that were in the greatest list of tags EVER ( DISTURBED, GENESIS, I SET MY FRIENDS ON FIRE, IN FLAMES, KATY PERRY, TYPE O NEGATIVE, YEAH! DESTROYER) is that all of you are taking this serious… this is a complete joke… hahahaha but hey man if it means were getting made plays on youtube and myspace WE WILL TAKE IT…. man you guys are like the pitchfork of metal….
While we’re on this subject, Seether just released a very good cover of the George Michaels song “Careless Whisper”.
This is amazing!
Thank you for the exposure metalsucks!
Sorry if our joke offended you guys. Oh, wait I forgot there is noooo room for humor in the “metal” world.
Axl your panties must be in a bunch today. Bummer. But thanks again everyone our youtube plays jumped through the roof. I guess its true there is no such thing as bad publicity!
This totally brightened my day.
If you dont like it, dont watch it! Now theres an idea.
Yet Axl, you posted it…If you hate it so much then why?
But im stoked on this.
Love,
Tony and Yeah!Destroyer
Also, please note: My faux British accent during the beggining of the video. Is it not clear that this was a joke and meant for fun? We enjoy playing it. And as a fan of extreme music im not afraid or ashamed of enjoying pop music. But really I am excited for this and have no harsh feelings towards metalsucks for flamming us. I appreciate the coverage in all honesty.
XOXOXO
Tony
You’re a dumbass. Your band sucks. You’re right in saying that the video is a joke, but it’s not even funny. Just a sad, misguided attempt to get a cheesy laugh. Epic fail.
I think Yeah! Destoyer is the shit, and need to laugh off the situtation. Showing that you guys are upset about it is obvious because you keep posting shit about it. I thought the video was pretty funny, and obviously you guys did too because you sent it in. Leave it at that, fuck everyone else. Who cares?
haha no we keep posting cuz this is great… and actually are friend matt sent it in… but hey cheers dude
YouKnowWho:
Good point!
I think it is hilarious. Hence the reason we covered the song in the first place. If you dont like it, Dont watch it.
i don’t like it, and i won’t watch it.
Good!
But how do you know you dont like it if you wont watch it?
keep this rolling, its entertaining me while im at work!
because, as a rule, any “metal” band ironically covering a pop song is shitty by default. the fact that your band did this means that more than likely, i will never, ever seek out or knowingly listen to your band. i know these other people are jumpstarting your play count on youtube, even if they hate the song. i won’t give you the satisfaction.
WE ARE NOT A METAL BAND! WE DON’T GIVE A FUCK IF YOU THINK WE SUCK, simply stated we are here to make a lot of noise. Pleasing or annoying.
you assholes sure do have a lot to say for a band that doesn’t give a fuck. :)
JUSTIN YOURE HURTING MY FEELINGS!!!…..MY METAL FEELINGS BREEEEEEE man 87 HETFEILD ALL THE WAY…. and how is this video ironic… ive asked three times now and still no one can tell us…
I actually do care. Im beyond stoked to be featured on a site that i frequent on the daily, even if it is in a negative light.
And that is NOT a joke.
At the same time I love reading these comments and fucking with people.
Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.
okay. let me break it down for you in really simple words, okay? first, a definition: irony: incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs. i know that incongruity might be a little bit above your reading level too, so here’s a definition of incongruous, the word from which incongruity is derived: Not similar or congruent; not matching or fitting in. we also have heavy metal, which can be defined as thus: loud and harsh sounding rock music with a strong beat; lyrics usually involve violent or fantastic imagery. finally, we have pop music, which can be defined as: music of general appeal to teenagers; a bland watered-down version of rock’n'roll with more rhythm and harmony and an emphasis on romantic love.
you guys still with me?
now, in the most basic sense, metal deals with aggression. pop deals with bubblegum, hence an incongruousness (or not matching, for you guys…) that act of mismatched themes creates a sense of IRONY, as one would typically not expect a band with themes of intense soundscapes and aggression to embrace a song with themes as such that are presented in katy perry’s music.
is this making sense? do you understand the concept of irony?
i can’t tell you how the video itself is ironic, as i won’t watch it on general principle.
let me know if you need further clarification, or maybe you can pick up a dictionary.
oh, and tony, you’re right. there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and i hate the fact that i’m feeding your ego by responding to you personally. i still won’t ever listen to your music, and will discourage others from it as well.
Above our reading level?
When did this become a personal attack justin?
You are way too upset over this.
It’s kind of sad actually.
you needn’t call it music if the term offends you.
GET OVER IT!
i’m not upset, agitated, or bothered about this in the least. nor am i personally attacking you. that’s not to say that your band didn’t have an idiotic idea, but that’s besides the point. you obviously didn’t understand what irony meant or how the term could be applied to your band’s actions. i’m just trying to help. i’m not telling you that your band doesn’t play “music” either. whether or not your band can be defined as playing music has absolutely nothing to do with what i’ve said. and aren’t you the one who just said “opinions are like assholes?” there’s nothing to get over. your band did something stupid, and it has nothing to do with me at all. don’t go getting all butthurt over it.
Yeah. Awesome. This site is called metal sucks, so if we suck you suck. Anyways. An interesting point was made yesterday before we made this. phil was listening to rap when he rolled up to practice, i was listening to electronic music, and tony was listening to Punk. So whatever. who said were metal to begin with? This is why i cut off all my long hair when i was 17 because the whole metal community is too fucking pathetic to grow up.
Random?
I agree about the not growing up thing, but that is no excuse for your music sucking.
I’d fuck the shit out of Katy Perry.
Yup, that’s pretty much my entire contribution to this discussion. Didn’t even bother to watch the vid.
hahahaha two points to this guy
Children Of Bodom do a good job covering pop songs
COB is just as gay as the songs they cover. ironic pop covers are terrible. plain and simple. there’s nothing clever or funny about it at all. well, maybe pantera covering “i wanna sex u up” would be funny… but otherwise, no. this shit’s not cute. it’s old and tired and completely without merit.
wait…why is this video ironic??
i wouldn’t know whether or not the video is ironic, as i won’t watch it… the post is about metal bands ironically covering pop songs, and that’s what i’m basing my claim on. you are not cute or funny.
dude… im SO cute
having never seen you, i guess i can’t say that… your claims may very well be true, but that does not make it a good idea to cover a katy perry song, even if it is for an ego-fulfilling publicity stunt.
jUSTIN WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH????
Did the video that you didnt watch hurt you in some way???
justin you keep talking about how youve never seen the video, dude dont deny it, i know you have it on repeat playing under the OG version its ok dude just come clean
i’ve felt the necessity to repeat myself as you people obviously have a hard time comprehending what i said in the first place. if you understood that i didn’t watch the video in the first place, you wouldn’t ask me questions pertaining to the video itself.
then why do you care so much if you didn’t watch it
matt, you didn’t read anything else i wrote either. i don’t care at all. i don’t know how i can say that more plainly. i simply don’t care. i happen to agree with the author of this post that metal bands playing pop songs is fucking stupid. that’s it. this band followed in a long list of other bands who do the same stupid things… you and your crew are the ones who are upset about being bashed on an internet site. not my fucking fault. if you didn’t want people to comment about it, you shouldn’t have put this idiotic idea out there for the world to see.
hell yes they did.
I find this to be pretty funny being that my band is planning on doing a cover of Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” except it’s going to be “I Raped A Girl” (Cannibal Corpse Style) And while the above cover is TERRIBLE, I actually do think it’s funny. It’s not like I’m gonna charge for the song, it’s just for fun.
Spare us, please. That is neither witty or a good idea. Do not defile Cannibal Corpse.
This local death metal band used to do a cover of the Fresh Prince theme song. It was incredible. But yeah, most of it is pretty lame.
There is an air of “Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies” to this type of thing, where after hearing a song or two you have a light chuckle, and then you hear more and go “OK joke’s over, not funny anymore, this is just boring and stupid now, please stop doing this.”
AMEN
hahah i just realized his name is Axl
omg rofl! lolz!
yep exactly
how is covering shitty music a joke? if it is its certainly not a funny joke. well maybe it is, but only if you can’t grow pubes yet…
love the name. We’re like brothers. Poop brothers.
hahaha
broturds perhaps? if we were girls we could be shitsters
8 points to poopsmcgee for his genious ideas
Bands with punctuation marks are so cool.
YEAH….panic at the disco dropped the ! and we picked it up….bonk
lol free publicity
and i would do terrible things to fuck katy perry
Matt I truly love you for all of this!
dude it was my pleasure to start these girls panties on fire, i honestly didn’t think these people would have this much sand in their vaginas
yeah, katy perry is bangin’ hot, but that has nothing to do with this.
you do realize justin the girl and vagina i was reffering to was you? dude i thought you were supposed to be smart or something
so name-calling is what you’re left with to defend your idiocy? i hope that gets you real far in life.
by the way, you have a severe misconception about me being upset by this. if you (or anyone else) addresses me, i am going to respond. that does not, in any way, indicate any feelings or emotional attachment to this at all. again, to say it in terms of the lowest common denominators… the whole idea of this is stupid. it’s stupid when other bands do this, and it’s stupid when this particular band does it too. there is no emotional attachment to some fuck that i don’t know having a bad idea. get over yourself. you’re not affecting anyone, least of all me.
IM A DOUCHE BAG…wait i mean…ah shit
lets ge together as a band and try to defend ourselves because someone posted a criticism! But act like we dont care! nice strat
i call gay drummer
I said from the beginning that I was happy about this. Try reading all of the posts before you make a claim like that.
Leave me out of it because I seem to remember thanking MS multiple times.
lol long time reader first time poster, the problem is….you sound like a dirty hippy
dude im SO gay…. acutally before and after this video was shot… i sucked tony AND dans dick… matt wanted me to suck his…then he realized hes actually MY bitch… so he sucked mine… DICK DICK DICK DICK DICK DICK DICK DICK DICK penis
murphy did not enjoy this video…<3
Hahahaha!
My Little Polly Pocket!
Murphy misses me thats all
The problem here really is that a whole bunch of people got upset over a joke. This is where I sign off. Than you again MS. and to the rest of you, My band members includeded…Have fun!
this band rox my nuts off IVE SEEN THIS VIDEO 1000+ times and love it
WOOOOOTTTT
im not upset. i couldnt care less about a cover of a shitty song from a band ive never heard of until they decided to cover said shitty song. it just means i wont listen to the rest of their music. at least katy perry has nice boobs.
Are you trying to say I dont have nice boobs!???
Thats rude…Haha
im so upset i care so much about this great song i can’t believe they did it better than ms. perry herself, and i have sand in my vagina
look theyre posers too. stealing my name. see! they copy shit!
The band’s members are fags. It’s no wonder that they’re unsigned, they spend more time on the internet defending themselves than they do writing good music. At least when COB cover pop they do a good job, fuck these cunts.
I could take 48 seconds, then I turned it off, because it’s a dreadful cover. Immature posers.
hahah yep we are DEFENITLY posers… in the sense of WANTING to be katy perry…haha and children of bodom……
Attack Attack!’s cover of I kissed a Girl was hilarious
Also, what’s with the shitty accent? What’s the point?
EXACTLY….now ur ..kinda catching on
I’ve been wanting to hear a metal cover of this song for a long time. But this band isn’t metal…
Thank you for stating the fact that were not metal!
can we please just stop talking ? we’re giving these turds too much attention. starting now…
lol this is too funny, justin’s panties are all wound up over this, tyler is just jelous, this is hilarious, im glad i got a NON metal band publicity lol
over it
seriously, don’t you ladies have a chat room you can blow each other in?
no we have a bathroom stale tho…
A bathroom stale? I guess that would be opposed to a bathroom fresh.
I enjoy metal covers of pop songs, for the most part… but it’s usually better when it’s a song people actually recognize. I have fortunately never heard anything by Katy Perry aside from bits and pieces of that terrible song about kissing girls, so I can’t really judge this. That, and I didn’t listen to this one either (I’m at work), so I can’t judge. But if you’re going to become famous for covering a pop song, why not pick something halfway popular?
Anyway, enjoy the attention while it lasts… I’m sure that no one will hear from you again.
well this song was number one on the billboard 200 at one point… soooo popular?? check
Again, we never set out to be famous. non of us have rockstar dreams. We play in this band for fun. We covered this song for fun. It wasnt meant to be a big deal. It got posted to Youtube.com. Our friend sent it to metalsucks.com. they hated it. Everyone went ape shit. the video got a bunch of plays in a short amount of time. End of story.
i would understand if we spent our time working on a studio quality version of this song and sent it to labels and made a real video. that would justify all of this. the fact that we jammed on it for fun at band practice in our guitarists basement yesterday does not.
People are so sensitive. All I did was thanking metalsucks for posting it. I enjoy this site and have never commented before today.
Think what you will people, I wont be losing any sleep over it.
Dont worry this band wasnt offended by people making fun of their video, “Think what you will people, I wont be losing any sleep over it.”, thats why he had to post dozens of times because he obviously didnt care. Like when you dont care and you go out of your way to do something that takes time and effort (however little that is). the band has now changed its name to irony, because he also said, “People are so sensitive” ironic by the fact that he himself is sensitive, oh wait but he cant be because he doesnt give shit, hes soooo happy this video got views because now that gives them something? not me im not listening to anything else and i dont even know the band name after writing this.
and one of them can post some penis/dick sarcastic self-hating reference because they are mad that what i posted was right and dont want to agree because that would mean some mysterious person made fun of them (i didnt even critique the video) and they agreed.
How About we all listen to some Nile
agree with you on the nile comment, however all three members of the band actually seem pretty happy that this video is on the website, your comments, as well as everyone else’s comments are pretty funny and we all got a great laugh out of them. the fact that we took precious moments from peoples lives so that they could pay attention to us is awesome. LOVE IT OR HATE IT LET IT DIE……now lets listen to some nile
people like you are the reason that people have gotten so riled up about shit for no good reason. The band openly admitted that they don’t care and were posting for pure AMUSEMENT. you’re the one getting all heated over nothing. This band by no means appears offended by any of this. The reason they respond is because its so hilarious that YOU are being so intense about it, because Its all ONE BIG JOKE! There’s just a few of YOU that seem to be the one’s too immature to get that. So I guess, I wouldn’t be so out of line as to say… “Jokes on YOU!! (oh and that guy justin…i still can’t quite decide who’s panties were in a bigger bunch). “
BTW…my comment was directed at “the problem is” not you matt…hey buddy!
I always thought Katy Perry covered Yeah! Destroyer…it’s the other way around?
oh no no youre right… this is actually the video we sent to her and she basically BEGGED us to let her record it and play it live… at least we got some boob touching out of it…YES…HIGHFIVE!!!!?
Sorry not familiar with your work, but are you the guy she cast to play the groom in the music video for her version? Was there a honeymoon?
haha dude straight up shes fucking hott.. i mean…. dude
Eh…..This is boring. Listen to Genghis Tron.
Another thing, maybe we can all agree that songs like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Janet fucking Jackson, Michael Jackson, Tito, Timone and Pumba, etc etc etc….should be off limits from now on.
The only songs bands can cover now must be from 1973 or later….THATS IT.
If a band breaks the rule they get stoned to death.
At first it was cool. Until I saw Children of Bodom live doing a cover of Journey’s only hit in my book “Dont stop believing.”
Fuck my life, that was a bad night…
u guys r sexy
I’m pretty sure that Bodom’s cover of that Britney Spears song is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. That shit is hilarious. It’s actually better than when they fuck up decent older songs, so I’ll take it. Their cover of CCR is awesome too but that’s not as far away from metal as something like this.
I actually would agree with the band on this one except their grammar is absolutely atrocious. how the fuck do you confuse ‘are’ with ‘our’? I have never in a long history of reading the internet seen something so bad as that.
some one should do a cover for Ol’ Man River.
hahaha this video made me laugh.
Thank you!
Thats all we we’re hoping for!
:)