The final Cellodown

April 13, 2008 1:46 AM

If you love the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (and who in their right mind doesn't?) and enjoyed the Japanese version of Smoke on the Water, you might just barely tolerate this. Warning: contains five minutes of repackaged progressivepretentious rock and images of cello-based dorkiness. I gave it 98/100.
posted by wendell (26 comments total)

Gee, it wouldn't let me add "musicvideoMTVwouldneverplaybackwhenMTVplayedmusicvideos" as a tag...
posted by wendell at 1:48 AM on April 13, 2008

If you like this, see also: the Kuricorder Quartet.
posted by tapeguy at 1:55 AM on April 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

anti-music?
posted by subgear at 3:02 AM on April 13, 2008

Sparky really shreds it, dude.
Up next, "Life During Wartime" on prepared spoons.
posted by Dizzy at 3:13 AM on April 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

This was great, great fun.
posted by razorian at 3:41 AM on April 13, 2008

Gob Bluth called; he needs his entrance music back.
posted by pxe2000 at 3:52 AM on April 13, 2008

I think the low point(s) are when the long-haired second-from-left one headbangs as he plays one note again and again.
posted by 15 step at 4:23 AM on April 13, 2008

Who headbangs to the Final Countdown anyway? He's young enough to know what is and isn't appropriate headbanging material. Well shit, maybe he's not old enough. Whatever. I thought that sucked.
posted by greta simone at 4:35 AM on April 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

I liked the smile on the face of one of the women cellists in the background: you can tell she finds it all mildly amusing, but is also thinking 'Twenty years of dedicated training, and I'm playing the Final Sodding Countdown?'.

And don't all orchestras do this kind of thing as a matter of routine? I remember seeing the Liverpool Philharmonic doing a whole night of pop songs/film themes when I was little. (Given the timing, I may even have been proto-Rickrolled!)
posted by jack_mo at 5:04 AM on April 13, 2008

Well, the cello version was just as stupid and embarrassing as the original, so I guess these guys were... successful. Or something.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:14 AM on April 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

The final solution for classical musicians with star aspirations and good hair.

Let's not forget there are people in the world who actively seek out music like this. I think we should all take a moment of silence for those people and then kill them with Sheer Hellish Miasma.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:53 AM on April 13, 2008

A cloying, uncreative arrangement of a song that was shit to begin with.

Kronos Quartet doing Hendrix is better.
posted by D.C. at 5:54 AM on April 13, 2008

Who headbangs to the Final Countdown anyway? He's young enough to know what is and isn't appropriate headbanging material.

so it's headbanging with cellos you want: Master of Puppets
posted by geos at 5:56 AM on April 13, 2008

Cello face.
posted by madamjujujive at 6:34 AM on April 13, 2008

They must have a lot of sore necks.

Apocalyptica: Metallica on Four Cellos
posted by blue_beetle at 7:18 AM on April 13, 2008

This video makes me imagine an Arrested Development where through some sort of teleporter mix-up the Bluths wind up in an mirror universe where everything is bizarro. Evil goateed G.O.B. takes the stage to millions of adoring fans while this orchestra plays. The crowd goes wild, and he performs illusions (not tricks!) that boggle the mind. Then, as The Final Countdown climaxes, he disappears into the Aztec Tomb leaving the evil, goateed crowd to wonder where he went.
posted by revgeorge at 8:16 AM on April 13, 2008

I forgot to add the piss to my morning cornflakes, but I thought that was great, even in my hungover, slightly still inebriated state. Those Apocalyptica dudes take themselves way too seriously. I would party with those melo-m cats over Apocalyptica any day.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:20 AM on April 13, 2008

Proof that there's not always room for cello.
posted by zippy at 10:21 AM on April 13, 2008

revgeorge: If it's a bizarro AD world, wouldn't GOB perform tricks, not illusions?
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:43 AM on April 13, 2008

I need this to wash the bad taste out of my mouth.
posted by TheCoug at 10:52 AM on April 13, 2008

Come on, that was hilarious. Headbanging cello action! Woot!

Of course I could only watch the first thirty seconds before hitting the back button like a lab rat trying to escape an electrified cage.
posted by jokeefe at 11:45 AM on April 13, 2008

TheCoug, that was a couple of different kinds of amazing.
posted by jokeefe at 11:49 AM on April 13, 2008

of course you could just rock out to Shostakovich instead...
posted by geos at 12:09 PM on April 13, 2008

Well, I'd never heard of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, to whom this post led me. And frankly, their take on the Theme from Shaft -- with a happy older white guy doing the Isaac Hayes vocals -- is probably the funniest thing I've seen all week.
posted by Mike D at 1:04 PM on April 13, 2008

Second cellist makes my neck hurt and me fear that his head is going to snap off. I say that as an aging mother.
posted by etaoin at 1:31 PM on April 13, 2008

I've got the Reflections CD produced by Apocalyptica right next to my computer at all times. It makes a great coaster.
posted by ZaneJ. at 2:42 PM on April 13, 2008