Six/Six: Cartoons and Metal make great babies

There are just some people who will never understand our kind. I am a heavy metal fan, I am a fan of cartoons….no you aren’t forced to love either/or that would be silly. But, one can’t deny the synergy of some of the world’s greatest cartoons and the fact that heavy metal seems to always be a good best friend for the genre. After the jump, we talk to Chris Prynoski from Titmouse (Metalocalypse, Beavis and Butthead), Richard Christy, (Majestic Loincloth), and Jon Schnepp as we get their takes on two of the most misunderstood art forms and why they work so well together.

I remember being a kid and watching The Simpsons every day after school (but only after I did my homework). In my market(NYC) our local FOX station would do an episode of The Simpsons, then Seinfeld, and then another episode of The Simpsons all starting at 6pm EST. Now, before the second episode of The Simpsons came on I would watch ABC News as hosted by (in my opinion) the greatest journalist of all time Peter Jennings and to be honest I think this is what lead me to creating Bubbleblabber and to this day his values are instilled in my DNA. During this very same time of self-discovery I tried many different music genres, but thanks to my Dad’s $12 a month subscription model with Columbia House we were inundated with rock albums the most of which were from 80s bands trying to stay relevant but there were some definite gems that helped to mold my musical tastes. Bands like NIN,  Alice in Chainz, Godsmack, and more would come in by the droves and I was hooked.

But, I’ll never forget the strangest incident ever. I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic School for six years (which by the way is the biggest scam going). My freshmen year of high school I went to Jack’s Music Shop in Red Bank NJ on the day after my birthday because fuck you I had $20 of free money and I was gonna spend it. I decided to pick up the soundtrack for Scream 3. Yep…the movie sucked balls and I’ll admit it any day, but I thought the soundtrack was legit as it featured some of my favorite bands like Godsmack, Fuel, and a whole mess of others that I have never even heard of. I went home, and then WHAM! Track 2: Slipknot-Wait and Bleed came over and I FREAKED! I quickly ran over to my stereo and turned it off because I thought that I was doing something wrong. That said, I was never a saint. My mom used to get pissed if she caught me watching Beavis and Butthead or especially King of the Hill because her strict Christian values had forbidden her kids from expressing themselves. So I did it. I let Wait and Bleed run at LEAST 10 more times because I had never really experienced anything like that before. Slipknot wasn’t the only band that had me hooked, as bands like System of a Down, Dope, and Coal Chamber all got played through that day and that’s how it started.  Since then, I have purchased 100’s of albums and with seeing a lot of these bands at festivals like Ozzfest and elsewhere I would soon grow my obsession of metal into an addiction and to this day I only buy heavy metal music. When I was a kid, I remember Beavis and Butthead with Metallica and AC/DC shirts, but I BARELY knew who they were but of course over the years I would see Metallica a bunch of times and I would certainly catch up on any Beavis and Butthead I would miss and I loved it. Heavy metal and cartoons always had my mom yelling at me with her incessant chants of ‘Will you grow up?!’ but because of music and cartoons I was able to rebel a little bit and Chris Prynoski (Metalocalypse, Beavis and Butthead) would concur :

“I believe there’s a HUGE overlap between the fan bases of metal and adult animation. It comes down to the subversive tone they both share. Cartoons are for kids! Fuck you. Cut your hair and turn that music down! Fuck You. Both appeal to the type of person that doesn’t give a fuck about the norms of society. Both advocate a form of fun rebellion, at least in some small way. No fan of either is likely to start a revolution, but they love to quote lines and lyrics that would make mom blush.”

And blush she would. Although it wasn’t exactly like she was innocent as I distinctly remember her buying me a Fred Flintstone-Dallas Cowboys t-shirt. But overall she started to see a change in my attire as I quickly worked in darker clothing opposite my sports gear and my cars would be littered with CDs all over the floor. When I graduated from college I would even make a run at the music business, but the talent wasn’t there and I was forced to shut it down. However, similar to how I used to find some of the best music out there utilizing (at the time  ) Myspace, I would apply a lot of what I had learned in talent search and push that towards my love of cartoons. Every day on Bubbleblabber I love showcasing internet shows from all parts of the globe, but I’d be lying if I didn’t jump for joy when Richard Christy (Howard Stern Show) put out a new show on Rug Burn called Majestic Loincloth. Together with the Brian Posehn series Executioner, both shows would certainly help pull on those strings of being a fan of the heaviest music on the planet:

 Richard Christy:: I think they both go together great because once you’re a fan of animation or heavy metal, you’re a fan for life. It’s not a phase that people go through. When you’re into either one, you stay into them for your whole life. It’s really a lifestyle type of thing. My favorite form of TV entertainment is animation and my favorite form of music is heavy metal and I’ve had some of the greatest times in my life enjoying both. Seeing the Beavis and Butthead movie on the big screen was one of the greatest nights of my life and I’ve also had some of the greatest nights of my life at heavy metal concerts. It’s just like how Horror Films and Heavy Metal go together, usually if you’re into one, you’re into the other. They go great together like Peanut Butter and Jelly and Cheech and Chong! Maybe there’s no specific reason, that’s just how it is, and that’s why animation and heavy metal both RULE!

And of course. How can anyone forget about the show that was the first to successfully merge heavy metal and cartoons. That show won our Editor’s Choice Award for ‘Best Animated Series of 2012’  and it was called Metalocalypse. Director Jon Schnepp had to somehow find a way to make this show happen:

Animation and Heavy Metal is a natural fit, in the way that the Heavy Metal movie locked in with the different songs and created a storybook music video universe. I wanted to do that with Dethklok, and my mission on “Metalocalypse” was to make each music video for every episode stand out from one another, and to use different kinds of animation styles (live action clouds, shadows, flashing backgrounds) to help do that. My Dethklok Music Videos, combined with Brendon’s great music, helped push the fake band Dethklok into becoming a reality, and eventually they toured with my music videos playing in front of thousands of real fans. I had accomplished a real “Heavy Metal” live movie.

Not only has Dethklok been huge, the band is the biggest selling death metal band in America not named Cannibal Corpse and has turned Brendon Small from a decent-sized show runner to a heavy metal titan. Adult Swim is said to be releasing a Metalocalypse special later this year and I’m sure people who don’t worship metal the same way I do probably wouldn’t get the awesomeness that is having an imaginary land where entire countries are dependent on the sustainability of heavy metal. On this National Day of Slayer, most will pass today as an ordinary day. But, with Metalocalypse’s help and the cartoons that have become before and after it, we can at least point our pinky and index fingers to the sky…even if we look weird doing so.