I'm not sure whether that ruined the original for me forever, or whether it made it just that much better.

Posted August 2, 2006 11:50 PM by Arete

This one has everything but the kitchen sink.

Posted August 2, 2006 11:55 PM by Kip W

Are you sure, Kip? Could it be on the floor behind the, er, percussionist/appliancist?

Posted August 3, 2006 1:16 AM by Claude Muncey

At last, Jim Steinman has found the perfect interpreters. (And I wonder if the Worldcon Masquerade committee is hastily making a couple of rules changes.)

But, please, it's Kitsch N'Sink.

I'll go away now.

Posted August 3, 2006 1:32 AM by John M. Ford

But, please, it's Kitsch N'Sink.

better than Kitsch N SYNC.

Posted August 3, 2006 1:41 AM by miriam beetle

Judging by the coin slot on display I'm surprised it wasn't pay per view.

(I'll follow Mr Ford out)

Posted August 3, 2006 1:42 AM by Little Mr Square Eyes

Oh, I really didn't need to see that much simultaneous butt crack.

Posted August 3, 2006 2:21 AM by Greg London

I think my heart just stopped.

Posted August 3, 2006 2:51 AM by Madeleine Robins

(delurk)

paste magazine circulated a short film about them a couple of months (?) back. really wonderful. wonderful, wonderful. wonderful.

(relurk)

Posted August 3, 2006 4:35 AM by daelm

Whoah. Dude.

Posted August 3, 2006 5:45 AM by elise

But did you all miss the best part? The bouncing guitar string ends? That totally made it for me, dude.

Jane

Posted August 3, 2006 5:51 AM by jane

Wow, and I thought it was odd that Jim Steinman eventually put the song into into his musical, Dance of the Vampires (Tanz der Vampire).
For fans of the song, there's also a good a cappella recording by the USC SoCal VoCals. It got into Best of College A Cappella 2001.

(Shouldn't the guitarist have been playing tuned mason jars or something?)

Posted August 3, 2006 6:48 AM by JC

"Hurra Torpedo is the world's leading kitchen appliance rock group." http://www.hurratorpedo.org

There's competition?

Posted August 3, 2006 7:27 AM by Michael Walsh

I don't think I've ever seen another band do so much with kitchen appliances and a terrible case of plumber's crack.

Posted August 3, 2006 8:56 AM by Adam Lipkin

Are they going to branch out into laundry music?

Posted August 3, 2006 9:03 AM by Fragano Ledgister

Beats the heck out of this one.

Posted August 3, 2006 9:34 AM by Avram

A song I hate, done justice at last.

Posted August 3, 2006 9:41 AM by Chris Quinones

Avram...we need to talk.

Posted August 3, 2006 9:42 AM by Chris Quinones

This one has everything but the kitchen sink.

Speaking of which... Does anybody know where one could buy a key ring with a tiny kitchen sink attached to it? I did some googling and wound up being pointed to something about Britney Spears.

Posted August 3, 2006 9:50 AM by Serge

Well I rather liked this song in the original, but this has to be seen to be believed. Thanks TNH for slogging through the internet to find these things for us!

Posted August 3, 2006 9:54 AM by Cathy

Serge, your best bet might be to find a dollhouse kitchen sink and attach the keychain yourself.

Posted August 3, 2006 10:35 AM by Avram

That's an idea, Avram. This is something I'd like to give my wife. That way, next time we go on a trip, I will be able to say that she's bringing everything and the kitchen sink.

(Which reminds me of the Bugs Bunny cartoon where, dressed as Granny about to elope with fortune-stealing Yosemite Sam, Bugs actually throws the kitchen sink down to Sam.)

Posted August 3, 2006 10:45 AM by Serge

I think I just sprained my diaphragm trying not to laugh as hard as I wanted to.

Posted August 3, 2006 10:51 AM by everstar

I don't know. The original was gloriously over-the-top, so camp it came out the other side, where this version has only the one gimmick. I think Avram is wrong, though. The upside down mouths lip-synching is a better gimmick than beat-up kitchen equipment (though I did like the freezer).

Posted August 3, 2006 11:12 AM by jim

This is the most annoying, most suffocating example of hipster irony I've ever seen. It's half a step away from choreographed nosepicking.

Posted August 3, 2006 11:13 AM by Adam Rice

Don't hold back, Adam. Tell us how you really feel.

---L.

Posted August 3, 2006 11:36 AM by L.N. Hammer

I'm ... speechless.

Except to note that you'd think they'd find running pants that fit. I didn't need to see that much Viking buttcrack, either.

(Huh, now *there's* a band name...)

Posted August 3, 2006 11:41 AM by Meredith

Viking buttcrack... (Huh, now *there's* a band name...)

Reminds me of those Capital One commercials with their out-of-work Barbarians. I caught a new ad last night where some of them try to reinvent themselves by starting a rock group called the Pillage People.

Posted August 3, 2006 11:56 AM by Serge

Hm, yes, it may be a total eclipse of the heart, but it appears to be only a partial eclipse of the moon.

Jane: I also enjoyed the bouncing guitar string ends.

Posted August 3, 2006 12:08 PM by Mr. Velocipede

Adam: We're hipsters? When did that happen?

What you're seeing here is sincere amazement. An ironic viewpoint couldn't possibly do justice to that video.

Posted August 3, 2006 12:10 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

My eyes can take abuse, but my ears will never forgive you. I suppose this should have made me remember that Vikings may yowl like cats.

Posted August 3, 2006 12:37 PM by --E

I believe Adam ascribes that irony to the band, not to us.

Between this and the cut of the Carpenters doing "The Rainbow Connection" I was just given by a friend, I think I may need a new brain.

Posted August 3, 2006 12:39 PM by Andrew Willett

Oh, okay. Thank you, Andrew.

Adam, sorry for misreading that.

Posted August 3, 2006 12:53 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Regarding the kitchen sink - you may be able to find a kitchen sink made for a charm bracelet - I found one on eBay with a quick search on froogle, but I can't post a link to it because a link to eBay seems to be questionable content.

Regarding Hurra Torpedo - Here is their wikipedia entry. My favorite quote: "During recent years Hurra Torpedo have had annual split- and reunion tours."

Posted August 3, 2006 1:01 PM by D

Wow, this is an old one. "Lille Lørdag" was shown in the early nineties. Ok, 1995.

Hurra Torpedo has an official web page, and there's a link to a wmv clip of the song that's actually got audio and video in sync.

The, er, drummer of the band is Kristopher Schau, alleged comedian and musician, and frontman of a band whose name the comment system won't allow me to post - most infamous for a [perhaps not worksafe] wardrobe malfunction on stage during the 2004 Quart Festival. There's a video of the event [certainly not worksafe] here.

Posted August 3, 2006 1:39 PM by Roy G. Ovrebo

You must watch this video: go to http://www.okgo.net/news.aspx and click the YouTube link.

This is the greatest thing I have seen all year.

Posted August 3, 2006 2:38 PM by Lucy Huntzinger

Shout-out from the Norwegian readership: How amusing to see Lille Lørdag here. I'm so sorry people the world over can't see the brilliantness of these comedians in Norwegian. They're brilliant. They're brilliantly brilliant. I would describe this as one of their mediocre jokes. It's not just hysterically funny, they have a sort of zen approach to humour (it mostly revolves around seeing how far you can take a joke until it stops being funny, and then taking it so far beyond that it becomes all pomo and beyond-funny funny again) which comes very close to being art. The voice of a generation in Norway (and they're off-pitch and all)!

Posted August 3, 2006 2:40 PM by Martin G. L.

It's got a great beat; it's easy to dance to -- I give it an "8."

Posted August 3, 2006 3:34 PM by Tim Kyger

My cherished memories of the 80's are in tattered, flaming ruins.

Ugh!

Maybe I'd like them in Norwegian.

Posted August 3, 2006 3:43 PM by Michael

In the event that anyone needs their cherished memories of the 90s ruined as well....

(Or, for that matter, their memories of 70s movie themes.)

Posted August 3, 2006 3:57 PM by Christopher Davis

i'd seen the hurra torpedo video several months ago, but here's a related video that was new to me:
music for one apartment and six drummers

it was nominated for a golden palm at cannes 2001, and has won awards at several other short film festivals.

swedish, not norwegian, and they are all properly clothed, but still very strong on making music out of ...things.

Posted August 3, 2006 4:00 PM by shadowsong

::falls over laughing::

Posted August 3, 2006 6:19 PM by beth meacham

Ah, that's what I love about fen: One person throws in a reference to Tollund Man (without bothering to include a pointer), and no one else bats an eyelash.

Posted August 3, 2006 6:30 PM by Pfusand

(stereotypical radio announcer voice)
That was "Careful with that axe, Eugene" by the Viking Buttcracks. Up next, "Uncomfortably numb" by Fat Guys in Speedos, right after these commercials.
(/)

Posted August 3, 2006 6:40 PM by Greg London

Best musical use of major kitchen appliances since the Triplets of Belleville retired.

Posted August 3, 2006 8:19 PM by Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey

From Roy's linked story.

They have sex in public in order to put focus on the rainforest.

I'm simply not able to apply the deserved amount of snark here.

Posted August 3, 2006 8:33 PM by Erik V. Olson

After he stopped gasping for breath, my teenage son said "I just wish my middle-school talent shows had something like that."

Posted August 4, 2006 4:46 AM by pat greene

That certain cherished 70s movie theme is a favorite busking tune for bagpipers, guaranteed to get money thrown in your case, if only to get you to stop.

Also with pipe bands as a march by itself or in a medley (couldn't find a sound clip for that -- aren't you glad?). And it makes a reasonably sprightly jig played on traditional celtic instruments. Not that I'm admitting to have done this myself, you realize.

Posted August 4, 2006 12:35 PM by Tracie

...and suddenly, I find myself wondering if Phish ever covered this. Bat Out of Hell for one of the Halloween costume shows, perhaps?

Posted August 5, 2006 3:06 AM by Fred

Meanwhile, an analysis or two of the original video for the song. Because you can never have enough pirouetting ninjas.

Posted August 5, 2006 8:55 PM by Julie L.

Oh dear. I literally laughed until I cried. That is fantastic! I want more of these guys!

Posted August 6, 2006 1:32 AM by Flora

(Comment here removed to the front page.)

Posted August 6, 2006 10:36 AM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

(it mostly revolves around seeing how far you can take a joke until it stops being funny, and then taking it so far beyond that it becomes all pomo and beyond-funny funny again)

This reminds me of the brilliant "Fire Ant" episode of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. While interviewing Conan O'Brian, Space Ghost gets bitten by an ant and decides to follow it home to its nest and kill its whole family. In the regular version of the episode, they just cut from the studio to the ants' nest, but in the double-length version they filled out the extra 10 minutes or so with... Space Ghost following the ant. It went right through boring and annoying into hysterical.

Posted August 7, 2006 12:04 AM by Jen Roth

It has the same well-crafted brain-eating sensibility as intentional badfic by a good writer.

Posted August 7, 2006 4:38 AM by A. J. Luxton