Music

10 super weird animatronic band performances

by Tyler Munro

For the most part, someone that doesn’t remember the creepy animatronic band at Chuck E. Cheese is the one lucky enough to have blocked out the memory. But those bands always look worse in hindsight. The jarring movements in Disneyland’s rendition of “It’s A Small World” were captivating for the time, but like a Keith Richards wax statue that’s seen too much time under a hot light, what was once impressive quickly becomes laughable. The difference? Animatronics are more akin to a real life Richards—creepy, begging the question of how they can possibly still exist.

But they do still exist, and it’s getting weird. Because while children’s birthday parties are still haunted by furry animal arms fake-strumming a guitar, some enterprising people have started programming these monstrosities to play pop songs. No, seriously: Rock-afire Explosion, the “band” that Chuck E. Cheese appropriated for its franchises, can now be seen running through everything from Arcade Fire to Usher. Trap covers? Sure! A gorilla yelling “booty, booty, booty, booty, rockin’ everywhere”? Of course!

Below, we look at some examples of the creepiest robot pop covers. Brace yourself.

 

Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1

 

Black Eyed Peas – I’ve Got A Feeling

 

Usher – Love in This Club

 

Huey – Pop, Lock & Drop It

 

Shakira – Hips Don’t Lie

 

MGMT – Electric Feel

 

Nine Inch Nails – 1,000,000

 

Bubba Sparxxx – Ms. New Booty

 

Cee-lo Green – Fuck You

Rock-afire Explosion performed this with Cee-lo at his Vegas variety show

 

Evanescence – Lithium