Heavy Metal
This article is about the genre of music. For the Strong Bad Email, see death metal.
Because it's midnite!
Heavy metal, especially glam metal and death metal, plays a big part in the culture of the Homestar Runner universe, particularly in the life of Strong Bad. There are characters and events in the world that use heavy metal, from the existence of Limozeen to Strong Bad's personal endeavors into the genre with songs such as Trogdor, and there are also many minor references, on the level of both the characters and the viewers.
Bands
Limozeen
See main article: Limozeen
Limozeen primarily spoofs the glam metal subgenre. The original picture of the band, as seen in monster truck, is composed of four photos of The Brothers Chaps' older brother Donnie, dressed as Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil for Halloween 1987; Crüe is among the many influences on the sound of the band. Their logo resembles the design of the AC/DC logo.
Taranchula
See main article: Taranchula
Taranchula spoofs darker and heavier metal subgenres, such as thrash metal and especially death metal. Taranchula is specifically said to be Scandinavian, in keeping with the many Swedish death metal bands.
Other
- Strong Bad's songs "Trogdor" and "It's Like It Was Meant to Be" fit in the genre, with the latter being an example of a ballad.
- Strong Bad, the King of Town, and Homsar form the death metal band DÖI in Baddest of the Bands.
- Brainkrieg is a death metal band from Teen Girl Squad.
- Kissyboots is a band formed by the Teen Girl Squad in Issue 8. Cheerleader is seen with a heart-shaped, triple-necked guitar, identical to that which space-age guitar hero Steve Vai had custom-built.
Appearances
- Main Page 9 — Logos of rock bands Van Halen, KISS, and Led Zeppelin appear.
- band names — Strong Bad cites Van Halen, Dokken, and Z'nuff as deriving their names from "a really cool last name"; he suggests several additional band names including metal bands Lazor, Bigg Nife, and Taranchula (Limozeen is also named in this email, but at this point was not a metal band).
- 3 wishes — Strong Bad states that he would be the mascot for a heavy metal band if he had horns.
- personal favorites — The theme song includes some hot metal guitar lixx.
- the bet — Homestar Runner bets Strong Bad that he's cool, and Strong Bad says that if Homestar loses, he has to change his name to Kevin DuBrow, the name of the lead singer of the band Quiet Riot although they mispronounce his last name "doo-BRAU" when it's pronounced "doo-BRO."
- different town — When imagining how "Marzipan would rock", she is shown playing the "Skull N Bones" guitar used by George Lynch of Dokken.
- flashback — The email intro is a rock song.
- haircut — Strong Bad's "Jagged Metal" haircut design includes a Flying V, which Strong Mad misinterprets as a drawing of him eating the guitar.
- The Cheatar — The Brothers Chaps paint a giant fiberglass guitar to resemble The Cheat. Pictures can also be seen of heavy metal artists holding the guitar. The guitar was on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before being auctioned off for charity.
- rock opera — Strong Bad performs a rock opera, assembled from lines from all preceding emails. One of the lyrics is "I totally always look awesome singing backwards metal."
- This line is sampled from "Jagged Metal" in haircut.
- garage sale — Strong Bad refers to the email sender Cat as Catman, a likely nod to the "Catman" character makeup from KISS (worn by drummers Peter Criss and Eric Singer).
- space program — SBASAF's flagship is known as The Proud Anselmo, a reference to Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo.
- Also in space program, Strong Bad makes a reference to a "space mutant from Satriani 5" as a reference to Joe Satriani, a multi-Grammy nominee and pioneer of instrumental guitar rock.
- portrait — Strong Bad's muscular cutout features a "keyswordtar".
- death metal — Strong Bad gives his description of the elements of the genre. Metal bands mentioned in this email include Winger, Slaughter, and the Vinnie Vincent Invasion (though humorously all three are glam metal, not death metal).
- cliffhangers — Glam rocker Lita Ford is mentioned, and Malmsteen's Comet makes reference to neoclassical metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen.
- the chair — Bubs offers a Winger album as a "less Anthrax-y" alternative to replace Strong Bad's stool.
- One Two, One Two — Marzipan accompanies the sound effects by playing a bass guitar riff on Carol.
- concert — sloshy becomes one of Strong Bad's favorite bands, until he realizes the alt-rock band is "not metal".
- Marshie vs. Little Girl — Marshie comments that "poison the dragons" sounds like a heavy metal album. It is shown as a Taranchula album in an Easter egg.
- buried — Strong Bad uses the "Taranchula Black Metal Detector" to find items buried under Strong Badia.
- Homestar Ruiner — While moving a hurdle on the Race Track, Strong Bad remarks that it is a "heavy metal", speculating that it "must be made out of osmium or manganese... or Black Sabbath."
Bands
References to the following metal bands can be found in their respective articles:
