Hi, I'm Michael "Primz" Primiani and I love metal, writing, hypothetical scenarios, Seinfeld, Toronto, horror and shootin' funny fish in a barrel of laughs. This blog is an amalgamation of all five of these things.
Last night, I saw the movie "The Big Short" with my family. Starring Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt and Chistian Bale - the movie tells the true story of a group of individuals who predicted the 2008 financial crisis in the United States and managed to profit greatly from its downfall. Christian Bale plays American hedge fund manager Michael Burry, an awkward and introverted odd ball who has a knack for reading numbers and predicting outcomes.
I was pleasantly surprised when in one of the first scenes of the film, while reading the mortgage data from a litany of banks, Burry cranks up the song "Blood and Thunder" into his earphones while tapping his desk with a drumstick. As the movie continues, it becomes clear that Burry's method for focusing on crunching numbers is to listen to metal hits such as "Eye of the Beholder" and "Master of Puppets" by Metallica and "District Divided" by Darkest Hour. Further on in the movie, while expressing some frustration on his drums, Burry plays an angry percussion rendition of Pantera's "By Demons Be Driven" - complete with screaming, Vinnie Paul double kicks and inflicting an overall beating on to his kit.
Upon further research, I discovered an interview where Bale claims to have learned to play metal style drums in only two weeks for the role.
EDIT: Skip to 2:45
An impressive feat when you take in that right before the lessons began, Bale tore out his knee while on a trampoline with his kids. When director Adam McKay suggested that he use a double for the double kicks (Tales from the Puns), Bale reportedly told him, “No, no, it’s gonna be all right, let me just do it”. In the end, he accomplished the task with two doctors standing by "waiting for his leg to fall off". Pretty friggin' metal!
Furthermore, in the Screenrant interview above, Bale confirms that this aspect of Michael Burry's character was realistic. After sitting with the real Burry for over 9 hours during character study, Bale is quoted as saying:
This is how Mike Burry unwound. This is actually how he calmed down. He would listen to it all day long in his headphones – and not just that, Mastodon as well – but his brain is on fire so much that death metal calms him. He’s a very different individual to most of us.
Even though many metal fans (including myself) would disagree that Metallica, Pantera and Mastodon are "death metal" (Darkest Hour is debatable), it's cool to know that metal music fueled the minds of those smart enough to notice major fraudulent activity in the American financial system.
Us, disagreeing
It was a delight to see Christian Bale play an investment banker for the first time since American Psycho and trade cheesy 80s hits for some thrash and sludge.
Just picture him holding up Vulgar Display of Power
I unforutnately could not locate any videos of the metal movie moments (MMMs) but enjoy this Studio 360 interview with director Adam McKay about the drumming scene as well as a sound clip from the scene.
Also, go see The Big Short! I give the film an 7.5/10 with bonus points for a kickass soundtrack. You can listen to the hard rock/metal selections from the soundtrack below:
(I know Run the Jewels aren't metal but the song is still kickass!)
.....To reveal a deep seeded inspiration for the 6ix God himself
Through a complete accident, I believe I have discovered a definitive link between the 1999 pop rock hit All Star by Smash Mouth and the viral music video for Drake's 2015 single, "Hotline Bling". By examining the following evidence, it can be gathered that this is no coincidence. Rather this was an intentional move by the Grammy award winning Canadian rap artist to present the influence that All Star by Smash Mouth has had on his life and music career.
However, in order to understand how I arrived at this conclusion, let me start from the beginning...
This past summer, I studied in London, England for nearly a month as a part of a "Study Abroad" program hosted by my university.
Me being jolly in jolly ol' England
While taking a break from doing a reading on the history of urban settlements beside the Thames river, I stumbled across a video involving the band Smash Mouth and pieces of bread. In it, lead singer, host of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and one of two clowns in the group "Insane Clown Posse" - Steve Harwell - angrily threatens and berates a Fort Collins, Colorado crowd while the rest of the band awkwardly played the instrumentals to All Star by Smash Mouth, which further resulted in a stiff and nervous sing along from the crowd.
The comparison has been made before but the resemblance is uncanny
As I witnessed this juxtaposition of a WWE wrestler speech or a spoken word Pantera song to the rhythm that many, including myself, associate with the care free times of childhood, I was absolutely mortified.
The video in question. WARNING: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Me after watching this video
I lamented on how in the late 90s/early 2000s, Smash Mouth ruled the airwaves of the free world with songs such as "Walkin' On The Sun", "I'm a Believer" and most predominately, All Star by Smash Mouth. The latter of these songs experienced massive worldwide exposure through being in the now classic films Rat Race and - more importantly - Shrek, to which it became the musical embodiment of the green ogre himself.
I could not understand how a band that experienced such fame and fortune could be reduced to threatening a crowd with violence and hurling obscene profanities as high as the previously mentioned pieces of whole grain. That night, as I laid in my bed listening to the English wind hitting the open window of my Bloomsbury dorm, I decided to go on Spotify UK and put on All Star by Smash Mouth. With the catchy chorus and poppy guitar chords ringing in my ears, I reflected on my entire life and felt a special oneness not only within myself but also to the earth and all my surroundings.
I felt positively changed. Inspired. Gratified.
I also realized that right next to "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin and Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 In C Minor, Op. 67, 'Fate'. Allegro Con Brio", All Star by Smash Mouth is one of the greatest musical compositions of all time.
Flash forward to October 19th, 2015. All Star by Smash Mouth became the song of our London course with acapella versions of the song ringing out in the streets and piano accompanied late night rec room jams filling the midnight hours.
Oh I ain't kidding.
All Star by Smash Mouth has become the song I fall asleep to and the sound of my alarm to awake to. Talks of All Star Wings and Ribs, NHL All Star games and Converse All Star shoes become garbled and distorted as they give way to a surge of volume for the song playing constantly in my head. Between the portion of my brain devoted to playing the song on repeat and the burn of the Astro Lounge album cover into the screen of my iPhone 6, All Star by Smash Mouth has evidently taken over my life.
The color of my entire phone interface
Oh I really ain't kidding
Anyways, back to October 19th. On this particular October evening, "October's Very Own" Aubrey Drake Graham released his music video for his single, "Hotline Bling". The video spread like wildfire on Twitter in the city of Toronto between talks of the Blue Jays beating the Kansas City Royals in game three of the ALCS and striking a northern blow to the notion of baseball as "America's pastime". Also in Twitter highlights were talks of Justin Trudeau lighting up a six paper joint in celebration of a Liberal majority win in the Canadian federal election. Regarding "Hotline Bling", people from all over the city and the world tweeted about who "Director X" could be and Drake's choice of outfits. However, most of the attention was centered on Drake's off rhythm and seemingly cheesy dance moves.
I clicked on to the link to the video while unbeknownst to me at that moment, I had forgotten to pause my usual Monday night routine of listening to All Star by Smash Mouth full blast on my home stereo on repeat. The video began with what appeared to be an array of phone sex workers wearing the same outfit. Not in the mood for such jargon, I skipped this charade and fast forward to when Drake appears. After watching for less than a minute, I said to myself:
What on God's green earth is this? Why is Drake singing and dancing to All Star by Smash Mouth?
The obvious answer to this hit me quite literally when as a result of the sheer volume of my stereo system shaking my house, a priceless family heirloom fell from the shelf above me and hit me in the head, rendering me unconscious. When I awoke hours later from my All Star by Smash Mouth concussed state and picked up the broken pieces of the jar that had been in my family for generations, I realized that the music video was indeed for the corresponding song of "Hotline Bling", not All Star by Smash Mouth. But then a little voice spoke to me that sounded like Shrek and through a harsh Irish accent, it told me that somehow - in that moment - the two vastly different forms of media synced up to a concrete flow.
So I decided to mute the video and play All Star by Smash Mouth and I was utterly shocked and astounded to learn that my hypothesis was correct! Dance moves that once seemed to be off rhythm and strange synced up perfectly and made realistic sense when synced to All Star by Smash Mouth. Visual cues and set colour changes by Director X coincided with the lyrics and the tempo of All Star by Smash Mouth that the identity of "Director X" could actually be Smash Mouth singer Steve Harwell himself!
I felt at that moment much like how I believe Charles Savage must have felt when he realised that the 1973 Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moonsyncsto the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. After viewing the synced version of the "Hotline Bling" music video a number of times, I thought of a deeper meaning in all of this.
Simply put: What if Drake is as inspired by and obsessed with All Star by Smash Mouth as I am?
This might sound crazy, but hear me out...
If in London, England - an epicenter of art, culture and history and an inspiration for artistic greats such as Charles Dickens, The Beatles and William Shakespeare - I could find such solace and appreciation for All Star by Smash Mouth then could it be possible that the hip hop mastermind found it too? If in such an elevated place of inspiration, a run of the mill everyman like myself could reach such enlightenment, could it be possible that this plateau I have reached could be already populated by the 6ix God himself?
By examining the evidence below, you can experience for yourself the synchronization. I have broken down significant moments of the video and have written what I believe they represent. Realize though that I am merely an observer and feel free to come up with your own conclusions about this cohesion of culture (and let me know about it in the comments!!!)
By taking this all into account, this music video can be seen as a subtle homage to one of Drake's influences and a hope that Smash Mouth will overcome the hurdles of wheat projectiles to become the dominant force of pop radio and kids movie soundtracks once again.
00:36: Drake switches up his dancing to correspond with the start of the sync. This is wear the viewer should stop "Hotline Bling" and put on their All Star by Smash Mouth record. The color of the cube holding our Canadian crown jewel changes its color to the greenish hue associated with Shrek and Shrek based products such as Hostess Twinkies With Ogre Green Creamy Filling®
00:40: The stomp of Drake's Timba Land boot corresponds with the splash cymbal to signify Drake marching to the beat of Kevin Coleman's drum (drummer of All Star by Smash Mouth)
00:51: The years (of success) started coming for Drake and without any reasonable doubt, they have not stopped coming evident by the lineup of well-endowed women presented before him. However, Drake is a modest man who does not forget his All Star by Smash Mouth roots so he puts a finger to his lips to keep this info on the down low.
01:01 Drake asks "what's wrong with taking the back streets" while doing a walking motion to represent his tough urban upbringing in the neighborhood of Forest Hill in Toronto, a notorious neighborhood riddled with gangbangers, bootleggers, swashbucklers and other nefarious perpetrators of crime who populate these "back streets". Luckily, due to his success - Drake rose out of the back streets to walk on the main streets of Beverley Hills and Fifth Avenue.
01:07 As Smash Mouth declares "you'll never shine if you don't glow", Drake presents us a Shrek goo green glowing stairway to heaven that represents the enlightenment he obtained from listening to All Star by Smash Mouth.
01:15: Drake gets his sold out shows worldwide on and "gets paid" in trillions for them.
01:19: All that glitters is gold and the cube turns gold due to Drake's life being filled with gold records, gold bars and gold cubes. All Drake touches turns to gold making him a modern day King Midas with a crown put on his head by All Star by Smash Mouth
01:28: Smash Mouth says the line "It's a cool place and they say it gets colder" as the color of the background turns to icicle blue and Drake becomes bundled in warm sweatpants and a sweater from Roots®. This confirms that Drake has followed All Star by Smash Mouth's advice towards wellness and success.
01:35: During the chorus, Drake makes a cryptic Italian symbol called the "mano cornuto, which today we recognize as the "devil horns" that many heavy metal fans use at Foo Fighters shows. The Italian legend is that this symbol was used to ward off and protect oneself against curses and other harmful energies.
Could this be Drake protecting himself against those digging to the root of his success and finding the hidden origins of his influences? I dunno but I would like to say that I am writing this in a zen state of positive chakras so hopefully I do not succumb to any ancient curses.
Please do not do this to me Drake
01:58: "Only shooting stars break the mold is a lyric that has come up in the song once before by now but I thought I would address it at this point. We can understand the meaning of this complex metaphor through the symbol of Michael Jordan. Nicknamed Jumpman by his peers, Jordan physically dunked so many baskets in his NBA career that he physically "broke the mold" of the sport by being the first basketball player to assemble a team of cartoon animals and lead them to greatness.
Drake realizes this and strives to do the same for the rap game. This is evident by him doing a hand motion of dribbling a basketball in this point of the video and also by wearing a Michael Jordan t-
shirt throughout the video under his red jacket.
Only shooting stars break the mold - All Star by Smash Mouth
2:03-2:21: Here Drake actually looks at the viewers in the eye and explains the affect that All Star by Smash Mouth has had on his life. However, he lets the gibberish, turntables and wah-guitar of the All Star by Smash Mouth interlude do the talking for him.
2:24: When the song kicks back in, Drake bows his head in prayer to the blessings that All Star by Smash Mouth has afforded him.
2:38: The song slows down so Drake can explain that when he was poor and begging in the streets of Forrest Hill in the late 90s , he asked a man for change for gas so he could drive to the Salvation Army to get some soup and bread to feed his mother, father and seventeen brothers and sisters. This man ended up being Steve Harwell from Smash Mouth and he not only gave Drake $500,000 dollars in Esso gas station gift cards but also gave him the musical fuel of the song All Star by Smash Mouth to inspire Drake (and the world) to do bigger and better things. This takes the form of a parable.
3.00: Drake "hits the ground running" through the 6ix with his woes! (EDIT: Hey! An easy one!)
3:04: "Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb" is stated as Drake points to his head. Tbh if I can be real for a second I'm not a linguistics or philosophy professor so I can't even begin to explain this one
3:08: Drake here begs us to take the back streets and to be creative, to not be afraid to do things differently and to enjoy life no matter what people think as he has when he decided to release this music video on Apple Music even though a total of only twelve people watched it before it was uploaded to YouTube.
3:18 - onward: Drake points to all of his fans and followers to tell them they are all "all stars" and are all capable of success and that we too can get shows on and get paid someday if we work for it.
3:48: The video begins where it ended and it is now sucked back into Shrek's swamp evident by the green staircase fade out. This could also be an expression of letting out creative thoughts and inventive ideas rather than burying them in our own personal swamps. Better out than in I always say!
