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.
Well, that’s changing — the Chuck E. Cheese man himself has announced that he’s breaking up the band. But just because these guitar playing, like, rats or whatever, are going the way of the Buffalo doesn’t discredit how weird their existence was in the first place.
And speaking of weird…
Rock-afire Explosion, the “band” that Chuck E. Cheese appropriated for its franchises, has been running through everything from Arcade Fire to Usher. Trap covers? Sure! A gorilla yelling “booty, booty, booty, booty, rockin’ everywhere”? Of course!
Below, we’ll 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