Vibraslap

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A Vibraslap manufactured by LP

LP Vibraslap showing metal teeth

A vibraslap (also called the mandible) is a percussion instrument consisting of a piece of stiff wire (bent in a handle-like shape) connecting a wood ball to a block of wood with metal “teeth” inside. When the percussionist holds the handle in one hand and strikes the ball (usually against the palm of their other hand), the metal teeth vibrate against the wood block, causing a distinctive rattling sound. The instrument is the modern descendant of the jawbone. This instrument is sometimes called the machine gun cowbell.^{[citation needed]}

The instrument is frequently used in Latin American music. The vibraslap was a ubiquitous part of jazz or pop-based film scores, primarily action films and television series, in the 1970s and early 1980s. It is also used extensively in the music of alternative rock band Cake (as well as in “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Close But No Cigar”, which is a parody of Cake’s style). Other songs that have prominently featured the vibraslap include Santana's "Incident at Neshabur", Alice in Chains’ “Would?”, The Grateful Dead’s “Alligator”, Black Lips’ “Veni Vidi Vici”, R.E.M.’s anti-war anthem “Orange Crush”, Jethro Tull’s "Velvet Green," Styx’s “Lights”, The Cure’s “Lullaby”, The Tubes’ “Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman”, Amon Tobin’s “Four Ton Mantis”, Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang”, Them Terribles’ “Bullets and Guns”, during the guitar lead on Rush’s song “Closer to the Heart”, at the beginning of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train”, during the percussion jam in Enter the Haggis's "Congress", Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion”, and My Chemical Romance’s “Teenagers”. A vibraslap is used in Blue Man Group’s “How to Be a Megastar 2.0 Tour”, not for real music production, but for a humorous skit. It is also heard in the theme tunes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Countdown.