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Bat Country

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"Bat Country"
Song

"Bat Country" is a single by the American metal band Avenged Sevenfold from their 2005 album, City of Evil. The song's main influence comes from Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and the title itself also comes from a line from the book in which Raoul Duke, the alter-ego pseudonym of Thompson himself, is on his way to Las Vegas while being affected by various drugs, and thus hallucinates, seeing huge bats and manta rays in the sky. With this, he screams to his companion, Dr. Gonzo, "We can't stop here. This is bat country."

The song has been used in several video games including EA Sports' NHL 06, Madden NFL 06, SSX on Tour and Saints Row 2. It also had a short cameo in Big Momma's House 2. The song is featured on the soundtrack to the extreme mountain bike film New World Disorder 7: Flying High Again.

The song appeared on an episode of the FOX TV series Bones entitled "The Superhero in the Alley"

Avenged Sevenfold won 'Best New Artist' at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards for "Bat Country".

The following quote is frequently referred twice throughout the song (at the beginning and the bridge before the last chorus) and is shown at the beginning of the music video.

"He who makes a beast out of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man." - Dr. Johnson

Formats and track listings

CD single
  1. "Bat Country"
  2. "Beast and the Harlot" (Live from the Warped Tour)
  3. "Bat Country" (Music video)

Music Video

The video for this song shows various symbolic images and references to the above-mentioned Thompson book. The song centers around the band performing in a hotel room, surrounded by exotic dancers. There are also cuts to a scene in which the band is driving down a barren highway in a bat-winged Cadillac convertible, surrounded by a cloud of bats (who are being swatted by Zacky and The Rev). While in the car they see Johnny Christ on the side of the road trying to get a ride, and they pick him up. During the "soft" section, the band appears at a strip club, surrounded by snake-tongued strippers. Also, it's implied that the video is partially a hallucinaton.

If one were to examine closely, the words on M. Shadows' shirt appear to change between "Why Disneyland" and "If you have Amsterdam". The shirt actually says "Why Disneyland if you have Amsterdam?" at one point in the song. It changes back afterward. During Synyster Gates' and Zacky Vengeance's guitar solo/duo, the bats that fly into the sky are sometimes not there. The regular people sometimes appear to have a disfigured face. During the video's commentary by Avenged Sevenfold on their All Excess DVD, the band says that the bats hallucination was actually due to a lack of funds, however, whether or not they were being serious or joking is not clarified.

The music video, which was filmed around Las Vegas, still receives considerable airplay on many channels. As Shadows says, the band members live close to Las Vegas. Synyster Gates commented[1] at 2:47, 'You put all of us in the car, and that's basically what you have.'

Chart positions

Chart (2008) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 2
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks 6
U.S. Billboard Hot Ringtones 40
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 60
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 62
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs 64
U.S. MTV Total Request Live 1

References

  1. ^ "Avenged Sevenfold on Daily Download". YouTube. 2007-01-31. Retrieved 2007-01-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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