The Midnight Beast
The Midnight Beast | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Labels | Sounds Like Good |
| Members | Stefan Abingdon Dru Wakely Ashley Horne |
| Website | www |
The Midnight Beast, sometimes abbreviated as TMB, is a British comedy music group from London, perhaps most famous for their YouTube cover-parody of the 2009 single TiK ToK by American pop artist Ke$ha.[1] The group currently consists of its three founding members, Stefan Abingdon, Dru Wakely and Ashley Horne.
Book
The group released a semi-autographical book titled Book at Us Now on 27 October 2011. The book included interviews with the band members, the history of The Midnight Beast, as well as exposition on the groups videos and songs. The group held book signings around the country in a promotion titled the Book at Us Now Tour.[2]
Sitcom
In 2011, it was announced that the band would star in its own, self-titled, sitcom, The Midnight Beast. The show began airing on E4 on the 5th of July 2012.[3] The series consists of 6 episodes, and follows a fictionalized version of the band members as they attempt to become successful musicians.
Reception
The Midnight Beast have over 290,000 subscribers and a combined 40 million views on their YouTube channel alone, as well as over 300,000 Facebook fans as of September 2011. The group's songs often appear on iTunes music charts,[4] and their accompanying music videos routinely reach over 1 million views on YouTube. On Christmas Day 2009, the "TiK ToK" parody was featured on the front page of MTV.com,[5] and the group have made videos in collabaration with BBC Comedy and MTV Rocks.
The group has also garnered praise from artists that they have parodied. Both Ke$ha and Jay Sean have tweeted positive reactions to the group's parody of their respective songs, TiK ToK and Down, with Ke$ha stating "holy. shit. this is better than my version",[6][7] and Jay Sean posting "Hahha brilliant. Someone should mix this with 'pants on the ground.'"[8]
The group has also attracted minor controversy with its music. In an online post from February 2011, Metro, a British newspaper, raised issue with the lyrics of "Use Ya Head", a sexual education-themed skit made for the Marie Stopes International charity's Have A Larc organization, which promotes safe sex. The paper cited the lines "One up the bum and it’s no harm done" and "One up the bum and you won’t be a mum", stating that it appeared that the group was suggesting anal sex as a birth control method. It also quoted unnamed critics who mentioned that the video failed to point out that anal sex could still lead to the transmission of STDs.[9]
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | |||
| 2012 | The Midnight Beast
|
TBA |
EPs
| Year | Title | Label | Chart Positions |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | |||
| 2010 | Booty Call EP | Midnight Beast Records AWAL Records |
64 |
| 2012 | The Midnight Beast (Episode 1) / EP 1 | Sounds Like Good |
The Midnight Beast (Episode 1) / EP 1:
1. I Kicked A Shark In The Face
2. Ninjas
3. Begging
Singles
| Year | Singles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK[10][11][12] | AUS[13] | IRE[14] | |||
| 2009 | "TiK ToK Parody" | 90 | 4 | 39 | Non-album single |
| 2010 | "Down Parody" | — | — | — | |
| "Ninjas" | — | — | — | ||
| "Lez Be Friends" | — | — | — | ||
| "Friends For Never" | — | — | — | ||
| "Daddy" | — | — | — | Booty Call EP | |
| "Booty Call" | 64 | — | — | ||
| "Just Another Boyband" | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| 2011 | "The Dance Routine" | — | — | — | |
| "Pizza In Ibiza" | — | — | — |
Other tracks
| Year | Title | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | AUS | IRE | |||
| 2012 | "Begging" | 70 | — | — | The Midnight Beast (Episode 1) / EP 1 The Midnight Beast |
References
- ^ "Tik Tok (Parody) - Single". iTunes Store. 15 January 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ The Midnight Beast
- ^ The Midnight Beast - E4 Sitcom - British Comedy Guide
- ^ The Midnight Beast - Artist Analysis | ITunes Music Chart Archive
- ^ Knezevic, Milana (7 December 2010). "The Midnight Beast". York Vision. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
The video currently boasts over 9 million views, with the numbers still increasing. This was likely helped by [...] it featuring on the front page of the MTV website.
- ^ http://twitter.com/keshasuxx/status/6676461438
- ^ Daw, Robbie (12 January 2010). "The Midnight Beast: And You Thought Ke$ha's Version Of "TiK ToK" Was Trashy". Idolator. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ http://twitter.com/jaysean/status/8034031578
- ^ Abortion charity's 'anal sex' contraception method video draws criticism | Metro.co.uk
- ^ "The Midnight Beast UK charting positions". Chart Stats. chartstats.com. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ "Chart Positions, Artists by name (M)". Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/110514cluk.txt
- ^ "The Midnight Beast - Tik Tok (Parody)". eMedia Jungen. australian-charts.com. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
- ^ irishcharts.com - Discography The Midnight Beast