Over the years, metal bands have made appearances in various TV animated shows, such as
Family Guy, South Park and of course
The Simpsons. Sometimes the appearance of the band is integral to the plot, sometimes it's just an excuse to shoehorn them in some way, but whatever the case, it's always good to see our heroes come to life as cartoon images of themselves, and I'm sure that as much as it is an honour for the animators and actors to work with these bands, it goes both ways, as Judas Priest's Rob Halford noted “Being on
The Simpsons was the greatest moment in my life!” Surely he's slightly exaggerating there, but I'm sure it's a big thrill when you’re
We'll get to Priest in due time, but right now the first band I want to look at were one who made their guest appearance in
South Park, and whose storyline was so completely in contrast to the band that it worked as actual comedy gold.
In the season 3 episode titled “Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery”, Norg's favourite band arrive to play a Halloween gig, to the dismay of Priest Maxi, and when some “pirate ghosts” (literally, ghosts dressed as pirates who say things like “Arr!”) show up to spoil the festivities, he accuses Korn of bringing them to South Park, denouncing them as satanists. Korn take on the role of the Scooby Gang, even affecting the accents, mannerisms and catchphrases of Fred, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Scooby (complete with their own dog mascot) and investigate the mystery.
The plot of course, isn't important, taking in as it does suspected necrophilia, exhumation of a dead body and the subsequent devouring of said body by a dog --- standard
SP mores --- as well as Cartman being his usual selfish self and wishing it was Christmas, while hijacking a blowup doll his mother has ordered in the mistaken belief it is a present for him. What is great is the way Korn (who are far from my favourite band) throw themselves into the roles and really get into the spirit of things. Here, they plan to attack the pirate ghosts by transforming. Problem is, all they can transform into is ... corn. Not much help there.
When they finally “solve” the mystery, Korn appear onstage and chide the residents of South Park for painting them as bad people, and then proceed to play a song. With the way it's been led into, you really expect them to play some sixties bubblegum pop or something, but no, they launch into one of their own songs as the people watch open-mouthed. Great ending.