Band go viral for cover of Wheatus’ ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ in the style of Rick Astley
A band have gone viral for sharing a cover of Wheatus’ hit ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ in the style of Rick Astley. Check it out below.
The unusual mash-up was shared by a band called Deco, who took to Instagram to share the clip earlier this week (February 26).
In the video, the frontman is seen dressed as Rick Astley as seen in the music video for his now-iconic 1987 song ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, sporting the same blazer and striped t-shirt underneath. A green-screen background was also added to create the same backdrop as in the original video.
Once the instrumentals kick in for the ‘80s classic, the singer then does a surprisingly accurate impression of Astley, capturing his moves and mannerisms, but replacing the original lyrics of the song with those of the ‘00s hit ‘Teenage Dirtbag’.
Check it out below.
Following the clip being shared on the band’s social media pages, fans were quick to spread the video to all corners of the internet and share their thoughts on the unconventional hybrid.
“I’m disgusted with how well this goes together!! I’m in utter shock,” one viewer wrote in the comment section, while another described it as “ a mix I didn’t know I needed until now.”
“After that I don’t remember the original anymore,” a third stated, while others called for Deco to organise a collaboration with Astley himself and share the full version of the mash-up as an official release.
This isn’t the first time that the band have made waves online for covering an artist in the style of someone else. Earlier this month, the members asked how Coldplay would sound if they emerged in the ‘80s, and dropped a cover of their track ‘Yellow’ in the style of Erasure.
Elsewhere, they also jumped on the sudden resurgence of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 2002 hit ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ – which has seen her climb the charts and book a US tour thanks to its appearance in Saltburn – imagining how it would sound if it was sung by David Bowie instead.
As well as mash-ups, the band have also dropped original tracks too, with one of the most recent seeing them join forces with British actor Shaun Williamson – otherwise known as Barry from Eastenders.
In a post shared online, the band explained how they first worked with Williamson a few years back, when they joined him on stage for a karaoke-style cover of The Proclaimers. In the most recent collaboration, the actor features in the music video for their track ‘Rain’, which sees him hear the track on the radio and bust out some dance moves in his kitchen.
The Wheatus/Astley mash-up also comes after a run of AI-generated covers went viral across 2023, which also showed famous tracks being reimagined in unconventional ways.
One of the creations that made the rounds online was Limp Bizkit’s nu-metal classic, ‘Break Stuff’, and Muse’s ‘Starlight’, both performed by characters from The Simpsons.
Similarly, back in July 2023, another clip went viral, which showed Homer performing a grunge-inspired rendition of Arctic Monkeys’ 2013 hit track ‘R U Mine?’.
The post Band go viral for cover of Wheatus’ ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ in the style of Rick Astley appeared first on NME.
Liberty Dunworth
NME
