The Midnight Beast

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The Midnight Beast
Midnight Beast, Brighton Corn Exchange, Great Escape 2013 (8750975964).jpg
The Midnight Beast live at the Brighton Corn Exchange (2013)
(L-R) Dru Wakely, Stefan Abingdon, Ash Horne
Background information
OriginLondon
Genres
Years active2009–present
LabelsSounds Like Good
(created in March 2012)
MembersStefan Abingdon (vocals, guitar, piano)
Dru Wakely (vocals, drums)
Ashley Horne (vocals, bass)
Website www.themidnightbeast.com

The Midnight Beast, sometimes abbreviated as TMB, is a British comedy/parody music group from London. They are most famous for their YouTube cover-parody of the 2009 single "TiK ToK" by American pop artist Ke$ha. [1] The group currently has three members: Stefan Abingdon, Dru Wakely and Ashley Horne.

Contents

Reception

The Midnight Beast had over 422,000 subscribers and 87,022,136 views combined on their YouTube channel (as of May 2021), [2] as well as 405,650 Facebook fans as of March 2014. The group's songs often appear on iTunes music charts with their recent album reaching Number Two in the iTunes Music charts, [3] and their accompanying music videos routinely reaching over 1 million views on YouTube. [4] On Christmas Day 2009, the "TiK ToK" parody was featured on the front page of MTV.com. [5] The group has also made videos in collaboration with BBC Comedy, [6] MTV Rocks, Sky Arts, Vimeo Originals and Universal Pictures.

The group has garnered praise from many of the artists that they have parodied as both Ke$ha and Jay Sean have tweeted positive reactions to the parody of their respective songs, TiK ToK and Down, with Ke$ha stating "holy. shit. this is better than my version", [7] [8] and Jay Sean posting "Hahaha brilliant. Someone should mix this with 'pants on the ground.'" [9]

The Midnight Beast 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 charities Have A Larc organisation, 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 STIs. [10]

Following the finale of season two of their series, the band released their second album Shtick Heads in June 2014. The album peaked at number 74 on the UK Albums Top 100 chart. [11]

In 2018, the band released a new 'Claws' logo, [12] that would serve as the artwork for their third album, "The Album Nobody Asked For." which was released on 24 August 2018, and the artwork for the album's five singles. [13] [14]

Members

Book

The group released a semi-autobiographical book, titled Book at Us Now, on 27 October 2011. [25] The book included interviews with the band members, the history of The Midnight Beast, as well as an explanation of the group's videos and songs. The group held book signings around the country in a promotion titled The Book at Us Now Tour. [26]

Sitcom

The band featured as itself in the self-titled sitcom The Midnight Beast , which aired on channel E4 in 2012. [27] The series consists of 6 episodes, and details a fictionalised version of the band's members as they attempt to become successful musicians. The situation comedy also includes the actors and actress Simon Farnaby, Ryan Pope, and Sophie Wu. The show aired in Australia on 22 April 2013 on SBS2. They created series 2 which was broadcast on 23 January 2014 on E4. Following the finale of their second series, the band released The Unholy Trinity on iTunes featuring three songs from the series not released on the accompanying album. [28]

Discography

Studio albums

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References

  1. "The Midnight Beast – Feat. ST£FAN – Tik Tok Kesha Parody". 26 January 2014. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2014 via YouTube.
  2. The Midnight Beast Youtube, accessed 27 May 2021
  3. "The Midnight Beast – Artist Analysis | iTunes Music Chart Archive". Music-chart.info. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  4. The Midnight Beast YouTube Channel Accessed 22 April 2016
  5. 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.
  6. The Midnight Beast – TMB House Party BBC Archives, 2010. Accessed 22 April 2016
  7. "Twitter / keshasuxx: @PerezHilton" . Retrieved 10 December 2012 via Twitter.
  8. 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.
  9. "Twitter / jaysean: Hahha brilliant. Someone shud". 21 January 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2012 via Twitter.
  10. metrowebukmetro (7 February 2011). "Abortion charity's 'anal sex' contraception method video draws criticism". Metro.co.uk. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  11. The Midnight Beats – Shtick Heads Charting Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 September 2014
  12. "Red or Yellow Claws Poster". The Midnight Beast Shop. The Midnight Beast. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  13. 1 2 "The Album Nobody Asked For. by The Midnight Beast". iTunes. The Midnight Beast. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  14. Guilfoyle, Tom (13 August 2018). "The Midnight Beast Drop Home Alone Inspired video for Badass". Outright Geekery. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  15. Pg. 9. Book at us Now. Midnight Beast, The. Coronet
  16. Pg. 12 Book at us Now. Midnight Beast, The. Coronet
  17. The Midnight Beast (24 June 2010). "Daddy – The Midnight Beast". Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2018 via YouTube.
  18. Pg. 23 Book at us Now. Midnight Beast, The. Coronet
  19. Pg 12. Book at us Now. Midnight Beast, The. Coronet
  20. 1 2 Pg 28. Book at us Now. Midnight Beast, The. Coronet
  21. Pg 39 Book at us Now. Midnight Beast, The. Coronet
  22. Pg. 40 Book at us Now. Midnight Beast, The. Coronet
  23. The Midnight Beast – Just Another Boyband Line: "...says that he likes kissing guys"
  24. The Midnight Beast – The Dance Routine Line: "Some people think that I’m gay..."
  25. Book at us Now Amazon. Retrieved 20 June 2015
  26. Book at us Now – Tour Dates The Midnight Beast.com Retrieved 3 July 2015
  27. "The Midnight Beast". The British Comedy Guide. 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  28. The Midnight Beast – The Unholy Trinity – iTunes