In 1992, Mike Judge began work on a short animated film that would introduce the world to the comedy stylings of Beavis & Butt-Head. The three-minute short, entitled Frog Baseball, was first shown at Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Animation Festival that same year. It was during that festival that audiences first heard what would become the duo’s theme song for the entire run of the original TV series and both of its revivals. Here’s how it sounded to MTV viewers when Beavis & Butt-Head was spun off into a half-hour show in 1993:
Since Frog Baseball was made on a measly $800 budget, Judge was forced to record the theme song on his own. He utilized a drum machine in the process and played the guitar and bass parts himself. The other important piece of the puzzle was sprinkling a little influence here and there. That influence might sound remarkably familiar to anyone who’s ever owned a copy of the 1978 AC/DC album Powerage.
As Judge said on the DVD commentary for Beavis & Butt-Head Do America, AC/DC’s “Gone Shootin’” served as the basis for the original theme he recorded for Frog Baseball in 1992. He essentially took one of the song’s guitar riffs, played it in reverse, and voila. Take a listen for yourself right here:
Butt-Head wearing an AC/DC shirt every day of his life doesn’t seem like such a random choice on Judge’s part now. A few years later, as a bit of an inside joke, Judge licensed “Gone Shootin’” when he made Beavis & Butt-Head Do America. The song is played, in its original form, during a montage when Beavis & Butt-Head are touring the U.S. in the movie:
It was subsequently released on the movie’s soundtrack, which sold 500,000 copies in America alone. As for the Beavis & Butt-Head theme, Judge eventually recorded an updated version for the later seasons. He still plays the backwards AC/DC riff himself, but Gary Clark Jr. does the other parts. Judge knew Clark from Austin, Texas, years before he became famous and tapped him to put his spin on things when the show was revived for a second time.
The post The AC/DC Song That Was the Basis for the ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ Theme appeared first on VICE.
