Bed Intruder Song
Encyclopedia
"Bed Intruder Song" is a song by The Gregory Brothers
and Antoine Dodson
, featuring Kelly Dodson. The song by the Auto-Tune the News creators features processed vocals of Antoine Dodson, who was talking to a news reporter about the attempted rape of his sister Kelly. The song peaked at number 89 in the Billboard Hot 100
, the only song that week to enter the chart on iTunes
downloads
only. The original music video for "Bed Intruder Song"Auto-Tune the News Episode 12b, "BED INTRUDER SONG!!!" went viral
. As of March 31, 2011, it had been viewed over 84 million times since it was uploaded on July 30, 2010. YouTube
listed the song as the most popular video of 2010. On March 26 the song won a Comedy Award for Best Viral Original.
news report about an attempted rape in Huntsville
, Alabama
. A video of the news report was first posted to the WAFF-48 website on July 29, 2010 and then copied and uploaded to YouTube
on the same day. Just two days later The Gregory Brothers released an Auto-Tune
d song version of the news report. The pitch contour of Antoine Dodson's voice was manipulated to make him appear to sing. Michael Gregory told Wired
magazine, "For this one, I really wanted to listen to the contours of [Antoine Dodson's] voice, and the way that he was emoting. I’ve done this enough so that when I heard him talk, I could hear the melody, and that melody kind of changes connotation depending on what key I put it in. Then I do the instrumental track and put it on top." Andrew Gregory told KROQ-FM
that Antoine "was passionate, articulate and he was original, which is three things you do not hear in every pop song on the radio today." While telling ABC News
that "People are frustrated with pop music because it's all the same over and over again, in terms of being love songs or a song about someone going away. These are songs that aren't about anything you've ever heard a song about."
success. It became the most-viewed YouTube video of 2010 (excluding major label music videos) despite having been created in the summer of that year.
Jason King
, a music professor at NYU was quoted by NPR
as saying "It's catchy. It has a really good hook, but it's problematic, too. There's a way in which the aesthetics of black poverty—the way they talk and they speak and they look — sort of becomes this fodder for humor without any interest in the context of the conditions in which people actually live."
Michael Gregory told Billboard that he did question the appropriateness of taking a bad news story and making it into a musical parody but then came to the conclusion that "it's taking a terrible situation and making at least something positive out of it." The band is splitting the money they make from sales 50% with the Dodson family. The Dodson family subsequently was able to move out of the projects. Evan Gregory said of the song's success, "I think people are latching onto it is frankly quite similar to why they latch onto a classic ballad or pop song that tops the charts – because there's real emotion behind it that people identify with, even if, in this case, it was for unusual reasons." Andrew Gregory said that "There are plenty of comments that quote funny lines from the song but one of the comments I see most often on our videos is, 'I can't get this out of my head.'"
Baratunde Thurston
of The Onion
told NPR:
Kenyatta Cheese of Know Your Meme
told NPR, "More and more we're seeing people be inspired by viral videos to respond by creating videos themselves. While there is a long history of ‘amateur’ (non-market) spoofing, it is no longer the domain of professionals at SNL
, Mad Magazine
and drive-time
radio hosts. Spoofing is participatory and it's just as good as the commercial stuff."
Harry Connick Jr. even referenced Antoine Dodson, winking good-naturedly at the fickleness of the pop spotlight when playing a concert at the Hollywood Bowl
.
On August 18, 2010 Billboard
reported that "Bed Intruder Song" had entered the Billboard Hot 100
at number 89 by selling 30,000 copies, up by 182%. The next day they also reported that the song entered the Hot Digital Songs
at number 49. The Gregory Brothers have reported selling over 100,000 copies of "Bed Intruder Song" on iTunes.
Techdirt
concluded in an article that "This song is not only musically interesting, but also calls attention to a horrible incident that happened as well. And, again, some will brush it off as being meaningless, but the power with which it has interested so many people is not something that should be ignored."
without Antoine Dodson. In October 2010, Dodson performed "Bed Intruder Song" for the first time with Michael Gregory on keyboards at the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards
. He was joined by the Gregory Brothers again and performed the song on BET's music video countdown show 106 & Park
later that month. Dodson and the Gregory Brothers performed the song again for the 15th Annual Webby Awards
.
, "More than 2,500 videos inspired by the meme had been uploaded by August 14, 2010". Internet trends website, Urlesque, listed the "11 Best Antoine Dodson 'Bed Intruder' Remix Covers". The Annoying Orange
also spoofed the song and posted it on Youtube November 23, 2010. A full version was released December 3, 2010.
These included an arrangement by the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University marching band
and a version on a shamisen
.
Andrew Gregory did a collaboration with fellow YouTuber Hank Green
. Evan Gregory's acoustic piano cover was included at the end of the first "Bed Intruder Song" video.
Other cover versions include styles of death metal
, a cappella
, power pop
, and folk. On August 20, 2010, Dane Cook
and musician J Chris Newberg incorporated sections of the "Bed Intruder Song" into a cover of "Don't You Want Me
" by The Human League
. On August 25, 2010, a punk
version of the song was recorded by Hayley Williams
(from Paramore
), Jordan Pundik
(from New Found Glory), and Ethan Luck
(from Relient K
) and posted to YouTube. LIGHTS has sung the song in several live performances.
The Gregory Brothers
The Gregory Brothers are an American musical group who characterize their music as "Country & Soul, Folk & Roll". Members include Michael Gregory on drums and vocals, Andrew Rose Gregory on guitar and vocals, Evan Gregory on keys and vocals, and Sarah Fullen Gregory on bass and vocals...
and Antoine Dodson
Antoine Dodson
Kevin Antoine Dodson is an 'accidental singer', actor, and former resident of the Lincoln Park housing project in Huntsville, Alabama, whose interview on local television news became an Internet sensation and resulted in an Auto-Tuned song by The Gregory Brothers that "has sold thousands of copies...
, featuring Kelly Dodson. The song by the Auto-Tune the News creators features processed vocals of Antoine Dodson, who was talking to a news reporter about the attempted rape of his sister Kelly. The song peaked at number 89 in the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, the only song that week to enter the chart on iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
downloads
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
only. The original music video for "Bed Intruder Song"Auto-Tune the News Episode 12b, "BED INTRUDER SONG!!!" went viral
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
. As of March 31, 2011, it had been viewed over 84 million times since it was uploaded on July 30, 2010. YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
listed the song as the most popular video of 2010. On March 26 the song won a Comedy Award for Best Viral Original.
Background
The song is based on a recording from a WAFF-48WAFF (TV)
WAFF is the NBC television network affiliate in Huntsville, Alabama. The station broadcasts on UHF channel 49 and serves the northern portion of Alabama and several counties in southern Tennessee.-Decatur years, 1954 - 69:...
news report about an attempted rape in Huntsville
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. A video of the news report was first posted to the WAFF-48 website on July 29, 2010 and then copied and uploaded to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
on the same day. Just two days later The Gregory Brothers released an Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
d song version of the news report. The pitch contour of Antoine Dodson's voice was manipulated to make him appear to sing. Michael Gregory told Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
magazine, "For this one, I really wanted to listen to the contours of [Antoine Dodson's] voice, and the way that he was emoting. I’ve done this enough so that when I heard him talk, I could hear the melody, and that melody kind of changes connotation depending on what key I put it in. Then I do the instrumental track and put it on top." Andrew Gregory told KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM — branded 106.7 KROQ — is a commercial modern rock radio station licensed to Pasadena, California serving the Greater Los Angeles. The call sign is pronounced "kay rock." It is the flagship station of Loveline hosted by Dr...
that Antoine "was passionate, articulate and he was original, which is three things you do not hear in every pop song on the radio today." While telling ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
that "People are frustrated with pop music because it's all the same over and over again, in terms of being love songs or a song about someone going away. These are songs that aren't about anything you've ever heard a song about."
Critical reception
The music video for "Bed Intruder Song" achieved immense viralViral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
success. It became the most-viewed YouTube video of 2010 (excluding major label music videos) despite having been created in the summer of that year.
Jason King
Jason King
Jason King may refer to:* Jason King , cultural critic and musician* Jason King , British television programme* Jason King , ice hockey player* Jason King , British radio DJ...
, a music professor at NYU was quoted by NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
as saying "It's catchy. It has a really good hook, but it's problematic, too. There's a way in which the aesthetics of black poverty—the way they talk and they speak and they look — sort of becomes this fodder for humor without any interest in the context of the conditions in which people actually live."
Michael Gregory told Billboard that he did question the appropriateness of taking a bad news story and making it into a musical parody but then came to the conclusion that "it's taking a terrible situation and making at least something positive out of it." The band is splitting the money they make from sales 50% with the Dodson family. The Dodson family subsequently was able to move out of the projects. Evan Gregory said of the song's success, "I think people are latching onto it is frankly quite similar to why they latch onto a classic ballad or pop song that tops the charts – because there's real emotion behind it that people identify with, even if, in this case, it was for unusual reasons." Andrew Gregory said that "There are plenty of comments that quote funny lines from the song but one of the comments I see most often on our videos is, 'I can't get this out of my head.'"
Baratunde Thurston
Baratunde Thurston
Baratunde Rafiq Thurston is an American comedian based in Boston and New York City. He is a graduate of Sidwell Friends School and a cum laude graduate of Harvard University....
of The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
told NPR:
"As the remix took off, I became increasingly uncomfortable with its separation from the underlying situation. A woman was sexually assaulted and her brother was rightfully upset. People online seemed to be laughing at him and not with him (because he wasn't laughing), as Dodson fulfilled multiple stereotypes in one short news segment. Watching the wider Web jump on this meme, all but forgetting why Dodson was upset, seemed like a form of ‘class tourism.’ Folks with no exposure to the projects could dip their toes into YouTube and get a taste. [...] The creativity unleashed has been amazing, and what mitigates my fears of people minimizing the gravity of the situation is how Antoine himself has responded and taken charge of his own meme."
Kenyatta Cheese of Know Your Meme
Know Your Meme
Know Your Meme is a web series originally from Rocketboom which documents various Internet memes and other online phenomena, and also investigates new and changing memes through research and the scientific method...
told NPR, "More and more we're seeing people be inspired by viral videos to respond by creating videos themselves. While there is a long history of ‘amateur’ (non-market) spoofing, it is no longer the domain of professionals at SNL
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, Mad Magazine
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
and drive-time
Drive time
Drive time is the daypart analog to prime time for radio broadcasting. It consists of the morning hours when listeners wake up, get ready, and/or head to work or school, and the afternoon hours when they are heading home and before their evening meal. These are the periods where the number of...
radio hosts. Spoofing is participatory and it's just as good as the commercial stuff."
Harry Connick Jr. even referenced Antoine Dodson, winking good-naturedly at the fickleness of the pop spotlight when playing a concert at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
.
On August 18, 2010 Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
reported that "Bed Intruder Song" had entered the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
at number 89 by selling 30,000 copies, up by 182%. The next day they also reported that the song entered the Hot Digital Songs
Hot Digital Songs
The Hot Digital Songs chart ranks the best-selling digital singles in the United States, according to Billboard.Beginning in February 2005, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboards music single charts. It was decided to do so mainly because of the dramatic rise in popularity of...
at number 49. The Gregory Brothers have reported selling over 100,000 copies of "Bed Intruder Song" on iTunes.
Techdirt
Techdirt
Techdirt is a weblog that reports on technology trends, and related business and economic policy issues, often focusing on copyright and patent reform. The website was started in 1997 by Mike Masnick and it was originally based on the weblog Slash. Techdirt has been named among the favorite blogs...
concluded in an article that "This song is not only musically interesting, but also calls attention to a horrible incident that happened as well. And, again, some will brush it off as being meaningless, but the power with which it has interested so many people is not something that should be ignored."
Notable live performances
In September 2010, the Gregory Brothers performed a slower rendition of the song live at New York's Bowery BallroomBowery Ballroom
The Bowery Ballroom is a music venue in the Bowery section of New York City. The structure, at 6 Delancey Street, was built just before the Stock Market Crash of 1929. It stood vacant until the end of WWII, when it became a high-end retail store. The neighborhood subsequently went into decline...
without Antoine Dodson. In October 2010, Dodson performed "Bed Intruder Song" for the first time with Michael Gregory on keyboards at the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards
BET Hip Hop Awards
The BET Hip Hop Awards are an annual awards show, airing on BET, showcasing hip hop performers, producers and music video directors. The awards ceremony began in 2006, was held on November 12, 2006 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, was first aired November 15 and was hosted by comedian Katt...
. He was joined by the Gregory Brothers again and performed the song on BET's music video countdown show 106 & Park
106 & Park
106 & Park is a Top Ten Hip-Hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that airs weekdays at 6:00 PM on BET . Since its inception, it was the network's #1 rated show...
later that month. Dodson and the Gregory Brothers performed the song again for the 15th Annual Webby Awards
Webby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
.
Covers
The Gregory Brothers posted the chords to the song in the description bar of the YouTube video so people could do their own versions. According to The ObserverThe Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, "More than 2,500 videos inspired by the meme had been uploaded by August 14, 2010". Internet trends website, Urlesque, listed the "11 Best Antoine Dodson 'Bed Intruder' Remix Covers". The Annoying Orange
Annoying Orange
The Annoying Orange is a comedy web series created by Dane Boedigheimer. The first episode of the series was uploaded on October 9, 2009. The first few episodes were uploaded to Boedigheimer's YouTube channel under the name Daneboe, each getting more than ten million views...
also spoofed the song and posted it on Youtube November 23, 2010. A full version was released December 3, 2010.
These included an arrangement by the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
and a version on a shamisen
Shamisen
The , also called is a three-stringed, Japanese musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usually "shamisen" but sometimes "jamisen" when used as a suffix . -Construction:The shamisen is a plucked stringed instrument...
.
Andrew Gregory did a collaboration with fellow YouTuber Hank Green
Hank Green
William Henry "Hank" Green II is a professional vlogger and entrepreneur. He is the founder of VidCon and EcoGeek.org and the co-founder of DFTBA Records. He is also a singer/songwriter and has released three studio albums...
. Evan Gregory's acoustic piano cover was included at the end of the first "Bed Intruder Song" video.
Other cover versions include styles of death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
, a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
, power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
, and folk. On August 20, 2010, Dane Cook
Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released five comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed; Retaliation; Vicious Circle; Rough Around The Edges: Live From Madison Square Garden; and Isolated Incident. In 2006, Retaliation became the highest charting comedy album...
and musician J Chris Newberg incorporated sections of the "Bed Intruder Song" into a cover of "Don't You Want Me
Don't You Want Me
"Don't You Want Me" is a single by British synthpop group Human League, released from their album: Dare on 27 November 1981.It is the band's best known and most commercially successful recording to date, and was the Christmas number one in the UK, in 1981, where it sold over 1,400,000 copies,...
" by The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
. On August 25, 2010, a punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
version of the song was recorded by Hayley Williams
Hayley Williams
Hayley Nichole Williams is an American singer, songwriter, and the lead vocalist of the band Paramore.- Life and career :...
(from Paramore
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York...
), Jordan Pundik
Jordan Pundik
Jordan Izaak Pundik is an American musician and songwriter.Pundik is a founding member and the frontman of rock band New Found Glory, for whom he sings lead vocals and contributes lyrics...
(from New Found Glory), and Ethan Luck
Ethan Luck
Ethan John Luck is a guitarist, photographer, and drummer who has played in many bands, most prominently, the ska band The O.C. Supertones....
(from Relient K
Relient K
Relient K is an American rock band formed in 1998 in Canton, Ohio by Matt Thiessen, Brian Pittman, and Matt Hoopes during the band's junior year in high school and their time at Malone University...
) and posted to YouTube. LIGHTS has sung the song in several live performances.
Charts
| Chart (2010–11) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
180 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
89 |
External links
- Original News story and Song at Listi.net
- Official full length version at YouTube
- The official original shorter version at YouTube
- Antoine Dodson's website