Tribute bands are groups that exclusively play the music of a specific artist. Heavy metal band Raptor Command, though, isn’t that kind tribute band, but instead obsessively pays tribute to Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk by performing inspirational songs about him. Yes, it’s extremely strange. But also kind of hilarious.
It sounds a bit like Rush, but with more and/or less drugs.
With all the positive Tesla coverage out there, a lot of readers claim auto journalists are becoming a bunch of Elon-loving groupies, and I’m sure there’s some truth to that. But nobody is as obsessed with Elon Musk as Raptor Command. The four guys in this group have literally devoted themselves to praising the would-be Bond villain.
Just read their mission statement:
Raptor Command’s mission is to raise awareness of and promote Elon Musk’s futurist ideas and visions for the future of humanity through the medium of heavy metal music and subculture. The band is comprised of seasoned metal musicians who share a passion for technological advancement and Musk’s tireless efforts to push mankind into a bright, triumphant future.
They also say on their site that:
...the music has the power and energy to properly represent Elon Musk’s progressive and disruptive technological and mental strides in the world today.
As vomit-inducing as that was, just listen to the lyrics of their new (and so far, only) song Elon: Champion For Humanity. Here are the first two versus of the five-plus minute song.
Verse 1:
Racing to the future, he puts the pedal down.
100,000 watts at his command.
Rocketing to the stars, on to mars we fly.
Heed his call, before the planet dies.
Then the chorus:
Into the future he flies!
Stand strong together we survive!
Eeeeeellooonn, champion for humanity!
He’ll take the world beyond the stars!
Eeeelooon, one to lead us all.
The champion for the future of humanity!
And a third:
Breaking the rules, he follows his path.
Visions of the future, now within his grasp.
Harnessing the power, the power of the sun.
Energy and freedom for everyone.
Then the chorus:
Into the future he flies!
Stand strong together we survive!
Eeeeeellooonn, champion for humanity!
He’ll take the world beyond the stars!
Eeeelooon, one to lead us all.
The champion for the future of humanity!
We’ll stop there, but you can listen to the whole thing on the band’s website.
As for what the band members have to say about all this, here are some quotes from all of them that are purported to be Real And Not In Any Way Fake:
We hope that this first single is a fitting tribute to Elon’s tireless efforts to forge a bright and triumphant future for humanity!
I think of the band as a philanthropic endeavor. All of Elon’s ideas… sustainable energy, space exploration, improving transport… the world will be better off if more and more people embrace and support these ideas. We want to help achieve that through the power of metal.
Much like the Tesla batteries, this music continuously builds energy as if it were magically pulled from the ether. Faster than a Model S, and more explosive than a SpaceX rocket – this metal is truly something that will launch us into the future!
As strange as it is writing songs praising an admittedly-brilliant scientist and businessman, I’ve got to admit that Raptor Command’s music itself is really not half bad.
I wonder if Elon Musk listens to this song—a song that does nothing but praise him for five minutes. Man, that’d be weird, wouldn’t it?