There are certain moments in music history that change everything.
Black Sabbath inventing heavy metal.
Queen playing Live Aid.
Nirvana releasing Nevermind.
Blur unleashing that enormous โWOO-HOO!โ in Song 2.
And then, somewhere on the internet, somebody asked the question absolutely nobody else had the courage to ask:
What if Mario did the woo-hoos instead?
๐
Yes.
Mario.
The moustachioed Italian plumber who has spent decades jumping on turtles, rescuing princesses and somehow maintaining remarkable cardiovascular fitness despite apparently surviving primarily on mushrooms.
And you know what?
IT WORKS.
Welcome to one of those glorious corners of YouTube where music, gaming and complete stupidity collide to create something strangely magnificent.
๐ธ BLUR + MARIO = SOMETHING WE NEVER KNEW WE NEEDED
The video comes courtesy of YouTube creator ThePandemicLight and takes Blurโs wonderfully chaotic 1997 anthem Song 2 and makes one incredibly simple alteration.
Every time Damon Albarn reaches the legendary:
WOO-HOO!
Mario steps in.
๐๐
Thatโs it.
Thatโs the concept.
No 45-minute explanation.
No complicated remix.
No unnecessary cinematic universe.
Just Blur blasting away while everyoneโs favourite plumber handles arguably the most important vocal contribution in Britpop history.
And frankly, mun, Mario absolutely nails it.
๐ฅ WHY DOES IT FIT SO WELL?!
Thatโs the worrying part.
It shouldnโt work.
Your brain knows it shouldnโt work.
Blur recorded Song 2 in the mid-โ90s. Mario exists in an entirely different universe involving castles, pipes, kart racing and questionable mushroom consumption.
Yet the moment Marioโs voice appearsโฆ
it feels completely natural.
The guitars explode.
The drums kick.
Then:
๐ WOO-HOO!
Perfect.
By the second one, youโve forgotten Damon Albarn was ever responsible for it.
By the third, youโre wondering whether Mario secretly recorded backing vocals for Blur in 1997.
By the end, youโre ready to demand a full Nintendo Britpop compilation.
๐ค SONG 2 WAS ALREADY BUILT FOR CHAOS
Of course, Song 2 isnโt exactly Blur behaving themselves in the first place.
Released in 1997 on the bandโs self-titled fifth album, the track became one of Blurโs biggest and most instantly recognisable songs.
Itโs short.
Itโs ridiculously loud.
Itโs packed with distorted guitars.
And that enormous vocal hook became one of the most recognisable shouts in alternative rock.
You donโt even need to know the lyrics.
Someone starts playing that riff and within seconds an entire room is waiting for its opportunity to scream:
WOO-HOO!
Itโs basically musical instinct.
Pub?
Woo-hoo.
Festival?
Woo-hoo.
Wedding disco?
Woo-hoo.
Mario suddenly appearing?
Apparentlyโฆ
WOO-HOO! ๐๐
๐ฎ THE INTERNET USED TO BE BEAUTIFUL
This video also represents one of our favourite genres of online content.
Completely unnecessary musical edits.
Nobody requested this.
Nobody needed it.
Human civilisation wasnโt struggling because Mario hadnโt yet been inserted into a Blur song.
Yet somebody sat down, opened some editing software and thought:
โYep. Iโm doing this.โ
That, dear readers, is commitment to the arts.
Forget algorithms.
Forget carefully planned social-media strategies.
Sometimes the internet is at its finest when someone has an incredibly stupid idea and follows it through with absolute determination.
And Song 2 But Mario Does The Woo-Hoos is precisely that kind of glorious nonsense.
๐ IMAGINE MARIO FRONTING BLUR
Now weโve heard it, though, weโve opened Pandoraโs Question Block.
What happens next?
Mario performing Parklife?
Luigi taking over Girls & Boys?
Bowser fronting Beetlebum?
Toad attempting Country House at approximately 900 decibels?
Actuallyโฆ
TOAD SINGING BLUR NEEDS TO HAPPEN IMMEDIATELY.
๐๐๐
And while weโre destroying the boundaries between rock music and Nintendo, letโs keep going.
Bowser doing Slipknot.
Luigi fronting Green Day.
Princess Peach covering Evanescence.
Wario screaming his way through Rage Against The Machine.
Yoshi tackling Iron Maiden.
Weโd listen.
Donโt pretend you wouldnโt.
๐ค THE RIFF REPORT VERDICT
Is it ridiculous?
Yes.
Does it improve Song 2?
Weโre not getting involved in that argument because we quite like being allowed back into gigs.
But does Mario shouting over Blur make us laugh far more than it reasonably should?
Absolutely.
ThePandemicLight took one of the biggest alternative-rock songs of the โ90s, added one legendary Nintendo plumber and created a tiny slice of YouTube history that remains wonderfully stupid.
And sometimes thatโs exactly what rock โnโ roll needs.
No controversy.
No industry drama.
No 14-disc deluxe anniversary box set containing a previously unreleased recording of Damon Albarn coughing in 1996.
Just guitars.
Mario.
Andโฆ
๐ WOO-HOO! ๐
Tidy.
Now excuse us while we spend the rest of the afternoon looking for Enter Sandman where every โEXIT LIGHT!โ has been replaced by Bowser.
Because once youโve gone down this rabbit hole, thereโs no coming back, butt. ๐๐ค๐ฅ
The Riff Report โ Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Zero Apologies. ๐ธ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ
