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The Arrogant Worms are a three man comedy folk band from Alberta, Canada Kingston, Ontario. They gained massive popularity on the internet in the early 2000s, with their catchy tunes and hilarious jabs at Canadian culture. They got so popular that another Canadian comedy group, Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie, has had the misfortune of their entire catalogue being misattributed to the Worms.
Albums
- 1992 The Arrogant Worms
- 1994 Russell's Shorts
- 1995 C'est Cheese
- 1997 Live Bait (live album)
- 1997 Christmas Turkey
- 1999 Dirt!
- 2001 Idiot Road
- 2002 Gift Wrapped (compilation album)
- 2003 Semi-Conducted (live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra)
- 2004 Toast! (live album)
- 2006 Beige
- 2008 Torpid (live album)
- 2013 Hindsight 20/20 (20th anniversary compilation album)
- 2014 SPACE
While their songs about Canada, such as "Canada's Really Big" or "We Are The Beaver", are among their most popular, they've also had hits with songs about other subjects, such as vegetable rights activism ("Carrot Juice is Murder"), sports ("Me Like Hockey"), various animals ("I Am Cow", "Billy The Theme Park Shark"), and little-known relatives of famous Biblical people ("Jesus' Brother Bob"), to name a few. Their music consists of style parodies of nearly every music genre one can think of, from folk to Eighties pop to country to Celtic, and even children's music (Rippy The Gator). Arrogant Worms concerts are always somewhere between jam session and stand up comedy.
Magic: The Gathering did a Shout-Out to them in the form of the card Arrogant Wurm.
- And That's Terrible: From "Carrot Juice Is Murder":
Lead: Carrot juice constitutes murder |
- Anti-Christmas Song: Their Christmas album, Christmas Turkey is full of them.
- Anti-Love Song: 'New Car Smell' qualifies.
- Audience Participation Song: 'Rippy the Gator' and 'Rocks and Trees' are straight examples. 'Jesus Brother Bob' has a couple of line that tends to be spoken by the audience. 'Mounted Animal Nature Trail' is a bizarre example, as the animals in the song are dead and shouldn't make noise, but the crowd will make the noises anyway just so the Worms will make fun of them for doing so.
- Ballad of X: 'The Ballad of Dan'.
- Canada, Eh?: Stereotypes about Canada are parodied in a number of songs.
- Chainsaw Good: 'Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw'.
- Cool Car: Winnebago. It has a pool for a humpback whale on the roof. Next to a tennis court. And helipad. Among other things.
- Drives Like Crazy: Pretty much everyone in the song 'Idiot Road.'
- Ear Worm: "Song Inside My Head" is about one and is one.
- Everything's Better with Bob: 'Jesus' Brother Bob', 'A Dog Named Bob'.
- Everything's Better with Cows: 'I Am Cow'.
- In the Style Of: "Tokyo Love Song" is done in the style of The Beatles circa "I Want to Hold Your Hand", with an inexplicable late-Beatles sitar interlude by "George".
- Incredibly Long Note: Trevor Strong at the end of "Dangerous."
- Inherently Funny Words: "A Night On Dildo". Seriously, with Newfoundland place names like that, how could they resist?
- Intercourse with You: 'Log In To You' is this done in computer geek jargon.
- Kill It with Water: 'Pressure Washer'
I got a Pressure Washer, I like it a lot, |
- Long Runner Lineup: The Worms have been a group since 1991, and Trevor Strong, Mike McCormick and Chris Patterson have all been there since 1995 (Patterson joined that year, and John Whytock left). This is not counting backup musicians, of which there have been several in the years between 1995 and 2010.
- Look Behind You!: The narrator of "I Ran Away" outwits the devil himself by saying, "Look over there!" and fleeing.
I'm hopin' that the devil smokes two packs a day, |
- Lyrical Dissonance
- Non-Appearing Title: 'The Last Saskatchewan Pirate' and 'Tokyo Love Song' are two examples.
- Ode to Intoxication: 'Drink With Me' from the Idiot Road album, 'Bottle of Booze' from Toast
- Protest Song: Parodied with 'Carrot Juice is Murder'.
- Self-Demonstrating Song: The aforementioned 'Song Inside My Head'.
- Self-Titled Album: Their first album.
- Squashed Flat: 'Tokyo Love Song'
Her death was unintentional, |