An Aussie band have found themselves with a growing viral hit on their hands, thanks to a little inspiration from a head-butting French soccer icon and an Australian sports commentator.
Around two weeks ago, Melbourne’s Vaudeville Smash dropped their new single, and already fever for the 2014 Brazil World Cup has seen the song pegged as this year’s unofficial anthem while its accompanying video has already racked up over a half-a-million views on YouTube.
Entitled ‘Zinedine Zidane’, the band’s first new single since dropping their debut album Dancing For The Girl last year, finds the five-piece paying tribute to the skilled former French teammate whose career famously ended when he head-butted Italy’s Marco Materazzi’s chest at the 2006 Wold Cup final.
The video, shot at a Melbourne convenience store with the band dressed as the titular player, cheekily recreates Zizou’s disgraced attack while the song itself is a catchy slice of synth-rock, complete with the custom-built sing-along chorus of “Zinedine Zidane/superstar.”
But what’s really tipped the tune from novelty hit into bonafide soccer fandom territory are the ‘verses’, which find Australian soccer commentator Les Murray lending his soothing voice to a rhyming list of iconic soccer players; coupling Eden Hazard with Steven Gerrard or Harry Kewell with Raúl, for example, helping push the Zizou anthem to over 500,000 views in less than two weeks.
“We had a feeling the song would do OK but the way the soccer world has completely embraced it has blown our minds!” says Vaudeville Smash lead singer Marc Lucchesi.
While fans of the world game have debated those included (and those missing) in the song’s all-star rollcall, ‘Zinedine Zidane’ has also earned international media coverage, including air time on sports networks like ESPN and Fox Sports in Spain and Brazil, inches from European daily sports newspapers Eurosport, L’Equipe, Marca, and listed among BBC‘s picks for this year’s best World Cup-related songs.
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Murray, for one, thinks Vaudeville Smash’s surprise hit is “terrific”, calling it “the best of the [World Cup songs] I’ve heard,” in an interview with Sydney Morning Herald, where he reveals the band trained him up to deliver his quasi-rap. “I used to be in a rock’n’roll band but I never had a hit record, so here’s my big chance,” he jokes.
“I’ve heard a lot of football songs in the past and most of them flopped,” says the 68-year-old commentator, who is set to retire from his post of 34 years at SBS after the World Cup in Rio next month. But Vaudeville Smash have hinted that Murray “just might” join the band for a live performance of the song.
“I reckon if it’s a big enough show I’m hoping he will, who knows, maybe the ARIA [awards] or something,” Lucchesi tells SMH. In the meantime, the band are beginning to see the returns from YouTube advertising and iTunes sales after inking a reported $20,000 towards the production of the viral music video. Vaudeville Smash have also been approached by a Belgian company over a European distribution deal for the song.
Unfortunately, the Melbourne-based group’s 500,000+ views won’t be unseating the official 2014 Brazil World Cup anthem in time for the Rio kick-off next month, with Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez’s ‘We Are One (Ole Ola)‘ already reaching nearly 75 million YouTube views, despite being as bland as droning vuvuzela, and just as annoying.
