No official word on that yet, but I am fairly confident it will be covers.
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DHS Disney Confirms Muppets Take Over Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
JAB
Well-Known Member
Nothing explicitly stated yet, but the official announcement from Disney reads, "And throughout the journey, you’ll hear the Electric Mayhem playing some of the most iconic, rockin’ hits in your ears to keep the music and adrenaline pumping.", which would seem to indicate that it will be Electric Mayhem covers of "iconic" rock songs.
The Leader of the Club
Well-Known Member
True, but the thing with Muppets and other fictional characters is that it’s always possible to keep them relevant with new content. Mickey is almost 100 years old and as popular as ever. Fictional characters can live forever.
With real people, no matter how iconic they are, they can’t live forever. At some point they’ll become relics of the past.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Who grew up with Snow White and Cinderella? Is this a riddle?
WaltsTreasureChest
Well-Known Member
My point! Age has nothing to do with relevance, especially for a company like Disney. Their entire brand is built on properties that span generations, from early 20th century creations to modern franchises.
They may not own Aerosmith, but their band themselves aren’t unrecognizable. They’re still widely recognized, their music performs extremely well on streaming platforms, and their biggest hits have far more staying power than a lot of new modern artists careers. That kind of longevity is relevance.
And if the argument is about age, then The Muppets fit the same category. Both have been around since the 1970s, have multi generational audiences, and remain culturally recognizable, with likely overlapping fanbases in regards to age.
Prince-1
Well-Known Member
Who was being considered before Aerosmith?
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
I believe Rolling Stones and U2
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Rolling Stones were the original plan, but they wanted too much money. I believe they also tried to get U2 and Kiss, and possibly a few other bands.
HMF
Well-Known Member
They certainly didn't have much trouble getting Keith Richards to play Jack Sparrow's father in the POTC films years later.
Captain Barbossa
Well-Known Member
You’re comparing apples to oranges.
“They” had nothing to do with it. It was all Johnny. He and Keith are close friends, and had been for a long time………………and Johnny drew a lot of inspiration for Jack’s appearance and characteristics/mannerisms from Keith. Johnny wanted Keith to do a cameo for AWE, so he asked him and Keith said yes, which also led to his cameo in OST.
Doing a 1-3 minute cameo for a friend of yours isn’t the same as what you’re suggesting.
HMF
Well-Known Member
WOW!
Mr. Sullivan
Well-Known Member
I say this as a former big fan of the band but no really those days have been behind them for awhile.
A small pass time of mine is tracking film box office as well as the major touring scene. I’ve got a premium subscription to Tour Data and all.
Their last several tours up to the point of the farewell tour were marked by notably sluggish ticket sales (even in South America which had been their strongest touring market through the 21st century) which is why they pivoted to playing fewer shows in fewer markets per tour. They stopped being a stadium band in the US in the 90s and through most of the 2000s and 2010s weren’t even an arena band. They have been mostly doing amphitheaters in the US ever since Just Push Play. Even the farewell tour was selling slow outside of the most major of US cities, and their Vegas residency before that was also sluggish.
They are an iconic band to be sure but they have not at all proven to have anywhere near the longevity of Zeppelin, Queen, or Sabbath. Their back catalogue on streaming is WAY behind all three of those bands (though they’re way closer to Sabbath in this department than they are Zeppelin and especially Queen). Their physical back catalogue sales are also noticeably weaker (their consistent best seller is a compilation album which is not the case for either of the other three bands you mentioned).
They are an iconic band who have several iconic hits. But they are far, far from the stature as a band that they were in the late 80s through to the early 2000s (where they scored their last successful record), and I can’t really say the same about some of their contemporaries.
Aerosmith’s stats as a legacy group are perfectly average, but very far behind the true legends of the era. You combine that with the evident lack of interest in younger audiences that Zeppelin and especially Queen have picked up, the controversies surrounding Tyler, and the general and natural shifts in music consumption to modern audiences, and it’s hard to make a case for Aerosmith sticking around.
Mr. Sullivan
Well-Known Member
U2 would’ve been an insane choice but I would have absolutely loved to have seen it. The thought of launching into that tunnel as Vertigo (though it would’ve had to have been added later) or Even Better Than the Real Thing blaring out gives me chills.
Dodged a bullet with Kiss. Aesthetic is cool for a ride but Kiss has well and truly destroyed their good will in the last 20 or so years.
The Stones would’ve been cool as hell too though I’m not sure what songs they would’ve used. Satisfaction obviously and Start Me Up maybe but some of their biggest hits are not exactly roller coaster music. But it would’ve been really cool.
Aerosmith was a hot commodity at the time the ride opened so it makes total sense to have gone with them. But man, it sounds like some of their other options made it into the 2000s and 2010s and 2020s a lot better off.
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lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Paul Osterhout recently did an interview and discussed the development of Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster, including how they ended up pitching to Aerosmith.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Same. Of all the bands pitched U2 is the only one I actually listen to. Rolling Stones would have been the most obvious choice marketing wise - they are the definition of “rock and roll band.” But that’s also why they asked for the most money I’m sure.