Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the artist
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion
Five songs listened to this time around, and happily they all qualify for inclusion! Yay for that.
39: Poni1Kenobi – Fade to Grey
38: Dawn Somewhere – Tubby Wubby Pony Waifu
37: Andrew Huang – Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows
36: mslkarishipper – Luna's Reply
35: Aviators – Open Your Eyes
More info about these songs, including those all-important embedded YouTube videos, will magically appear if you click past the page break.
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 22 Mar 2013
His username has long been shortened to the less ponyish P1K, but Poni1Kenobi is still a pretty well recognised name. The snatch of the Doctor Who theme that opens this song makes it pretty clear who it's about, and indeed it's a Dr. Hooves number. Well, sort of: apparently it's based on a Tumblr blog called "Ask Discorded Hooves", about which I know precisely nothing. I'm assuming the references to the mare who "left [him] broken and alone" are to Derpy, but I can't be sure. It's a decent enough rock song with a nice little solo, though without the background that's all it can be for me. You can buy the track in HQ for $1 on P1K's Bandcamp.
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 14 Jan 2013
This rather weird song by Dawn Somewhere was a huge hit for a while, though it somewhat passed me by. I think it's related to the "Rainbow Dash Presents" series (remember FimFlamPhilosophy?), though that also somewhat passed me by. Anyway, Rainbow sings, along with a monkey. Dash is the monkey's "pony waifu", apparently. There really isn't anything much more to say about this. It's one of those tracks which will either leave you in stitches or just going, "Huh?" I'm afraid I tend to be in the second category, though the accompanying animation is at least fun. The download links in the video description are dead.
Rule 1: original uploaded to YouTube 11 Nov 2010
The Pony version of this is the one hugely popularised by the Fluffle Puff animation released in 2013 (which is why the song is featured here), but credit for the original belongs to Andrew Huang. Apparently he's since become massively famous, but again that's passed me by rather. Anyway, this is a very silly song, inspired by a user comment on a previous Huang video. I have sung this at the Bridgewater Hall, which is a claim to fame not many people will have! It was a huge con favourite at BUCK 2013, which was held there, you see... ahem. Anyway, Huang chose this as the opening track for his album Songs To Wear Pants To, available for $12 on the DFTBA site.
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 10 Feb 2013
This one took a bit of finding, and I was about to give up when I realised it was not only still around but available from the artist – so eligible to be featured here! The singer is now known as alilrosepetal and has long moved on from MLP, but this has close on a million YouTube views and was clearly a big deal in 2013. As its name suggests, this takes the form of a "Luna's version" of ponyphonic's massive 2012 hit "Lullaby for a Princess", with mslkarishipper providing an interesting and quite clever response to Celestia's apology in the earlier song. A bit of a curiosity maybe, but a shame it's become so little known in recent times. There's a 320k MP3 download via a Mediafire link in the video description.
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 3 May 2013
Ah, here's Aviators with another piece of synthy brilliance. By this time his specifically Pony-themed tracks were becoming more infrequent, so it's wonderful that this song about Twilight opened his Mirrors album. The piece is about the S3 finale and Twi's struggle to show the rest of the Mane Six who they really are and thus rescue them from their mixed-up-cutie mark destinies. This is one of my all-time favourite Aviators tracks, and I'm a little bit disappointed to see it as (relatively) low as no. 35 in the chart. I think this is top ten material, frankly. If you want the best quality, you'll need to shell out $10 for the Mirrors album on Aviators' Bandcamp.
I used to follow Discorded Hooves a long time ago. It's all right if you like edgy stuff, I guess. :B Art was great, though.
ReplyDeleteI still prefer ElectroKaplosion's cover of Tubby Wubby Pony Waifu. :) Music is not RDP's strong point.
I can't believe Andrew Huang made it onto this list. XD I'd forgotten that he was the other Youtube songwriter MLP introduced me to, the first being Erock. I followed Andrew for a long time, but eventually he stopped like, actually making music videos on his channel? He's mostly just into experimenting now, so I just listen to whatever comes across his Bandcamp. I do recommend his album The Coldest Darkness, though.
Open Your Eyes is a long-time favorite, but I can see why that Luna song has been forgotten. It's basically just a lackluster filk compared to the original. If it had been the original, I think people might appreciate it more, but though her voice is good, it doesn't compare to Lullaby.
Ah, good ol' PFUDOR. When you get a chorus of it going at a major convention it's quite something :P. Good to see you featuring Mr Huang there. It's funny how I knew of him and the song before any of the pony stuff. Not very often I'm 'ahead of the curve' in that respect!
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't seen it already, I'd recommend his video from 2016 talking about the phenomenon the song received:
https://youtu.be/3i7qlFz4-1Q
'Open Your Eyes' is my favourite of Aviators' original pony songs. Quite enjoyable to sing on MLK too.
Not familiar with the first 2. I've been *aware* of Luna's Reply for a while, but never been that fussed considering it uses the same backing track as 'Lullaby..'.
Not familiar with the first 2.
DeleteIt's strange how what's popular in the fandom changes over the years... "Tubby Wubby Pony Waifu" was extremely popular for a while, to the extent you could barely avoid it even if you wanted to.
I had seen that 2016 video, but probably not since... well, about 2016. :P So thanks for the reminder!