Written by Holden Wills, @poisonchaos on YouTube

Watch this to get an idea of what this band’s all about: Hollywood Undead – Comin In Hot
(Undead Unhinged)

Let’s just get this out of the way right now: Music is weird. It’s a space for limitless creativity and expression, yet it has the harshest critics who only look at things through the lens of what’s objectively good and what’s objectively bad. But to be honest, most people, especially me, don’t care about what’s objectively good and just listen to what we want. Yeah, there’s high-quality food out there that is considered to be objectively the best by a lot of people but why have that when I just wanna eat a Popeye’s chicken sandwich? How is this relevant? I’m not sure I think I’m just hungry but also, it means that it doesn’t matter if something is considered bad by a lot of people, if I like it then I like it and no other band exemplifies this like the California based rock band, Hollywood Undead.

Now when people hear that name the responses range from either Who are those guys, they’re the worst band in history, or from the crazy degenerate people like myself, they are the greatest band to ever exist. Hollywood Undead is a very ride-or-die band. You’re either with the Undead Army or think they’re the equivalent of lyrical cancer. Either way, I think they’ve quietly become one of the most influential bands of the 21st century. Let’s start off with some background info.

Hollywood Undead has a pretty interesting history when it comes to band members. The band was founded in 2005 by Jorel Decker (J-Dog) Jeffrey Phillips (Shady Jeff) and lead singer Aron Erlichman (Deuce). They posted their first song, The Kids on MySpace, where it got overwhelmingly positive reviews. However, due to personal reasons, Shady Jeff left the band and was not featured on their first album. After Jeff’s departure, the band Hollywood Undead was formed and they took on 4 more members: George Ragan (Johnny 3 Tears), Jordan Terrell (Charlie Scene), Dylan Alvarez (Funny Man), and Matthew Busek (Da Kurlzz). They made a few more songs on MySpace and the positive attention led them to get signed by Interscope Records where they would work on their debut album Swan Songs. Then they left Interscope almost immediately as the label kept trying to censor their songs. They were then signed to Octane Records who then indefinitely shelved their album around 2007. This pissed them off so much it lead to the creation of the controversial but popular song, Undead. After more work on their debut album, Swan Songs was released on September 2nd, 2008 to critical and commercial success.

The band would start running into some problems as their lead singer, Deuce, was fired due to creative differences which is a fancy way of saying “we fought and bickered constantly and were kicking this guy out for being an asshole”. Most bands wouldn’t survive a drastic change like this but Hollywood Undead is not most bands. They recruited longtime friend and American Idol reject, Daniel Murrillo (Danny) as their replacement lead singer. His incredible vocal talents would push the band to new heights as with Danny, they would release arguably their two best albums, American Tragedy and Notes from the Underground. Danny has remained with the band ever since, though Da Kurlzz would leave the band in 2017. Over the years, they’ve collaborated with artists and bands such as Ice Nine Kills, Papa Roach, Tech 9ine, Jelly Roll, and B-Real from Cypress Hill.

In terms of music style, there are differences between every album but in general, their style is always some mix of rapping, heavier rock sounds, and melodic choruses. When it comes to
subject matter, they make songs about sex, drugs, partying, gangster culture, mental illness,
suicide, depression, and many many more. Variety is definitely this band’s primary strength, as they can utilize a bunch of different musical styles and topics, while still managing to do all of them well. Whether you’re getting blackout drunk with your friends or fighting your inner
demons, Hollywood Undead has got you covered.

So why does any of this matter? Why am I telling you about some stupid band who wear stupid masks and made stupid emo party music on an irrelevant social media platform in 2006? It is because they have done a lot more than people realize. They were the kings of the MySpace scene kid era, they got signed to a major record label because of some songs they posted online meaning they were one of the first bands to get big from the internet, and they managed to create their own style of music that’s distinct from anything in both the rock and hip-hop genres. The fact that they went from some guys dicking around on the internet to touring with some of the biggest rock bands on earth is nothing short of impressive. Love them or hate them, Hollywood Undead is a band like no other.

Song recommendations by subject matter:

Serious/gangster songs: Undead, My Town, Been To Hell, How We Roll, We Own The Night

Party songs: Everywhere I Go, No.5, Riot, Comin’ In Hot, War Child

Uplifting songs: Whatever It Takes, We Are, Bang Bang, Alone At The Top, Levitate

Sad Songs: Black Dahlia, The Diary, Rain, Broken Record, Coming Back Down

Dark songs: City, Bullet, Dead Bite, Does Everybody In This World Have To Die, Tendencies