About

Kazoo Covers are a series of instrumental tributes to well-known songs or themes performed with the kazoo, a type of membranophone that adds a "buzzing" noise to the performer's voice when played. On YouTube, the instrument is frequently employed for comedic effect, similar to the ironic sampling of the airhorn in pop song mashups.

Origin

While similar hide-covered, voice-changing windpipes have been used for ceremonial purposes in Africa for hundreds of years, one of the most prevalent rumored stories^[1] behind the invention of the instrument points to an African-American resident from Macon, Georgia named Alabama Vest, who apparently came up with the device circa 1840. However, there is no documentation to support that claim.^[2] The earliest documentation of the instrument on record attributes Warren Herbert Frost, an American inventor, as the applicant and owner of the U.S. patent #270,543 issued on January 9, 1883. Since its emergence in the late 1800s, the instrument became popularized through its use in country songs and other genres of music. In July 2008, a congregation of Christian youth groups at the 2008 EFCA Challenge Conference set a new Guinness world record for the world's largest kazoo band performance.

One of the first notable Kazoo instrumental tributes to a contemporary pop song was performed and uploaded by YouTuber Crouts0 on October 7th, 2008, covering the Swedish hard rock band's 1986 hit song "The Final Countdown" using the Kazookeylele, a custom hybrid instrument comprised of a Ukelele and a Kazoo (shown below). As of January 2015, the video has garnered more than 5.7 million views.

Spread

Following the positive reception of YouTuber Crouts0's "The Final Countdown" tribute in late 2008, several additional instrumental covers of other well-known songs began to emerge on the site, including YouTube comedian Mister Tim's multi-track cover of Metallica's 1991 hit single "Enter Sandman" uploaded on December 18th, 2008. The video has garnered more than three million views within the first five years.

Notable Examples

On Soundcloud artists or YouTube, Kazoo has been frequently used as a "comical" musical device in an ironic fashion, with many instances featuring other audio and video-editing techniques like multi-tracking and multi-paning.

Another example can be seen through the Dragon Ball parodies made by YouTuber OneyNG who covers various theme songs from the anime series using the Kazoo instrument.

Search Interest

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External References