The Large Hadron Rap
Category: Entertainment • Science
Posted on: September 2, 2008 3:16 PM, by PZ Myers
Am I allowed to mention physics here? How about if it's a rap video?
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Comments
Posted by: Richard Harris | September 2, 2008 3:24 PM
Yeah, evolutionists, explain how evolution explains the electroweak force,or those prancing humans descending into monkeys, eh.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | September 2, 2008 3:28 PM
There has never been anything dorkier than the shots of the dancing physicists in the history of mankind
Posted by: blf | September 2, 2008 3:30 PM
Am I allowed to mention physics here?
Of course you are! None of this manky biolollipopgooey stuff.
'Cept the squidys, of course.
Posted by: Holbach | September 2, 2008 3:34 PM
Of course you can, but better without it. A concise commentary coupled with the video would have been far better and less distracting.
Posted by: feffer | September 2, 2008 3:36 PM
"Large Hadron" looks too much like "Large Hardon". I even typed "Hadron" wrong the first time.
Posted by: Physicalist | September 2, 2008 3:40 PM
Of course you can mention physics: Biology is just a subfield of physics anyhow.
Posted by: Jason | September 2, 2008 3:41 PM
Geektastic!
@ #5
http://www.splitreason.com/product/538
Posted by: Jackal | September 2, 2008 3:43 PM
I'm impressed. I learned. I was entertained. It was good.
Posted by: Bronze Dog | September 2, 2008 3:43 PM
Particle physics give me a hadron.
Posted by: TSC | September 2, 2008 3:47 PM
Nothing like some Rob Base samples (ol' skew) to accelerate particle collision.
Posted by: Brownian, OM | September 2, 2008 3:52 PM
Oh noes! Our worst fears have been realised! The LHC has torn a rift in the space time continuum and sent us all back to the days of old school hip hop.
Quick! We've got to warn 2Pac′ about what happened to 2Pac in the old timeline! This is our chance to rewrite history!
Posted by: rpenner | September 2, 2008 3:53 PM
And timely, since this morning Judge Helen Gillmor is sitting on a hearing to dismiss the suit brought by Walter Wagner and Luis Sancho against DOE, NSF, and CERN.
A torrid (toroidal?) affair, involving two pro se plaintiffs who don't seem to coordinate well, a rogue Swiss bailiff violating international law, a letter from the Swiss Embassy, and Nobel Laureates who are so sick and tired of Walter Wagner that they actually volunteered to be part of this case.
German ZDF television thinks this will be a worthy subject for filming and the Austrian government agrees.
Posted by: Colin J | September 2, 2008 4:07 PM
That will be playing in physics class tomorrow!
Posted by: Moggie | September 2, 2008 4:10 PM
Will this be on the test?
Hot though that was, we need some biology as an antidote.
Posted by: JoJo | September 2, 2008 4:15 PM
Walter Wagner is becoming a regular on the [how can I put this nicely?] off-the-beaten-track Coast-to-Coast radio show. The sky is falling, or will fall, if the LHC is put in operation. At least Wagner thinks so.
Don't fark with the quark!
Posted by: Eric | September 2, 2008 4:19 PM
Wow. The only thing that could have made that MORE cringe inducing would have been to have Bindy sing it.
Posted by: Patricia | September 2, 2008 4:24 PM
That is down right embarrassing. My chickens can dance better than that. *snort*
Posted by: The Chemist | September 2, 2008 4:30 PM
Okay, I'm a little miffed. I posted this months ago, and now two blogs in row today have it up like it's all new and shiny.
It's not fair!
*Cries in corner*
Posted by: Moggie | September 2, 2008 4:30 PM
Physicists dancing badly = cute. If they were dancing well, that'd just be weird.
Posted by: CSBSH | September 2, 2008 4:37 PM
No no no! Damn that's embarrasingly cheesy. Kinda like Christian rock. I couldn't stand listening to it for more than a couple of seconds. Trying to be "hip" and "down with the kids" is not something scientists should do. A much better choice would have been to sing a song accompanied by accoustic guitar or some other "soft" instrument.
Posted by: CSBSH | September 2, 2008 4:40 PM
Ooops, a couple of misspellings there.
Posted by: Masks of Eris | September 2, 2008 4:41 PM
Wonderful! LHC over JHC any day.
Posted by: bigjohn756 | September 2, 2008 4:42 PM
Go ahead, mention Physics any time. But, NEVER use rap again! It's only for the brain dead in my opinion.
Posted by: Masks of Eris | September 2, 2008 4:49 PM
Uh, did someone mention rap for the brain dead?
Posted by: Rik. | September 2, 2008 4:54 PM
As a general rule, I hate rap. I'm also 21 years old. I, and my friends from college, thought it was funny.
If you didn't, you're either too old or not nerdy enough.
Posted by: Rik. | September 2, 2008 4:56 PM
I meant my friends from university of course. Stupid English/American school systems that confuse me.
Posted by: Masks of Eris | September 2, 2008 5:10 PM
Oh, and since physics rap has now been proven to exist, the next logical step would be a heavy metal piece about mathematics. ("Gödel Come To Destroy Us All" or "Yer Gonna End Up In l'Hospital"?)
Please?
Pretty please?
Posted by: JJR | September 2, 2008 5:15 PM
Hmmm...bears a familial relation to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerdcore
But for Wikipedia and serendipity, I could have remained blissfully ignorant of the existence of this genre of music to my last day and been happy with that. Ah well.
Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | September 2, 2008 5:21 PM
I love the car at the start and the end. I'm assuming that's what passes for a pimped up Physics Geek ride.
Posted by: Tony Popple | September 2, 2008 5:25 PM
I think the first collisions will be performed in late October or early November.
I don't buy into all of this nonsense about the LHC producing mini-black holes and stranglets.........but just in case, I am going to hold off paying my credit card balance.
I am excited, but this is going to be bitter-sweet. I was a physics student working on a part of the Supercolider project when the funding was cut. We were told the government could not afford to build both the international space station and the Supercolider.
In the last five years, we have almost spent enough money fighting in Iraq to build a LHC-scale collider in every state of the union.
Posted by: Nibien | September 2, 2008 5:53 PM
While it was somewhat informative, I cringed the whole way through. It felt like some cheesy after-school special song from the 80's or early 90's.
Posted by: Sam | September 2, 2008 5:56 PM
According to this video here I quote. If you value your sanity, don't watch any more of his videos.
"The large Hadron Collider may be a lot more sinister than has already been percieved. The LHC may be capable of making a hole in the Van Allen Belt. The Van Allen Belt protects the Earth from Cosmic rays. It also stops any living creature from leaving or entering the Earth. The LHC is a doorway for the return of Satan himself."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt1Yo610lG0
For those more daring. BTW, I am iamkion132 there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zPFQVHEcmg
"The Big Bang is a scientific impossibility and cannot possible have occured[Sic]"
There is far too much misinformation about the LHC.
Posted by: Jason | September 2, 2008 6:05 PM
The chance of something horrible occuring due to the LHC is about the same as the chance of creationism being true. People without extensive knowledge of physics don't get to voice their opinion on this, because they know jack shit about whats going on.
http://www.thepaincomics.com/weekly080709.htm
Posted by: Brian Coughlan | September 2, 2008 6:08 PM
I love that thing. The lyrics are sublime.
Posted by: Mike | September 2, 2008 6:11 PM
"'The LHC is a doorway for the return of Satan himself.'"
Fools. It's a doorway for Satan′, who's actually quite nice in this timeline.
Brownian, OM, FTW! :-)
Posted by: Patricia | September 2, 2008 6:57 PM
Now, now, Chemist don't cry. You can snivel, like Beaker. See what you've done PZ, you big meany.
Posted by: Lee Harrison | September 2, 2008 7:01 PM
I don't care what anyone says, and the fact that I hate rap doesn't matter. That video was stuffed chock full of win.
Posted by: Levi | September 2, 2008 7:27 PM
Fo shizzle my phyzzlecists.
Posted by: complex_field | September 2, 2008 7:50 PM
TEH GEEKY! I loved it. The rap may well appeal to the "young kids" (geesh...i'm old). After all, did someone mention the brain-dead?
I will bring this to my 11-year-old's attention. It may get him hooked. Which IMHO is the entire point.
Posted by: Monado | September 2, 2008 7:58 PM
Someone mailed it to me August 2nd. So it has been going around.
Not to worry: it will be around again in another year or 18 months.
Posted by: Bill Dauphin | September 2, 2008 7:59 PM
Dammit, now I'm desperately trying to avoid thinking about what a "Large Hardon Collider" might be! Gay porn, no doubt!
Posted by: complex_field | September 2, 2008 8:21 PM
BTW -- did anyone else notice a frightening resemblance to "Revenge of the Nerds"?
Posted by: MRL | September 2, 2008 8:35 PM
I'm surprised, and a bit disappointed!
Not a single comment pointing out that the song used that same weird "howl" sound effect from the Bill Nye show theme?
Posted by: Dianne | September 2, 2008 8:39 PM
I sympathize with The Chemist. I gave a link to this video in a comment weeks ago. And just to name drop, I learned about it from an email sent by Neil Tyson (admittedly, not to me.) But do I get acknowledged...
Posted by: Epikt | September 2, 2008 8:52 PM
There's a fine line between comedy and massive self-humiliation.
Posted by: Epistaxis | September 2, 2008 9:42 PM
And to think this is one of the last things we'll broadcast into space before turning our planet into a black hole.
Posted by: Patricia | September 2, 2008 10:53 PM
Epistaxis - Dammit! Third time today I've snorted my beverage out my nose.
I'm going to make sangria.
Now you Ilk, quit being so gawddamned funny!
Posted by: Autumn | September 3, 2008 12:52 AM
Trying to convince a teen today that the above is "rap" would be like giving a grunge-rock fan a Buddy Holly CD.
I'm thirty(ish), so I remember the days when rap and hip-hop might sound like this, but they no longer do. It's funny for us older folks, but to the young, it is simply Old and Stupid (those words always seem to be capitalized when the young use them).
Posted by: Jesse | September 3, 2008 1:00 AM
Aw, come on! That was awesome!
Yeah, they dance nerdy, but why not? They get to work on a Large Hadron Collider!
Besides, I just learned a lot about physics. I'm happy.
AND, nerdy chicks are hot. :P
Posted by: Emmet Caulfield | September 3, 2008 4:28 AM
Without question the best geek tune of all time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTby_e4-Rhg
Posted by: Sabayon | September 3, 2008 4:30 AM
Well I thought is was hilarious, and I think I learned something. Which is impressive since I spent most of this past Saturday at the Cern museum, looking at the exhibit on the LHC, mostly going "what the hell?", and "awesome".
Also, Brownian, OM, this is Switzerland. That right there is some cutting edge hard core rap by European standards. There's no hope for 2Pac.
Posted by: False Prophet | September 3, 2008 12:19 PM
This style of rap is still fine for nerdcore or when the song is intended to be cheesy, as with the SNL Digital Short "Lazy Sunday", which was riffing off of mid-80s Beastie Boys.
I can't believe no MC Hawking fans have spoken up. Check out "What We Need More Of is Science" and "F@*k the Creationists" (language warning).
Posted by: Sleeping at the Console | September 3, 2008 2:09 PM
I normally don't care for rap, to put it mildly, but this was fun and informative. It's funny that the only raps I like are things like this... or Natalie Portman's SNL rap.
Posted by: Dan | September 3, 2008 10:47 PM
Wow! What Martha Graham could have done with that!
Posted by: Monica | September 4, 2008 8:55 AM
LOL I'll recommend it to the kids :0)
Posted by: AFedchuck | September 4, 2008 10:07 AM
This is lame. The number of people who say "oh I don't like rap but..." tells you that this isn't really rap.
Sure it might be amusing or entertaining, but frankly, it displays massive ignorance of the genre of music it purports to belong to. If you're going to make music, make it in a style you actually like, otherwise you'll just appear ignorant.
Posted by: Mark | September 7, 2008 9:11 PM
Yeah AFedchuck, because the whole point was to make a top-quality, authentic rap song. Yeah. And the fact that it isn't, but that it's still called rap, is an affront to the true genre and an insult to the scientists themselves. I'm sure God doesn't like it either.
Or maybe, just maybe, it's a bit of education presented in a lighthearted, fun format? No, that couldn't be it...