Why We Never Had A Beavis And Butt-Head Musical Episode According To Mike Judge
All singing, all dancing ... all Beavis and Butt-head? It's hard to deny that music is definitely a strong cornerstone for the MTV (and now Paramount+) franchise, which was born back when the cable channel still showed long blocks of music videos, and thus most of its original shows still spotlighted music from up-and-coming artists with buzz. Additionally, the two teenagers live for thrash metal and most other forms of loud music, and if it doesn't rock, they're not interested in it. And the series often features long segments in which the two teens mock popular music videos — or sometimes bang their heads along to them appreciatively — from the comfort of their very own couch. The characters are about to get a fresh lease on life thanks to Paramount+, which has rebooted their adventures in the form of "Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head." It appears that the latest incarnation of the boys will feature more of the same from them — if a recently released trailer for the show is any indication.
With all that said, it's probably not surprising to learn that at some point in the show's eight-season long-history, a full-length musical episode was considered by the show's production team. But show creator Mike Judge turned down the notion of having Beavis and Butt-head belt out a few songs and do a little soft shoe routine, and the reason why makes perfect sense if you know your animation history.
Mike Judge thinks South Park did it first -- and better
The rest of this article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of "Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head."
In an August 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, "Beavis and Butthead" creator Mike Judge revealed that he was pitched a musical episode of the show, but he turned it down because another adult animated series had beaten the program to the punch.
"I was like, 'South Park has done that better than anybody ever,'" Judge recounted, which resulted in him rejecting the idea. "South Park," naturally, often has its characters burst into song at the drop of a hat, and sometimes stages full-on musical numbers in the middle of an episode; definitely a hard act to follow. But Judge did admit that one moment in the soon-to-be-released batch of "Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head" episodes does take a fond poke at something related to the musical world at large.
In one episode, Beavis comes to believe that a dumpster fire is speaking to him, and the flames encourage him to perform kind deeds instead of destructive ones. "[B]ack in the '90s, there was still that lingering thing from the late '80s about how metal albums were accused of putting in backward messaging," Judge laughed. That storyline and a couple of cases across both versions of the show where Beavis speaks backward were inspired by these real-life allegations. But don't expect to hear anything wicked emerge from the teen's mouths; per Judge, when Beavis' backward-speak is played forward, the character can be heard encouraging fans to do wholesome things like stay in school.
"Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head" will hit Paramount + on August 4.