Ripoff of the “Hot For Teacher” video

July 8, 2009 78 Comments

A new video by Escape The Fate rips off Van Halen’s classic “Hot For Teacher” video. What’s sad is, if you had not seen their video, and perhaps only heard their song on the radio, you would not be able to tell which one (out of thousands, it seems) of these new crappy bands that you were listening to.

Filed Under: Van Halen

Mink

They obviously stole the video concept from Van Halen. I think they’re trying to get people to talk about them any way they can. Even if that means ripping somebody off. The song is crap and the video doesn’t coincide the the music at all. Just trying to drum up interest IMO.
fiestared

wow, just wow……cant these fucking idiots just slit their wrists and be done with it instead of ruining our good music.
http://www.bellapop.com Bran Halen

Well, the song does sound like every other over produced Emo-type band around.

But if they are VH fans and paying a little tribut to VH with this video that is cool. I hope that they are true fans and not just ripping off VH.
Wes

Are these F’ sticks even playing their instruments? I get a profound Milli Vanilli vibe off of them. Sad.
Viva el Van Haleno!!
BigJ

last time I saw something that looked like that, I flushed it
David Alexander, Toluca Lake

a. Horrific music.

b. The Hot for Teacher video idea has nothing to do with the song.

c. If you cant even come up with your own video concept you should not be in the music business.
HotRats

If it wasnt for bands like Chickenfoot, The White Stripes, Girl In A Coma, Kings of Leon, or Chili Cold Blood, I would think today’s rock would be complete crap.

At least these bands are still carrying the flag. Unlike Escape To Masturbate.
5150Sooner

What a pile of crap. I made it through the first 30 seconds and I will contact the band and ask for compensation of losing 30 seconds of my life for that crap.
SirFrankenberry

Complete shit.
Is it possible to become a douchebag for even watching this?
jmd

pathetic
TopJimmy

this was poop on a Popsicle stick, the horrified diarrhea of music these days came to ruin America’s greatest Classic Hard Rock Band, the mighty Van Halen.

anarchy anyone?
or just leave it to the lawyers to write
“LAWSUIT” all over it.
http://mitchgalietta.com Mitch

so bad on so many levels.
frontman71

Sounds like every other crap band out there! one more example of how f’d up the music business is…! did you look at these idiot kids?..the look of the band doesn’t even fit the shit music, nor the video! I call it the “Blink 182 sound” boy lets see how many shit California bands we can shove down the throats of music listeners! no vocals, no guitar? you look like a cross between Motley Crue and Poison….your signed! lol..piss on you..your music really SUCKS….
John

Cookie cutter BS. By a band who obviously does a lot of consulting about their image… Nikki Six as a lead singer with a wannabe Slash with aviator shades and a VH ripoff of a video… the sad part is most kids who watch this prolly think it’s original… freaking sad… I want to punch the singer in the face for the stupid expressions he makes… make those kids piss their pants in a dark alley, what a bunch of Posers!!
ben

this sucks, this band isn’t going anywhere.
dAVE

escape to shitville
Big AL

The last time I saw someone ripping off a Van Halen video, it was Sam and Mike. At least Sam’s song was tolerable!
satovan

well this is prety old not really new I heard about this a few years ago singer went to jail now new singer but same old shit. very cookie cutter crap I agree its funny that they have shirts like canibal corpse slayer yet sound like bubblegum.
iwannaberr

Come on everyone, maybe this band is as big of VH fans as you guys and this is their homage to Van Halen.

They obviously knew it wasn’t original!
SCAR

I’m dumber for watching the clip! I’ll have to counter blast the dumbness of the video with a few quality bong tokes and then subject myself to a Dr. Phil marathon!!!!
Bocephus

I credit them for portraying their video after one of the greats…but man has music gone to Sh&t.

Tough out there..but the kids love it.

Steak and Cheese society today..

Hi Abe.
fiestared

i hope eddie slaps a lawsuit on these guys, the we can all agree that hes in court for the right reasons!
Mark

That was really bad, I see the bar is really high to get signed as a band nowadays!
Captain EO

the song is shit! I hate these damn shitty little split tail bands. NOT LIKE THE PWR OF THE HALEN!
Fletch

Stupid…just stupid. But if Ed can find a way to file a lawsuit you know he will.
PS…that singer looks like a girl.
SR5150

Utter dog shit generic crap…lacking the class that VH has!

Hell ya from the UK!
Bud4u

Wannabes, two guitars and not one solo……sad
Fred

This is total crap.

But, for those of you who went right to the ‘lawsuit’ idea, it’s likely they would argue this is parody and therefore protected.
David S.

Disgraceful.

Good point by Fred – this is definitely in poor taste (and badly produced), but is not really a violation of the law…although it’s so crappy it should be.
John

Please stop with all this exciting Van Halen news. It’s too much to handle.
Jimmy V8

No wonder the music biz is dead!! All these new bands are just made up Muppets!!!!! They don’t know what it’s like to slug it out playing 5-6 nights a week, in the some of the worst, smelly, rough houses and small stage that could only fit the drums, oh and not getting paid for some gigs!!! Playing in that environment would test any musician’s nerve or passion to keep going. Van Halen on the other hand played like their lives depended on it, like Eddie said once “It’s what I do, I’m a musician”. I should know I’m a musician too. But the real test of whether you’re up for this gig is when you play in front of only tables & chairs (nobody!!). That will test your passion and purpose on if this is all worth continuing. But like Eddie said once, “Whether you make it or not, having fun playing music is the most important thing!!” Amen King Edward!!! In fact for all those non musicians out there have a listen to the classic AC/DC song ‘Long Way to the Top If You Wanna Rock n Roll’. The lyrics tell it like it is. Some of my favourite lines in that song are “Gettin’ ripped off by the pay” and “That’s how it goes playing in a band”.

Van Halen did that for 8 years!!! They put in the mileage and they paid their dues. The record company came to them!!! Most of today’s bands are just copy cats and have no originality!!! Van Halen was turning out a new album every year (the Dave era!) including the massive marathon tours that went for over a year. They are the true warriors.

Most of today’s bands complain about a 7 hour flight or it’s too loud or the shampoo is running out WTF!!? But I’m not surprised when they don’t last, it’s to be expected!!!! They’re not real; they’re only a product of the corporate beast that the music biz has become.
http://www.jointfilms.com steve

well i’m no fan but it’s obviously sort of an homage. you can’t steal things that closely and not being paying tribute. I just mentioned HFT too today on this USA Today pop culture site, check it out:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2009/07/pop-forum-meet-todays-featured-reader-4.html#more
APE

Notice that their hair is perfectly, and strategically disheveled!! Fucking Idiots!!!…Just like supposed “Gangsta” Rappers….constantly talking about being “hard”, and whatever… yet they spend sooo much time on their hair that its just ridiculous!! I love Epitaph as a label. They’ve done things the DIY way.. they’ve put out alot of great records by alot of great bands, unfortunately, this is NOT one of those bands!!
HotRats

You guys think that’s bad? Go down to Austin where I live. We have some of the absolute WORST local bands you’ll ever see.

I can count on my fingers how many good Austin bands there are. Live music capital of the world? What a crock of sh-t!

That title is only valid during the Austin City Limits and South By Southwest festivals.

Cause the rest of the time you’re subjected to 80′s and U2 cover bands. If that isn’t someone’s idea of hell I dont know what is.

Maybe I spoke too soon. Listening to a local band do their latest cover of Free Bird is painful to the ears.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2trpijlCDE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eyoutube%2Ecom%2Fuser%2FChromeboy2003&feature=player_profilepage Bluesbro

Blatant rip off for sure, but both videos suck. The only redeeming quality is Ed’s incredible solo and Alex’s pounding rhythm. The VH gang dancing (badly) in tuxes … you kidding me?

And for all the talk here about Hagar’s CF lyrics, have you listened to the pre-pubescent drivel in most of the early VH stuff? They were appealing to their target audience of course, but please. Jump, Panama, Hot For Teacher? I would have preferred and instrumental version of each with more Eddie.
Dick Bacon

better than chickenfoot.
Rocko

This is indeed a rip off and Shut the hell up Dick-Head Bacon. Chickenfoot and Van Halen are better than this shit.
Kayser Sozay

I’m guessing these guys are huge VH fans and assumed they could steal the concept without getting caught because the world forgot who VH even was.
Batch

who stole the guitar solo?
http://www.van-halen.net sphillaussie

Well at least they have brought back some good memories for us. Nice to see VH in full flight in their best video.
TSel

Why does it have to be a “rip off”…??? I think it’s kinda cool that a newer band pays homage to the masters. I thgought it was a pretty fun video to watch and see how they re-worked it. And actually…I wish there was a cafeteria scene in Hot for Teacher!
Pete

A few thoughts here:

- if they’re going to lift this classic piece of VH celluloid, the least one of them could have done was wear a VH t-shirt as a “wink and a nod”.

- copying is the highest form of flattery I suppose, but wow, this singer just looks so completely gay. I’m betting he didn’t care what the teacher was looking like this year…

- in the opening scenes when they’re all looking so tough, I had to laugh. You could kick these bitches asses without breaking a sweat, and spend their lunch money on buying them some originality lessons.

Sorry to be so negative, but there’s not much to cheer about here…
In Todd We Trust

Ugh! When will Emo go away!? It really seems that record contracts are given away to anyone that can fit into a pair of girls’ jeans! Holy crap! Or more fittingly, wholly crap!

Thank God for Chickenfoot and Hot Leg — they prove that there are still bands out there that know how to rock!
http://None Ducky / Dirty Duck

“History for all the wrong reasons”

Oh jeez…

These so called bands are so lame today. No substance…no balls. Just the same ol’ lets rip off something classic because we dont have an orginal bone in our whole body music. I NEVER liked that emo crap. Waaah waaah whiney bullshit. Where have all the REAL rock stars gone man?
The sad part is there’s some young kid who thinks this is good stuff. Pathetic.
There is nothing wrong with loving your idols or “learning” from them. But get your own style man! This is not even a nod to the masters. Gimmie the REAL thing anyday. I betcha after they play a show they all sit around drinking kool aid playing guitar hero.
phillster

I thought it was “BORAT”
http://blastd.com/eddie eddie

its obviously a tribute to Van Halen. if anyone commenting actually did a little research into the band you would know they site GNR and Van Halen as their biggest influences.
BTD

They are even ripping off Blink-182. Take the makeup off girls and grow a pair!
BTD

Jimmy V8, the lyric is;”Gettin’ ripped off
Under-paid” just keeping things accurate.
Remember the Prom Queen

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Anything that may draw younger audiences’ attention to Van Halen could be a good thing; might help them improve their musicianship!
stew

Diamond Dave Is a rock God !!! Van Halen Had the best videos & best Music ever Long live Classic Van Halen!!! P.S I don’t care who the bassist is !!