On Friday (April 1), a fanciful animated band called Teenie Meanies released their first single, "Get Mean," after its cartoon members emerged as part of an NFT series. The song tackles the topic of bullying among youth while it rips and shreds like a joyous kawaii metal anthem. The music video drives home the fun.
Teenie Meanies are composed of fairy frontwoman Lily, fairy guitarist Pepper, fairy drummer Belinda and an enchanted mushroom guitarist known as Zerconia.
Watch the video down toward the bottom of this post.
Last month, all four Teenie Meanies were made available as NFTs — among other characters from the fictional region of Grimstone — in A Night at the Catacombs, Vol. 1, a 24-piece NFT series featuring the band's ghoulish cartoon community known as Lil Thrashers.
Series creator Lazers Lab explains, "Punk and heavy metal really helped me out through my angsty teenage years right up to my thirty-somethings. I've always seen the value in having an outlet to channel negative energy and I don't think you should have to wait to be grown up to enjoy heavy music. A cartoon was a fun way to explore that world with my son and also open a dialogue about how to express feelings of frustration in a productive way."
Lazers Lab worked with musician Jesse Korman (The Number 12 Looks Like You) and Flux88 Studios on the project. To learn more about Teenie Meanies' world, watch a related video about the universe. Three Teenie Meanies NFTs are already sold out — they're each editions of 1 of 1 — but Belinda remains for $250.
NEW MUSIC PLAYLIST: Keep up with each week's new songs by liking Loudwire's "Weekly Wire" Spotify playlist, updated every Friday with 50 new tracks.
What Are NFTs?
NFTs — non-fungible tokens — are essentially digital certificates of authenticity that point to a file, such as an image or video, and exist on a record-keeping blockchain in a way that makes them uniquely identifiable and able to be traded with cryptocurrency. Positioned by some as the latest online craze and a preview of a decentralized internet, some NFTs have sold for millions as many celebrities endorse the trend.
And as with any new tech in commerce, NFTs quickly came to music. In 2021, rock artists including Avenged Sevenfold and Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda began making or "minting" their own NFTs. Even late music icon Kurt Cobain of Nirvana became the subject of an NFT series. Earlier this year, a fraudulent music NFT site called HitPiece was shut down by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Teenie Meanies, "Get Mean"
Lil Thrashers
Lil Thrashers