Stick Stickly (song)

"Stick Stickly" is a song by American metalcore band Attack Attack!. It was released on June 4, 2008 as the lead single from their debut studio album, Someday Came Suddenly.

The song became an internet meme for popularizing crabcore, referencing the head bobbing and crab walks in its accompanied music video. The track was met with negative reviews from music critics.

Background
The title, "Stick Stickly" is named from the Nickelodeon character Stick Stickly. The song was included in the 2010 video game, Rock Band Network.

Composition
"Stick Stickly" was written by Andrew Whiting, Andrew Wetzel, Caleb Shomo, John Holgado, Johnny Franck and Austin Carlile, while production was handled by Joey Sturgis. The demo version of the song was recorded at Paper Tiger Studios. The track was one of the first songs the group has ever wrote. The song blends screamo, auto-tuned vocals, heavy guitar riffs and techno music together.

Critical reception
"Stick Stickly" was met with generally negative reviews from music critics. Jeremy Aaron of AbsolutePunk criticized the song for its "over-reliance on breakdowns on the heavy parts and the vocal hook," and the use of vocoder effects that, "sounds like it was pulled straight out of Forever the Sickest Kids' album." However, he complimented the heavy guitar work and the unclean vocals. John McDonnell of The Guardian unfavorably compared the track to Swedish Eurodance artist Basshunter. Metal Injection remarked, "It sounded like two different songs from the same album being played at once... during the last 30 seconds or so, it sounds like a completely different album from a different band being played." Chip Norman of Buddyhead.com described the song as "the most-offensively-wack-song-of-all-time."

Legacy
In 2008, the video became an internet meme popularizing crabcore. The infamous part of the video that sparked the meme was when guitarist Andrew Whiting is seen squatting low with his legs spread in a "crab-like" stance. Speaking about the video's virality, drummer Andrew Wetzel stated, "We think it's hilarious... There's no such thing as bad press. People may hate you, but as long as they're talking about you, you're on people's minds." In November 2019, Caleb Shomo and Johnny Franck reunited and released a parody version of the song titled, "Thicc Thiccly".

Music video
There are two versions of the music video for "Stick Stickly". The first version of the video was recorded after the band signed with Rise Records. The first video was low-budget and shows the group performing the song on a bridge in front of a city (Walnut Street Bridge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) and later in a club, where a boy struggles to open a door to where the group is performing. The second version of the music video premiered on MTV Headbangers Ball on June 4, 2009. The video begins with a woman sitting in front of an old house. The video then cuts to the group performing the song. Throughout the video, the band is shown head-flailing while playing their instruments and singing, as well as cutting back to the woman who is now sitting inside of the house. Both videos featured Nick Barham as the unclean vocalist as both videos were filmed after original unclean vocalist Austin Carlile departed from the band. According to Shomo, the crab moves in the video was lead guitarist Andrew Whiting's idea.

The music video for the second version of "Stick Stickly" was filmed in Oregon. According to vocalist and guitarist Johnny Franck, their record label came up with the concept of the video; band used a famous Charles E. Nelson House located at 5623 Emerson Loop Rd, The Dalles, OR 97058. The Nelson House burned in the 2018 Substation Fire on July 18.

Personnel

 * Attack Attack!
 * Austin Carlile – lead vocals
 * Johnny Franck – clean vocals, guitar
 * John Holgado – bass guitar
 * Caleb Shomo – keyboards, synthesizers
 * Andrew Wetzel – drums
 * Andrew Whiting – guitar


 * Production
 * Joey Sturgis – producer, engineering, mixing, mastering