Skip to content
News

Decemberists Announce ‘Guitar Solo Challenge’ with Colbert

In reaction to Wednesday’s (Nov. 29) on-air ridiculing by The Colbert Report host, Stephen Colbert, the Decemberists have released a rebuttal challenging Colbert’s originality and announcing the first ever “Decemberists vs. Stephen Colbert Guitar Solo Challenge,” Pitchfork reports.

Colbert unveiled a new segment on his show Wednesday titled “Who’s Riding My Coat Tails Now?,” during which he dissed the Decemberists, claiming the poetic prog rockers re-appropriated his “Green Screen Challenge.” According to Colbert, he launched this challenge months ago when he invited viewers to animate a background for his onscreen light saber antics.

The Decemberists, hardly ones to go down together, issued a response yesterday (Nov. 30), claiming they were first to utilize the aforementioned light saber antics onstage months earlier with nothing more than “pure rock, sweat, and C batteries,” the band told Pitchfork. In addition, the band has challenged Colbert to “put down the pen and pick up the axe!” But they didn’t stop there, as they’ve invited fans to “help us win this epic battle” by editing Colbert’s defeat into their “Green Screen Challenge,” launched in partnership with mtvU Nov. 16, which requests animated submissions for the first video from The Crane Wife, “O Valencia!”

On SPIN.com:
Stephen Colbert to Take Light Saber to Decemberists?

Talk: How would you animate Colbert into the Decemberists’ video? COMMENT

On the Web:
Re-animate the Decemberists at mtvu.com

>> Listen to the Decemberists on Napster