“Wrecking Ball” (Miley Cyrus cover) by August Burns Red, Friday, November 11, 2022

In 2010, we learned that Miley Cyrus Can’t Be Tamed. The former Disney Channel star had released soundtracks for the Hannah Montana series before releasing several saccharine pop records. As she came of age, though, the singer wanted to make it clear that she was a sexual being. Enter 2013’s Bangerz and its second single “Wrecking Ball.” The song is a slow breakup ballad and doesn’t feature explicit language like many of the other tracks on the record. Still, it was the video for the song that virally brought Cyrus into the post-purity culture, sex-positive zeitgeist. The video features the singer clad in only a pair of white panties and a t-shirt, then fully nude—the singer and the director tastefully hiding the singer’s genitals—riding on a wrecking ball and licking a sledgehammer. From that moment everyone had an opinion about Miley Cyrus and whether expressing sexuality in such a manner was art or pure immortality.

DON’T YOU EVER SAY I JUST WALKED AWAY. And while Miley Cyrus’ original version is fascinating, today I’m giving, for many of my listeners, a candelabra to the head. We have another entry from Fearless Records’ Punk Goes Pop, Vol. 6, like yesterday’s song “Royals” by Youth in Revolt. Unlike Youth in Revolt, I knew August Burns Red before this Punk Goes… series entry. I sometimes listened to August Burn Red in college when I needed heavy, aggressive music, especially when driving. The Christian metalcore band formed in 2003, signing with Solid State Records and releasing their debut record Thrill Seeker. The band’s musical style is noted for its fast tempos, classic rock guitar riffs, brutal drums, and unclean vocals—lead vocalist Jake Luhrs doesn’t sing, though the band is able to pull melody from the vibrant guitars—a technique I describe with harder music as rewarding listeners with melody, essentially giving them a payoff. Luhrs joined the band in 2006 after the band’s original vocalist Jon Hershey quit the band. August Burns Red has released nine records, including an instrumental Christmas album, Sleddin’ Hill.  In addition to “Wrecking Ball,” August Burns Red also covered Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” for Pop Goes Punk Volume, 2.  The fast guitars and the fun attitude of the band make August Burns Red a worthy entry to the list, even if it’s not very fun to listen to. 

I PUT YOU HIGH UP IN THE SKY. “Wrecking Ball” set a record at the time with 19.3 million views in 24 hours and became a cultural conversation. First the video was controversial for depicting Cyrus nude, to which Cyrus defended the artistic choice, telling MTV News: “ I think the video is much more, if people get past the point that I'm naked and you actually look at me you can tell that I actually look more broken than even the song sounds.” The video was inspired by Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” depicting heartbreak sincerely. Of course, given the song’s viral popularity and the purity of Cyrus’ heartbreak, the song lent itself to parody. One of the best parodies was filmed on Chatroulette by YouTuber Steve Kardynal. The YouTuber mimics the video on the platform as random users sing along. Kardynal starts the video dressed in the same white t-shirt and panties as Cyrus and ends up swinging naked on an exercise ball hanging from his ceiling. But as far as parodies go, a heavy metal cover of a heartbreaking slow ballad certainly makes light of a serious subject. Yes, wrecking balls would make sense for a heavy metal track. What’s also interesting about this cover is that August Burns Red diffuses some of the Christian “slut shaming,” at least with more progressive hard music listeners, surrounding Cyrus. Many Christian Rock bands embrace culture when it seems moral, but August Burns Red jumped into the pit panties first—though I don’t know that they have performed the song as Cyrus did.

Read the lyrics on Genius.

Miley Cyrus original:

August Burns Red cover: