June 21, 2021

The Cybertronic Spree Lead A Ridiculous Metal Cover Of Stan Bush's 'Transformers: The Movie' Cheese-Rock Classic "The Touch": Watch

The 1986 animated classic Transformers: The Movie — known to those of us who were kids at the time as the one where Optimus Prime dies — wasn’t anywhere near as big a deal as any of the noisy Michael Bay live-action blockbusters of the ’00s and ’10s. But Transformers: The Movie arguably made some much larger cultural contributions than any of those Bay joints. For one thing, it’s an actual watchable film. For another, it’s the final film role of Orson Welles, who plays Unicron, a planet that eats other planets. And finally, Transformers: The Movie also gave the world “The Touch,” the amazingly cheesy Stan Bush song that still stands as the greatest example of the inspirational ’80s montage-rocker. Today, the world gets a new version of “The Touch.”

Last week, Jordan Olds’ great video series Two Minutes To Late Night paid tribute to Wet Hot American Summer with an all-star metal version of Jefferson Starship’s “Jane.” Today, saluting another cinematic classic, Olds has rounded up some friends to take on “The Touch.” Most of those friends come from the Cybertronic Spree, a Toronto band whose members dress up like Transformers: The Movie characters. As gimmicks go, this is a good one, and they execute it beautifully.

Besides the Cybertronic Spree, the Two Minutes To Late Night version of “The Touch” also features Courtney Cox — not the famous lady, but the guitarist from the cover act the Iron Maidens. She plays a guitar solo while standing up in a convertible on the roof of a parking garage, which is a baller movie. Cave-In/Mutoid Man leader Stephen Brodsky assists, as does Chris Hornbrook, drummer for the Florida metalcore institution Poison The Well. Jordan Olds is in there in his Gwarsenio Hall character, and he leads the bit of the performance that briefly transitions into a cover of Van Halen’s “Jump.” Behold “The Touch” in all its glory below.