Jul 9 2008Okay: Showbiz Pizza Rock-afire Explosion Band Programmed To Play Other Songs
Remember Showbiz Pizza? It was like Chuck E. Cheese's, but with some southern flair. It was the total awesome when I was six. They had a playground with slides, a ball pit, all kinds of video games, pizza, and an animatronic band called the Rock-afire Explosion. You'd settle down to eat some greasy-ass pizza and watch the show while your dad chugged pitchers of beer and stole your game tokens. Well now two of the original programmers of the show are programming the long-defunct band to play new songs. This video is of "Love in this club" by Usher, but there are two by Madonna and Shakira after the jump. You definitely didn't see these songs performed at Showbiz as a kid! You did, however, probably see a turd in the ballpit.*
*And it was mine! That pizza always ran right through me.
Hit the jump for the others.
Thanks Dan, I had almost forgotten how delicious that disgusting Shobiz pizza was.
Reader Comments
1. Genocide - July 9, 2008 5:04 PM
Holy Shit man I remember going to that place when i was a little kid must have been about 6 or 7... Lets hear it for nostalgia
2. Eddy - July 9, 2008 5:05 PM
I don't think I'm going to sleep tonight, thanks to that.
3. BMurphy72 - July 9, 2008 5:16 PM
Thats F***ING awsome................................can they do "animal" by nickle back
4. jecka - July 9, 2008 5:36 PM
*pictures of beer = pitchers of beer
i'm surprised i had never heard of this before. i was definately a chuck e cheese kind of kid!
5. Sophie - July 9, 2008 5:47 PM
My parents used to take us here for our Birthdays! Love it!
I'd like to see them do the "F*** you like an Animal" song by Nine Inch Nails....
6. Michael - July 9, 2008 6:12 PM
pictures of beer? I guess they weren't licensed though I can't imagine the fun in that.
7. fightingfrodo - July 9, 2008 6:20 PM
we had a showbiz pizza til that damn rat took over.
8. Jess - July 9, 2008 6:34 PM
dude, this is old news. but freaky.
9. SmokingGirl - July 9, 2008 7:20 PM
The song is "Closer" by NIN, Sophie...and goddamn it, f*** me right in the eyeballs. Seriously, aim for the pupil. Why did I watch that? I don't know, but now I want a good eye-f***ing to make the pain go away...*cries*
I'm sorry, I'm in a bad mood today; so I guess aim for the ear instead of the eye. Yea, that's more "kid friendly".
10. Humanwreckage - July 9, 2008 8:17 PM
"Remember Showbiz Pizza? It was like Chuck E. Cheese's, but with some southern flair."
Actually Chuckie Cheese and Showbiz are the same company. Showbiz bought out Chuckie Cheese in 1984 but operated under both names until a few years later, when they decided to operate all under the Chuckie Cheese name.
11. sky - July 9, 2008 9:15 PM
i agree with jess, freakin old!! come on fellas do better. also, these videos make me hate my childhood. chuckie cheese, bitch please.
12. albino zebra - July 9, 2008 11:01 PM
It was called Circus Pizza in the upper Midwest. I almost wonder if this is footage from the one I went to as a kid. That cheerleader mouse is still my ultimate fantasy.
13. Joey - July 9, 2008 11:38 PM
I remember going to the original Showbiz Pizza places as a kid too, and the songs they played were almost as obnoxious as these. Still hilarious, though. :)
14. Jonny - July 9, 2008 11:53 PM
Check out the list for the 2008 University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt. One of the items is to get the Rock-a-Fire Explosion to play the ScavHunt theme song. I believe such a video is also on youtube.
15. duhhhhhh - July 10, 2008 12:56 AM
welcome to 3 weeks ago
16. Ugh - July 10, 2008 1:59 AM
It frustrates me to see comments about how old things are when they're posted on Geekologie. Sorry you people, but like most others, I have way more things to do then look these up right when they come out. Geekologie - you're doing fine.
As for this video, pretty awesome I must admit. Yeah, I was a Chuck E. Cheese kid, but this place looks legit too.
17. Bender - July 10, 2008 2:10 AM
Yeah, #16! That's as annoying as the "First!" people, and the endless, ridiculously ironic "Fake!". Go to hell, haters.
Also, I always wanted to punch those goddamn animals in the face. Would it kill them to play some Nirvana?, I thought to myself. At least they didn't monitor the ball pit. Chuck E always got pissed when I started throwing balls at the toddlers. So what if I was 16?
18. Web Escape - July 10, 2008 4:51 AM
Stuff like this definitely makes me think I grew up in the wrong country. Damn you britain for not having gorilla's in lame suits playing keyboards.
http://webescape.wordpress.com/
19. Jim - July 10, 2008 7:16 AM
the bear is in this mgmt video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtUI5MC9tVM
check 1:35
20. pucky - July 10, 2008 8:42 AM
These robots always frightened me and still do.
21. Pablo - July 10, 2008 9:17 AM
This was known as Pistol Pete's Pizza in AZ, i went there alot as a kid.
22. Shotcaller - July 10, 2008 10:19 AM
Fatz and the RockaFire Explosion!!!!... Man, this was the bomb when I was 7 years old. Now, I take my kids to Chuck E Cheese, and it sucks compared the to the RockaFire crew.
The pizza is still greasy and the breadsticks are awesome though.
23. Sophie - July 10, 2008 10:36 AM
But "F*** you like an animal" sounds so much better in a comment than "Closer" :p
24. gingela5 - July 10, 2008 10:55 AM
I was scared to death of the gorilla or ape whatever it was...and I don't know how it was possible but I "drowned" in the ball pit and some guy had to "rescue" me...it scarred me for life!
25. warchant - July 10, 2008 11:12 AM
This may be the greatest thing that has ever been posted on this website!
26. Redd - July 10, 2008 12:00 PM
I agree with 25. I don't know what the f*** is wrong with the rest of you people, but this video may be the greatest thing ever on the internet. I just want to know how they managed to do this. Did the buy the whole animatronic band of of e-bay or are they just a couple stoner employees f***ing around after hours? Either way, GENIUS!
27. whistle - July 10, 2008 1:40 PM
Didn't the article say something about the original programmers doing this? I imagine if the minds behind the animatronic show could get ahold of a set of the puppets and put on a show if they were so inclined.
I third the annoyance of the 'old' comments. Someone even chimed in with 'welcome to 3 weeks ago'.
Seriously, 3 weeks is worth complaining about? I mean, come on. The internet is a big place and there is a lot of stuff to cover. Someone might still not see this video for another 3 weeks and wish to share it. Should that call for criticism?
What am I saying, of course it will....
28. greg - July 10, 2008 2:10 PM
@2 lol
same to me
29. Amy - July 10, 2008 4:51 PM
21.) Yes, Pistol Pete's! I was sitting here thinking that the animatronics looked so familiar but the name was just NOT ringing a bell.
30. ronny - July 11, 2008 2:52 PM
i'm scarred. i'll never think of Shakira the same way again.
31. grihm - July 11, 2008 4:23 PM
"They are bad dudes, that's why they call the game Bad Dudes"
"Waaah, I lost my retainer!"
32. hanyujoys - September 26, 2009 10:08 PM
Support of the Lou Zhu, Lou Zhu worked hard
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33. Nicol3 - October 17, 2009 4:12 AM
Can't believe ya'll didn't put the NIN one up as an example. It's one of my favorites of the bunch! Mostly for the way he did the lighting, and the way he shot it- unreal, and hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbnN6QmdrH4
I was obsessed with these Rock-A-Fire videos for a long while, and the guy responsible for them. His documentery had this bit in it about how he technically invented e-mail years before the internet was even donned-- via landline. He'd spent years developing it. Aol swept in merely months before he was going to unveil his system. Crazy!