Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''A gentleman is someone who knows how to play the bagpipes but doesn't.''}}

 

 

Bagpipes are fantastic instruments, if you know how to play them. Hearing somebody unskilled learning to play bagpipes, though, is just as painful as media makes it out to be. Also, a lot less painful outdoors than inside, as they are also ''quite'' loud. How loud? Well, if the wind is in the right direction and you listen a bit, you can hear the buskers on Edinburgh's Royal Mile from a couple of miles away. Since the original bagpipes, as well as the modern Great Highland Bagpipe originally were signaling instruments, meant to be heard over the sounds of a couple thousand dudes banging at each other with bits of metal, one can argue that this is the point. Other types of bagpipes have different, less screechy sounds.

 

Most often used for a [[Regional Riff]] of Scotland. Also see [[Loud of War]].

{{examples}}

* The extended version of the ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'' opening theme has bagpipes. And they are awesome.

* The [[Crowning Music of Awesome]] from ''[[Heat Guy J]]'' is [[Epic Rocking]] on the pipes. Kind of appropriate given J's signature cooling pipes.

* Little Wing, the [[JAM Project]]-produced opening to ''[[Scrapped Princess]]'', opens with bagpipes and has a short interlude with them in the full version of the song. The result is [[Crowning Music of Awesome|predictable]].

* The second season opening of the ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' TV series. Yes, the goddesses are nominally Norse, not Celtic. Nobody cares, it sounds awesome.

* "Colosseum", from ''[[Noir (anime)|Noir]]''.

* ''[[Claymore]]'' has a bagpipe motif for Clare. Because Clare is so [[Badass]] that only bagpipes are good enough for her motif. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGrpxpi7UgQ Like here].

* The first ending theme of ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]] Best Wishes'' uses bagpipes, though you might not notice because of the adorable sight of Pokabu blowing into them.

* Bagpipes are used quite a bit in the soundtrack to ''[[Spice and Wolf]]''.

* [[Axis Powers Hetalia|England/The UK's]] versions of [[Image Song|Marukaite Chikyuu and Hattafutte Parade]] contain surprisingly good bagpipes. Technically, they're Scottish, but Iggy apparently represents the whole UK at World Meetings, and Scotland has only ever been alluded to.

* [[Fairy Tail]]'s soundtrack aims for mix of celtic/folk mixed with heavy metal, and as such bagpipes are featured in several tracks, including the main theme.

 

* Bagpipes are apparently the instrument played by Max in ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' - he's shown playing them in the comics and plays a bagpipe [[Gorn|made of a giant heart]] in [[Sam and Max Freelance Police (animation)|the animated series]]. Here, it's obviously to underline how much of an [[Small Annoying Creature|annoying]] [[Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant]] he is.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Army of Darkness]]'' featured the undead army of death marching complete with drum, flute and bagpipes.

* In ''[[The Departed]]'', bagpipes are played when the main characters graduate from the police academy and again {{spoiler|at the funeral}}.

* ''[[L.A. Story]]''. A freeway sign electronically plays "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes.

* The French comedy movie ''The Tall Blond Man with a Black Shoe'' has a scene where a character accidentally sits on a bagpipe, with predictable results. The bagpipe then proceeds to haunt the poor guy.

* At the end of the Hong Kong film ''[[Infernal Affairs]]'' (which ''[[The Departed]]'' is based on), there are bagpipe players at a funeral.

* The 1978 version of ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'' has a scene involving "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes.

* The score for ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' heavily features bagpipes, especially in "[[Crowning Music of Awesome|Test Drive]]"

* In ''[[The World Is Not Enough]]'' Q Labs is shown testing some bagpipes with [[More Dakka|a machine gun]] [[Instrument of Murder|concealed in one of the drones]].

* In ''[[So I Married an Axe Murderer]]'', Mike Myers' character's wedding party has his dad (also Myers) singing "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" accompanied by bagpipes. When the old player drops, dad announces "We have a piper down!"

* The Gordon Highlanders are very prominent in ''[[Waterloo]]'', performing a bagpipe-accompanied dance at the Duchess of Richmond's ball and later fighting in the battle. A regimental piper gets it from a French cavalryman.

* ''[[Help!]]'' - [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] once again run afoul of the pursuing Eastern thug cult at the London riverfront, disguised as a Highland band, with a bagpipe that spews sacrificial red paint.

 

== Literature ==

* [[George Macdonald Fraser]]'s ''[[McAuslan]]'' short stories recount his days in the Highland regiments, particularly ''Johnny Cope in the Morning'', which deals with the shenanigans of the regimental pipe band. They developed the habit of assembling outside the newbie officers' quarters every Friday at six AM and blasting them all awake with ''Johnny Cope''; {{spoiler|the subalterns eventually get revenge by inviting the colonel to stay overnight one fine Thursday and conveniently forgetting to tell the pipe band.}}

 

** The Adama(s) theme using bagpipes, noticeable in almost any scene involving both Adamas, particularly when they're having some kind of heartwarming moment. Also noticeable in the fourth season when Adama, Sr gets in the Raptor to wait for the Baseship/Roslin.

** [[Bear McCreary]] likes uilleann pipes. They also show up in some of the action sequence music, such as "Storming New Caprica" which is pretty much an orgy in taiko drums and uilleann pipes. The song also uses Highland pipes, although they aren't as audible on the soundtrack album as the show itself.

* Ross intends to play the bagpipes at Monica and Chandler's wedding in ''[[Friends]]'', and they can hear his rehearsal from across the road.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S13/E01 Terror of the Zygons|Terror of the Zygons]]'', Angus the landlord plays "Flowers of the Forest" on the bagpipes. It turns out to be an omen (of sorts). Well, he does have [[Seers|second sight]].

* On a Christmas Episode of ''[[The West Wing]]'', in an attempt to get into the holiday spirit more than he had in past years, Tobey brings various musicians to play carols in the lobby of the White House. At one point he brings in bag-pipers, who can be heard throughout the building. This aggravates Josh in the short term and in the long term, {{spoiler|is revealed to be the trigger that causes his PTSD to flare up}}.

 

== Music ==

* The soundtrack for ''[[Riverdance]]'' features a cousin of the bagpipes, the Uilleann pipes (a sort of tenor bagpipe).

* ''The Most Unwanted Music'' makes liberal use of bagpipes in an attempt to produce the most unlistenable piece of pop music ever composed. The result is [[So Bad It's Good|so bad it's AWESOME]].

** It's so [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome]] that Brian Johnson, who succeeded Scott as the band's lead singer, refuses to sing the song, since it was considered Scott's signature song.

** When AC/DC first got the idea, Bon Scott was under the impression that Angus Young could play the bagpipes. Young replied, "No, I said I was ''in a highland bagpipe band''. I played the ''drums!''"

* "Mull of Kintyre" by Wings. A paean to [[Paul McCartney]]'s longtime residence (a home and recording studio in Argyll and Bute, Scotland), the 1977 recording features bagpipes from Kintyre's local Campbeltown Pipe Band.

* Lenahan's "Nothin'" is ''blues'' bagpipes.

* The song "Gimme the Prize" by [[Queen]] has a brief instrumental section that's clearly meant to be evocative of bagpipes; not surprising, since the song originates in the first ''[[Highlander]]'' film.

* Wizzard's 'Are you ready to rock?' mixes rock & roll and bagpipes. Yes, really. And it's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv3tyiCaA1k AWESOME].

* [[Neutral Milk Hotel]]'s "Ghost" and "Untitled" both make superb use of bagpipes, plus trumpet, trombone, theremin, zanzithophone...

* ''Bonaparte's Retreat'' - the version by Glen Campbell.

* And of course, there's Rufus Harley, quite possibly the only prominent jazz musician to choose the Great Highland Bagpipes as his primary instrument. How good was he? Well, he was able to record [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NthjtTm32Uw jazz-funk songs] ''without'' sounding like a novelty act.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* ''[[Shoe]]'' has mocked bagpipes at least twice. One strip had a very drunken Scot mistake Cosmo carrying a struggling, squawking chicken for somebody playing the pipes "well." Another stated that the sound of the pipes is called a "skirl" because an [[Onomatopoeia]] for it (spelled "Aayeegareegaronk") was so hard to say.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

* Popular [[The Eighties|eighties]] wrestler "Rowdy" [[Roddy Piper]] naturally has bagpipes for his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG6XPVxvNXM entrance theme] and has been known to play the bagpipes as part of his Scottish [[Heel]] persona.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* In ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] Fantasy Battle'', a night goblin hero can use a set of enchanted 'squigpipes'. Their music is so horrible it panics enemy horses.

* An item in ''[[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]] Cthulhu''. It gives a hefty +4 bonus (on the level of some pretty fatal weaponry, like a combine harvester or a ''flamethrower''), but with an unfortunate caveat that monsters may mistake its audio and appearance and think it's ''[[Cargo Ship|something they can mate with]]''.

 

== Theater ==

* ''[[Brigadoon]]'' has two bagpipers on stage for Harry's funeral procession, playing a traditional Scottish melody. Only one bagpipe is actually played, though: two would be too loud.

* ''[[Cats]]'' has a bagpipe sequence in the midst of "The Pekes and the Pollicles." Hilarious, too.

 

== Video Games ==

* Occasionally heard in Age of Empires 2, thanks to the inclusion of a Celtic Civilization.

 

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', Sleipner has turned a set of bagpipes into a flamethrower-ish weapon she calls the "Hot Pipes" in [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081027 this strip.]

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoon "My Bunny Lies Over The Sea," Bugs pops up in Scotland looking for the La Brea tar pits. He then sees a guy in a kilt playing bagpipes and thinks it's a monster attacking an old lady, so he rips up the bagpipes, making the Scotsman angry at him. At the end of the cartoon, Bugs "beats" him at the pipes by using them as a one-bunny-band (he sticks other musical instruments like trumpets in the openings of the pipes).

** In "Ducking the Devil", Daffy discovers the Tasmanian Devil can be made calm and docile with music - but bagpipes just enrage him more.

* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "The Sting", Scruffy plays "Walking on Sunshine" on bagpipes for Fry's funeral, as a parody of Spock's funeral from the aforementioned ''Wrath of Khan''.

* In the old seasons of ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]] And Friends'', Donald and Douglas' leitmotif was played on bagpipes supplemented by drums and flute, because of their Scottish origin.

* ''[[Samurai Jack]]:'' The only recurrent character besides the titular samurai and Aku is the behemoth Scotsman who has a penchant for the pipes. They're heard long before he and Jack actually meet face to face. Actually becomes a [[Chekhov's Skill|plot critical ability]] during a later episode, where the [[Loud of War|pipes manage to drown out the mind controlling song]] of some [[Enthralling Siren]]s.

* The [[Leitmotif]] of Duff Killigan on ''[[Kim Possible]]''.

 

== Real Life ==

* In many Commonwealth nations (and a few that aren't!), pipe & drum bands are ''the'' musical outlet of police and military organizations.

* [[Jack Churchill|"Fighting" Jack Churchill]] was the one of the most [[Badass]] officers in WWII, leading his men with a [[Heroes Prefer Swords|sword]] in his belt and more than once, pipes under his arm. His last commando raid ended badly with him being wounded by mortar shrapnel: he insisted on being propped up against a wall and proceeded to play his bagpipes to encourage the defenders until the position was overrun and he was captured.

* The College of Wooster, whose mascot is the Fighting Scot, boasts a Wooster Pipe Band consisting solely of several bagpipes and one drummer (an impressive feat for a rather small school). The Pipe Band appears at football games as well as more formal and official school functions. If you go to this school, not only will you have the tune of the school song, "Scotland the Brave," memorized within three or four months thanks to these guys, you will also consider it to be one of the most epic songs ever. The band even appeared in a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsJOCTceA0 Coca-Cola ad].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Score and Music Tropes]]