According to the vitriol on the internet, some people would like to tar and feather anyone connected with Liquid Death and its growing line of canned beverages.
The brand, on the other hand, decided an old school burning-at-the-stake would be a more fitting punishment for its perceived crimes against humanity.
To hype its new album of original songs—Greatest Hates Volume III—Liquid Death has created its first music video and populated it with Puritans and pitchforks, with a hapless pizza delivery guy ultimately joining a 16.9-ounce tallboy on a flaming pyre.
If the concept sounds slightly demented, well, that’s the point. The short film—by directing duo Kerry Furrh and Olivia Mitchell—throws its arms around online bitterness, gives it a period setting and spits it back as a modern dance-pop ditty called “F**k Whoever Started This.”
As the name implies, Great Hates Volume III turns negative reviews and nasty feedback into lyrics. The record’s ’80s-inspired 10 songs are now available to stream on Spotify and YouTube or to buy on vinyl.
Volumes I and II, released in 2020 and covering metal and punk genres, proved to be big hits for the company, racking up more than 627,000 streams on Spotify. Both albums got informercial-style ads when they dropped, and Liquid Death wanted to “spice things up the third time around” with a different kind of marketing, Andy Pearson, Liquid Death’s vice president of creative, told Adweek.
“There are so many bangers on this new album, we had a tough time picking a lead single,” Pearson said. “But ‘F**k Whoever Started This’ is just so infectious, and it truly captured the unhinged nature of a lot of the comments we receive.”
Sports and music royalty
As with past projects, Liquid Death assembled a star-heavy lineup to make the record. Among the collaborators on Volume III are skateboarder Tony Hawk, Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance, No Doubt’s Tony Kanal, Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray and Tony Hajarr of At the Drive-In.
“On a personal level, I didn’t know that ‘getting Mark McGrath to sing a song called ‘Rather Cut My Own D**k Off’ was on my bucket list,” Pearson said. “But it is now. And that box is now ticked.”
The project gave Hawk, better known for his legendary halfpipe stunts, a chance to be a recording artist for a day.
“It wasn’t until I lent my vocals to ‘Worst Name For A Water Company’ that I realized my true potential as a singer,” Hawk said in a statement. “I am now ready to boldly step into my next career thanks to the foresight of Liquid Death. Rick Rubin better be ready.”
The canned water brand, which has expanded into sparkling water and iced teas, follows in the footsteps of numerous companies that have co-opted caustic opinions for marketing purposes. Senior leaders at Liquid Death seem to get a particular kick out of the tactic, quoting their trolls verbatim on songs like “There’s Not Even Alcohol In It,” “This Is Very Demonic,” “Disappointed & Dissatisfied” and “I’d Rather Die.”
“As long as the internet exists, I think nasty comments from people without a sense of humor will be alive and well,” Pearson said. “I saw one the other day that simply said, ‘Curse your stock prices.’ That’s so funny on so many levels.”
The marketer likes to mix up its communications, leading with entertainment and “finding new spaces to play in,” Pearson said, so Greatest Hates Volume 4 isn’t in the planning stages. Not yet anyway, but “as long as people keep unintentionally writing lyrics for us, we’ll probably have to keep making albums. There are plenty of other genres out there to ruin.”
