Last week, YouTuber John Mollusk posted a “death metal” version of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg’s passionate UN speech. Now, with the clip approaching 4 million views, record label Despotz Records has turned the track into a charity single.
Mollusk, also known as John Meredith, dubbed his vocals over Greta Thunberg’s speech, giving it an extreme-metal makeover, and earning the attention of Thunberg herself. The 16-year-old climate crusader shared the video on Twitter, writing, “From now on I’ll be doing death metal only.”
Enter Swedish label Despotz Records, which has transformed the YouTube clip into a charity single called “How Dare You”, with all profits benefitting Greenpeace. The song’s title is in reference to the exclamation Thunberg repeated multiple times during her speech while reprimanding world leaders for their lack of action on climate change.
In a statement, Despotz Records wrote the following:
“Greta says it better than neither we on this label nor any other adult so far has been able to say it, so one of the best things we can do is to use our platform for spreading her own words. We stand united with her in her quest and are grateful for a chance to contribute in any way! To be fair, Greta embodies rock music in its full meaning. She is uncompromising, tough as hell and doesn’t give a shit about what people think of her. She is not afraid to tell you about the scariest things imaginable without beautifying it a bit, and that is what metal is about.”
Featuring artwork depicting a corpse-painted Thunberg, the track is now available through Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and more outlets, with links provided by the label. Despotz Records has also launched the hashtag #Greenmetal in an effort to urge “metal fans worldwide to mobilize and take part in the environmental movement together and to create history, making the death metal song ’How Dare You’ enter the Billboard top 10 charts!”
Check out the charity single and the original viral video below:
