by ohthewhomanity​

I have a thing for songs that get stuck in your head and most people find annoying. These include Disney’s “It’s a Small World” and “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”, and also Homestuck’s “Elevatorstuck”.

Elevatorstuck is calming and pleasant. Its slow and steady rhythm and soft, repetitive melody make for a tune that helps me focus when I need to do homework or write something (for instance, this essay). It also just plain cracks me up, because this lovely little ditty is the theme tune of two hilarious, memorable, fourth-wall-breaking scenes.

Hussie has commented in-story on the background music of [S] pages (or the “embedded musical accompaniment”) before, notably when he didn’t actually animate a strife between Karkat and Crabdad, instead providing a link to an mp3 file of “Showdown”. Other times, the ambient music has been the result of a character playing an instrument or turning on a record player. But as far as I can remember, the first character to actually comment on the background music is Caliborn.

Elevatorstuck had been established as the “talking to your guide” or “potion-selling” song, used before when Gamzee interacted with Jane. It plays again when Caliborn meets Gamzee by the narrative prompt tower, and continues to play for the next four pages–incredibly dissonantly–as Caliborn mercilessly attacks Gamzee with a machine gun. And then, the next time it plays (and the inevitable shoot-up ensues), Caliborn comments on it. And how much he hates it. Suddenly the reader is made aware that the background music exists for the characters. Hussie is playing it for all to hear, and even uses it as positive punishment to keep Caliborn from shooting Gamzee more. Or from hitting him with a crowbar (which is unsuccessful and leads to Caliborn smashing up the website). The entire sequence breaks enough rules and provides enough meta jokes to make me perhaps not forget but at least forgive the excessive clown gore.

The next scene of note that involves Elevatorstuck is in fact a favorite of marathemara’s, whose mentioning it led to me writing this essay.



In the middle of Aranea’s exposition about the Cherubs’ backstory, Meenah wanders off to go to the bathroom. Aranea refuses to continue until she returns, and suggests that they have an…interfishin.

Cue every troll present, dead or otherwise (except Sollux who instead falls downstairs in slow-motion), picking up an instrument and performing Elevatorstuck. To be honest, I like this scene just because it shows us that Tavros and Feferi can play the guitar (or is that a more-punnable bass in Feferi’s hands?). And I’m certainly not going to complain about my favorite troll picking up percussion. But what we really have here, other than a confused human in Breath pajamas, is a lovely bit of self-awareness. The characters have shown that they are aware of the existence of intermissions, which are a part of the narrative structure and, like background music, something that shouldn’t actually exist for the characters of the story. But here they are, purposefully creating an intermission while Meenah uses the load gaper and playing the background music.

Well, Meenah, I suppose we’re continuing a running gag, being shamelessly self-referential, and breaking the fourth wall. You know, the usual Homestuck fare.

