It’s rather gratifying that, in an area dominated by Americans (with the exception of the Moshi Monsters phenomenon) Bin Weevils is a very British success story. The pop-eyed cartoon insects first came into existence a decade ago as animations for Nickelodeon UK but in 2010 their creators split with the parent company and developed an online social world for children that’s proved massively popular, branching into magazines, trading cards and toys. Around half Britain’s under-10s have interacted with Bin Weevils - 20 million have registered and two million remain active users.
This, of course, is where the back-slappy Brits-done-good spiel ends because now we must attend to the music, created in league with site-users who offered lyrics. Despite the chart success of Bob the Builder, Teletubbies and Mister Blobby, it’s not a given that child-orientated novelty fare will be teeth-grindingly annoying. Disney songs, from “Chim Chim Cher-ee” to Enchanted’s “Happy Working Song”, remain ebullient, enjoyable froth, and what about the The Wombles, the theme to Fireman Sam (original version only!) or the music from In the Night Garden.
There is only one decent song on Bin Tunes, though, the waltzing ghost train shuffle of “The Wicked WEB”, the baddies’ number, which sounds like a comic pastiche of I’m Your Man-era Leonard Cohen. To be fair, some of the rest is no worse than, say, Avril Lavigne (the twee-punk of “So Much Better With Two”) or Little Mix (the saccharine shoutiness of “Girls Rule!”) but for most of it, no effort at all appears to have been made with production or singing. The dire sugar-vomit plasticity of “Bin Pets Bop” and “Whizz! Pop! Wallop! Fizz!” are topped only by rictus-grinning nursery party-starters such as “The Big Bin Weevil Ball”. Sure, it’s aimed at children, but so is the work of Oliver Postgate, Dick & Dom or the Horrible Histories crew. No, Bin Tunes, even on its own terms, is tacky and charmless.
Watch - if you dare - the video for "The Big Bin Weevil Ball"
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