Skip to main content

Watch this: Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' performed with eggplant, grapes, and MaKey MaKey

Watch this: Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' performed with eggplant, grapes, and MaKey MaKey

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

j.viewz fruit performance
j.viewz fruit performance

Massive Attack was one of the more successful "trip-hop" groups of the 90s and 2000s, with their album Mezzanine selling nearly four million copies and spawning the hit track "Teardrop." Even if you're not a Massive Attack fan, chances are you've heard it as in the opening of Fox's doctor drama House. You probably haven't heard a version quite like this, however. Electronic musician j.viewz recently released a video of him performing the classic track using a variety of fruits and vegetables all hooked up to a MaKey MaKey circuit board — the vegetables closed the circuit he created and triggered various sounds that comprise the song. Eggplant stood in for drums, grapes played the role of bells, and four strawberries triggered the song's signature melody. Further manipulation was accomplished with what appeared to be a Novation MIDI keyboard, but nearly all the sounds were originally triggered by j.viewz' organic instruments. While using vegetables doesn't really offer any functional upgrade over a more traditional setup (and it's not the first time we've heard of using fruit in such a fashion), there's no doubt that using the MaKey MaKey and a bunch of produce makes for an entertaining video.