Rhett’s Hot Lava Chicken Shack

The Billboard hit I did not write

Hello. You’ve reached Time & Temperature.

Jack Black just scored a Billboard hit with a song from his Minecraft movie. Clocking in at 34 seconds, “Steve’s Lava Chicken” has set a new record for shortest song on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s catchy as all get out. I did not write it.

I recently shared a story of my experience writing songs for the team behind the Minecraft Movie. It was crazy but ultimately fruitless. I was honored to have been asked, and I worked hard to deliver songs they’d love, but I eventually learned the filmmakers would not be using my songs. Which is fine. I knew it was a long-shot.

[For the record, this is my last Minecraft essay. Don’t worry, I’m not like obsessed or anything.]

In the end, only two of the scenes for which I’d written ended up featuring songs. Other scenes became tighter and used visual devices that made songs unnecessary. The big finale featured a song called “I Feel Alive” written by Jack Black along with proven hitmakers Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt. They did not go with my comparatively humble “Talkin’ ‘Bout Minecraft,” a demo of which is included in my previous essay. Theirs is a banger for sure. Not really the “Minecraft theme song” I’d been led to believe they were looking for, but totally rocking in an intentionally cheesy 1980’s hair-metal way.

The jingle that the character of Steve sings in A Minecraft Movie, “Steve’s Lava Chicken,” was apparently an ad-lib by Jack and director Jared Hess. It’s great despite Jason Momoa’s character’s assertion that the jingle “suck(s) butt.” My attempts at the theme song were less frenetic, but pretty fun nonetheless.

Forgive the basic-ness of the demos and imagine fully produced versions featuring the dulcet tones of one Thomas Jacob “Jack” Black.

Here’s a kinda slinky electric piano idea:

Here’s a more intense take on the jingle:

And if you REALLY like that one, here’s the extended version: