NPR

How A Mongolian Heavy Metal Band Got Millions Of YouTube Views

All it took for The Hu to have an internet breakthrough was a dramatic video and screaming guitars — plus a horsehead fiddle and throat singing.
Source: #HUNNUROCK via YouTube/Screengrab by NPR

A band from Mongolia that blends the screaming guitars of heavy metal and traditional Mongolian guttural singing has picked up 7 million views for its two videos.

Leather jackets, skull rings and bandanas alongside intricately carved Mongolian horsehead fiddles are just some of the images in the first two music videos the Mongolian band The Hu released on YouTube this fall. Excited listeners from around the globe have posted comments like "This makes me want to ride a horse and shoot people with a bow" and "This sounds like ancient mongol rock of 1000 b.c. Really badass!" (sic)

And yet what The Hu is doing, while new, comes out of

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR2 min readInternational Relations
Turkey Halts All Trade With Israel Over Military Actions In Gaza
The government described the step as the "second phase" of measures against Israel, adding the steps would remain in force until Israel allows a "sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza."
NPR3 min read
Renowned Painter And Pioneer Of Minimalism Frank Stella Dies At 87
Frank Stella was one of America's leading minimalist artists and a pioneer of the minimalist movement of the early 1960s. The movement challenged the idea that art was meant to be representative.
NPR2 min read
A Seafood Bounty Lures Sea Lions To S.F.'s Pier 39 In Numbers Not Seen In 15 Years
It's a popular rest stop for sea lions, but the docks at the tourist hot spot these days are unusually packed out with the slippery residents. Conservationists are buoyed by the surge in visitors.

Related Books & Audiobooks