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Friday, July 24, 2009

Nobody Loves the Hulk/The Traits

This week Classics Rock! is featuring songs based on comic books in honor of Comic-Con 2009, taking place in San Diego July 23-26.



There's not a lot of information out there about The Traits or "Nobody Loves the Hulk," their musical tribute to Marvel Comics character the Hulk, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It was released as a single in 1969 and appears to have been a promotional item, since the copyright is held by Marvel Comics. The song relates the origin story of the Hulk: Dr. Bruce Banner, testing his new gamma bomb, saves the life of Rick Jones, a teenager who has wandered into the test area, but is himself exposed to the blast: Well he saved the boy/But at what a change/The explosion made him feel so strange/For his molecules had been rearranged/Into the Hulk! The Hulk! The song describes the Hulk as "a monster"--Ugly, oversized and green/His strength is fantastic/And his disposition is mean. The focus is on the personal rejection Hulk suffers (Whenever people see him/All they do is run around and scream, cause/Nobody loves the Hulk!) and the social ostracization he must endure (We don't allow no green skin people in here!). The lyrics also reveal a surprising bit of personal motivation for the Hulk that you probably weren't aware of: All he wanted to do was settle down/And get employed.

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