Pt. 2 in my hive playlists! Mammoth! Explanations/ramblings under the cut. (btw these playlists/backstories are HEAVILYY influenced by how I interpreted the character back when I got attached to them in like, middle school combined with how I see them now. Which is why Shimmer is missing from his)
These playlists will be heavily based on MY interpretation of the characters and how I view them, and will include songs that make me envision scenes with the characters, songs that match the character's stories, and songs that I could see the characters listening to, so none of the playlists will be very linear or 'themed' like some character playlists are. Also, because of the lack of canon content for the Hive, AND the gap between 'comic canon' and the cartoon meaning literally anything could be true, I take a lot of liberties with their stories and how they get to where they are.
Mammoth 100% listens to heavy, stomping, gym bro rock music. Specifically classic rock - Metallica, Zeppelin, AC/DC, stuff you can work out to. On a side note- was??? Mammoth???? in the circus???? I SWEAR I remember seeing something about that forever ago, but now I can't seem to find any sources. Did I make it up???? It wouldn't matter at this point, this timeline has always how I've roughly viewed his character. AND I think the circus background is funny because I like to imagine him and Robin spiderman pointing at each other sometimes because those moves look entirely too familiar to be non circus affiliated.
(Abbracadabbra INSTRUMENTAL - Insane Clown Posse) - look. I will level with you. Insane Clown Posse does NOT vibe with Mammoth. But do you know what does?? Their instrumentals. And it kills me because they don’t officially release on Spotify, ever. The Abbracadabbra instrumental is GREAT because it combines the carnival-y, goofy beat with a chill/hip hop vibe, which feels very Mammoth to me. Like this is what plays in his head most of the time. Like how Soul Eater plays that stupid flute noise when someone’s doing something dumb? This is what plays when Mammoth is about to do something dumb. It's not featured on the playlist (because again, missing from spotify) but give the instrumental a listen on youtube if you ever have time.
(Sometimes - Nick Lutsko) - So as mentioned before, a lot of my imagined Mammoth backstory goes along with him growing up in the circus. It’s really up to interpretation how he gets there. Maybe he comes from a family already in the circus, maybe his family sells him in young when they see his abnormal muscle growth, maybe they intentionally give him the formula that causes his abnormal muscle growth in order to make money off him. Either way, his childhood isn’t really happy. His parents (or the carnival staff responsible for him, who he sees as parents), really just see him as an asset, and he’s largely left to fend for himself. His childhood is less about growing and more about surviving until he can find a way out. - “sometimes the short end of the stick is the sharpest / sometimes the only way out is as a carcass”
(Pay Me Back - Rare Americans) - Mammoth’s relationship with his parents- biological or staff assigned - is rough. They’re both overbearing in different ways to a kid who already has advanced aggression because of his testosterone levels. His mother (the start of the song), can’t understand why he isn’t happy. He’s a circus freak. This is as nice of a life as he could ever ask for given his condition. She misunderstands his misplaced aggression and lashing out and fills his head pretty early with the promise that he’s just going to grow up to amount to nothing, just like his father. As he gets older and more pressured, the tension gets worse. Mammoth will never be able to pay them back for all the money and effort it took to raise such a good for nothing freak. And Mammoth’s father and mother will never be able to pay him back for all the emotional damage of the environment he’s been raised in. When he finally runs away, it’s after yet another one of these explosive arguments.
(Tom Tom - Holy Fuck) - This is just a really good instrumental(ish) track I associate with Mammoth’s on-the-run era. The steady thump of the base makes me think of train tracks, which is probably what he stuck to for a long time. Where on earth does he go? How does he live as a person? His parents were right. He’s a hulking freak. People shy away from him in public. Any government personnel that might’ve been able to help him don’t even realize he’s just a kid.
(Broken Boy - Cage The Elephant) - Mammoth spends a good while on his own, and it really destroys his mental health. He feels like he can’t trust anyone, and he’s alone. A lot. The more he’s left alone with his thoughts, the worse his thoughts get. He starts only going out at night to try and avoid the constant interactions of people being afraid of him. He’s finally on his own, but his parents are right. He is just a freak. The longer this goes on, the more he starts to hate himself.
(Master of Puppets - Metallica) - Now THIS is prime Mammoth music. But ALSO a pretty good interpretation of what Mammoth’s academy days are like. The academy is better than the circus, or the train tracks, but really not by much. It’s an unfortunate truth that Brother Blood, and really everyone else too, just see Mammoth as some dumb muscle to boss around. If it’s not Brother Blood, then it’s Jinx, or someone else. And Mammoth HATES it. It boils his blood when he’s bossed around all the time and, once again, being treated like just an asset, just muscle. Right back to where he was. But he also learns that they’re right. What else is he going to do? Disobey? Get tossed back out? But most of all the bridge of “Laughter, laughter / all I hear or see is laughter / laughter, laughter / laughing at my cries / fix me!” also really rings Mammoth to me. He probably HATESSS when people laugh at him because of his circus trauma, which is when he starts leaning into his intimidating persona to make it stop.
(Colossus - IDLES) - This is Mammoth’s stewing-in-who-he-is phase at the academy. He’s learned his role. He’s learned to accept he’s just an asset, he’s one dimensional. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t haunt him. He’s successful at the academy. He’s stronger than he’s ever been. But he’s also miserable. The more he lets himself lean into this brutish, miserable, angry persona, the more he sees his father staring back at him in the mirror - “They laugh at me when I run / I waste away for fun / I am my father’s son / his shadow weights a tonne”. And then the break near the end of the song where it goes from heavy to fast and fun makes me think of when Mammoth starts to have his breakthrough. I feel like getting into underground wrestling (and making friends with the hive, instead of just teammates), gives him the opportunity to make that change between his trauma and viewing his strength as a burden to something closer to positive masculinity. He DOESN’T just have to hit things for other people. Sometimes, he can hit things for himself! (like people that harass his friends)
(Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - AC/DC) - This is another song Mammoth would work out to. This is his switch from working with the academy to the academy falling and working with the hive five. He’s not hitting things because Brother Blood told him he’s a useless good for nothing if he doesn’t, he’s hitting things because he and his friends want to have fun!
(Never Fight A Man With A Perm - IDLES) - “Two arms like big baseball bats / a jaw like a fuck off bear trap” oh pack it up. Go home. This is it. This is THEEEE Baran “Mammoth” Flinders SONG for me. Every time this song comes up I IMMEDIATELY think of him. Like this song is from the perspective of everyone who’s Not the hive five. Not even just the lyrics, but the steady bump of the instrumentals make me think of the way he just STOMPS around too.
(STARTAFIGHT - Joey Valence & Brae) - This and the next few songs just make me think of Mammoth from his wrestling persona. He’s sooooooo excited to punch someone. As someone who used to fight, a LOT, I love positive masculinity wrestler Mammoth. After he joins the hive five and is around people who are actually nice to him and are his friends, he’s not even really an ANGRY person anymore, he just likes fighting!
(We Will Rock You - Megan Thee Stallion, Queen) - Listen. Listen,,,, I can explain. Mammoth already likes the classic rock vibe, and I swear to god I didn’t mean for Megan Thee Stallion to end up on this playlist, but I actually really like this song as a wrestler walk out/theme kind of song. “I’m the one to beat / make ‘em get on they feet / i’m the one that got your best fighter losin’ sleep”, come ONNNNN
(Time To Shine! - Hoyo) - I really DIDN’T REALIZE Hoyo showed up so much in these playlists, but they make so much dynamic music, it was probably a little inevitable. Listen,,,, I promise this isn’t Itto propaganda I actually do really love his theme for Mammoth. Like it’s hard to describe but this song is just so LOUD, PROUD, VICTORY to me. The fast paced brass that comes in to the pattern of a fight?? Too good. Like that bridge with the horns and fast drums makes me so easily picture Mammoth just bodying someone in a fight. And it really encapsulates his personality to me. The brashness, the loudness, the confidence, AND the juxtaposition of that with the very beginning and very end of the song- the chill, cool kind of beat. Mammoth really is a chill guy most of the time, but he CAN get loud and brash and mean when he wants to.
(Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin) - This and the last few songs are just songs I think Mammoth would like/listen to/relate to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(Who’s Ready for Tomorrow?) - RAT BOY - I ESPECIALLY like this one because it gives off Mammoth’s chill-with-his-life-now vibe, but also the carnival-y music in the background really makes it for me
(Boys Don’t Cry - Destructo Disk) - Mammoth pretends not to like The Cure (he listened to it with Kyd one time and it REALLLLY hit him because he really is actually a pretty sensitive person he’s just also constantly having to deconstruct the masculine urge to bury it all down)
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