Police Called After Backpacker Bar Holds Neighbourhood Hostage with Over 50 Consecutive Plays of ‘What’s Up?’
By TRENT MACGUFFIN, EDITORIAL INTERN
PAI, THAILAND — Local police were called to a popular backpacker bar late Thursday night after the DJ allegedly played 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up?" on repeat more than 50 times, sparking accusations of “cultural vandalism” and “psychological warfare.”
Authorities responded after several neighboring businesses filed noise complaints, citing "extreme repetition" and "emotional duress."
“I thought it was a remix at first,” said Aaron DeWitt, 22, from Seattle, who was trying to sleep at a hostel next door. “But by the fourth hour... you start questioning reality. And your life choices.”
Witnesses said the crowd of backpackers embraced the song, with large groups of backpackers raising their beers and shouting the chorus at full volume.
“By the time we reached play 41, it wasn’t about the music anymore,” said survivor Louis Tremblay, 32, from Montreal. “It was about the endurance of the human spirit.”
Police arrived shortly after midnight, responding to noise complaints and reports of “unlicensed cultural trauma.”
Officers were greeted with yet another chorus of “Hey yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah,” at which point, according to eyewitnesses, one officer visibly winced and reached for the speaker cable without hesitation.
The DJ, identified only as "DJ ShantiCore," had previously refused all requests to change tracks. One backpacker from Australia was allegedly expelled from the bar, bruised and bleeding after the crowd turned on him after he suggested “maybe we should mix it up a bit”.
This reporter, sent to cover the incident, was drawn into the mass singalong during the 47th cycle. In an attempt to gain the trust of potential interviewees, I found myself shouting, “And I pray! Oh my God, do I pray!” alongside a ecstatic Swedish backpacker named Tilde.
Following police intervention during the 53rd play, officers confiscated the DJ’s laptop and replaced the music with a soothing instrumental playlist featuring whale sounds and rainstorms.
The crowd thinned out. Police gave the bar owner a ticket for violation of public sanity laws. No arrests were made, but several patrons were later seen wandering back to their hostels, walking arm in arm singing the chorus in loud, drunken voices on walking street.
The bar owner declined to comment, saying only that “we give the people what they want. If they have no taste, so what? This is a business.”