Chuck E. Cheese Is Getting Rid Of Their Animatronic Band At All Locations But One

SOURCE - "Munch's Make Believe Band" will only continue performing at the Chuck E. Cheese in Northridge, California, which is right outside of Los Angeles. All other Chuck E. Cheese locations will have their animatronic bands stop performing.

President and CEO of Chuck E. Cheese parent company, CEC Entertainment, David McKillips said in a press release, “As an important part of the legacy of the brand, we know that the animatronic band holds a special place for many fans in their childhood memories. We want our fans to know that the decision to keep the band here is meant as a gesture of love and gratitude as our legacy continues to evolve in new ways.”

They keep talking about keeping the one band in California like they are doing us this great service while they rip our still beating childhood hearts out of our chests. The band is what made Chuck E. Cheese special! Otherwise, isn't Chuck E. Cheese just a shitty Dave & Busters? Even in the 1980's, it was always weird. They sang these lame songs and moved oddly but they were also unquestionably fun.

Is this all because of Five Night's At Freddy's? 

The movie was a pretty big hit opening at number 1 and has already made $127 million dollars in the box office. But is this a reason to get rid of the band? It's not like they pulled dolls off the shelves because Child's Play came out and Chucky was scary. Not only that, but Five Nights At Freddy's was a massive video game long before the movie came out. The concept of these characters coming alive isn't new.

SOURCE- The Munch Make Believe Band includes Chuck E as the lead singer, Mr. Munch on keyboards, Jasper T. Jowls on guitar, Helen Henny on vocals, and Pasqually on drums.

The band lip-syncs to the audio and music in the show tapes. They used to play covers until 2014, when they started playing original ones.

Smith Collection/Gado. Getty Images.

Look at Munch's Make Believe Band. You got a mouse, hen, dinosaur (?), dog and a pizza chef all in the same band working together to play some music. Isn't this every message we are trying to get kids to learn like inclusion and the arts? Poor Mr. Munch. It's clearly his band and where does this leave him? Pasqually can still make pizza (assuming they won't take that away too). For Munch, this is another reminder that his species is extinct.

I don't know…maybe kids now think these characters are lame as shit. I'm not a parent so I have no idea. All I know is I used to love Chuck. E. Cheese. I had my 6th, 7th and 8th birthday parties there. Well, kind of. For my 8th party, when we got there the location we went to on Long Island, that particular Chuck E. Cheese had been closed permanently that day before. I just sat in a minivan and tried to hold back tears while kids brought me presents and left. 

It speaks volumes about how strong nostalgia is that I don't have anger now when I think of Chuck E. Cheese. My first memories now are of the ball pit, playing arcade games, eating bad pizza (sorry Pasqually) and watching that weird band. Every time I went there (that they weren't closed), I had a great time there.

RIP Munch's Make Believe Band.