Winger (band) - Criticism

Criticism

Winger was the subject of constant ridicule in MTV's animated series Beavis and Butt-head during the mid-1990s. The neighbor boy Stewart, who was always trying to be accepted by Beavis and Butt-head, was usually depicted wearing a Winger T-shirt, as opposed to the heavier Metallica and AC/DC shirts worn by the title characters. Beavis and Butt-head thought of them as "wussies", belittling their videos—especially the "Seventeen" video. According to the documentary Taint of Greatness: Part 2 on the Mike Judge Collection Volume 2 DVD, this was due to Kip Winger telling MTV he would not let the show make fun of him. This has been cited as a reason for the band losing popularity. Mike Judge would continue to slyly mock Winger in his next animated series King of the Hill, as the character of John Redcorn was a former roadie for the band until embarking on a Native American vision quest, where he discovered that "wrangling groupies for Winger was not my proper life path".

In a 2010 interview with Eddie Trunk on That Metal Show, Kip himself denounced the rumor that he told MTV to not make fun of him. In August 2011, Mike Judge stated in an interview with Billboard "I thought (Kip Winger) had a problem with the show, but it turns out he was OK with it," Judge told Billboard.biz. "We tried other bands (logos) but nothing worked as well (as the originals)."