ETC are a band composed of employees of Blizzard Entertainment who do Heavy Mithril songs related to the company's games, usually Warcraft and World of Warcraft.
They were called Tenth Level Tauren Chieftain in the days of Warcraft III, changed to Level 60 Elite when WoW came out, then went up to 70 with the release of the Burning Crusade expansion and 80 with Wrath of the Lich King, to keep up with the maximum level. At BlizzCon 2009, in the wake of another announced level cap increase for the Cataclysm expansion, they broke their pattern and instead changed their name to this symbol
◊, referring to themselves as "The Artists Formerly Known as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain" (or TAFKAL 80 ETC for short), parodying Prince. They became Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftan when Mists of Pandaria raised the level cap once more, returning to their usual pattern. With the release of Warlords of Draenor and the level cap raising to 100, they instead ended their pattern of name changes once and for all by settling on "Elite Tauren Chieftan".
They 'appear' in World of Warcraft itself as The Tauren Chieftains, doing hourly performances of "Power of the Horde" in the Darkmoon Faire, as well as standing in Silvermoon City on a balcony and waving back to anyone who waves at them.
- Members:
- Vocalist: Samwise "Samuro" Didier, also Blizzard's art director.
- Rhythm Guitarist: Chris "Sig Nicious" Sigaty, also the lead producer of Starcraft II.
- Lead Guitarist: Dave "Bergrisst" Berggren, also a concept artist and game designer.
- Bassist: Mike "Mai'Kyl" Morhaime, also Blizzard's president and co-founder.
- Drummer: Alan "Chief Thunder-Skins" Dabiri, also a senior programmer (though credited with the ambiguous term "dunsel").
- Songs:
- Power of the Horde
(2003): Played during the credits of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and is accessible in the game's single-player mode with the cheat "tenthleveltaurenchieftain". The band's World of Warcraft incarnation also plays this song during its appearances. - I Am Murloc (2007)
- Rogues Do It from Behind (2007)
- Terran Up the Night (2007): Their first non-Warcraft song, composed to celebrate the announcement of Starcraft II Wings Of Liberty earlier that year. This song was later included in Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (which focused on the terrans, appropriately enough), and could be heard in the game's jukebox, during the credits and during gameplay when the player entered the cheat "overengineeredcodpiece". Credited as Level 800 Elite Tauren Chieftain.
- Raise Some Hell (2008): Composed to celebrate the announcement of Diablo III.
- Nightfall (2008)
- For the Swarm (2011): Composed to celebrate the announcement of Starcraft II Heart Of The Swarm
- Warriors of Azeroth (2011)
- We Never Shall Fall (2014)
- Power of the Horde
This band has examples of:
- Badass Boast: "Power of the Horde".
- Creator Cameo / The Cast Show Off: Because the band was formed by Blizzard employees, this was expected. They have appeared several times in World of Warcraft, and there's an ad of the band in Starcraft II. The Elite Tauren Chieftain, a tauren chieftain wielding a guitar, is also a card in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and a playable character in Heroes of the Storm.
- Double Entendre: "Rogues Do It from Behind".
- Heavy Mithril: What do you expect?
- "I Am" Song: "I Am Murloc".
- Rank Inflation: Level 10 -> Level 60 -> Level 70 -> Level 80 -> Level 90
- They should've been Level 85 as of World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion, but skipped it to parody Prince.
- They make an appearance in StarCraft II as Level 800 Elite Tauren Chieftain.
