Written in 1998, the song tells the tale of the one of the significantly more obscure characters, Kevin aka "that little monkey guy". He never speaks on the show, except for a one time yelp in the episode "201". His character is never explained except as Mephisto's "son", the bizarre creature is a mystery to the casual fan but a dedicated fan will want to know just what the &#*% that little monkey guy is doing there.
Well, Primus (featuring Isaac Hayes) has the answer.
The song fills us in that Kevin is a genetically engineered pop star, born from Michael Jackson's sperm and an anonymous female singer's egg created by an old friend of Mephisto's. We even get to hear Kevin singing his song "I am Gopher Boy".
Personally, I love the song, it's a greatly humorous story with a catchy tune (Isaac Hayes even comments in the song about Kevin's tune being stuck in his head). From a storytelling perspective, what makes it great is that it manages to tell a very full story in five minutes and eighteen seconds.
The story works perfectly in this form because as much as this is a fun story, a full episode about a very tiny character like this will not play very well with the casual fans but it's a fun addition to the album they were putting out and fleshes out a minor mystery from the show.
So despite occurring years before anyone was really wondering what the &#*% transmedia was, this song is a perfect example of what transmedia can, and should, be.
Props: South Park is, of course, copyright property of Viacom and Comedy Central. If you'd like to purchase the song "Mephisto and Kevin" you can get the album "Chef Aid" on iTunes here or from Amazon here. You can check out South Park episodes free online (and legal!) here.
