“Get It On (Bang a Gong)”
by The Power Station (originally by T. Rex)
from the album The Power Station
1985
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I love this cover. The T. Rex original is a classic but this is the version I keep returning to. The combo of that crazy hi-hat, the crunchy guitar and that slap bass is intoxicating. On top of it all you’ve got Robert Palmer working his slick, sexy cool swagger through those lyrics. What the fuck do they even mean?
“Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
by Simple Minds
from The Breakfast Club: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1985
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Whenever I submit #116365, I always think it’s going to be a big crowd pleaser. When I get to the “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!” part, I expect the whole bar to enthusiastically shout along, but it never happens. It’s usually just me on stage doing my own thing. I’m still having fun, but I want us to be having fun too.
Continue reading Karaoke Tuesday: “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
“Theme From NARC”
by the Pixies (originally by NARC)
from the album Complete ‘B’ Sides
2001
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Every time this track shuffles up, I’m instantly transported back to high school. My buddy Houston and I would spend a good portion of Friday afternoons playing video games at the local convenience store or Wal-Mart (our pseudo arcades). Between bags of Chili Cheese Fritos and cans of Cherry Coke we’d play whatever they had in stock that month. Wal-Mart usually offered up far such as Double Dragon, Super Off-Road and our favorite co-op, Silkworm. Minit Mart kept Bad Dudes, GI Joe, Bubble Bobble and NARC in the corner between the beef jerky and the fountain drinks for what seemed like years. Which was just fine with us. Particularly when the machines of the late 80s/early 90s put out such good theme songs:
“Cigarette Dangles”
by The Pursuit of Happiness
from the album The Downward Road
1993
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I’m picking a song that I’ve never performed for my Karaoke Tuesday post… which is straight-up cheating. It doesn’t even fall into the category of I always look for this song, but they never have it. But upon stumbling across the music video recently, I think this song might actually be the prototype karaoke song for me back in college, before I had the balls to sing in public, or more accurately, the ability to pound Jack and Cokes until I didn’t care that I was singing in public.
“War Pigs”
by Faith No More (originally by Black Sabbath)
from the album The Real Thing
1989
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Let’s get things straight. “War Pigs” is a bad-ass song all on its own. Even if you’re not an Ozzy-worshiping Sabbath fan, you can most definitely appreciate the bad-assedness of “War Pigs” I mean the lyrics alone are the fucking jam, but you layer in some sludgy bass and rusty chainsaw guitar licks over the top and that’s a recipe for successful head-banging. But what happens if you add about 25% more funk?
“Under The Bridge”
by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
from the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik
1991
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This song was an early addition to my karaoke playlist and stayed there for two or three solid seasons. It’s great track to force the night to catch its breath, and slow down the pace a bit.
“Treat Her Right”
by The Commitments (originally by Roy Head and the Traits)
from the soundtrack to The Commitments
1991
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The Commitments was one of our go-to movies for late nights at college. I don’t remember seeing it in the theaters, so I think it was almost exclusively watched on VHS rentals from More Than Video. I’m not sure who in my group found it, but we could recite it from memory, at least the parts we could make out through the Irish brogue. This movie hit some soft spots for me: Motown/soul/blues music, ensemble pieces and weird accents. Plus, what a fun band to listen to. Case in point, the opening song to the movie.
“Burn After Writing”
by the Menzingers
from the album On The Impossible Past
2012
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A couple of thoughts before I really dig in. First, it’s kind of fucking amazing that neither one of us has talked in-depth about how fantastic this album is. And it’s not like the band puts out constantly stellar material, but this particular album I’ll put up there against most of my favorite albums from my favorite groups. Second, it’s totally Thursday and I never did a Karaoke Tuesday post, but two days late is hard to fake, so I’m coming clean. The shame of this Karaoke Thursday post title will haunt me at least until I finish writing this post.
“Money”
by the Backbeat Band (originally by Barret Strong)
from the soundtrack to Backbeat
1994
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Oh man, I had two songs in mind for my cover selection today, both covers of Motown classics, but this one gets the nod today because I’ve been listening to a lot of Afghan Whigs lately. I’ll file that other one away for later. This is actually an all-star 90s alternative cover of a Beatles cover of a Barrett Strong track. It features members of REM, Gumball, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Soul Asylum and Afghan Whigs.
“All I Want Is You”
by U2
from the album Rattle & Hum
1988
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Although I’m not much of a U2 fan these days, there’s no denying that they have some amazing songs and albums in their catalog (if you don’t think Joshua Tree is a perfect album, please leave the planet now). Rattle & Hum is a mixed bag sandwiched between the aforementioned Joshua Tree and the brilliant Achtung Baby (which should have been their final album). There is a ton of filler and disappointing covers but they also include some downright amazing tracks, notably “God Part II,” “Desire” and my pick for Karaoke Tuesday, “All I Want Is You.”