“Of a Broken Heart”
by Zwan
from the album Mary Star of the Sea
2003
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Zwan was a shitty band (I feel so much better having typed that). Mary Star of the Sea served as both the debut release and the final gasp of a band that never should have existed in the first place. It’s a complete train-wreck. Although, there is one redeeming factor in this monstrosity and it’s located on track six.
“Pictures of Matchstick Men”
by Camper Van Beethoven (originally by Status Quo)
from the album Key Lime Pie
1989
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I was totally scratching my bean this week trying to think of a cover song I wanted to blather about for a couple of graphs. I keep a little notepad of cover songs going so I can write down ideas as they pop into my head or come up on shuffle, but nothing on there was really speaking to me. So I started looking through recent posts to see if anything would spark a thought. I saw the post about Cracker’s “Teen Angst” and started wondering if they had done some cover songs as B-Sides or something and then I suddenly remembered this CVB song. I had always known it was a cover, but I thought it was by Strawberry Alarm Clock, however I was nowhere near being correct. But before we get to the original, let’s take a few minutes to watch the amazing, obviously late-80s music video for CVB’s version. It’s about 120 Minutes-worthy as you can get.
“Only”
by Nine Inch Nails
from the album With Teeth
2005
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Totally ripping of Lance today, since I thought I should as soon as he posted this and since he actually called out this song pick in his post (even if he did also bad mouth Pinkerton). I’ve only actually done this song once or twice, and I remember it made me happy that Lance thought it was a great pick (I’m sometimes ok with completely obscure songs that no one else will appreciate as long as he gets it), but I wouldn’t call it a karaoke success.
“The Hand That Feeds”
by Nine Inch Nails
from the album With Teeth
2005
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I have weird tastes in albums, particularly from established artists. Masterpieces that everyone else fawns over, I end up feeling meh about. My go-to example is Pinkerton. Sometimes it has to do with which album was my first with that artist. The Blue Album ruined me for all future entries in their discography. The same thing happened with The Downward Spiral, while it’s harder and more raw that Pretty Hate Machine (these are good things), I’ll never love it as much. But sometimes certain albums just speak to you. With Teeth was the album I needed exactly when I needed it. And consequently, it’s my favorite Nine Inch Nails album. That’s heresy for most NIN fans, but these lyrics, the raw sound of the production (after the super-indulgent Fragile) and the big-ass beats courtesy of the heaviest right foot in rock, Dave Grohl, delivered exactly what I wanted.
“Thunderstruck”
by Ministry, 2Cellos, Steve’n’Seagulls, (originally by AC/DC)
from all over the goddamned place
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I was thinking about picking an AC/DC tune for a #karaoketuesday post, but I’m sober enough right now to realize I could never pull off an AC/DC tune unless it was a swing number or something. Which got me thinking about covers that are done in a different genre than the original version. So, ladies and gentlemen, I present “Thunderstruck” as performed by three, radically different groups. But first, let’s take a listen to the original and still bad-ass AC/DC original.
“Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now)”
by Cracker
from the album Cracker
1992
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Lately I’ve been posting a lot about songs that I desperately want to perform at karaoke but couldn’t because the man didn’t deem them worthy of inclusion. However, this entry falls more in line with the thought, “Wow, this would be a great song to sing at karaoke.”
I remember generally dismissing Cracker for years based on the video for this song, which has the guys in a field prancing around like dandy rednecks, with dirt bikes and half-collapsed barns littering the background. When you’re trying to escape your shitty hometown you don’t want to be reminded of the situation everytime you turn on MTV.
“Everything Zen”
by Bush
from the album Sixteen Stone
1994
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I posted another Bush karaoke song (“Glycerine“) almost 3 months ago to the day from today. How the hell have we been doing this blog for 3+ months? I won’t rehash my thoughts on Bush, other than to say that if I remember right this was their first single, and what got me into them.
“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?
“I Want U 2 Want Me”
by Propagandhi (originally by Cheap Trick)
from the album How to Clean Everything
1993
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I grew up not really knowing about Cheap Trick at all. Maybe in a peripheral way, but that’s it. Some time in the past 5 years I picked up their Greatest Hits album, but it was a combination of the That 70’s Show opening + hearing some people sing their songs at karaoke + seeing a guy from a company we used to work with (hello Hothead!) sing this song at a live karaoke night for our former coworker Jen that drove me to it.
“Father of Mine”
by Everclear
from the album So Much for the Afterglow
1997
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Finally making a jump back to the 90’s this week. Admittedly, I’ve never actually done this song, but it’s on my list to try next time. I was just a casual fan of Everclear when they were getting big (except my still unwavering love for Summerland and Santa Monica, which should pop up here on Lance’s list one of these days), and have a couple of their albums, but this song never really caught my ear.