Tag Archives: 80s

Karaoke Tuesday: “Add It Up”

September 16, 2014Music#KaraokeTuesday, 80s, 90s, alternative, high school, karaoke, lyrics, songs, violent femmesChris

“Add It Up”
by Violent Femmes
from the album Violent Femmes
1983
Buy the album on Amazon

I wasn’t sure what to post today, and then, no lie, all three versions that I have of this song came up in a row on shuffle on the way home, so I’d better post it or the universe is going to have me get hit by a bus tomorrow or something. How have I not posted any Femmes yet? I love #KaraokeTuesday and #CoverFriday, but Lance is right that we need some other day for everything else (and yes, next month I will try to post another monthly theme, though even that may not be open-ended enough).

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Cover Friday: “The Chauffeur”

September 12, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 80s, 90s, alternative, alternative metal, covers, deftones, duran duran, lyrics, music videos, pop, songsLance

“The Chauffeur”
by Deftones (originally by Duran Duran)
from the album The Duran Duran Tribute Album
1997
Buy the album on Amazon

It’s completely rare to have one of my favorite bands covering one of my other favorite bands, particularly in this case when the genres they occupy are so far apart. The Deftones could probably best be described as alternative metal whereas Duran Duran best epitomize the 80s dance pop/new wave sound. That kind of sounds like mixing bacon and ice cream. But you know what? I’ve had bacon ice cream and it’s delicious.

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Cover Friday: “Pictures of Matchstick Men”

September 5, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 120 minutes, 80s, alternative, camper van beethoven, covers, cracker, music videos, ozzy osbourne, songs, status quo, type o negativeLance

“Pictures of Matchstick Men”
by Camper Van Beethoven (originally by Status Quo)
from the album Key Lime Pie
1989
Buy the album on Amazon

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.

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Cover Friday: “Get It On (Bang a Gong)”

August 22, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 80s, covers, duran duran, music videos, robert palmer, songs, the power stationLance

“Get It On (Bang a Gong)”
by The Power Station (originally by T. Rex)
from the album The Power Station
1985
Buy the album on Amazon

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?

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Karaoke Tuesday: “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”

August 19, 2014Music#KaraokeTuesday, 80s, alternative, karaoke, movies, simple minds, songs, soundtracks, the breakfast clubLance

“Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
by Simple Minds
from The Breakfast Club: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1985
Buy the album on Amazon

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.

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Cover Friday: “Theme From NARC”

August 15, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 80s, 90s, alternative, arcade games, convenience stores, covers, high school, junior high, pixies, video gamesLance

“Theme From NARC”
by the Pixies (originally by NARC)
from the album Complete ‘B’ Sides
2001
Buy the album on Amazon

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:

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Cover Friday: “Against All Odds”

August 15, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 00s, 80s, alternative, ben gibbard, coveroke, covers, death cab for cutie, karaover, songs, soundtracks, the postal serviceChris

“Against All Odds”
by The Postal Service (originally by Phil Collins)
from the album Give Up (Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition)
2004
Buy the album on Amazon

Keeping it simple this week and doing a karaoke/cover pair. Karaover? Coveroke? I’m a fan of the Postal Service and of course of this song. This is a much “colder” (in feeling) version and less heartfelt than the original. Wikipedia tells me that this cover was named by the NY Post as one of the best covers of all time. I wouldn’t go that far, but it is enjoyable.

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Karaoke Tuesday: “Against All Odds”

August 12, 2014Music#KaraokeTuesday, 80s, karaoke, music videos, phil collins, songsChris

“Against All Odds”
by Phil Collins
from the album Against All Odds
1984
Buy the album on Amazon

Aaaannndd…I’m back.

There are a couple of reasons I’m going with this song this week. One is that last week on the This American Life podcast, they replayed one of my favorite stories they’ve ever done, about getting advice from Phil Collins on how to write a breakup song (highly recommended listening!). When I first heard it a few years ago, it totally made me respect Phil Collins and especially this song (I hadn’t given him much thought before, except I always chuckled when I thought of an off-color joke I heard once about Susudio). It also made me consider singing this song.

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Cover Friday: “War Pigs”

August 8, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 80s, alternative, black sabbath, covers, faith no more, metalLance

“War Pigs”
by Faith No More (originally by Black Sabbath)
from the album The Real Thing
1989
Buy the album on Amazon

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?

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Cover Friday: “Forever Young”

July 25, 2014Music#CoverFriday, 00s, 80s, alphaville, alternative, covers, music videos, songs, youth groupChris

“Forever Young”
by Youth Group (originally by Alphaville)
from the album Casino Twilight Dogs
2006
Buy the album on Amazon

I’m going to keep this one short. It’s 1 in the morning, and I’m exhausted, but I’m not going to get a chance to post during the day and I can’t very well give Lance a hard time about Karaoke Thursday if I don’t post for #CoverFriday.

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