Tag Archives: alternative

Cover Friday: “3 Is A Magic Number”

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School House Rock! Rocks
School House Rock! Rocks

“3 Is A Magic Number”
by Blind Melon (originally by School House Rock!)
from the album School House Rock! Rocks
1996
Buy the album on Amazon

I found this track on a CMJ magazine sampler CD  sometime in 1996.  A few years later I totally got into MiniDiscs and transferred the tracks I really liked from those sampler CDs to MDs.  And then recently when I was moving down to Austin, I transferred those MD mix discs into iTunes.  This song has survived three generations of media, and rightfully so.  It’s fun, magical little tune and serves as double nostalgia: for Blind Melon and for School House Rock!

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May Summer Songs: “Give It Away”

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Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Blood Sugar Sex Magik

“Give It Away”
by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
from the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik
1991
Buy the album on Amazon

This song sweats, that’s all there is to it.  Even before Stéphane Sednaouie‘s gorgeous video confirmed it, the song had that dessert sun feeling to it.  It’s just stanky and funky.  I’ve performed this at karaoke a few times and it’s an exhausting song to sing.  The structure is relentless and punishing – there’s never a chance to catch your breath.   If you put it in the car and crank it and you’ll be excited for whatever adventure you’re driving towards, guaranteed.  It’s totally a summer party anthem.   Speaking of, this song brings to mind a very specific summer memory.

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Karaoke Tuesday: “Jane Says”

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Nothing's Shocking
Nothing’s Shocking

“Jane Says”
by Jane’s Addiction
from the album Nothing’s Shocking
1988
Buy the album on Amazon

“Jane Says” is another one of those songs whose absence from the karaoke songbook is a total head scratcher.  Most places will have “Been Caught  Stealing” and that makes sense, but then they’ll also have some random track off of Strays but not “Jane Says.”   I mean  WTF is that about?

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Cover Friday: “Happiness is a Warm Gun”

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Pod
Pod

“Happiness is a Warm Gun”
by The Breeders (originally by The Beatles)
from the album Pod
1990
Buy the album on Amazon

I’m already a day late, and with 11 minutes to spare, nearly two days, so I’ll follow Lance’s lead and go with one where I’m slightly embarrassed to admit I only knew this cover version for a long time before I ever heard the original.

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Cover Friday: “Dead Souls”

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The Crow
The Crow

“Dead Souls”
by Nine Inch Nails (originally by Joy Division)
from The Crow Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1995
Buy the album on Amazon

There’s been a definite pattern with my choice of cover  songs lately, in that I fell in love with the cover version long before I heard the original.   I don’t want to disappoint my loyal fan by diverging from this path so I present “Dead Souls” as performed by Nine Inch Nails.

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Karaoke Tuesday: “Lightning Crashes”

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Throwing Coppper
Throwing Copper

“Lightning Crashes”
by Live
from the album Throwing Copper
1994 Radioactive
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I’m totally behind on my posts, so I was feeling a bit stressed on what to pick for the karaoke entry.  I had something completely different in mind when I decided to hit MNP to see what Chris had cooked up for his entry.  Upon seeing “Brick” I thought FUCK IT and countered with my own depressing karaoke song.  Ladies and gentled, the song you should never sing with expectant parents in the room… “Lightning Crashes.”

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Karaoke Tuesday: “Brick”

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Whatever and Ever Amen
Whatever and Ever Amen

“Brick”
by Ben Folds Five
from the album Whatever and Ever Amen
1997
Buy the album on Amazon

This isn’t exactly a karaoke upper. For people who don’t know it, it’s a bit of a downer in sped, but if you do know what the song is about, it’s downright depressing. Which of course hasn’t stopped me from doing it a time or two.
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Cover Friday: “Love Hurts”

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Love and a .45
Love and a .45

“Love Hurts”
by Kim Deal and Robert Pollard (originally by The Everly Brothers)
from the album Love and a .45
1994
Buy the album on Amazon

I feel grossly uninformed, but until a week or two ago, I didn’t know anything about this song. It’s another one I randomly came across at some point and downloaded strictly because of Kim Deal (I never got into GBV). I was actually going to post it at the end of last month for #AprilDuets, but then when I started looking into it, i realized how much history the song had.

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Cover Friday: “Head On”

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Trompe Le Monde
Trompe Le Monde

“Head On”
by the Pixies (originally by The Jesus and Mary Chain)
from the album Trompe Le Monde
1991 4AD
Buy the album on Amazon

Confession time: I got into the Pixies really late in the game.  I was familiar with them from watching 120 Minutes but for some reason nothing really stuck with me at the time.  I now consider them one of my all-time favorite bands, but I can’t cop to being there at the beginning like most of my other friends.  Why did I take so long for me to catch on? I’m not sure, but when it did, it stuck.  Hard.

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