“Smells Like Teen Spirit”
by Tori Amos (originally by Nirvana)
from the album Crucify
1992
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I had something else totally in mind and was working through what to write, and then I got busy and forgot to post until Lance just reminded me. I’m late for EST and probably Central, but I’m going to make it in Mountain Time. Even though I had already thought through my other choice, this pick just came to me in a flash and seemed like the better choice.
Kick
by Courtney Barnett (originally by INXS)
from Pure Pop Records’ “Summer Of Classic Albums” concert series
2012
Buy the original album on Amazon
When Chris posted his “Jackson” karaoke post, he included a cover that INXS did, which got me to wondering who has covered INXS? Just as that thought popped into my head, I remembered stumbling across this video of Courtney Barnett performing the Kick album in its entirety.
“The Chauffeur”
by Deftones (originally by Duran Duran)
from the album The Duran Duran Tribute Album
1997
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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.
“Talk About the Passion”
by Samson & The Philistines (originally by R.E.M.)
from the album Surprise Your Pig: A Tribute to R.E.M.
1992
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Continuing with the R.E.M. week, here’s one from a tribute album from way back (pre-Out of Time). I was a big R.E.M. fan for quite a while (I started waning with Automatic for the People), so when this came out I had to have it. As I’ve mentioned before, like with most albums of this sort, the results are very hit or miss, and mostly miss, but I liked a couple of them. The album is comprised of generally obscure bands (at least to me), but I did appreciate that most of the bands gave a unique spin to their versions. I probably still have a copy of the album somewhere, but this song is for some reason the only one currently in my iTunes library. This particular cover isn’t amazing, but it does become interesting to hear it in a different language (errr..spanish?). It certainly doesn’t trump the original, but is worth a listen.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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:
“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.