Covers
When John Entwistle died, I came across an MP3 of The Who's "Boris The Spider," thinking I'd never heard it before. When I listened to it, I realized I had in fact heard it before, but not this version. It took some serious on-the-can cogitation before I realized that the late-80s Seattle band The Accused (featuring Blaine Fart, formerly of The Fartz, a band that also featured that skeeze from Guns 'n' Roses) did a version of "Boris The Spider" on one of their albums.
This raised an interesting topic for discussion: what songs did you hear covered by punk (or whatever) bands long before you heard the original? Here's some of mine, and don't laugh:
Dr. Wu- Minutemen (Steely Dan)
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love- Minutemen (Van Halen)
Eight Miles High- Husker Du (The Byrds???)
Red and the Black- fIREHOSE (Blue Oyster Cult)
He's A Whore- Big Black (Cheap Trick)
And this little gem comes courtesy of Chris "CFS Drool King" Longfield...
Supplementary Topic: why aren't there "covers" in other art forms? What if I did a cover of a Chagall painting and put it up for sale in a coffee shop?
This comes up because I was just thinking about how this horrible bar band in Missoula that got an NEA grant to record and release a CD. The resultant CD consisted almost entirely of note-for-note covers of old R&B songs!
- Yalingus Starr July 06, 2002 12:09I don't know about the punk rock-classic rock thing, but I remember in 1994, when I finally emerged from deep within the cloud of Chrondonesia smoke, I figured out that the majority of the beats in Dre and Snoop's songs came from the Parliament-Funkadelic catalog. I no idea those bands existed. Hip-hop samples were also how I discovered the music of James Brown. Is that sad or what?
Speaking of Smetanka's fiery arse, I had my new friend over during a little after-hours party the other night. We needed some privacy, so we headed to the basement for a bit of "quiet conversation." I eventually realized that my friend had grown preoccupied by something he saw hanging on the wall. I turned and saw he was practically nose-to-nose with a close-up picture of a lit bottle rocket, pre-take off, in Andy's booty crack. Jesus, did I ever have a time trying to explain that one, especially given the fact that English is my friend's third language.
- Roxanne Shante July 08, 2002 09:59"Happiness is a Warm Gun" --Breeders
- Joshorse July 09, 2002 13:07"Cherokee People" --Yale Kaul
About Dre et.al sampling liberally from Parliament- I came to that realization pretty late in the game myself. But I'll bet that less than 10% of Dr. Dre fans were hip to P-Funk prior to hearing Dre.
And I am flattered beyond belief that someone remembered my early-90s obsession with that song "Cherokee People" by the Raiders. I can't for the life of me remember why I was so transfixed by that stupid song.
And, like you, Josh, many Beatles covers and references escape me, since I've never really like that band of limey fags.
That is a Beatles cover, right?
- Yondelle Kaul July 09, 2002 20:06Actually, one of my earliest memories of you, Yale, is singing Cherokee Peeps when you and Jason and me and Aron were using Jake Gotcher as a utility drummer. I seem to recall falling over laughing as I thought you'd made the thing up.
And yeh, that is a Beatles song.
- Schwa July 10, 2002 13:06It took me about a decade to realize that The Damned's "I Feel Alright" was really a cover of "1970" by the Stooges.
Also that "Alone Again Or" was originally by Love.
- timholland July 11, 2002 17:02ack ack ack as performed by tres kids from athens, ga
- dave sasshole July 24, 2002 19:24"Put a Little Love in Your Heart" was done by the Circle Jerks. I don't think I've heard the original yet.
- matt haze August 09, 2002 16:53