Cover Versions (Part 2)

....don't get me wrong, there are also some shockers. This version of Devo's Girl you want is mind-numbingly bad!

Cover Versions

Many people have an irrational, almost pathological hatred for cover versions. It doesn’t matter how brilliant it is, people will invariably say, ‘oh, it’s not as good as the original’. It doesn’t matter if the original version was played by a half-deaf old guy on an out-of-tune ukulele, and the cover version is played by, say, The Rolling Stones (actually, in this case there probably wouldn’t be that much difference). Anyway, you get the point. People hate cover versions.

However, it hasn’t always been this way. Back in the 1950s and 60s, most of the songs in the top 40 were cover versions. Back then nobody really cared about writing songs. I mean, why go to all the effort to write one when you can simply steal a perfectly good song a black person has already written?

Anyway, I completely disagree with these ignorant plebs who value nostalgia over good taste, and I think there are many cover versions that shit all over the originals. Here are some of my favourites.

BEST COVER VERSIONS:

Gary Jules – Mad World (orig. Tears for fears)
Youth Group – Forever Young (orig. by German band Alphaville)
Nirvana – The man who sold the world (orig. by David Bowie)
William Shatner – Common people (orig. Pulp)
Sarah Blasko – Goodbye yellow brick road (by Elton John)
Jimi Hendrix – All along the watchtower (orig. by Bob Dylan)
Soft Cell – Tainted love (orig. by Gloria Jones)
The Clash – I fought the law (orig. by The Crickets-post-Buddy Holly)
Sinead O’Conner – Nothing compares to you (orig. by Prince)


And what I consider the best cover version EVER:
Johnny Cash – Hurt (orig. by Nine Inch Nails)




If you have any favourites, please post them in the comments section...

Pick-up lines for Greenies

I’ve come up with a few environmentally-friendly pick-up lines you might want to use next time you’re cruising for unwashed Fitzroy babes:


Is it just me or is the atmosphere in here getting hotter?

Are you interested in emissions trading?

I would like to sustainably develop our relationship.

If you were a type of coal, would you rather be clean or dirty?

How would you feel if my Gunn erected a pulp mill in your map of Tasmania?

Are you are a climax-change sceptic? Let me show you some hard proof.

Are my carbon emissions causing the hole in your ozone-layer to enlarge?

You’ve just caused an oil spill in my southern ocean.

Comrade Kingsmille's People's Radio's 100 Most Esteemed Propaganda Musics of all Time Countdown (Part 2)

MY (actual) Top 10:


1. New Order – Blue Monday
2. Foo Fighters – Everlong
3. ACDC – Highway to hell
4. Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
5. Chuck Berry – Johnny B. Goode
6. Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
7. Derek and the Dominoes – Layla
8. Eminem – Stan (feat. Dido)
9. Weezer – Buddy Holly
10. B52s - Rock Lobster


Now the first thing you will probably notice is this list doesn’t contain The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis, Cream, The Doors, Bob Dylan, U2, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, Soul Asylum or even my most favourite band of all time, Ash. This is because these artists had far too many songs to choose from, and therefore, ironically, none of their songs made the list.

Comrade Kingsmille’s People’s Radio’s 100 Most Esteemed Propaganda Musics of All Time Countdown

I am currently compiling my list of 10 songs to submit to Triple J Hottest 100 of all time, and for inspiration I had a look at the Hottest 100 lists from 1989 to 2008. And WOW!? There are so many great songs to choose from. Including such classic tracks as:

Crazy Town - Butterfly (2001, #8)
The Androids - Do it with Madonna (2002, #54)
Chaka Demus and the Pliers - Tease Me (1993, #47)
The Sharp - Scratch my back (1993, #63)
East 17 - Deep (1993, #78)
and Alien Ant Farm’s unforgettable version of Smooth criminal (2001, #6)

It gets better. Those critically-acclaimed legends of illustrious talent, Limp Bizkit, have graced the Hottest 100 three times. That’s right, THREE FREAKING TIMES!!!!!!! (with one song even reaching the top 10!!):
My generation (2000, #21)
Take a look around (2000, #27)
and Nookie (1999, #8)

Other note-worthy entries include:
Peter Helliar - Bevan the musical (1999, #35)
Wheatus - Teenage dirtbag (2000, #4)
28 Days - Rip it up (2000, #11)
and Pauline Pantsdown - Back door man (1997, #5)

But let’s not forget the song that reached number one in 1998, and defined a generation with its timeless brilliance:
The Offspring - Pretty fly (for a white guy) (1998, #1)

Hottest 100 of ALL (GenY's concept of)TIME

In case you haven't been paying attention to Comrade Kingsmille's People's Radio(more commonly known as Triple J) lately, they are currently compiling a Hottest 100 of ALL TIME! (by 'all time' I suppose they mean all the way back to Spiderbait's first album - I mean, I don't think the GenY listeners have heard of those crappy old-fogie-bands like Cream or The Doors that *shudder* baby-boomers were into).

So anyway, it has got me thinking about what would make my list of Top 10 favourite songs of all time.

I hope to post my Top 10 list in the next blog, but I am not sure exactly what approach to take with my selection. I mean, what do I want this list to say about me? There are several obvious approaches I could take:


1. The "I'm too cool for school" approach:

This is where I choose the most obscure b-sides and out-takes from underground 80s European punk bands that nobody's ever heard of.

2. The "Proud to be Australian" approach:

This is where I choose only Aussie tracks. Obviously ACDC would be in there, but because it's Triple J, I would have to include Hilltop Hoods, The Herd, Muph and Plutonic, and whatever other Aussie hip-hop acts exist (plus Spiderbait of course)


3. The "I'm a bedroom-guitarist" approach:

This list should include Stairway to heaven, Knights of Sydonia by Muse, Estranged by Guns n Roses, One by Metallica, Unforgiven by Metallica, Master of Puppets by Metallica, Enter Sandman by Metallica, Fade to black by Metallica, Nothing else matters by Metallica, Eruption by Eddie Van Halen, and anything by Dreamtheatre.


4. The "No, really, I am way too cool for school" approach:

This is where I don't even compile a list. I just write a sarcastic twitter-post about how much I hate Triple J, as well as how much I hate pretty much everything.

5. The "At least Triple J will actually accept my entry" approach:

This is a strategic approach where I choose one random Muse song, one from White Stripes, Smells like teen spirit, plus seven Radiohead songs. As opposed to the previous lists which Triple J will no doubt ignore, this one will be sure to be actually included in the voting tally.



Hmmm. What should I choose?

hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian

For those times when 'sesquipedalian' won't do the job, try using:

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian


which means...'a very, very long word

Sesquipedalian

Try slipping this one into your daily conversations:


A sesquipedalian is 'a very long word' (literally 'a foot-and-a-half-long' word)

It can also be used as an adjective to describe the 'use of very long words'.


I like it. But what I love best about this word is that unlike 'phonetic' which is not actually phonetic, sesquipedalian is sesquipedalian.