Coverer: Weird Al Yankovic

Technically, Weird Al songs aren't covers--they're parodies. However, I'd argue that what he does is way more admirable--whereas a cover is a redo, a parody is a rework. He comes up with completely new lyrics, and they're usually far more intelligent and clever than what the original artist recorded. He's a brilliant musician, skilled writer, and a fan-frigging-tastic performer--seriously, if you've never seen his live act, you're missing out on a truly great show (I've seen him five times myself). Plus, he's an (unconventionally) attractive dude.

His videos are masterful, too--Exhibit A, White and Nerdy:

Weird Al Yankovic MTV Music

He's loaded the vid with so much stuff, you almost don't notice the dude who's hangin' with him.

This is the video and song that really got the world to notice him:

Weird Al Yankovic MTV Music

The squeak noises you hear at the intro are what inspired me to teach myself to make hand farts--an invaluable life skill.

Another masterpiece: his sendup of Smells Like Teen Spirit:

Weird Al Yankovic |MTV Music

I read that Kurt Cobain loved this video--most artists understood that the Weird Al treatment was a tribute and honor (unlike Prince, who consistently snubbed Al's requests for cover permission).

His second dip into Michael Jackson's catalogue is probably my favorite Al video:

Weird Al Yankovic |MTV Music

Ding Dong, yo--Ding Dong.

Covering: Guns 'n Roses

I still remember buying the Guns 'n Roses Appetite for Destruction cassette from Coconuts when I was a high schooler, then playing that shiitake over and over again. Oh, man, O loved every tune, especially the opening Welcome to the Jungle and Mr. Brownstone. I refuse to acknowledge the crapfest that is Chinese Democracy and, instead, pretend that everything GNR ever did was this masterful.

First up is Fergie. This only half counts as a cover, because Slash is playing geetar at his own birthday party:

Ow ow ow ow.

Now, Richard Cheese and the Cheese Puffs with Welcome to the Jungle:


Did someone say ukulele? Here's some bald dude doing November Rain:

Dang. I wish I could play the uke that well. Maybe if I actually practiced...

Covering: The Cure

I used to idolize Robert Smith when I was a high schooler. I mean, I drew pictures of him in my notebooks, I listened to "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me" over and over, I dreamed of being Mrs. Robert Smith when I grew up--crazy for them. Fast forward two decades--I have no idea where those notebooks went, I'm not even sure where my KM3 tape went, and I'm gay. Still, I digs me some Cure. So do these people.

Here's a surprisingly faithful rendition of Just Like Heaven from overly-eyelinered AFI:

Did you see who's in the audience? How f*cking rock star--and weird--to perform a tune for the dude that made it famous.

Tori Amos just kicks holy ass with her covers--here's her doing Lovesong:

The sound quality isn't 100%, but the hilarious anime and stock-art couples this clipflipper used to make this video are worth sharing with y'all.

And some bitch named Cassie Davis doing Boys Don't Cry:

Look everyone--the lovechild of Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani! Yowch. Let's cleanse our aural palates, shall we?

I dare you to dispute the kickassedness of Ben F*cking Folds doing In Between Days:

I stood with my hands on the state at HORDE, a big concert fest, about 15 years ago, when it was still Ben Folds Five and before he was big. He sweated on me. It was awesome.

Covering: Lesser-known originals

There's a lot of songs for which the best-known version isn't the first-released version. I originally became aware of this when R.E.M. released Superman--I heard it on the radio and instantly recognized it as a song from one of my mom's old 45s that I'd played repeatedly on my Raggedy Ann turntable as a child:

The band is The Clique, and the accompanying video is a homemade clip. No, I don't know why the person chose to use Hitler and cats that look like him. Weird.

You might know Kris Kristofferson better as an actor from old stuff like the A Star is Born remake with Barbra Streisand or newer flicks like Blade. However, he's also a prolific songwriter, and he penned this gem most closely associated with Janis Joplin:

It's hard not to consider the Janis version as better, since it's such a well-loved classic, but his sweetly sung, occasionally off-key version is pretty durned good, too.

Joe Cocker is arguably better known for his covers than his original tunes. He managed to steal a tune from the Beatles, for crying out loud. When I hear Feelin' Alright in my head, it's his version, not this original from Traffic:

Fun story: I saw Traffic lead singer Stevie Winwood about five years ago, sitting at the back table in Potbelly when Tegan and Sara were performing for a short WXRT show. He looked sad that no one recognized him. I did--the dude looked unbelievably fabulous--but I tend to make an ass out of myself when I try to approach famous people. Maybe I should have bought him a sandwich.

I originally heard this next song when Anne Previn (daughter of director Andre Previn) came on the Howard Stern show to perform her song Torn, which Natalie Imbruglia covered:

While soap star/model-turned-singer Imbruglia offers up a peppy, poppy rendition, the original performance is the only one that makes sense. How can you sing "I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel, I'm cold and I am shamed, lying naked on the floor" and make it danceable? Nope, I infinitely prefer Previn's original, with its laid-bare vocals, slowed tempo, and appropriately raw guitar accompaniment. Even better: If you can find her acoustic performance from the Stern show, download that. It's one of my all-time favorite songs. Natalie Imbruglia can go F herself.

Covering: Bringing on the Heartbreak

Some songs are covered repeatedly because they're brilliant enough that they...well, bear repeating. Others are covered over and over because they're bad enough that goofing on them is way fun. I'm thinking of the dichotomy between the two songs mentioned in yesterday's post: Radiohead's Creep definitely falls into the first category--I'd argue it's among the top 50 rock songs ever, and probably very near No. 1. Britney Spears' Womanizer, catchy though it may be, falls firmly into the crapalicious category.

Then, there's songs that don't fall into either--songs that, when covered, leave me scratching my huge head. Def Leppard's Bringin' on the Heartbreak falls into this category. It's sucky, but painfully so. It's not campy fun, it's not catchy--it's just best left in the dustbin. Yet, Mariah Carey decides to have a go at it:

The person that posted this on YouTube refers to the clip as "the American megastar's beautifully melancholic and understated cover of this classic song" which is even funnier than Mariah's melodramatic trudge through the tune.

This enthusiastic cover comes from REDaCHE (there's an umlaut over the lowercase A, but I don't know how to do that on Blogger--sorry), a Brazilian band with more hair than talent (although the lead singer doesn't suck):

I'm seriously distracted by the hairtossing guitarist and the stick-twirling drummer. Seriously, maybe you should learn the tricks AFTER you acquire musical skills, amigos.

Now a band called Tannerfozz, who seem to be playing in a high school gymnasium:

Notable: all the people in the folding chairs visible in the bottom of the screen walk out very early in the performance, save for the one guy in the right-hand corner of your screen. He must have lost a bet.

Best in this group is two Chilean kids, Boro and Pink Spider:

Just a dude and his cute little girlfriend, jamming in the living room. Simple and pretty, their no-bullshit performance and her rich, clear voice elevate a shitacular song from something you can actually listen to. Go figure.

Covering: EW's dumbass question

The headline on EW's music blog yesterday: Britney Spears' Womanizer: The new Creep? Seems a crapload of people from Lilly Allen to Franz Ferdinand are covering Brit's sh!t hit, just like scads of artists did with Radiohead's song.

There, however, the similarities between the two end. Abruptly.

Creep is a brilliantly crafted, heartbreaking, masterpiece of a song, Womanizer is audio junk food--delicious, yes, but as high quality as a Chicken McNugget. People are covering Womanizer ironically, like they would Macarthur Park or Hangin' Tough. While we're still remembering, playing, and enduring painful karaoke renditions of Creep more than a dozen years after its initial release, Womanizer will be forgotten as soon as the next piece of pop poop comes along.

Covering: Surfin' Bird

I'd like to apologize in advance for this post, because it's pretty much a given that after reading and listening to the links you'll have it stuck in your head for the rest of the day, minimum.

Among the hits of the 1960s, The Trashmen's Surfin' Bird has got to be among the weirdest. It reached #4 on Billboard's Hot 100, despite the fact that its lyrics are easy enough for a Republican monkey to learn. Covering it, it'd be hard to add to the weirdness--or so you'd think.

First off, Peter Griffin gives it the Family Guy treatment.

Nice--although my favorite FG musical bit is still the Patriots Shpoopie performance.

Now, Gus and Fin rockin' the ukes:

I'm more smitten with their awesome mic than anything.

And Pee Wee Herman:

Is that Sammy Hagar on guitar? Doubt it.

Finally, a spectacle from a Japanese band called Chad Cried:

I was more than a minute into this clip when I realized this clip wasn't mislabeled--they actually ARE singing Surfin Bird. In their own unique way. Ow.

Covering: Aerosmith

Aerosmith's had a pretty good run--they've been rocking their hits longer than most of these guyliner-wearing Emo candyasses have been alive. They were the first band to have an entire Guitar Hero game made up of their stuff (although, we have to admit, we're more excited about the upcoming Beatles Rock Band entry). It makes sense, then, that they'd have quite a few artists covering their guys--they're living legends.

Let's start off with the Let's Get this Party Started woman, P!nk:

I'm sorry, did you say something? I was distracted by P!nk's abs.

Now, some Italian lads that call themselves the Bastard Sons of Dioniso:

There's a certain charm to three paisanos trying to rap in their non-native language, but that doesn't totally make up for the fact that they kind of suck.

Here's Papa Roach attempting Sweet Emotion:

In the immortal words of Oscar Wilde, "What the f*ck was THAT sh!t?!"

Sorry--we'll cleanse your aural palate with Tori Amos covering Dream On:

Ms. Tori's one of those artists that loves and excels at covers. Check out her CD Strange Little Girls to see what I mean--she does all sorts of male artists from Neil Young to Eminem and totally makes 'em her own.

Covering: Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond was hot shiitake in the 70s and early 80s--then, all of a sudden he's dorkier than a pocket protector on a Members Only jacket. Cool people didn't listen to his stuff--their parents did. Well, now he's having a resurgence--he's got a crapload of friends on MySpace, and if you should choose to do Sweet Caroline at karaoke, you'll bring down the house. Go figure.

Let's start with Elvis Presley's cover of SC:

I would have ended with that, seeing as it's...you know...the King. However, considering you can see how messed up on prescription drugs the man is, it's a wee bit sad.

On to this version of Coming to America, by a coupla kids that call themselves the War Ponies:

I wasn't going to post this song because I hate it, but they're so into it, plus the clip has Spandex and ukuleles. Really, I had no choice.

A short but sweet Forever in Blue Jeans, done for a Gap ad by Mr. Will Ferrell:

When I was little, I thought he was singing "I'd much rather be the Reverend Blue Jeans," which sounds like he'd like to convert from Judaism to be some sort of long-haired hippie preacher.

This version of Solitary Man brings tears to my eyes. Johnny Cash does that to me a lot.

Bonus points if you can guess who's doing the backup vocals...

Covering: Britney

Between the multi-platinum albums, marriage to a white-trash lowlife, birth of two cute-ass kids, and public meltdown, Britney Spears' life has been a ride and a half. Entertaining to watch, sure, but we're glad it looks to be smoothed out--let's let Ms. Winehouse take the train-wreck baton and run with it for a while.

Love for Britney is shared by people of all ages, races, genders, and backgrounds. Take WGN720's Kathy and Judy, a pair of fabulous woman that I adore. They might be just a little bit past their teeny-bopper years, but they're still running a listener contest--record your best Britney impression and you and abuncha friends could win VIP access to Brit's Chicago show--go here for the deets.

Musicians love Britney, too--and they show it by putting out some stellar covers of her hits. First up, A Static Lullaby's version of "Toxic":

Mmm...metallic. It kicks just a little bit of ass, don't you think? Despite the rockin' up and gender switch, it's still more or less a faithful cover.

Next, Chicago's very own Marty Casey, doing "Baby One More Time" during his run to be the next INXS lead on Rock Star:

Kind of country, and the Lovehammer's lead singer is definitely capable of better. Still, it doesn't totally suck.

And here's Lilly Allen gettin' jiggy with "Womanizer":

This charming rendition is a definite improvement over the original version--I officially love Ms. Allen more than I did 15 minutes ago before I discovered this audio-only clip.

Finally, my all-time favorite Britney cover from an unexpected source--Irish folk deity Richard Thompson:

A few years ago Mr. Thompson released a project called 1000 Years of Pop--covering the gamut from Middle Ages ballads and ending with this. It's bloody brilliant--funny at first, but his impassioned vocals lend a certain gravity to a song that's really--let's be honest here--kind of stupid.

Great as these covers might be, though, ain't nobody replacing Britney, y'all.