I love sensitive acoustic covers of non-sensitive, non-acoustic things. I think it was probably Tori Amos who turned me onto this, with her wonderful — and I don’t mean that ironically or sarcastically — cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
So eventually I recorded my abbreviated cover of “Head Like a Hole,” and I had fun with that. I should finish it some day, but I have something else planned for Mr. Reznor.
Then, there’s Jonathon Coulton’s entertaining sensitive acoustic cover of “Baby Got Back,” which I like even better than the lounge version or the Gilbert and Sullivan version.
And then, just now, Metafilter turned me on to the hilarious Alanis Morissette sensitive acoustic cover of “My Humps.” Heaven.
(Note: It is perfectly okay to say Tori Amos or Alanis sucks — or I do, or Coulton does — in the comments, but if you do you have to mention an artist you totally love.)
Heh. I haven’t listen to Alanis since sometime shortly after “Ironic” (or whatever that song was actually called), but that was actually pretty good.
Tori Amos is such a freak. I love her.
Anyone who says Tori sucks is gonna get some drama. And you don’t want no drama.
Now I’m going to spend all week trying to remember which female artist did that smashing (haha) piano cover of Bullet with Butterfly Wings a few years back…if anyone can tell me, I’ll be much obliged.
Forget not Ben Folds’s Dr. Dre cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3C4N6p78io
That silly NiN cover amused me greatly.
Apparently today is Silly Internet Video Day. My sister sent me this one too. I refer to it as the HypnoPeep.
I can’t find the mp3, but here is a review of an acoustic version of “Gin and Juice” redone by The Gourds
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A18398
I strongly recommend JD Natasha’s cover of “Hey Ya!” Suddenly it becomes a tragic love song.
The live version of Ben Folds cover “B*tches ain’t Sh*t” is un-do-without-able. The lights were all low and bluew, and he gently leaned in over over his mike and almost whispered the opening line. Quality
Entertaining stuff. In that vein, here’s an interesting cover of Tom Waits’ Chocolate Jesus
http://robertsonstudio.com/mp3_covers/JESU2.MP3
Also, robertsonstudio.com will get you a bunch of other interesting covers, include Tom Lehrer’s Masochist Waltz.
This made my day. Especially the last two.
That Alanis song is pretty crazy. I see that, even though it was only posted today, it’s the most viewed video today on YouTube. with more than twice as many views as the next most viewed.
Anyway, I like Mat Weddle of Obadiah Parker’s cover of Hey Ya.
like few other blog posts in the (relatively brief) history of blogging, this has filled me with utmost glee. I’ve long known about Tori’s “Teen spirit” but somehow never saw the video. Jonathan Coulton is always worth mentioning. And…Alanis’ Humps have redeemed her for everything i thought obnoxious about “Ironic.” wow.
You may like The Asylum Street Spankers, then.
They cover Closer and TV Party in this live show (via the wonderful archive.org). Their original stuff (like Stick Magnetic Ribbons on your S.U.V.) is really good, too.
I should also recommend the all-female, all-accoustic tribute album Backed in Black and When Pigs Fly (the latter for a very bad treatment of “Dirty Deeds” by Lesley Gore and a pretty good cover of “Carry On My Wayward Son” by the Oak Ridge Boys.
Cibo Matto does a cool cover of Black Hole Sun. And Richard Cheese’s cover of Creep is pretty cool too.
That Alanis video makes me feel funny.
Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.
A Guilbert and Sullivan cover of Baby got Back?
Don’t forget Nina Gordon’s cover of Straight Outta Compton.
There’s also Nina Gordon’s sensitive acoustic cover of Straight Outta Compton.
Re: my earlier comment: Found this. Please watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eU_S5YAB0Q
It’s rather different style, but this Head Like a Hole cover is awesome: track 18 at http://cdbaby.com/cd/hbatfi2
Although you really give it until the second chorus or maybe the bridge.
Damn, previous posters took almost all the songs on my “Hard Songs By Soft People” mix. My secret weapon remains Angie Aparo’s cover of “Fight For Your Right To Party.“
Love that Ryan Renyolds shows in it as well, cracked me up w/o even knowing the original song, however the mention of the The Gourd Gin and Juice cover made me break that disc out again just to giggle while starting the day.
Yeah, A Gilbert and Sullivan version of Baby Got Back crazy.
I didn’t really like the Alanis version of My Humps, it’s in her style that I don’t like. It amused me for a bit, but then I got bored.
The John Coulton cover of Baby got Back was awesome, though!
Alice in Chains doing a segment of the Gloom/Despair song from Hee Haw:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VpTlzzYRqXw
http://www.qwantz.com/index.pl?comic=967
That settles it. Lore and T-Rex are the same person/tyrant lizard king.
Far more importantly, Kudos! Check out the latest Dino Comics.
Lore, you’re inspired Ryan North!
This concept is all over the dang ol’ place now. ToM mentioned the Alanis cover and today’s Dinosaur Comic is all about out-of-genre covers. Way to start a meme.
I’m a big fan of the Matt Weddle’s version of Hey Ya.
Based on the evidence, I would have to say that either Ryan North read this, or that you are actually Ryan North, or that synchronicity is creepy as hell.
There was a group calling themselves Boss Hogg that did a really quite charming version of “Hey Ya!”, but they seem to have disappeared. I can at least give you Scala’s choral version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, which is like the Tori one only more so, and with mild Belgian accents. (Apparently Scala specializes in sensitive acoustic covers of things – “I Touch Myself“, for instance, or a ridiculously sincere/Belgian “Friday I’m in Love“. You might look into them.)
Well, I suppose it’s possible that I inspired Ryan North, but I suspect we were both inspired by the Alanis cover, which seems to be making the rounds.
Your acoustic version of “Head like a hole” is pretty fly, but my favorite version is the quasi-doo-wop version by Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives. I especially love the spoken-word break near the end. It’s the best $0.99 I’ve spent on iTunes.
For NIN, there’s also Maxwell’s cover of Closer and of course, the awesome Johnny Cash cover of Hurt.
I can’t believe no one’s mentioned Nickel Creek covering Toxic. I’ve seen/heard many of the previous mentions and this one takes the cake.
Boss Hogg is no fly-by-night. Jon Spencer’s wife is the lead singer, and he alternates working with her and the Blues Explosion. They are hard to locate, but if you get a chance, listen to “I Dig You.” Good times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxwnwdb55FE
Travis covering “Baby One More Time”.
Off topic, but did anyone else get an odd brunching feeling checking their g-mail this weekend? Lore the prognosticator has done it again. Compare: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/index.html
with: http://www.brunching.com/webbymail.html
Lambchop’s cover of This Corrosion is also quite something…
Hi all. Stumbled cross this conversation whilst looking for an interview from Alanis explaining her motivation behind her cover of “My Humps”. Anyway, I noticed a lot of folks suggesting covers and such, so I thought I’d turn everyone on to Coverville, if you haven’t already experienced the experience. http://www.coverville.com. Trust me, you’ll dig it.
I wish I could say Lore inspired me! It was that brilliant Alanis video that sent me over the edge. But one day I will totally be riffing on Lore! ONE DAY SOON
Whoa, hey, it’s Ryan. Ryan North, ladies and gentlemen, author of Dinosaur Comics and about half the cool websites in existence.
I played the Fountains of Wayne cover of “Baby One More Time” at my wedding reception.
This posting on Tenser said Tensor’s blog is kinda related. It’s about covers too. Not so much sensitive and acoustic, tho.
http://tenser.typepad.com/tenser_said_the_tensor/2007/04/video_free_asso.html
As a link
There’s a Nina Gordon (of Veruca Salt) cover of Straigh Outta Compton floating around out there.
Also, someone mentioned Cibo Matto. They have a cover of Nirvana’s “About A Girl”, too. When I saw them in concert they did an amazing cover of “Welcome to the Jungle” I have yet to find a recording of that!
Personally, I prefer Jason Webley’s cover of “Hey Ya!”. And it is probably the only “Hey Ya!” cover anyone will ever hear that utilizes the accordion.
One more vote for Honest Bob and the Factory-To-Dealer Incentives covering Head Like A Hole; on top of that, an Irish radio station has released (I think) three compilations, each titled “Even Better Than The Real Thing”, featuring in-studio acoustic recordings of a whole mess of stuff.
Also, you have to hear the Leningrad Cowboys doing American rock/rock’n'roll, accompanied by the Alexandrov Russian Army Choir. Truly awesome.
On the assumption: better nate than lever…
Tori sucks. I totally love Mr Bungle.
Alanis sucks. I totally love Queens of the Stone Age.
(^_^)
On the premise that this comment thread is the known Internet repository for links to things like this, here’s an alternate video for Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’” with Zach Galifianakis and Will Oldham filling in: http://www.kanyewest.com/?content=video_cant_tell_alt
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