AV Club Undercover: 25 bands, 25 cover songs

[u2popmofo]

This little 25 part series just got off to a wonderful start with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists covering Tears For Fear's Everybody Wants to Rule the World.

Ted Leo And The Pharmacists�cover� Tears For Fears | Undercover | The A.V. Club

The series has the potential of being awesome based on the songs that have been chosen, hopefully the bands that end up playing them make it as enjoyable as Teddy did.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

That is an interesting group of tunes there.

I'll do the cover of "I Will Dare" if they can't find anybody else. I fucking love that song.

 

[onebloodonelife]

That is an interesting group of tunes there.

I'll do the cover of "I Will Dare" if they can't find anybody else. I fucking love that song.

Doesn't everybody? I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to be a Replacements fan without loving that song to fucking death.

 

[IWasBored]

ted leo gets a lot of crap sometimes it seems. i like his stuff, but all the pretentious snobs seem to love shitting all over that guy. one thing that guy does is some awesome covers.




whoever covers "paper planes" should be decapitated, and i want to personally make sure their head ends up on a pike.

 

[No spoken words]

"I Will Dare" is easily my favorite Replacements tune.

If I could sing or play an instrument I'd cover it.

 

[IWasBored]

i want "19th nervous breakdown."

but first i must figure out why "i will dare" does not ring a bell.

edit: oh yeah...of course! sometimes i think i need aricept.

 

[No spoken words]

i want "19th nervous breakdown."

but first i must figure out why "i will dare" does not ring a bell.

4 Yew 2 lisen two:

YouTube - the replacements - The Replacements I Will Dare - Let it Be

 

[IWasBored]

4 Yew 2 lisen two:

YouTube - the replacements - The Replacements I Will Dare - Let it Be

yeah, i youtubed it. that's one of those albums that i did most of my listening-to in the car, meaning i could probably sit down and sing the entire thing (off-key, of course, which is saying something since i'm talking about westerberg here) but completely blank on all song titles. i know, i'm a bad music fan sometimes.

 

[No spoken words]

yeah, i youtubed it. that's one of those albums that i did most of my listening-to in the car, meaning i could probably sit down and sing the entire thing (off-key, of course, which is saying something since i'm talking about westerberg here) but completely blank on all song titles. i know, i'm a bad music fan sometimes.

1) You're Welcome anyway

2) I know just what you mean. I know more song lyrics than I know song titles.

3) I love to sing but only when alone. My voice is a disaster and nobody, not even terrorists or Utah(i)ans deserve to hear it.

 

[IWasBored]

1/2) i like numbers

1) oh yeah...thanks.

2) it's annoying, though. because prior to owning a car, and listening to music that way--where stuff will live in the cd player for days/weeks/months, i was such a stickler for knowing exactly that song such-and-such was track number this or that and what went in what order. i guess it's still better than fumbling through lyric booklets while operating a motor vehicle.

3) i've subjected a few people to my singing. i'm always surprised when it doesn't cause ears to bleed and dogs to yelp in pain. however, they usually tell me to stop.

4) As much as "I Will Dare is a good song, i'm still more fond of anything and everything off tim than any other replacements/solo westerberg. that album is damn near close to perfect.

 

[No spoken words]

1/2) I do too

1)

2) I can't claim to ever really have been much different than I am now. I listen to music incessantly, the lyrics seep in eventually, but, it's never a given that I'll know the song title. R.E.M. is a good example. I know the words to just about song from Murmur - New Adventures.....but, the song titles? Not so much. I'm a horrid person.

3) I cause dogs to bleed. Fuck off PETA if you're reading this.

4) I like me some Tim. But, that's no shock cos I likes the Replacements a whole lot and so there you go. I also like that the wizard's name in the Monty Python and the Holy Grail is Tim.

 

[u2popmofo]

 

[onebloodonelife]

If I could sing or play an instrument I'd cover it.

3) I love to sing but only when alone. My voice is a disaster and nobody, not even terrorists or Utah(i)ans deserve to hear it.

3) i've subjected a few people to my singing. i'm always surprised when it doesn't cause ears to bleed and dogs to yelp in pain. however, they usually tell me to stop.

3) I cause dogs to bleed. Fuck off PETA if you're reading this.

It's funny because thinking that musicking is something that only a specific subset of people do (and I'm just as guilty of it...whenever someone asks me what I play, I say "nothing" and that I don't sing either) is a very Western concept. Daniel Levitin points this out in his pretty great book, This Is Your Brain on Music:

When they find out what I do for a living, many people tell me that they love music listening, but their music lessons “didn’t take.” I think they’re being too hard on themselves. The chasm between musical experts and everyday musicians that has grown so wide in our culture makes people feel discouraged, and for some reason this is uniquely so with music. Even though most of us can’t play basketball like Shaquille O’Neal, or cook like Julia Child, we can still enjoy playing a friendly backyard game of hoops, or cooking a holiday meal for our friends and family. This performance chasm does seem to be cultural, specific to contemporary Western society. And although many people say that music lessons didn’t take, cognitive neuroscientists have found otherwise in their laboratories. Even just a small exposure to music lessons as a child creates neural circuits for music processing that are enhanced and more efficient than for those who lack training. Music lessons teach us to listen better, and they accelerate our ability to discern structure and form in music, making it easier for us to tell what music we like and what we don’t like.

There's also a proverb from Zimbabwe that sums it up pretty well: "If you can talk you can sing. If you can walk you can dance."

/random professorial musicological rant

 

[PhilsFan]

There's a disturbing lack of holes being cut in boxes right now.

 

[corianderstem]

There's also a proverb from Zimbabwe that sums it up pretty well: "If you can talk you can sing. If you can walk you can dance."

/random professorial musicological rant

My mom is tone deaf, but she doesn't let that stop her from singing - she loves it!

/off-topic

 

[No spoken words]

There's a disturbing lack of holes being cut in boxes right now.

I fucked up, my bad.

Oneblood, I do sing, just not when anyone can hear it.

 

[u2popmofo]

Oneblood, I do sing, just not when anyone can hear it.

NSW puts ear plugs in his ears and belts out 'Man In The Mirror' daily.

 

[No spoken words]

NSW puts ear plugs in his ears and belts out 'Man In The Mirror' daily.

How else am I supposed to make the world a better place?

 

[corianderstem]

You may be taking a look at yourself, but are you making a change?

Make that change, NSW.

{whisper} Make that change! {/whisper}

 

[IWasBored]

It's funny because thinking that musicking is something that only a specific subset of people do (and I'm just as guilty of it...whenever someone asks me what I play, I say "nothing" and that I don't sing either) is a very Western concept. Daniel Levitin points this out in his pretty great book, This Is Your Brain on Music:



There's also a proverb from Zimbabwe that sums it up pretty well: "If you can talk you can sing. If you can walk you can dance."

/random professorial musicological rant

i have that book. still haven't read it yet. i should do that.

 

[onebloodonelife]

It's not flawless by any means, but he puts a lot of interesting facts and solid neurological research together in a very readable way. He's got a second book out as well, called The World in Six Songs, I think, which I haven't read and probably should one of these days.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Leo's cover truly was a brutal brick, perhaps filling my stomach with dread of a life unlived more so than the Tears For Fears original.

Also, the Hall & Oates track is clearly covered by the Fruit Bats since I saw their name and the song "One to One" already scribbled on the wall in this video.

 

[u2popmofo]

one thing that guy does is some awesome covers.

Agreed. They always sound like "him", but are still recognizable and enjoyable. Reminds me, I still haven't listened to the Misfits concert he did last Halloween. Also haven't listened to the new album yet, will have to spin it right now. By "spin", I mean play the mp3s off of my portable hard drive. I lie about things that are pointless, just like Bono.

 

[u2popmofo]

Also, the Hall & Oates track is clearly covered by the Fruit Bats since I saw their name and the song "One to One" already scribbled on the wall in this video.

Correct.

Fruit Bats cover? Hall & Oates | Music | A.V. Undercover | The A.V. Club

 

[IWasBored]

Agreed. They always sound like "him", but are still recognizable and enjoyable. Reminds me, I still haven't listened to the Misfits concert he did last Halloween. Also haven't listened to the new album yet, will have to spin it right now. By "spin", I mean play the mp3s off of my portable hard drive. I lie about things that are pointless, just like Bono.

that misfits show made me 12 different kinds of happy. for a miserable fuckbag like myself, that's quite an acomplishment.

 

[IWasBored]

so this thing's page on pitchfork, i noticed, has become a lot more populated since i last saw it. i'm pretty underwhelmed, and can't make it through all of them. did anything other than ted leo not suck? i guess ben folds was ok, but other than those two?

 

[u2popmofo]

It's actually on The Onion, not Pitchfork.

I haven't kept up with it for a few months to be honest. Keep meaning to look it up, but can never remember what site it was on. There are a ton I haven't seen yet. Ted Leo was still the best as of the first month and a half or so of it.

 

[bono_212]

just getting back to this, kind of forgot about it. The Antlers cover of "Wish You Were Here" was a bit painful, imo.

 

[IWasBored]

It's actually on The Onion, not Pitchfork.

I haven't kept up with it for a few months to be honest. Keep meaning to look it up, but can never remember what site it was on. There are a ton I haven't seen yet. Ted Leo was still the best as of the first month and a half or so of it.

oops. i got there from a link on pitchfork, and thought i was still on their site.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Just watched the Walkmen covering Driver 8. Yikes. The guys backing him sounded fine but, man, that vocalist was strugglin. Did not sound very good at all, to me. I guess it goes to show that you shouldn't try to cover 80's R.E.M., if only because of the difficulty when comparing to Stipe's crazy unique vocal. But, like they said, they had no choice.

Also, one of my all-time fave R.E.M. songs, btw.