I was watching an interview with one of my favourite South African bands the other day and one of the questions posed during the interview was if the band “after doing two cover songs would ever go back do doing something original or if they were stuck on the covers?”.
I started thinking about this. Does doing a cover make you a bad artist? Does it mean that you have nothing original left to say? I discovered that this was too complex to be answered by a simple `yes` or `no`.
I dug into my own CD collection and realised (with a shock) that most of my favourite bands/artists (some of which have been declared as rock/grunge/metal/pop legends) covered quite a few songs during their careers.
But what is a cover song? It’s taking a classic, existing song (those songs we sing in the shower; play air guitar to, drum on the steering wheels of our cars) and re-creating it in a new context.
Taking the big hits of yesterday and revamping it for today.
Some notable examples:
· Nirvana’s `The Man Who Sold The World` (originally done by David Bowie)
· Pearl Jam’s `Tearjerker: Last Kiss` (originally done by Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers – bet you didn’t know that)
· A Perfect Circle’s `Imagine` (The John Lennon classic which is probably one of the most covered songs in music history.)
Why bands/artists do cover versions, is a separate discussion altogether.
Sometimes bands produce cover versions for artistic reasons. Performing songs that would normally be completely out of character for them to record, but which give them the chance to prove their versatility. A perfect example is The Narrow’s take on A-Ha’s `Living Daylights`. Pop, twisted to a kick-ass track with a rock-edge. Another is Marilyn Manson’s nu-metal rendition of the Eurythmics pop classic, Sweet Dreams. It’s a damn catchy tune…
Then there’s the tribute. When established artists pay homage to the artists or songs that influenced/inspired them.
So this has been a slow day and we’ve decided to share a bit more about our musical tastes and preferences going at the moment. And we promise we haven’t been listening to any special Xmas albums…
We’ve been listening to (+44) Plus Forty Four quite a bit, since they launced their album late 2006 and we must say, although it compares to Blink 182, it’s actually a bit of a breath of fresh air. Seems that the nice emo rhymes are actually well-thought of and the song structures are pretty good. I especially like the the tempo and style changes within individual songs. Mark and Travis (ex-Blink) has definitely progressed since Blink broke up and in my opinion (+44) trumps other ex-Blink member, Tom deLonge, new project, Angels and Airwaves. Although it’s different bands and different styles, (+44) goes with hand-in-hand with blogging everytime.
For our more chilled out vibes, we’ve been listening to The Postal Service’s 2003 offering “Give Up”. The electronic indie pop sounds generated by this pair is just so soothing to the ears. The album might be old, but it’s probably one of the best albums within its genre. Vocalist Ben Gibbard, from Death Cab for Cutie fame, just continues to remind that he is a brilliant musician and we sure hope that The Postal Service will produce another album quite soon, since 2003 is a very long time ago…
Other notable entries on our current playlist: The Distillers – Coral Fang Zella Mayzell – The Murder, Porn, And Fatherhood Lark – Mouth of me Snow Patrol – Final Straw
This is a very good video of Meg and Dia performing their single, “Setting up Sunday”, acoustic and live at Weber FM (at Weber State University, Utah). In this video, the Frampton sisters really showcases their talents and in our opinion, it takes some doing to perform as flawlessly live like this!
The second vid is also for “Setting up Sunday”, but is a lot more informal. Dia actually has what seems like, a glass of white wine in her hand (EDIT: After having a more in-zoom look, I see it’s only a bottle of wine. Would’ve been cool the glass of wine though…). Still very good and you can see that these two are pure class!
So yes, I’m still listening to Meg and Dia a lot, because it’s fun and it’s easy to listen to. That does not however mean that I’ve turned gay, just that M&D is my official soundtrack for the process of compiling my favourite albums for 2007.
This new video for “Who’s my daddy?” by Benny Benassi is the dodgest video I have ever seen! Considering that they play this on MTV and VHS1, you must really keep your kids away from the TV screen. It is actually just shocking and disgusting that you would have to go to such an extent to promote your music. In the end, all the people that “like” the song, will just like it because of the video. And I shouldn’t get started on the song either, because that is just going from bad to worse. Watch this if you like and thereafter rant with me a bit and post a comment…
“Well Jesus Christ I’m alone again, So what did you do those three days you were dead? Cause this problem’s gonna last more than the weekend.”
The above lyrics come from the band pictured above this text and although I could go on about the irony and semi-”truth” of the lyrics, but I would rather talk about the five guys that make up the epic rock band called, Brand New. Having been a fan of Brand New’s since their first album, Your Favourite Weapon in 2001, we’ve been totally blown away by their latest offering (The Devil and God are raging inside me) that was released about a week ago.
This band has seriously upped their game, since signing to Interscope Records, and the quality of this album is unbelievable! Track #3, “Jesus Christ” is our undoubted favourite, just because of the honesty and absolute musical genius. All of the sounds and beats are gently gelled into one epic melody to form a sum that is MUCH! bigger than its parts. To round of the musical genius the group’s vocalist, Jesse Lacey, blows us away with his awesome voice time and time again.
Most of the album is based on quite a mellow and laid-back, reflective-type sound and vibe, but the rage does shatter through on tracks like “You don’t know” and “Not the sun”. The band also experiments with a few various (very random) combinations of sounds and effects for some of the songs, but this is in the minority and it still does justice to the album.
This album is truly close to perfection and not many will disagree with this statement. The whole album just displays the musical genius and maturity of an epic rock band. This has been one of the best releases of 2006! And you do not need to be a prior-fan to enjoy this offering – it is just so good!
One of the greatest things happening in Cape Town at the moment is the funky, hypnotic, electro-jazz sensation Goldfish. Having been lucky enough to hear this duo spin their music a few times now, I can guarantee that they have something special to offer.
Consisting of two members, David Poole and Dominic Peters, Goldfish has been hailed as the “re-invention of the DJ”. The vibe which Goldfish puts out has your body dancing in ways only thought possible with one of those vibrating exercise machines. You can listen to a few of their songs over at their myspace, to get a taste of what they can offer on a huge stage. Goldfish have opened for Fat Boy Slim, The Audio Bullies, Mr Scruff and Stereo MC’s, now that’s impressive.
Goldfish moves away from the happy clappy indie rock I’m used to but I’m currently on a mission to support South African music and these guys deserve much respect. Watch this space.
Okay, first off, I’d have to clear to way and level the playing field, otherwise I might get taken out by your critics for publishing this here. I first heard about Meg and Dia from a friend of mine who normally hooks me up with interesting new music to listen to. Now my top bands at the moment include Incubus, Billy Talent, Brand New, Alkaline Trio and Rise Against and my music-giving friend has an even more alternative taste. So when he suggested I give Meg and Dia a listen, I thought okay maybe it’s just something indie (whatever that is anyway these days) with a little softer side since it has chick vocals.
My conclusion to his promotion of M&D and my initial thoughts is that M&D pleasantly suprised me and I listen to it every now and again when my girlfriend is around – that softer side thing again.
Meg (21) and Dia (19) Frampton are two sisters and they’re the founders of the band. They started out with just an acoustic guitar, but has since grown into a full 4-piece band (that is what success does to you). Their music can be described as guitar-driven with poppy, but slightly unique, chick vocals. So yes, they are poppy, but I can be a man and face up to listening to them sometimes.
The interesting thing about M&D however is the fact that they appeal to the more alternative crowd and I don’t if that’s just because they are the prettiest girls in the alternative scene or whether the alternative peeps just enjoy their music. M&D are signed to a major label, but they tour with smaller, but more well-known punk bands, which means that maybe the next time you get to see your favourite band, M&D will be there too.
First off, we found this insane video of My Chemical Romance performing their debut single, “Welcome to the Black Parade” live at MTV’s VMA PreShow. The big hoo-hah about this however is the fact that they performed the whole song live on the rooftop of a massive building in midtown Manhattan! Another awesome part of the video is the kiddies that MCR got in on the act – they actually sing the bridge late in the song – so cute!
Check it out, it’s insane…
Second reason to celebrate was also the fact that we got the new MCR album (The Black Parade) yesterday and we’ve had quite a earful of it thusfar. The only way for us to describe the sound of this album, is EPIC. The sound is big and different, very, very different. My Chemical Romance has definitely experimented with a new sound on this album and although we don’t think they’ve sold out, the album is certainly more radio-friendly. This is one of those albums that will grow on you over time, but it’s also one of those albums that might piss off and alienate previous fans…
MCR have definitely come up with all guns blazing and they’ve created a massive and complete audiovisual package for the new album. This is evident in the start to the video above and also the quality of the music video for “Welcome to the Black Parade”. What’s also interesting is that vocalist, Gerard Way, has coloured his hair completely blonde and he looks all Nazi super-race with the blonde hair and supposed (might be contacts) blue eyes. The whole Nazi thing is also interesting, as a lot of the songs and definitely the videos give you the idea that it’s all Hitler-inspired.
Although Billy Talent is been around for a while now and they’ve just released their new album, II, about two months ago, we still feel that their first hit single “Try Honestly” is one of the best songs ever ever in the world ever. This was our psyched-up summer tune in 2005 and we just felt that we’d share the music video with you.
What makes the music video so awesome is the part where the lead vocalist just absolutely goes insanely mad (it’s later in the song, at the bridge part) and just spins out of control. That and the guitarists freakish square mullet-afro of course – but who doesn’t like a Marge Simpson haircut now and again?
So we decided to hunt some of our favourite music videos at the moment down on YouTube. Since pasting all of the code for the vids in this post, would make this post uber-long, we decided to rather list our Top 5 in order. The songs link back to their individual YouTube pages.
