My disdain for the major labels is well documented. The mass-produced, cookie cutter, bullshit “music” that major labels spoonfeed the masses sucks, and so do their new media business practices. Now that these two factors have lined up, it’s only a matter of time before the majors go the way of the dinosaur and Chrysler. This makes me very happy. Come, share my joy and passing anger, with my top three videos that can not be embedded.
I’m pretty sure Damon would be delighted for music bloggers to be able to embed this video and feature the song 14 fucking years after its release. And hell, that might even help the label move some units to a new, younger audience.
She fucking rocks. Is that enough for a list? I don’t know, but when I go to see a rock show, I like to see a singer who blows me away, who screams and shrieks and sings and plays her heart out. It’s an extra awesome bonus when she’s a woman, and not a stick-thin indie ingenue, and is a little messy and very sexy and shamelessly more than a little drunk.
Which is why all these reports of her basically losing her shit at one gig after another on this Perez Hilton tour are a) not surprising, and b) a little heartbreaking, and c) sort of very rock and roll.
I can’t even count on one hand the number of times, for example, that I went to see Ryan Adams play a show where he was too wasted to hold his guitar, and just about as likely to jump in the crowd and scream in someone’s face as he was sing a song. I didn’t particularly enjoy paying for that experience, but it didn’t ever seem to knock him off his then-indie king perch. (When I first saw Ida Maria, I said she was like Adams’ band Whiskeytown by way of Bjork.)
Here she is, by the way, a week ago on this same tour, possibly under the influence and definitely kicking ass.
It’s never all that cool for a musician to bail on a set, not because they’re too coked out to sing or just bored and belligerent. But rockers are fuck-ups, almost by definition, and generally a crowd of dudes will cheer on another dude who’s pounding beers on stage or taking shots offered by the audience between songs. If Ida’s really at that needing-help phase, I hope she gets it. And if she’s far from home and on a tough tour and taking it out on her liver—well. It doesn’t make her any less of a rock star to me.
Why bust your hump on Friday when you can just ride someone else’s coat tails and let them do all the heavy lifting? In the spirit or cruising through Friday, here are five bands covering for you this weekend.
“I’m on Fire” Bat for Lashes
Tori Amos used to own the patent on the most haunting cover of this song, but someone newer, fresher, and even more enticingly bizarre has replaced her. Hey, that’s life, lady.
You can watch the original here, or watch her cover the Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody” here. And of course here’s her tour info from current.com.
“Wonderwall” Ryan Adams
Sure he married Mandy Moore, and sure he’s thrown more hissy fits and canceled more shows than Axl Rose, but this cover of “Wonderwall” will make you cry.
You can watch the original version here, and listen to Ryan and Beth Orton’s cover of “Brown Sugar” by the Stones here. Or you can listen to an original song by Ryan on current.com
“I’ve Been Loving You too Long” Cat Power
Now, cross Ryan Adams with Bat For Lashes, and you get Cat Power… sort of. Seems like a good enough transition, at least. Either way, Cat Power does some serious justice on one of the most soulful songs ever in this cover of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Lovin’ You too Long.”
You can watch Otis’ original here, and Cat Power’s cover of “Wonderwall” here. Yes, this is getting a bit incestuous. Also, you can listen to Cat Power with Handsome Boy Modeling School on current.com
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” Hurra Torpedo
Best. Cover. Ever. Keep an eye on the guy on the right.
You can watch the original here, which quite frankly is a bit anti-climatic after Hurra Torpedo’s cover, or you can watch the guys cover “All the things (s)He Said” here, which gets us back up to awesome.
“Burin’ for You” the Hold Steady and Drive by Truckers
Admittedly, whenever “Burnin’ for You” comes on the radio, I’m the first to flip the station, but that’s not Blue Oyster Cult’s fault. That’s because I grew up in a market so saturated with classic rock that Blue Oyster Cult and Bachman Turner Overdrive were bigger than the Beatles and U2 was considered weird alternative hippy shit.
On their Rock ‘n’ Roll Means Well Tour, the Hold Steady and DBT’s did some amazing covers together like “Rockin’ in the Free World” by Neil Young, “Look Out Cleveland” by the band, and “Ride On” by AC/DC, but it was this cover of “Burnin’ for You” that changed the way I heard the original, which you can hear here.
You can read about the Hold Steady’s new live album and documentary on current.com
