Who the hell covers the Violent Femmes?

[featherynscale]

This morning, as I was driving in to work, I heard something on the radio that I never thought could exist: a cover version of a Violent Femmes song. Now, I do always enjoy an unlikely cover song. But who the hell covers the Violent Femmes? Number one, every person in a developed country born between 1968 and 1990 knows the entire first album. I am certain of this. I mean, I was listening to this in the fourth grade when the college kids were listening to it, and when I was in college, we were still listening to it. They still play Blister in the Sun and Add it Up on the 'alternative' radio now, for the gods' sake. And, number two, what about listening to a Femmes song makes you go, "Yeah, let's cover this"? I ask you. The style is inherently very silly. It's like covering They Might Be Giants or the Dead Milkmen, or something. Except that you'd have to imagine that the Dead Milkmen had the staying power of the Beatles, or something. Like covering a Beatles song in the style of They Might Be Giants, maybe. Don't let that break your brain. Anyway, I think it's pretty ballsy, and it sounded good -- better than the original, though I imagine that's not a high bar to jump.


[Poll #832134]


Also, on the way in, I heard Muse's "Cydonia", which never fails to crack me up -- it's a fantastically textured song, but there is a bit where the guitar line is the same driving bit from Led Zepplin's "Immigrant Song" (for those younger than me, that would be the song with the viking kittens). And yes, I was doing the Immigrant Song yell in my car this morning, to the wrong song, in a different key. Because I can. At least I do not ever have to wonder why other drivers are looking at me funny.

Comments

[kittenpants.livejournal.com]

I probably know every nonsensical word of "Blister in the Sun". Could I have told you it was by the Violent Femmes if you'd held a gun to my head? No, I would be dead now. I probably *do* know all the songs off their first album, but again, I couldn't tell you which songs, or pick them out of a lineup.

All the music in the world is divided into three categories: 1) Albums I Owned, 2) Albums My Parents Owned, and 3) Stuff I Heard On The Radio.

Violent Femmes, Indigo Girls, and anything released after 1994 falls into category 3.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I'm willing to allow that your relationship to music is a little different than that of the average bear.