Noise Junkies - Cover Songs

What makes a great cover song? Is it fidelity towards the original, or is it better to adopt a completely irreverent approach and tear it apart/build it back up? And what about cover bands? Or tribute bands? Join the Noise Junkies as we pull back the cover on Cover Songs.

This episode's playlist can be heard here:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5XpEk72hcdYpKNFKl14Mao?si=af8ad0b116bf491e

JUNKIES
Father Malone: FatherMalone.com
HP: hpmusicplace.bandcamp.com
Heather Drain: https://www.mondoheather.com/

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Weird Way Media. Bruce Springsteen oncesang I'm looking for a lover who will
come on in and cover me.But was he speaking metaphorically? After all,
this is a man whose songs havebeen covered and amazing four hundred and
twenty four times, according to whosample dot Com by such artists as Johnny

(00:29):
Cash, Tegan and Sarah, andMini Driver. Discovering a cool cover of
a favorite song or by a favoriteartist can mean everything to music nerds like
us. But what makes a goodcover song? And what are some of
our most and least favorite cover songsof all time? Tonight the Noise Junkies
take on cover songs. Good evening, everybody, and welcome to Noise is

(01:00):
John Kies. I am in theCaptain's chair this week. I am HP
and with me is the wonderful HeatherDrain from Mondo. Heather, Heather,
how are you tonight? I'm doinggreat. I'm ready to dig and dive
into the subject matter at hand.Also on the weirding Way Network, from
such podcasts as Dark Destinations is mygood friend Father Alone, Father ma Alone?

(01:21):
How are you this evening? I'mcovered in something I'm not sure what
it is. Glory perhaps yeah,okay, Laurie doesn't smell like this.
This week we are covering cover songsevery pun intended there very exciting. But
first, as we do every episode, we're going to first do a little
show and tell. We're going totalk about what we're listening to lately.

(01:44):
Heather, why don't we start withyou? What are you listening too lately?
Oh? My gosh. I alwayshave to narrow it down because I'm
just a total musical omnivore and continuallyvoracious. But one song and one album
has definitely been blessing my audio experiencemore than most. One is a fairly

(02:05):
totally new artist for me named asare Swan, which is basically this dark
scynth pop out of Brooklyn. It'smainly just this one, this one artist,
with occasional collaborations from her producer.But her song over is so beautiful.
It's I don't know, it's verymakes me think of the show Forever

(02:25):
Night And I don't even know ifthat would make sense anybody but me,
but it makes me. It's justvery effocative and just seems it's just like
something you would hear at three inthe morning having some emotional angst possibly with
vampires. The song isn't about vampires. I tend to just like to add
vampirism to things in my head becauseit's fun. But it's a beautiful,

(02:46):
just a nice, little shadowy,effocative pop song and it's great. You
can hear it on Spotify. Shealso has a band, Cueue, as

(03:15):
does our lovely host HP, soanybody listening to this please feel free to
check him out and support him.But in the second, which is an
album, and this is a bandthat I love fiercely. I even did
an article about them years ago forDandrew's Minds, and that is The Gleaning
Spires and their album Walk on wellLighted Streets. The Spires three album discography

(03:38):
recently got a beautiful rerelease and remastercourtesy of Omnivore Records, and these releases
are cherried out and this is greatbecause until recently none of these albums were
ever available on CD and and someof the great highlights they have some a
lot of bonus tracks, including theirsongs Funk for Children, no Hargumn,

(04:01):
no mistake, you got to makethat riff for goodness sake. I just
relimed be my second guest say FunkChildren Gonna Catch All That, which there

(04:28):
was a music video made for it, but I don't think it was ever
a single. It's a bonus checkseven on this album proper and they're signed
Brain Button, which is really cashytune. I drink it explosed by No

(04:58):
I saw everyone Oh and you canhear it. And I believe the Dark
Brothers Devil and Missus Jones three andor four, like the Gleaming Spires,
have music that pop up in thosemovies as well as of course most people
know them for Are you ready forthe Sex Girls? Which isn't Revenge the
Nerds? Yeah, I love that, I love Yeah, I love that
song the real sex girls. Nobody'sready for the sex sex girls? Are

(05:23):
you a for the sex? Golstthey big girls? Any for the sex
girls? The right right, ultravitalsexpects, the people in your house and
golf? No, No, TheyFires are really incredibly underrated band and I

(05:48):
think definitely worth some time, alot of angst, biting, wit,
satire. No other band like them, and I'm on the core duo of
Lesboham David Kendrick were on some ofthe sparks best albums too. Well then
I'll check it out now. Iguess yeah, you better if you know
it's good for you. It'll makeit to the Spotify playlist for those listeners

(06:14):
following the show, we'll have anice playlist you can check out all these
tunes and more Fall the Malone.What are you listening too lately? You're
mileage may vary on this particular artist, but I've been listening to her fourth
album, which is called The IdlerWheel is wiser than the Driver of the
screw, and whipping chords will serveyou more than ropes will ever do,
which is a much more brief titlethan her second album, which was When

(06:38):
the Pawn Hits the Conflict, HeThinks like a King. It's Fiona Apple.
For a while there, she heldthe world record for the longest album
title. I was on tour fortwo weeks once in the Pacific Northwest,
and I had a USB with aboutfifteen thousand songs on it, and with
rare exception, this was the album. I was listening to this about eight
or ten years ago, So I'mkind of re examining Fiona Apple. She's

(06:59):
always a ferocious lyricist. The musichas never been secondary to that, but
as far as pop standards goes,she wasn't gonna get much better than that
second album. When I think ofit, my figure's tone of things.
But I never did anything to you, man, no matter what I try,
and you treat me with your fitof life so calmly crazy home it

(07:21):
I'm making me crack it off.I'm baby Bess. You won't be lunting,
You'll be line with in your ownhands. Her songwriting, specifically,
the music catches up with her lyricson this album. I thought, and
there are no singles here. It'sall discordant and there's minor key stuff.
There's a song in there with nothingbut timpani and combative harmonies. The farmer

(07:46):
better then he's a heart of life, teams my heart almost he excepts me
must be like the genesis of rhythm. I get fusting whenever I'm with them.
There's the sound of what I thinkis a bottling plant who says a
backbeat at one point, Oh anda bridge on one tune is completely layered

(08:09):
with what turns out to be arecording of children playing in a playground.
But for listeners who don't know that, it just sounds like a horrifying scene
of murder. I like you doa lot of things, but always calm
around because only sensible girl. Ilove, but you su the second to

(08:33):
get or with the moon real likea lusting world and the boat of the
electricity. They did release a singlewhich went nowhere called every Single Night,
which is haunting and gorgeous and beautifuland that you're also going to hear on
the Spotify playlist. That's where thething comes in, like a second scultin

(08:56):
chime to face theneath. I can'tbut the fie and know every single night
life. With my it falls tome to talk about what I've been listening

(09:18):
to and among other things, I'vebeen listening to an album. It's by
Mark Garson, which is a favoritemyself, Ageather. This is a brand
new I was caught off guard.I did not know this was coming out.
This is an album called Journey tothe Moon and Beyond. It's the
latest in a year's long reissue campaignof Garson's music by the Sacred Bones label.

(09:41):
This is a carefully curated album selectionsfrom what is apparently a massive archive.
He has a vault somewhere in MarkGarson where they're eagerly going through and
transferring everything to digital probably and puttingout these collections. There's been a couple
of collections. They also put outhis album and Plantasia, which was a
big cult record. For this record, the main draw is a track called

(10:05):
moon Journey, which is a sixminute synthesizer composition that CBS commissioned Garson to
soundtrack The moon Landing. So itestimated six hundred and fifty million people heard
Garson's music as the moon Landing capturedthe nation's attention. I think that is
fantastic. Oh my god, Ilove that. It was thought to have

(11:01):
been lost, but I guess asthey were going through the masters this archival
vault they founded and were much thebetter for it. Also on this set
is a song called Black Eye MainTheme, which was another surprise for me.
This was apparently he Garson composed themusic for a nineteen seventy four black

(11:24):
exploitation movie starring Fred Williamson. Thisis very much just a theme song in

(11:54):
the spirit of Shaft or Black BlackCaesar, things like that. Also,
there's a lot of non electronic compositionshere, but plenty of mogue stuff to
make folks like me happy. Butnow and so here's hoping that they're eventually
going to get around to remastering Wizardof I got my fingers crossed. Oh
my god, yes, now itfalls to me. I'm very excited about

(12:35):
this. We started a little traditionlast episode with the games with a little
I think Heather you had a littleguessing game or word association game. But
this week, in the spirit ofthe theme of covers, I have created
a game called is It a Cover? Very creatively titled is It a Cover?
I'm going to give you, guys, a song title and an artist,

(12:56):
and you're gonna have to tell meis a cover or is it not
a cover? And bonus points ifyou correctly guess that it's a cover,
give me as much info on theoriginal artist as you can. Okay,
is everybody ready? Do we haveto buzz in? Or you're gonna ask
us for a time limit? What'swhat are the rules here? How about

(13:18):
you raise your hand and I'll callon you. Okay, I prefer a
buzzer, but okay, sorry,the buzzer got lost by FedEx. I
shipped one out to both of youand apparently you never received it. So
we're left to just raise our hands. How about that? Give the tracking
number the song Saturday Nights all Rightfor Fighting by Elton John nineteen seventy three.

(13:41):
Is it a cover or is itnot a cover? Follow alone is
not a cover. I'm also goingto say it's not a cover. You
are both right. It is nota cover. Of course. It was

(14:03):
off of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.Is Monster Monster Album? Not a cover?
Number Two Akey, Breaky Heart byBilly Ray Cyrus in nineteen ninety two.
Just don't thank you, don't stayout, Heather, you got in
just ahead. It's a cover.It is a cover, very good,

(14:26):
and I'm gonna play you a littlebit of it right here. Actually,
before I do that, do youknow anything about the original artist? And
not really? I know it's alesser known artist. And I want to
say it came out in the eighties. It did not. It was originally
written by someone named Don Vontress.It was recorded a year prior by a
group called the Marcy Brothers under thetitle Don't Tell My Heart, and we

(14:50):
have a little bit of it righthere. Don't tell my Heart. I
thank you. I just don't thinkyou understand, did you? Jill By
Breaking Home, Who kill this last? Whoa? What was it? The
fad who production? That's me itgot psychedelic. That's I had to make

(15:15):
it interesting. Just a straight cutoff was not going to do so.
Yeah. So, as you canhear, there's really not much difference between
the original and the cover. It'sthere's some lyrics that are heart break achy
breaking, heart not achy breaky Oh. Also, there was backwards masking in
the original version. Here's to mySweet Satan is that no no? It

(15:37):
says say hi to Lucile at wafflehouse. So there's some lyrics are different,
but ultimately it's really just the samesong. Okay, Number three the
first cut is the Deepest by RodStewart nineteen seventy seven. That's a cover,

(16:04):
Heather, do you have a guess? No, you don't have a
guest. Well, follom alone,you are correct. What do you know
anything about the original artist? See, this was a little bit of a
trick because everybody, I think mostpeople know the Cheryl Crowe version that came
out maybe ten to fifteen years ago. It's a little bit of a trick

(16:25):
there. But follom alone, whatcan you tell me about the covered artist?
If anything? Who are three peoplewho have never been in my kitchen
close? This was written by ofall people, Pat Stevens. I didn't
know that. And it was recordedby a woman named P. P Arnold
in nineteen sixty seven, so afull ten years before it became a hit

(16:45):
for Rod Stewart. Interestingly, EP. P Arnold Arnold, we're so
much. Yeah. So she startedout, all right, I'll give me
a minute here, I'll give Heathera minute here to I'm listening. Compose
yourself. Listen. My inner childis a Beavis. I have never denied

(17:07):
this on any show. No,no man, pepe like literally initials,
P period, P period. Isorry, I'm sorry. We introduce you
to can. I'm sorry, I'mlistened. I'm not that sorry. I

(17:27):
mean, shame is for the week, but I apologize. HP. Please
tell us about missus Arnold. Infact, she interestingly she started out as
an iket before striking out as asoul singer in her own right. And
here's a little bit of the original. First cut is the deepest cut,

(17:48):
deep cut, deep, I'm stilldoing. It's very much in the motown
mold. Yeah, I like that, which I think is fantastic. Fade

(18:12):
I love the HP fade. There'sa lot of that here. I apologize
to miss Arnold because that was actuallyI enjoyed that. It's a it's a
great great I actually prefer that,to tell you the truth, to the
Rod Stewart. It's just tougher.It's got great production, and she sings
the hell out of it. IWant to Know what Love Is by Foreigner
from nineteen eighty four. Jesus Christ, I watch you show Follom alone.

(18:45):
Not a cover, Heather, It'snot a cover. It is not a
cover. You're absolutely right, bothof you. This is heart with alone.
How do I get you alone?That's a cover, Heather. I
thought it was an original, butI'm not a fan of that erra of
heart. So yeah, I'm notsure. So you're saying cover, not

(19:08):
a cover. I don't know,man, I guess not a cover.
I mean, Butlin super smart,so he's probably right. Fog Malone,
you are correct. It was writtenby Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and released
by a band called I Ten ontheir album Taking a Cold Look in nineteen

(19:30):
eighty three. So here we go. So some if you heard the whole
song, it's a little bit extended, there's some there's an extra bridge in

(19:52):
there here and there, but butvery much a very similar song. It's
just the Heart made it their ownand made a big hit out of it.
It was a huge hit for them. Number the next one is You're
No Good by Linda Ronstat nineteen seventyfour. That's a cover. Yeah,

(20:18):
that's a cover. Did you raiseyour hand, sir? I don't need
if we're talking, Linda Ronstad,I don't need to raisin all right,
all right, Linda rons that rankhere, Heather, Do you have a
counterpoint? No? I mean he'sright. I just all right. Then
you're all right, Fallow Malone.But what can you tell me about the
original? There is no need toknow anything about the original. It's Linda

(20:42):
Ronstat's there at the end. Seethat's what you're wrong. The original was
written by someone named Clint Ballard Juniorand recorded by d d Warwick, Dion's
sister in nineteen sixty three. Andhere's a little taste of that left by

(21:17):
so another again another nod to motownbasically, as was the prevalent sort of
musical style at the time. It'svery different though. I like when these
covers come kind of come out ofnowhere. You've heard them all your life,
and you're like, wow, Inever knew there was an original.
Next one, just like Paradise byDavid Lee Roth nineteen eighty seven. Oh

(21:41):
my god, I love him.Hold on, Yes, I'm gonna say,
not a cover, Father Alone.Oh that's tough. I think it
is a cover. Do you thinkit is a cover? Yeah, well,
you, sir would be wrong.It is not a cover. I
just I thought it was just oddenough. I could see because he does

(22:03):
a lot of covers, obviously,justin Jigglow, the diver Down album had
a bunch of covers, you know, the final one. Last one is
Betty Davis Eyes by Kim carn Shethat Betty Dave aside shell unease you,

(22:25):
that jest to please you. She'sbecose yes and she knows jes what it
takes to make proble stand up.She's low bad day side bother alone.

(22:45):
That's a cover, Heather, Ihonestly had no idea. I'm gonna go
with Father Alone because he's got thatbig brain of his. But I do
say my favorite version of that songis the Buckwheat version. So you were
both you you did the right thingby following Father Malone's lead. It is

(23:07):
indeed to cover. This one isperhaps the most fascinating to me. I'm
gonna play you a little bit ofthis, bearing in mind obviously the Kim
Karen's version is iconic. We allknow it. We all right, it's
a guy right. No. Thiswas written by Jackie DeShannon, who's and
it was released in nineteen seventy four, which is a full seven years before
Kim Karns made it a hit.Here's a little bit of that. And

(23:33):
she she love wow just in she'sbecause and she knows just what to make
up. This one was by farthe most surprising because it started apparently as

(23:57):
kind of a rocking, little bluesynumber, and Kim Carnes, I don't
unfortunately, I don't know who didthe production on that record, but she
totally changed it around and made ither own. But yeah, I thought
that was incredible. Yeah, thatwas fun. Here. I had never
heard it. I knew it wasa cover, but I had never heard
the original. I did, Yeah, I did not. And by the

(24:17):
way, because of my poor productionskills, I had to throw away I
was going to do New York groove. But I'm sure Heather already knew that
was a cover. I'm sure shecome on at the Space Man is my
favorite member Kiss. The biggest surprisethere is that version is literally no different
at all from the Ace Freely version. Like if I played it for you,

(24:38):
you would just go, oh,that's just Ace Freely. It just
sounds exactly the stomping beat. Everythingis exactly the same, So very good.
Thank you for playing along with me. Maybe some of you folks at
home learned a little thing or twoabout covers as I did, So let's
get into this initial discussion here.What makes a great cover song? Is
it fidelity towards the original? Isit? Or is it better to just

(25:02):
be completely irreverent and tear it apart, build it back up and make it
your own? Or is the answersomewhere in the middle. I want to
start with Father Blown. What doyou think makes a really good cover song?
In your opinion? I think thecovering artist has to interpret it in
their own style or a new styleof their choosing. Or what's the point

(25:25):
If you're not going to switch itup, then I don't find any interest
in it. And I agree,I think and we'll get to this when
we talk about some of our mostand least favorite covers. But obviously,
if you're going to be completely slavishlydedicated to the original, then to your
point, there really is no point. All you're doing is basically making a

(25:45):
karaoke version with a brand new setof vocals that maybe don't even sound that
much different from the original. SoI agree, I love it when an
artist I mean to a degree,I guess, but I do love it.
I appreciate put it this way,I have appreciate it when an artist
puts completely their stamp on it andmakes it an original. Doesn't mean that

(26:06):
I love the song or their interpretationof it, but I do respect the
fact that they're being true to theirown muse and to their own style of
music. Heather, what do youthink about this? I think what for
me makes a great cover song.Honestly, if Malone Father Malone kind of
nailed it is that if somebody's justdoing a straight cover, I mean,
that's fine if you're at a keggeror something like that, But if you

(26:30):
want to make something interesting, ifyou want to make good music, yeah,
make it your own. Otherwise it'sjust kind of regurgitation, and I
can have various shades. I mean, some bands can kind of do a
deconstruction reconstruction, say like The Residentsdid with Satisfaction. You could do something
that's slightly less deconstructed but still reconstructed, like Divo's version of Satisfaction. That

(26:53):
was when you said that, that'sthe first thing I thought of it.
They did that, and they didare You Experienced, which was also a
departure from original. But but Ilove their versions and it's not so far
afield, but it definitely is unmistakablya Devo song. I think. Yeah,
No, they're both great. Imean, but the Residents cover Satisfactions
even more, just like it's likeemerging out of the primordial soup of sound

(27:17):
and it's and I love it soyeah, yeah, I mean, for
me, just what makes a greatcover song? Just what makes a great
song? Is it a great song? Does it move me? Now?
Does it make and I'm passioned andprint there you go? But what about
HP. Yeah, that's totally concurwith everything you're saying there. Like I'd
said earlier, I do think Ilove hearing somebody's like I said, following

(27:41):
their musical sort of muse and makingsomething interesting out of it. When I
in college, I don't know ifI mentioned this yet, but in college
I was the music director at thedorm radio station where I was living,
and one of the best things aboutit was we would every day I would
go to the post office and justliterally have a stack of records and CDs

(28:03):
that record labels. They thought thatwe were actually like broadcasting beyond the confines
of the dorm, so they wouldsend us all kinds of promo stuff and
it was always the cool part forme. One of the cool parts for
me was oftentimes you would get aCD single of whatever the current artist was,
and they would always have a Bside, or a lot of them
would have a B side where itwould be them covering a song or something

(28:26):
that wouldn't have appeared on the album, just in the days before that became
like a usual practice, like onSpotify. You can find all this stuff
now, but at the time therewas a little bit of cache and discovering
it and kind of this exclusive littleclub of being at the radio station.
And I always I just I lovedhearing an interesting cover of something that I

(28:48):
that I wasn't aware that they wereeven a fan of the artist in question.
One of the things I remember bestis there was a label I don't
know if they're still a round callAlternative Tentacles Yellow after his level, and
as a as kind of a commemorativething, they put out a CD called
Virus one hundred, which was aCD full Are you guys familiar? I
see you nodding a little bit,did I view? Do you know?

(29:11):
Are you familiar with the CD inquestion? Oh? God, that name
is so familiar. I feel likeI've heard of I feel like I've either
at the families have heard of it. I'm not sorry. So it was.
It was a CD. It wasa CD basically of nothing but tribute
songs or cover songs of the deadKennedy's by like a whole slew of artists.
Everybody from Faith No More was onit. L seven there was a

(29:33):
band that was really popular at thetime that I like called Disposable Heroes of
Hypocrisy. They did an amazing coverof California uber Alice, which I thought
was fan I actually liked it betterthan the original. But that was a
good example of something that was likelike a treasure trove of cool covers I
was like, this is amazing.So that always excited me just as a

(29:55):
listener, as someone forming my musicaltastes at the time. I loved it
to hear a cool cover of somethingthat was kind of far afield at the
time because everything was about alternative radioat the time. So cool. I
also wanted to bring up a littlebit this idea of cover bands versus tribute
bands I have of late. Ilove going to see whatever tribute band is

(30:18):
playing because what I've discovered is ifthey're really good and can reproduce the original,
it's fantastic. But if they're reallybad with bad wigs and bad stage
set up and bad everything, thenit's almost even better. It is even
better. Now, how are Thisis a slightly off topic from cover songs

(30:40):
specifically, but we're talking about bandsthat kind of make it their career or
their side career to cover an artist. Now, cover bands versus tribute bands,
how are they different or alike?If at all? I'm going to
give it to you, Heather,what do you think? I think it
depends on the venue the band,because I've seen. The reason I say

(31:03):
that because i've seen, I mean, at least on the bills. There's
a band in my area that's atribute band, is Sublime, and they
always people love Sublime. We gotthe nostalgia factor. And I don't know
this band personally. I'm sure I'mhoping this is like a labor of love.
But cover band tribute band. Ifit's like a venue, especially like

(31:27):
in a college town where it's likea popular bar kind of venue, then
they're kind of one of the samebecause you're going to be seeing a cover
band regardless. But if you sayit's a tribute band, then you're just
a cover band that's dedicated to oneartist. But it isn't Sublime itself.
Kind of a tribute band at thispoint or a cover band since Brad Noel
has been dead for how many years? And they have a guy who sounds

(31:48):
just like them. Yeah, ButI mean you can say I've got any
number of older bands touring to somedegree. I mean, like Leonard Skinner
showed up like recently Lovely and I'mlike, who the fuck's even Gary?
I wasn't gonna just die. Idon't know, it's a bit whatever.
But so for me, like Iwould be more impressed. I feel like
if you're a tribute band to say, like the Shags, that's something that's

(32:09):
not going to get as many assesin the seats. I mean, you'll
get me for sure. I wouldgo see that because I love the Shags.
But but that's like a deep cutit afterwards. Okay, you're that's
a labor love. This isn't justso people can sing Santa Ria while they're
drunk on their eighth michelobe A Ritaor whatever. But I don't know,

(32:32):
what do you guys think. I'mopen. Well, it's interesting because I
just heard from some friends locally herethat there's a band that we've known about
for years, and I'm guessing youguys have already heard of them. They're
called Max Sabbath. Have you guysheard of Max Sabbath. Okay, yeah,
they've been around for years, butthey haven't really they're performed, they're
coming here, They're going to performin Worcester. I don't know. I

(32:53):
think actually Halloween, I think they'recoming, which is an exciting prospect.
But you're talking about ends that kindof you know, dedicate themselves in an
interesting or offbeat way to the music, and I can't think of anything more
offbeat than a McDonald's themed Black Sabbathtribute band, which I think is its

(33:13):
own thing. And I mean they'redoing Black Sabbath covers to be sure,
but I think they're the lyrics referenceGrimace and Hamburgler and the rest. But
but no, I, like Isaid, a fan of going to tribute
bands. I mean, the thingof it is like these bands that they're
that are being paid tribute to theirmany times. There's no way you're never
going to see Jim Morris and performwith the doors, but you can go

(33:36):
see the Crystal Ship and get sixtypercent of the way there and it's an
interesting time. What are your thoughts? Fought them alone? I have seen
Crystal Ship. Look, the differentiationis pretty simple. A cover band does
songs from many artists and a tributeband is dedicated to one artist alone.
Right, So yeah, Crystal Ship. Remember that Kiss band from the movie

(33:59):
Tribute. He was singing his notesall off key, The vocals are just
terrible. He's unverre and all isbullshit. But here in Vegas we got
a we got a band called theSpasmanics. They're like an all eighty sort
of new wave band. There's ayacht rock band out there now. Yeah,
and there's yacht Rock Review also thatI've seen them around here as well,

(34:19):
and that's there. You're to yourpoint. They're not just doing yacht
rock. They're performing like all sortsof weird things that I may not get
behind, but people go crazy.I mean they did last time I saw
them. They did like a BritneySpears song and people win nuts. And
I just sat there shrugging, like, why am I here? This is
not good? Did you yell outposer at those sell out you suck sell

(34:40):
outs? Play Breason by Georgiya.No, I didn't get into that,
but no, that's no. Butlook it's performed well. I mean there's
a place for that, and theplace was packed. People want to go
and they want to hear what Insome cases, I think they just want
to hear what they know and notbe challenged as an audience. And someone
like Yachtlee Crew or a band likeYachtlee Crew or yacht Rock Review or any

(35:04):
of these. That's perfect, justa night out were you don't have to
think too much. I suppose so. In Los Angeles when I was living
there, there was an artist namedElvez. I love Elven I've familiar with
Elvis. Yes, you ain't nothingbut a chi baba yapping all the dome.
You yapping all the dove saying nowthat that's is that a tribute band

(35:37):
or cover band? It blurs theline. Yes, well dread Zeppelin,
like you mentioned, Oh my god, I've seen them too. They're fantastic.
That's awesome. That is awesome.So I do like it when people
kind of do that kind of smearingof the edges. Yeah, Alvez is
great. He also has done somework with Alice Bag from the Bags.

(35:57):
Absolutely, Yeah, it's cool.Todd HBO I would like to propose a
third category between covers and tribute bandsfor professional artists who've made their careers effectively
being cover artists. I mentioned herbefore, Miss Linda Ronstadt. Very few
original songs, Miss Linda Ronstad.Nevertheless, every single one of those songs

(36:20):
that she's covered belongs to her.I'll also say now they have many,
many more original songs. But theCramps, you know, they had me
bamboozled at their length and their verychoices of rockabilly relics to cover, you
know, and they've got a lotof originals. That rank is my favorites
garbage man like a Bad Girl Shouldand Bend Overall Drive, but just as

(36:42):
man Hero's covers like Green Fuzz googuMuck just got really popular because of that
Wednesday show. That's a cover songthat they did Rock and Bones. It
goes no and that's and I'll goa step further and say, I think
if that in the categorization, Ithink Elvis Presley is exactly that. He
maybe like the he's the king anyway, but he might be the king of
that because his strength was he knewgood material when he heard it, so

(37:07):
he was very good at picking thingsthat well for the most part. I
think Colonel Tom maybe got in theway a little bit of some of it.
But yeah, I mean it's hardto think of an artist whose interpretations
are considered like the definitive version.When you think of blue Suade shoes,
I'm sure some people will think ofCarl Perkins, but I wager that most

(37:29):
people when they hear blue Swade Shoesare thinking of Elvis swiveling on stage.
That's my opinion, Heather, Isee you want I want to jump in
here. You know who if youthink of Carl Perkins, that was Joe
Strummer for anybody who's seen Darmers's MysteryTrain, Oh yeah, yeah, sorry,
Yeah. The Cramps I think area perfect example of that. I

(37:52):
was thinking about that earlier today becauseit's like there's some there are some artists
that are so transformative where it's that'sthat's that. I mean, it's yeah,
I mean, yes, that theydidn't write they might as well have
they interpreted them in such their ownway. Oh my god. I mean
when a band can cover Hazel Atkins, who is a singular an amazing artists

(38:15):
in and of his own category,and still you're like, that's a Cramp
song. Now, that's the powerof that band. They can cover Ricky
Nelson and make what is a terriblesong a good song. Oh my god.
Agreed. Right. Also, theCramps have my favorite album name of
all time, Rocking and Reeling inAuckland, New Zealand. Oh my god.

(38:37):
I quote that album title all thetime. People ask me, how
are you doing, and I sayI'm rocking and Reeling in Auckland, New
Zealand, and nobody fucking gets it. Well, they're fools, so exactly.
It's my it's my little snobby litmustest. Them. Are you cool?
You all got one? Indeed excellent. So let's let's move into kind

(38:57):
of the meat of where we're goingwith this, to talk about gristle,
the grit, and the sinews ofwhere we are from the bone. There
you go, We're gonna get intoour favorite cover song. I want to
start off with I know you're excited. I know you're both excited, but
I can see Fallow Alone's excited.Fallow Alone, why don't you talk about
your favorite cover song? And why? My answer to this is easy because

(39:22):
it's like when people say to me, what's your favorite movie? The answer
is DAWNA of the Dead George Morris, DNA. That just spills out.
So if you would asked me whatmy favorite cover song was, I fall
to pieces by Michael Nesmith's covering PatsyKlein Each time Be Just a Friend.

(40:02):
It was the first time that myyoung brain fully grasped the idea of recontextualization
of a song, specifically along genderlines. Klein's version is stripped down.
It's just bass and a piano anda guitar, but of course she has
that voice, right? What elsecan you say? You do? Likely?

(40:25):
Never you want me to again,retendly never. It's a fragile and
tender notion of a song. It'sa song from the jilted lover's point of
view, where not only is itI don't want to see you again,

(40:45):
it's you're going to have to seeme again and you're going to have to
deal with it and pretend like itnever happened. And what better voice than
hers, so deliver that because shemakes it very feminine and very tragical,
or at least what is traditionally thoughtof, but the actual best female version
of the song. By the way, it goes to Linda Ron's dead.
If you haven't heard version of herversion of it, it is superior.

(41:07):
I'm sorry, Patsy, but crazyis still great you anyway. So so

(41:27):
Michael Nesmuth where should I say?Michael Nesmuth in the First National Band.
This is their version of the songthe Loose Salute album right or the Tax
Dodge album. Mike Nesmuth had amillion dollars he was going to have to
give to the federal government or unlesshe used it for a artistic endeavor,
So he hired every session musician heknew and paid them over time for a

(41:50):
week and made this album, andnow most versions of the or most cover
versions of the song, they hadnot the same sort of stripped down version
to support the lyrics the way theclient did. But here with Nesmith,
it's the opposite. It's still country, it's got a cascading pedal steel riff
running through it, and it's prettybouncy. But Nesmith is a kind of

(42:13):
a counterpoint because he's singing in hishigh, lonesome style, the almost yodel
version of Mike Nesmith's voice. Hearingthat made me think, and this is

(42:44):
true now. It's a perfect exemplarof why people need to shut the fuck
up when it comes to popular culturemixing up things on racial or gender or
sexual lines, because someone will bestruck by a piece's intended emotion in a
way they wouldn't have for Hearing MichaelNesmith singing with such a desperation and longing,
booie but carefree rhythm, it taughtme things about heartache and the fact

(43:08):
that it won't heal sometimes. Andthere's a dumb nobility that comes with maturity
that I'm sure most female listeners werealready acquainted with. But Nesmith and his
version of it made me see itin that way. Okay, now here's
the thing. I started looking atother gender swamp songs. Gender swamp cover
songs. You've got Jolene by theWhite Stripes covering Dolly Parton, Joan Jent

(43:32):
doing I Love rock and Roll.That's right, that's a cover. Me
and Bobby McGee is a cover.Janis Joplin covering Roger Miller because he was
the first more person to record that. Nothing Compares to You, the late
Great Sinet O'Connor covering The Family.They were the actual first band to record
that one. I also go toI Drove All Night, which is Roy
Orbison covering Cindy Lauper, and CindyLauper is where I'm ending here because her

(43:55):
second album has a couple of coverson it. But when you were mind
Cindy Lapper covering Prince, turns outthat's my favorite cover song of all time.
It accomplishes everything I just said aboutthe Nismuth tune and a lot more
when you re mind Prince's versions fromhis nineteen eighty album Dirty Mind, it
was a B side. On controversy, it never made much of a splash.

(44:17):
Prince said, it's his take ona John Lennon tune. It's an
open chord, strumming, banging.I think there's a drum machine on there.
Prince is doing his own backups.You will mind how used to like
you? Well, you was sofine, so fine baby, that's the

(44:37):
reason why heart be so fine togoing with another don't care. Viewing it
through the lens of what I justsaid about, I fall to pieces.
Prince's version sounds like someone who hasreconciled dermo about the situation they're in.

(45:00):
It's another breakup song, even ifhe's still feeling pangs of lunging. It's
like he's fine and he's gonna befine. Lapper's version, on the other
hand, is completely the opposite.It's glossy and it's got a big drum
machine, but her vocals are lowand emotional, completely the opposite of what
Prince does. It's someone still inthe throes of a breakup. The melody

(45:22):
isn't any less buoyant, but it'sdarker and she does something by the way
that makes me love her. Shedoesn't change the pronouns. Most people,

(45:52):
when it's a gender swamp song,will change the pronouns right Joan Jet did
it? Bow? Wow? Wow? Did it? Linda Ronstadt? Is
it? Frequently not? Lopper?It connects directly with what the whole gender
swamp, the appealing facet of coversongs is, And now it gives an
even further perspective to that song becausenow there might not be a male gaze

(46:12):
in it at all. I'm I'mgonna jump in a little bit here talk
about my favorite cover song. Myfavorite cover song is walk On by by
Isaac Hayes, which is off ofHot Buttered Soul nineteen sixty nine. But
I to be honest, I wasfirst introduced to it because it was on
the soundtrack to a movie called DeadPresidents, which I think was late nineties.

(46:37):
I don't have the number here,but I believe it was late nineties.
It was used in the trailer andit was so dramatic that it kind
of captured my attention almost immediately.So the song itself, the original was
a course written by Hal David andBurt Backrack in nineteen sixty four, and
it was performed by again another Warwickappears on the show here. It's Dion

(47:00):
Warwork in this case whocomeco and youdon't see the King's just let greeve and
by that cost each time, I'llsee you. To be honest, it's

(47:22):
flawless. It's a tight three minutepop song, fairly breezy. There's a
lightness to it, but there's thisdarkness that's nibbling at the edges. Warwick
always seemed to me to be tougherthan the lyric indicated that she's ready to
move on despite the words of thesong about just if you see me being
sad, just walk on by,just make believe everything. But what Isaac

(47:45):
Hayes does is nothing short of magic. He goes full dramatic. Isaac Hayes's
delivery leaves no doubt that the narratoris crushed by this break up. Love
it, Oh Baby. It's sloweddown. It doesn't move as briskly or

(48:30):
as with the lightness of the original. It is dark from the get go.
There's this wonderful solo guitar running throughthe whole thing with this tremolo.
It's performed by a guy named HaroldBean who is later to work with The
Funkadelic and he contributes this incredible,searing solo that just kind of brings the

(48:52):
thing to a crescendo at the end. Of course, the rest of the
band, it's the legendary Barque's backinghim, so you know it's going to
be heavy piece of music anyway.And the length of the track, it

(49:16):
really takes the listener on a journeybecause it starts out in the depths of
despair that Isaac Hayes summons up withthe power of his voice and rejection,
and it takes all the way throughthis amazing It kind of builds up and
kind of comes down again, andat the end there's this amazing build up
and release through this mind blowing funkrave up that the song just kind of

(49:40):
ends with. I think the vocalsof the song I think are probably over
within about five or six minutes,and the second half of the song is
just the band going to town onthis amazing song. The Burt backrack and
how David wrote in short, whatI love about it is that Hayes honors
the sentiment of the lyric, butas we've been talking about through the whole

(50:02):
episode, he really makes it hisown. It's hard for me to conceive
of a song that is so radicallydifferent in form and function but still honors
the sentiment of the song itself andwhat the song is all about, and
even now it blows my mind tolisten to it. It's just such an
emotional experience to listen to it inthe spirit of it takes all to make

(50:24):
a world. Let's go to yourpart of the world, Heather. Let's
educate us on your favorite cover song. What is it? Some of my
favorite covers. It was so hardto pick just one because there's so many
good ones. For me, Alot of my favorites tend to have an
almost like alchemical reaction. When rolandUs Howard covers the old Sanders She Cried,

(50:45):
which is a song I normally can'tstand and find very just kind of
obnoxiously sappy. He makes it movingand just gives it such a such soil
and earth and heaviness like scar tissue. As a song, it's beautiful.
There's lie Bok, the great Slovenianindustrial band who have done a number of

(51:05):
great covers, including Sympathy for theDevil and Queen's One Vision. They make
it, they're completely their own.They took Opus's song Life Is Life,
which is a very like ra rara very kind of chinsey aour song and
completely transform it. It's fucking brilliant. Shoot his priest doing Diamonds and rest

(51:27):
the Joan Bias song. I'm nota Joan Bias fan. I respect her.
It's not my flavor. But RobHalford's vocals on that, it's a
gift. It's a gift. TheCircle Jerks doing Golden Shower of Hits where
it's a medley fucking awesome. Comeon, Keith Boris singing having My Baby
so good. But yeah, ofcourse I could go on and on.

(51:49):
Bajas doing Telegram Sam or Ziki Stardustor Third Uncle Cherry Chef's Kiss like Perfection,
all wonderful, all yes, butwhat is your all time favorite?
Though? Wait, hey, I'mgetting there. I'm getting there. But
Malone got to give us this amazingmonologue. Hey, I wasn't pressuring you,

(52:09):
I'm encouraging you. Yes, there'sone song that instantly comes to the
front of my brain, and it'sgot to be The Dictator's cover of The
Stooges Surgeons Destroy. I love likeany punk rock person worth their salt.
Come on, it's the Stooges.Respect your elders. I'm fucking loving his

(52:30):
ses and the original Surgeon story isgreat steep walk and chet, I'm over
away son, I am a worldbut we're iggy singing. That to me

(52:52):
sounds and it's part of the brillianceof that song. To me, when
he sings I'm a street walking cheetahwith a heartful and apomp, there's something
to almost sound he sounds. It'slike a jicheetah, like, well,
that's been through some shit, Likehe's like walking wounded. But it's part
of the beauty. But when theDictators do it, it's got such a
ferocity, got such an attack toit's such a power. A handsome dick

(53:14):
Manitoba is not a walking man wounded. He has ad man army of rock
and roll, fist, punch,gut kick, bar fight, bravadoo love

(53:47):
it. I think that as awhole or a tremendously iterated band. I
think everybody that bands a fucking playerthat ross the boss really shredding it on
the guitar, like his approach guitaris great. Richie Teeter is one of
my favorite drummers and singers and bands. He doesn't get of love, but
any who, Yeah, the dictatorsmake search and destroy, which is an
iconic punk song and truly make ittheir own. And when you can do

(54:12):
that, we can get the iconicsong, get iconic on your level and
your rooms. All right, Solet's sell, let's shift gears. And
I think this is the part thatwe always I think we all secretly enjoy
more than the most favorite. We'retalking about the least favorite song father them
alone. Why don't you kick thisone off as well. It's very difficult

(54:32):
to choose. There are just somany bad ones, like ninety nine percent
of them are just god awful.Yeah, I was leaning in the direction
of a cover song that was foistedupon us, the listeners of the world,
Like we heard it a lot,right, Like you could not get
away from it. So it isn'tnecessarily some niche cover song that some idiot

(54:58):
garage band did of some great songthat they had no right to cover.
Initially, my choice was that LadyMarmalize make with Kastrina Aguilera and Maya and
Pink and Little Kim Oh. That'soh okay. It was really oppressive when

(55:28):
that song was popular, and itis a terrible cover of the song.
I don't need extra notes in thetune, and I don't need I love
Little Kim, but actually Little Kim'spart was pretty good. The rest of
them, though, were suspect.But I can't say that song is as
disappointing as Rob zombies cover of BlitzkriegBob. Now that actually is kind of

(55:49):
a niche album. He released iton what like Past Present in Future when
it came out, but it wasinitially for a Ramon's tribute album. It
seemed like a natural song for himto cover. Let's go out going through

(56:15):
the Ramones weren't filled with melody,let's say, but he did have it.
It was there. Joey could carrya tune. And what Rob Zombie
has done is so it's all rhythm. The entire song becomes a chant,

(56:42):
and the chant just says to me, turn off this radio. All the
fun of the Ramones is gone,all the What's weird is Rob Zombie is
has a sense of humor, likehis music has always struck me as kind
of funny underneath, and this isa humorless, bloodless, awful rendition.

(57:05):
It sounds like warm up music forRobots. I agree. My Las Extra
Sisto, the White Zombie album cameout when I was in college, and
I thought that was a really funnyalbum. I mean the way that he
used the samples. There was alot of tongue in cheek stuff. But
I can't say I followed his careerlike very closely, but what I have

(57:27):
heard, it feels like as timehas worn on, I think he's become
a little more humorless. At leastthat's my impression. Oh you know what,
because he's got a song called MarsNeeds Women, which was great,
or Everybody's Fucking In a UFO isa recent song. Like he's still very,
very funny, but this interm justthis somehow like it was oil and

(57:49):
water or something, because, likeI said, sometimes what seems like an
obvious thing is not a fit atall. Was that album called We're a
Happy Family? I'm trying to remember. You're right, that Remotes tribute album
is called We're a Happy Family,and the whole thing is Garbage. The
first track is by Garbage, butthe entire album is Garbage. Heather,

(58:10):
help me out here. Let's gointo your least favorite cover song. I
can't wait to hear what you got. Originally I was gonna go with Limp
Biscuits cover Behind Blue Eyes which isa complete utter atrocity, and I believe
it was on the sad track forthe Hollyberry Rivy Gothica and Limp. It
almost felt like low hanging fruit.So that's my runner up pick because there

(58:32):
was something far more offensive to methat absolutely just anytime I hear it it
makes me want to suit and thatis no doubt covering. It's my life.
The original by Talk Talk is abeautiful fucking song. Mark Hollis was
brilliant that voice, those lyrics,that song, the original version. Actually,

(58:55):
honestly, it makes me emotional.Here we go. There's something just
so I don't know, like pureplaintive about it, and you know,
I'm not even gonna pretend to knowexactly what the original intent behind the songwriting
was. But like every time I'vehear it, even when I was a
little kid, I just felt likesomething like the feeling of being trapped in

(59:16):
a world where you're just fight forany kind of autonomy, any kind of
visible something so incredibly beautiful and sincereabout it and raw and no doubts cover

(59:53):
it's it's like having kids bop dolike the Velvet Underground. It's it's so
fucking wrong. It's awful. Itis it's like a step for wife cover.
It's hollow, it's soulless, it'sfangless, it's bloodless, it's gutless.
I fucking hate it. I havemore respects for a brat's doll that

(01:00:16):
has been shipped upon in a fuckingcattle field than I do for this bullshit.
I think No Doubt should be ashamedof themselves for this. It's a
cash grab. I mean, it'shorrorshness at. It's the only kind of
worst horroring than this is what wesee from politicians and CEOs. So yeah,

(01:01:01):
I don't like it. I don'tfucking like it. The video is
equally plastic and bullshit the original videofor Talk Talks original version is heavy.
I don't know. It makes methink what have we done to this planet?
It's sad for me, but it'sbeautiful because it makes me feel like
great art makes you fucking feel.And yeah, I feel when I hear

(01:01:23):
No Doubts Cover, I feel liketaking a complete shit out of hate because
it's awful. It's a fucking awfulcover. I hate it. I hate
it. I hate it, andI'm someone that tries to getting things,
because to be honest, I couldn'teven think many I can think of way
were covers I love because I'd rathergear my brain towards what I love than

(01:01:44):
what I hate. But you knowwhat, I got a duck Quin Stefani
No this band, no I say, no, no, no doubt?
Is that your opinion of them acrossthe board? Do you like? Not
like no doubt? In general?To be honest, like when I first
I was thinking about this one,I first heard I'm Just a Girl when
I was a teenager. I waslike I thought, I was like,

(01:02:06):
oh, that's kind of cool.This is like nice to hear some righteous
like anger. And it was poppyand it was cute, and it was
just kind of downhill from there.But I don't. The only song of
the catalog that I hate almost asmuch as this one is Speak That drives
me fucking crazy, and I can'twith that. But I don't hate them
as much as I hate their coverof Like I'm okay with them fouling up

(01:02:30):
the landscape on their own terms.But covering Talk Talk, I mean,
Roland has Howard cover Talk Talk andthat was beautiful because Roland has Howard's a
real artist, and he's rip,like fucking just beautiful. I'm not a
big fan of of Doubt. Idon't hate their other stuff, but I
don't really listen to their other stuff. I don't really listen to this,
but this one was forced out ourthroats and even occasionally I'll hear it like

(01:02:53):
Walgreens or somewhere like it was abig hit for them. It might have
been the last big hit. Idon't know for sure, but it was
om the present, And I thinkthe real shame of it is it strikes
me that a lot of people probablydon't even know that it's a cover.
They probably just assume that this isjust another No Doubt song because it sounds

(01:03:15):
like every other No Doubt song fromthat period. But it was huge.
I mean, I guess the differencehere with a lot of our picks,
I think is that that was areal big hit for them. It was
everywhere. I think it's funny thatNo Doubt put out an arm called rock
Steady without any rock Steady songs onit. Yeah, and it didn't rock,
nor was it steady correct. Yeah? Now, I fucking oh,

(01:03:39):
I just and no, you're right, HP, I know that, but
it makes me sad, and Ireally I cannot stress enough to people intellectual
curiosity. I know people are like, oh, generational things, but to
some degree, I mean, shit, come on, don't settle for less
than this life. Is what Iwant to tell anybody listening to this.
You're a beautiful person, not justbecause you're listening to us, but just

(01:04:01):
you're you. Obviously love art ifyou're listening to three people talk about it,
don't settle for bullshit. And it'sinteresting because just a quick little side
trip here what you're saying about youkind of got into a thing here both
of us did about knowing understanding what'sa cover and kind of taking the time
to maybe search back a little bit. I didn't make this my favorite cover,

(01:04:23):
but it was kind of an honorablemention. And I have to mention
on that note, the song Policeon My Back by The Clash, The

(01:04:45):
Clash or No Strangers Too good covers. They covered a lot of reggae artists
and that was kind of yeah.It was one of the great things about
the band is that they gave theyshone a light on all these artists that
maybe the average Clash listener wouldn't haveany wareness of I like, I love
that song Police on My Back,but I had no understanding until I looked
into it a little bit. Thatsong was written by Eddie Grant. Mister

(01:05:09):
Electric Avenue wrote Police on My Back, which is an incredible song. It's
cinematic, it's righteous, it's rocking, it's great. But I've been hiding

(01:05:30):
and the big Time won't. I'vebeen running Monday again. I'm maybe I'm
the I'm in the minority. ButI knowing that the Clash had this reputation
for covering amazing reggae songs, Itook the time to research that and kind
of try to understand a little bitwhere these songs come from. It doesn't

(01:05:51):
mean I like the originals any morethan the cover. In fact, this
case, I prefer the cover.I think that's a danger with some of
these cover songs, especially like It'sMy Life, which is a huge hit,
is are people taking the time andthe diligence to try and chase up
the original Maybe they learned something.Actually, I think there are probably more
people than we realize that do that. It's always kind of one of those

(01:06:13):
things where you could be in afield of beautiful flowers, but you know,
if there's like a piece of onepiece of trash, your eyes are
going to focus on the trash,so not them seeing people don't know like
sometimes. I mean, there's obviouslythings we're all learning that I'm not trying
to I'm not judging anybody who mightnot know that, but I am judging
no doubt for raping this perfectly beautifulsong. And I hope that Mark Hollis's

(01:06:36):
ghost how it's everybody involved. Oh, I love you. You've left no
doubt about your true and actual feelingson this, and I love that.
It's fantastic. It's science. That'sso it's gonna be hard to follow that.
That was awesome. Minds maybe myleast favorite cover song, I'll go

(01:06:58):
into mine here and now. Thedifference is this is the original. I'm
not a huge fan of the original. I'm just gonna say that right off
the top of the bat top ofbreadth at the top, I'm not a
huge fan of the original. It'sa fine song, it's not my favorite
what have you? But when Ithink of my least favorite song, and
I actually searched back and thought aboutit, it's almost it's a little bit
of a two fur now my leastfavorite cover song, and you guys want

(01:07:21):
to even remember? This is babyI Love Your Way by a band called
Big Mountain. Now. The originalwas, of course, written by Peter
Frampton. It was released in nineteenseventy five, and the most popular version
was off of Frampton Comes Alive,which is omnipresent every now, the Big

(01:07:51):
Mountain version, and I see FatherMalone nodding there. It was probably most
notably it appeared on the Reality Bitessoundtrack in nineteen ninety four. Was that
what it was from? Yes?Well I know it from because is that?
What is that the track I wasskipping all those years? Yes,
yes, yes, and yes.Now the production, let's just start here.

(01:08:13):
The production is just text My god, I'm now having flashbacks. HP
god, damn, I love everyd I want to tell you I love
every day. This this was answer. The production is just textbook nineties.

(01:08:47):
It's everything is so shiny and polishedto a two fine sheen. There's zero
soul in this version. There's zeroNow, just being a reggae version is
zero authenticity in terms of the reggae. If you told me this song was
programmed with no actual human intervention,I would believe you. This song just

(01:09:11):
sounds like someone punched a bunch ofdata into a computer and hit a button.
And this is what it spit outthe video which the members of the
band all looked like they went tothe party store and they found like generic
rosta man costumes like these, sortof like calf tens and what have you
to wear for Halloween. It's justa riot of bad decisions all around.

(01:09:33):
And now, look, say whatyou want about the original Peter Frampton version,
but it moves with ease. It'sa nice mellow slice of seventies mellow
rock. It's fine, it's inoffensiveto me. But this was just an
affront on so many levels. Andit was again, this was a big

(01:09:54):
hit on MTV, the for them, for the Reality Bites movie and for
the soundtrack extension. Right, I'msure father alone, I can see him
still shaking his head. Yeah,you're right about this. I hate this
song. I hate It's like whateverslight charm there is to the original Peter
Frampton thing. What you mentioned HP, the overall seventies nish of it.

(01:10:17):
These the freewheeling sitting in the backof your pickup truck drinking Jack Daniels at
sunset nature of that tune becomes thisfaux reggae version. You know what it
reminded me. I'm for friends ofthe movie ghost World Blues Hammer. Oh
my god it is so I'll rockpeople. Are you ready, boy,

(01:10:44):
way down in the delth of blues, ready to rock your words? You
know what it actually? This is? By the way, h this is
a superb pick is Yeah, thisis awful. I'm and I'm like you,
I'm not even that big of afan of the Frampton. It's fine.

(01:11:05):
It is what it is. It'sfine, No, nothing against it,
but oh my god, but itactually makes me think. Do you
guys remember this Unholy Medley cover songfrom the late eighties where somebody took yes
fact and they merged it with yeahyeah, yeah. That was the two
fer. I said it was goingto be a twofer. That was the

(01:11:26):
second part of my least favorite cover. But yes, we'll piggyback on what
you're saying. It's by a bandfrom nineteen eighty five called Will to Power,
and they, in fact they didIt's baby I Love Your Way with
interpolation of Freebird by Leonard skinnerd andthe sound of it. I mean,
we've talked about like lack of humanintervention. This this sound reminds me of
if you go to the Blues BrothersYarmata room at the Holiday Inn and there's

(01:11:51):
like a duo performing with nothing buta drum machine and a keyboard and they're
just kind of doing medley's of badsongs or whatever while you're drinking. You're
sipping your water down whiskey, Heyfunny. Oh yeah, I know it's

(01:12:25):
bad. It was tough for meto choose between the two because they're both
equally awful and like rech inducing.But yes, I'm glad. I'm so
glad you remember that, Heather kudos. How could I forget? It's such
a horrible thing. I mean,to the point where this is a bad
joke. Alert ahead at three twoone. When you're thinking that the plane

(01:12:45):
crash was the second we're saying tohappen to Leonard Skinner boy. I kid,
I kid, I'm sorry, I'msorry. It's a good thing.
I don't believe in hell yeah,but it's a joke. Come on,
I have done nothing. The onlythe true enemy to the legsy of Leonard

(01:13:06):
skinnerd was done by whatever Iteration hasbeen touring for the last twenty to thirty
years. So oh, Glenard Skinnerd'sgood for the record, but it's certainly
better than will to power that production. It's just awful. It's chilling how
bad it is talking about the goodthe bad. Now we're going to talk

(01:13:29):
about the inessential. What's the mostNow? This is a song just to
differentiate between the least favor This isa song that is not offensive necessarily,
It's just it's a cover that leavesyou scratching your head saying why did they
do that? I'm not I'm notoffended by it, and I'm not I
don't think this is an affront tomy tip to all that is good,

(01:13:50):
but it's like, why did theydo it? Heather, what's your pick
for the most inessential cover song?Well? I was my pick and this
was partially I'd write conversation I recentlyhad with our beloved father Malone, and
it's got to be when Motley Crewcovered White Punk Sun Dope, which I,
as you guys know, is aybodythat knows me knows I'm a massive

(01:14:12):
Tubes fan, so White was amember of the fan club. I own

(01:14:39):
everything on Vinyl as well as CD. I am massive, massive, massive
fan Molly Care, especially after relisteningto No Doubts cover of Talk Talk,
which that may have colored my perceptionbecause I even re listened to the White
Punks on Dope cover after hearing NoDoubt That shit sounded like a banger to
be honest, but it's fine.It's actually a straight, pretty faithful cover.

(01:15:00):
If I was there alive, Iwould be like happy to hear it
just because it's so cool. It'sa Tubes well dope Hollywood To be honest,

(01:15:30):
is it essential? No? DoesMotley Crue really have company? The
Tubes are so great at having thatkind of subversive humor and satire all throughout
their discography. White Punk Sun Dopeis definitely part of that. The only
time Motley Cruez ever actually funny iswhen it's unintentional. I mean, this

(01:15:50):
is a band that gave us suchsong titles as first Band on the Moon,
Treat Me like the Dog I am, and and of course I mean,
if you guys want to hear somereal comedy gold, I believe it's
offt Generation Swine where Tommy Lee doesa song called Brandon. Yes, it's
Tommy Lee singing playing the piano,singing about his then newborn son Brandon,

(01:16:14):
And it's literally a line going,Brandon, she is your mom like that.
It's fucking awful, But I laugh. I laugh every time. It's
awful. So Molly Herr funny whenthey're not trying to be funny. Well,

(01:16:41):
they have a history. They havea history, you. I mean
they did smoke it in the boysroom, of course. And they also
did Anarchy in the UK. Ibelieve, which that I don't. That
was not a good one, thatthey're Anarchy in the UK. Cover honestly
could effects the potential to be onmy worst but spoke of the boys,
that song actually was almost my worst. Yeah, an Narchy in the UK.
I think the musically that song soundsokay as a cover is a heavy

(01:17:04):
hard rock version of that tune.But Vince Neil singing about anarchy, what
are you kidding me? You guysare everything anarchy isn't. All you want
to do is sit around and getdrunk and bang chicks. But you need
structure for that. Boys, youdon't want the governmental fall. You're lying.

(01:17:26):
I would actually love it if theydid a song about causing a Riot
at Cheetah's or Space Ziss. Ohmy god, Noden o o oh,
oh my god. Oh I lovethat movie. But no, no,

(01:17:47):
I will say. This is thething we talked about too, the cover
of Helter Skelter Off Shot at theDevil. I think it's actually really good
cover spoke in the boys Room.I'm not even the biggest fan of the
Brownsville Station original. I do likeBrownsville Station and mad for Cup Coda Rip.
But but yeah, the cover pointPunk's on Dope. It's fine.
There's a live version on YouTube that'spretty decent, as the Samantha Maloney era,

(01:18:09):
who I think was a really underrateddrummer. Tommy Lee is great as
a drummer, though, God don'tdate him or let him sing about children
follow alone. Let's move on toyou. What's your most innocential cover song?
What's funny is? I don't knowwhy this is. I have a
list that was difficult to choose fromthem, but for some reason, the
majority of which were heavy metal coversof non heavy metal tunes. Just oddly,

(01:18:32):
it all seemed that way, likefor some reason, most heavy metal
covers of regular songs just don't workfor whatever reason. Motley Crue is on
my list three times for their threecovers, but also on the list is
Land of Confusion, Disturbed covering genand not Oh Yeah, yeah yeah.

(01:19:08):
I thought they were making it hardby making it all choppy and chunky with
guitar bursts and shit. Genesis isalready hard. Son. No, there

(01:19:31):
there are lots and lots of inessentialheavy metal covers, but I hope this
qualify as HB. I ended ina very, very weird place. The
most inessential cover song for me ofall time is Bobcat gold Twight covering You
two with or without You at theend of his comedy sets. I remember

(01:19:53):
that they had the strobe light andhe like slicked back his hair and putting
he would go at near the end. He would go during the d mental
party to go off stage and getthe flag and come out and wave it
around. Well, it was hisbid to do like when Andy Kaufman would
do Elvis, but the difference wasAndy Kaufman's Elvis. Everybody who saw it
agrees that was the best Elvis impersonationthey'd ever seen. So I think that

(01:20:17):
was his kind of bid to bea little edgy and be like Andy Kaufman
to blow people's minds that he's sogood. I think he sounded he did
sound a lot like Bono, thoughI thought it was a kind of fascination.
But it's self indulgent. I thinkthat's my point. Who was asking
him to do that? And whatwas the purpose? And how did it
end his comedy set. That's whatwas confusing to me. It just felt

(01:20:40):
self indulgence. Don't get me wrong. I love Bob Goldthwaight. I adore
Bob Goldthwaite. Yeah, absolutely,I've loved his comedy, his weird o
routine that he used to do.I love that too, But this thing
felt odd and to your point,Heather, he actually did a pretty okay

(01:21:27):
job as Bono. But at theend of the day, we're left with
the question of why, which Ithink is central to all of these in
essential cover songs. Along with that, I'll give you my another great segue.
Here's my pick for inessential cover song. My pick is and this comes
off of an album of cover tunes, so almost anything off of this album

(01:21:50):
could have made this list. Thesong in question is White Lines Don't Do
It by Duran Duran off of Therenineteen ninety five album of covers called thank
You, which is maybe ironic itwas originally obviously it was originally released.
It was Mellie Mel Did It Right, written by Mellie Mel and Sylvie Robinson,

(01:22:12):
released in eighty three, and theDuran Duran album Thank You includes other
such in essential covers as nine oneone as a joke and Watching the Detectives.
Of course, Elvis Costello's incredible Watchingthe Detectives maybe my favorite Elvis Costello
song. The original White Lines ischilling, and it's propulsive and it's edgy.

(01:22:36):
It's ride White Line High. Wetell all your friends think you do,
ma, We paid your toe,sell your soul pound for pound costs
more than dope. The longer youstay, the more you paid. My
white don do a long way eitherup the nose or your fame wore nothing
the game. It's upt chilling yourfriends, and it just you get.

(01:22:59):
I still get chill. Was listeningto it because it's so of the moment
and so raw. The cover isway too slick, it's way too glammed
up to ever read as cautionary inany way, shape or form. And
oddly that the presence of Mellie mellon. The track just underscores the fact
that this version is not even closeto the standards of the original, almost

(01:23:23):
night stivating nobody else. It's competentlyperformed and produced. It doesn't offend my
sensibilities. Again, I greet itwith the shrug saying, why bother?
The original was just so incredible andif you're gonna do it, I don't

(01:23:45):
know it Just it raised too manyquestions in my mind. And if I'm
gonna listen to it, I'm gonnalisten to the original. There's no reason
for me to go back and listento this. Duran, Duran, have
you heard the bonus track off ofthat album? At least the one I
heard, which is a cover ofDiamond Dogs. I did see in my
research that it was like, Ithink there was a Japanese edition of the
album and I saw that, andI said to myself, well, I

(01:24:08):
can't listen to this. I loveBowie and I love Diamond Dogs, and
I don't want to jeopardize my pickfor the least favorite cover song. So
I just left it be. I'llsee it someday. Maybe I'll listen to
it someday. But I don't thinkI said, I don't think it would
have knocked your your least favorite outof contention, but it very well would
have been high on your list ofinnocential. I mean, I mean to

(01:24:30):
be again, to be fair,I like Duran Duran. I don't hate
the band does. I think they'refantastic. I'm not coming down on the
band it. I even like laterperiod Duran Duran. I think it is
fantastic. I think the fact thatthey still continue to tour and sound as
good as they do is a creditto what a great band they are.

(01:24:53):
But they this album they missed themark. I think it's perhaps noble that
they wanted to make an album ofcover of bands that they have influenced them
in some way, but it wasa head scratcher for me. It was
an easy pick for the most innessentialcover song. I think I want to
do a cover album called You're Welcome. I do think it interesting, like

(01:25:15):
a counter album to that, eventhough I mean it's all cover songs for
different reasons. But Tory Amos isstrange. Little Girls album I think is
a really interesting cover album. Idon't think every song lands quite as hard
as you want it, but theones that do hit Hard are really really
good, and it's an interesting albumbecause she's basically almost like approaching it like
pros and it's bands everything from Slayerand eminem to like Patti Smith. It's

(01:25:43):
a cool album. Were essential albumthan this album, sorry, I would
agree. Yeah, And even ifI think of other albums that are just

(01:26:05):
straight cover albums, I my mindagain because of how much of a Bowie
fan I am. Of course,Pinups is all covers, and if I'm
being honest, they don't all hitthe mark, but some of them are
great. That's I love his coverof Sorrow God. At least it's interesting

(01:26:31):
to me because he's still kind ofhad the fragments of the Spiders from Mars.
I think mcronson was still performing withhim, so it was kind of
the last gasp of that period ofhis career. But he kind of went
out with an interesting curio. LikeI said, it's not there's it's not
essential necessarily, but his heart wasin the right place and some of them
are really good. So you cando a tribute album or an album of

(01:26:54):
covers. It doesn't have to belike didn't Scarlett Johansson do one of Tom
Waits didn't she I'd like to sayone more thing about Durandran if I may,
of course, Warren Kouvarulo, anychance to see his name order quote
or how dal Bosio says it inCatholic Girls Warm a Cuckaroulo. That will

(01:27:17):
do it for this episode of NoiseJunkies. And now let's go around,
Heather. When people aren't enjoying yourmusical picks, where can they find you
on this worldwide internet web thing?Well, I actually recently was on an
episode of the Culture Cast with ourwonderful friend Chris Stashew and our brother in
arms here, Fatherlom, where wetalked about Alan Parker's Angel Heart. So

(01:27:42):
check that out. That's on weirdand remadiate weird ing Way Media. Even
you can find me via my linktree, which is a slash motto,
Heather. You'll find my website,my Patreon and all other related sunderies.
Fantastic and how about yourself follow Malone. Go to father Malone dot com to
get all of my visual nonsense,and if you want to my audio nonsense,
go to Weirdingwaymedia dot com. Youcan hear some of the shows I

(01:28:03):
do whever they're like Midnight Viewing,the Night Gallery podcast or Dark Destinations.
It's a half hour radio drama Iwrite and produce fantastic and as for myself,
I'm also proud to be on theWeird and Way Media Network. Primarily
you can hear me on the NightMister Walters Taxi podcast that I do with
yours here truly, Father Malone.I have also been on the Wolf and

(01:28:26):
Raisin Banicheck podcast. If you wantsomething a little different, a lot different,
you check that out. Appearing occasionallyon the Culture Cast and also things
here and there, a little bitof music, a little bit of so
called acting on Dark Destinations, whichis my favorite of the Father Malone podcasts,
so please check that out as well. So for myself, for Heather,
and for Father Malone. Thank youvery much for listening and we'll see

(01:28:49):
you next time