Caltrops - No Stairway to Heaven

Forum Overview :: No Stairway to Heaven

by Fussbett 01/12/2003, 4:41pm PST

I suppose I should've confined all these to one thread, but I fucked that up with "Cover Songs 2", so I'm just going to keep going in this new-thread fashion.

CAT POWER - Satisfaction
Crackerbarrel beat me to this unveiling already, but I wanted to point out that she doesn't sing the chorus! Bold. Even Devo didn't have the guts to completely remove one of the most famous choruses in rock and roll. This is off an all-cover Cat Power album, but this is the only song most people will recgonize as the rest are very obscure/niche.

MOGWAI - My Father, My King
A semi-cover in that this 20 minute (!) Steve Albini produced instrumental epic is actually an interpretation of a Jewish hymn. It will kill you if you see it live, it will merely hurt you in digital audio format. A must for fans of ambitious rock.

MACHINE HEAD - Negative Creep
It was a metal song when Kurt Cobain wrote it, and Machine Head's version is predicatably slightly more metal. It's still fun.

REFUSED - Let's Go Crazy
"Dearly Beloved..." The punk metal Swedes are back, now covering Purple Rain era Prince with a lot of screaming.

THE CARDIGANS - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
The Cardigans love Black Sabbath, and I've even heard their cover of Iron Man on this city's bigtime alternative station. However, skip that big hit and go directly to this lesser known track. Not only is it a better song, but the Cardigans make it into something truly incredible.

TOM JONES with THE CARDIGANS - Burning Down the House
Tom Jones does his best parody of Tom Jones, and Cardigans singer Nina Persson tries to stay awake long enough for the song to finish. The back-and-forth verses are the best because of this yin/yang thing they've got going on. Underneath is all, Nina's bandmates crank out an uncharacteristically upbeat and happy version of the Talking Heads' big hit.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - I Found Out
This track appears on a John Lennon tribute album, and I'm embarassed to say I've never heard the original. Fear not, people who like preconceptions, as it sounds nothing like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Dripping wet production and a great performance make it stand out.

FLAMING LIPS - Nobody Told Me
For the same Lennon tirbute album, this track was recorded in the noisey, sloppy and loud days of the Flaming Lips, prior to them becoming the electronic version of Brian Wilson at the turn of the century.

SEPULTURA - Drug Me
Celebrating the 100th release of Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles record label, they put together a Dead Kennedys tribute album called Virus 100. It sucked. There were three great songs on it, though, and this was the best. At a million miles an hour, Max Cavallera wraps his Brazillian growl around most of the syllables, and if any words were missed in the process, THEN THEY WERE UNNECCESSARY. Fun to read the lyrics while listening.

NAPLAM DEATH - Nazi Punks Fuck Off
Song #2 of the three worthwhile Virus 100 tracks. Naplam Death give themselves an easier assignment by doing a grindcore version of an already fast song. Heavy and crushing, everything you'd expect from vintage Naplam Death, and only a 1:20 running time.

NO MEANS NO - Forward to Death
Funny characters No Means No decide to do their DK cover acapella, complete with all instruments voiced Bobby Macfarren style -- except crappier and not as gay. The drummer's part is "oom PAH oom PAH oom PAH oom PAH". This track made me realize that I'd like all acapella songs if they had more swearing in them.

REFUSED - Voodoo People
Yeah, I love the Refused. Here they cover pre-Firestarter Prodigy fairly faithfully, as Prodigy's brand of techno comes across as rock very well.

ENTOMBED - Hellraiser
The opening theme from the movie "Hellraiser"! Samples from the movie scattered throughout. So creepy.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE - Fuck the Police (live)
"Somethin' nice and friendly..." A popular MP3 going around, and I assume it's a bootleg, but it sounds great. Sure, the Ghost of Tom Joad is the better RATM cover song, but hell, that's even got a video. I'm hipping you to a bootleg here people. I like how in most choruses the mic only catches Zach screaming "Fuck tha Po!!!" or sometimes "Fuck tha Poli!!!" if we're lucky.

THE BREEDERS - Happiness is a Warm Gun
It's off their first album, and it's weirder than the Beatles version, and incredible.

DEFTONES - Please Let Me Get What I Want
Who would expect the Deftones to cover the Smiths? I think this MP3 is actually an unreleased demo and can't be found in physical format.

DEFTONES - No Ordinary Love
Who would expect the Deftones to cover Sade? Fucking Sade?! It's a great version, and they never succumb to the "OK LET'S BE REALLY HEAVY NOW" easy route temptation, although they flirt with it. It's funky. Between the 1s and 0s you can hear the Deftones trying to distance themselves from the Korn and subsequent rap metal fad.

FAITH NO MORE - I Started a Joke
Mike Patton sings this Bee Gees song in a gay falsetto, and helps to prove what fans always knew all along -- Faith No More could've done anything. Their cover of "Easy" is better, yes, but it was a huge video success for them so I omitted it.

PIZZICATO FIVE - The Girl From Ipanema
This appears on a 1997 compilation called "Lounge-a-palooza". Remember when lounge and swing were going to make a big comeback? Anyway, this is standard Pizzicato at their most musical, least experimental, and fans of P5 will love it.

AFGHAN WHIGS - Creep
The Afghan Whigs love a tale of infidelity, and this TLC song is no exception.

SUPERGRASS - Some Girls are Bigger Than Others
It scares me how much I like The Smiths when other bands are performing their songs.

THE GET UP KIDS - On With The Show
The best side effect of an emo band covering a MÃ¶tley CrÃ¼e song is that it sharply illustrates how gay MÃ¶tley CrÃ¼e was, and how horrible their songs were.

WEEN - Piano Man (live, various)
Starting with the tour for "12 Golden Country Greats", Ween has had a keyboard player onstage. Now on most nights, the rest of the band will coax Gener into performing this Billy Joel standard. There are lots of bootleg MP3 floating around of Ween doing Piano Man. Most sound bad, some are great. You're on your own tracking down the best. My favourite starts with "It's Friday night on a Saturday..." and immediately dissolves when Gene gears up for "...put some coke on my dick tonight!" While hunting for live Ween covers, you may also want to keep your eyes open for "Band on the Run", "Allentown" and of course "Hot for Teacher" (which is sung by their drummer, incidentally).

The end.