You Don’t Look Like Your Head’s Exploded Yet Today

Posted on December 18, 2007    Posted by      108 Comments

So here you go.

Gacked from here.

Category: Uncategorized    

108 Comments on “You Don’t Look Like Your Head’s Exploded Yet Today”

  3. THAT’S THE MOST AWESOME THING YOU’VE EVER POSTED!!!

    Sorry. I couldn’t help shouting. I really, really, really like that video.

    (Incidentally, it’s also a good example of why derivative works should be encouraged… not to get that started again. I’m just saying.)

  7. I am astounded by how very much I love this. And by how well it works. Love the original, mind you, but this has got me smiling a big wide grinny smile.

    Thank you, John!

  8. WOW.

    John, my head hasn’t exploded because I’ve been hoping for this day– I collect versions of stairway to heaven. I have Dolly Parton’s take, an opera version, an Elvis (impersonator’s) version, a b-52 tribute’s band version, a lounge version, pat boone’s version… but to find a VIDEO of The Beatnix version… and not only that, a video that looks like “authentic’ to the time period?

    AWESOME.

  9. If you dig this, you might dig Beatallica which, as you’d guess, is a Beatles-Metallica hybrid. They had a dust-up with Sony music a few years ago, and I think they still offer free downloads of their music. Worth checking out.

  13. My father, ( a die hard Beatles fan) had this weird expression on his face like I just killed his dog.

    I, (also a die hard Beatles fan) loved it.

  14. Youse all ned to get _Stairways to Heaven_, from which this gem comes. If you think it sounds good with the Beatles, wait till you hear the Gilbert and Sullivan version, or the B 52s version. But skip right over the Rolf Harris version – it is an abomination.

  16. That was actually pretty awesome and hardly head-exploding. I mean, I’ve heard a lot of covers to that tune, but this is far and away the best. Just cracked me up.

  17. Love it. Moreso than the Lead Zipline, or whoever they were.

    ——————

    Fact:

    In late 1969 Elvis Presley, backed up by the Jordanaires, was scheduled to appear on a special edition of the variety show Hollywood Palace, taped in London. During a rehearsal break, Elvis was approached by a studio intern and amateur musician named “Freddie” Bulsara. Bulsara was looking for an opinion from the King on the first draft of an unusual pop song he’d written, one that ended with a flamboyant light opera parody. Bemused, Elvis and the band ran through “Bohemian Rhapsody,” much to the stagehands’ amusement.

    It was so much fun, they might have been persuaded to actually sing the song on air, but Elvis’s manager, “Col.” Tom Parker, deemed the tune “queer,” and insisted they proceed as planned — with a cover of the new British hit “In the Court of the Crimson King.”

  19. Uh oh. Did you have to post that link on the day of the Christmas Party, Scalzi? The karaoke was going to be unbearable anyhow, and now look what you’ve done!

  20. What scares me is how many of the versions are Australian. For those who are worried by Mr Harris, stop and listen to the Doug Anthony Allstars. I think the problem is that Aussies just don’t take the Beatles seriously enough (me excepted, of course).

  21. The Rolf Harris version cracks me up, actually.

    I love covers, particularly covers of songs that are totally different than their originals. Evil Rob did a cover of a Debbie Gibson tune that has been described, stylistically, as “something you would hear coming out the door of one of those scary S&M bars.” Heh.

  26. That’s the awesomest thing I’ve seen in a while. I can’t stop giggling.

    And I didn’t realize there were so many covers of STH, much less that they were all compiled. I must find that disk, and play it at parties. Heh heh.

  27. Of the 23 versions I own, my favorite is the Rolf Harris version. (21 from “Stairways to Heaven”, Heart, and the LZ original.)

    But then again I also have (and very much like) Don Ho’s take on Shock the Monkey, and I suspect everyone’s already seen and heard Alanis Morissette’s My Humps.

  30. I first saw this when it was broadcast on Australian television a decade ago — and all the other versions, including the Rolf Harris.

  31. I’d recommend to Shawn Struck, if no one already has, the “SCTV” link within the page linked by our host at #15 above. It’s even funnier with video, if you can find it.

  32. Gillian @20: The reason that so many of the Stairways to Heaven are Australian is that a comedy series there, “The Money and the Gun”, got a different band to cover it every week. The Beatnix is absolutely my favourite version of them all though and I’m delighted that there’s a video.

  33. Alison Scott @ 32, it was The Money OR the Gun :-) Fantastic show, I miss it very much.

  34. I think my favourite cover was Lemmy (from Motorhead) and the Plasmatics doing a cover of Stand My Your Man. But the various stairway to heaven covers have it beat.

  35. I miss The Money or the Gun. That isn’t the only soruce of this sort of version here, though. There’s a klezmer version of “Money”, for example. It was recorded at the National Folk Festival a few years ago, for a tribute album. I was so scared by the thought of so many versions of “Money” in different musical styles, that I never even checked to see if the album came out.

    Come to think of it, we used to do all our favourite songs to G&S when I was a kid. Andrew Denton is not able to be blamed for everything, though it’s tempting.

  36. This song was done about 12-15 years ago on an Aussie album called “Stairways to Heaven”,

    There are different groups,(like a great Doors copy band) and some studio musicians on other tracks doing versions of Stairway to Heaven. The whole CD is just Stairway- Each track a different version.

    As I remember, there is a B-52s ala Rock lobster versioin, Doors, Rolling Stones, bebp jazz, Bealtes and others. It was produced in Austrailia.

    If you can find the cd, it is quite an impressive backdrop to any party.

  37. Wait a sec…

    Elvis covered King Crimson?!?!?! I wonder what Fripp thought about that, and I wonder if Elvis used a mellotron…

    Brilliant video tho…

  38. Huh. I wonder if they were inspired by the old SCTV sketch advertising an album of this variety (omitted from the recent DVDs for obvious legal reasons)?

  41. Woof! I’m so conflicted now. The left side of my brain is admiring how well they executed Beatles style and fitted Zeppelin lyrics, while the right side of my brain is screaming in horror. Implosion is probably imminent. Thanks! You made my morning.

  46. Wouldn’t this have been funnier if they did Stairway to something like Lucy in the Sky instead of I Wanna Hold You Handish? Little Roger and the Goosebumps’ 1978 Stairway to Gilligan’s Island just kills.

  47. Wow. I’d forgotten the SCTV bit. I wonder how many of the artists mentioned actually have covered Stairway by now. Dolly Parton, for one.

  55. It’s great! I love it! I’m seeing this just after hearing the Lovemongers’ cover of Battle of Evermore. I say keep ’em coming!

  57. Ohhh… I get it… this is the version of Stairway that Jimmy Page did BEFORE he was in the Yardbirds… OK… that explains it…. LOL!!!

  58. I actually stood on the side of the stage and watched Led Zeppelin perform that song at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, I believe it was in 1968. But I gotta tell ya, this video of them sure looks a lot different than I remember it. ; * )

  59. Jeff @ 17: That’s an extraordinary, surreal story about Elvis. I’ve trawled the net idly, looking for a fleshed-out version of the story and can find nothing. Do you happen to know where you heard it? If I start telling friends, they’ll tell me I’m full of sh*t unless I give sources (main question: why would Freddie Mercury wait 7 years and 4 albums before finally recording the song if he had written it that long ago?)

  61. Lessee – the Hampton String Quartet’s classical quartet version of “Stairway” is great to slip in on people and watch their reaction (their version of “Get a Job” is even better for that).

    Dash Rip Rock used to do a number called “Stairway to Free Bird”.

    And Big Daddy (on Rhino and long out of print, of course) used to do current songs in Fifties arrangements – they never did “Stairway”, but they did a “Del Shannon” version of “Hotel California” and a “Jerry Lee Lewis meets Little Richard” version of “Ebony & Ivory”…

  62. Jeff@17

    Unless the “London” in the story is some place in the USA, it’s bogus. It’s one of those Elvis factoids that the only time he was in the UK was when he was in the US Army, returning from his service in Germany, and the plane landed to refuel at Prestwick.

    I think his only performances outside the USA were in Canada, in 1957.

  64. Russell B. and Dave Bell: it’s a little-known fact that escapes the attention of most Elvis biographers, but Elvis was briefly in London in 1969 for the Hollywood Palace taping. Even more obscure is the fact that while there, Elvis ran into Paul McCartney backstage, and was invited to come with him to a party he was attending at the Hudson Bay Colony in Canada. Elvis declined because of his tour schedule and low opinion of McCartney’s politics and hair.

    As everyone knows, the Hudson Bay party resulted in the greatest jam session ever held, in which John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and a still unidentified drummer laid down a set of tracks recorded by the legendary Al Kooper. The session tapes were later leaked and released by Deity Records, one of the most prestigious indie labels of the era.

    It’s a great record, but hard to find: I found my copy on vinyl at a yard sale when I was in college for a buck. Apparently, there is a limited reissue on Rhino. (I’m sure on remastered 24k gold: I’m surprised Mobile Fidelity didn’t beat them to it.)

    Of course, Jeff may be talking about a different incident–but I think he left plenty of clues in his post to the truth of the matter.

  65. *nods at An Eric* Yup. He knows what I’m talking about.

    Elvis fans: If you’ve never heard of it, look up an article by historian Howard Waldrop titled “Ike at the Mike.” It’s fascinating.

  68. Yep. Appalachian State worked on the barter system. I didn’t actually shoot it myself, an uncle in western Maryland did it for me, cleaned it and everything.

  72. wow. that REALLY demonstrates how important arrangement is to a song performance. If we didnt know better, that could almost pass for a beatles song.

    I have heard it, but if anyone knows where to find it, please post::
    John Popper (of Blues Traveler) combined did either Stairway to the tune of Freebird, or maybe it was the other way around, but its hilarious and great.

  75. Led Zeppelin did not write “Stairway to Heaven.” They stole it from a band called Spirit and added crappy lyrics

  80. There’s also a cool album called something like “Beatmas: The Xmas,” which is a bunch of Christmas carols done a la Beatles. Some tunes work better than others; the ‘religious’ hyms work the least-well. But worth a listen if you can find it.

  81. Um, I liked it… is there something wrong with me? Should I care? Should I even ask?

    nevermind

  82. I’m stuck in an airport,waiting for a flight that has been delayed four hours. This definitely helped take the edge off. Thanks :-)

  85. A friend of mine at CIT had an album full of various Australian cover bands doing Stairway to Heaven in all sorts of different ‘styles’. The Wagner-esque operatic one was especially horrifying. There was definitely a Beatles-esque one… and Elvis-esque if I remember correctly too.

  92. Wow!,
    I was raised on those two bands. They finally got together. Brilliant. No, rather, pure genius. Every detail worked through. We are priveleged to be in the wake of your creativity and sense of homage to the greats. Way beyond tongue in cheeky!

  93. these guys deserve to go to hell!! messing up that amazing song!!!! LED ZEPPLIN RULES!!! i hope these guys rot in hell….

  94. Wiki says Led Zeppelin didn’t start recording until 1970 so… they stole it from the Beatles. AHHHHH! *head explodes*

  95. Oh Matt, stop WHINING. This is a brilliant hybrid-satire. Totally fun.
    I’m charting this out for the bar band I’m in so we can blow minds LIVE. They’ll never know what hit ’em until it’s too late.

  106. It’s from a docu/comedy about the whole bealtmania in the 60’s.
    I think it’s called The ruttles, an i think eric idle or terry gilliam had something to do with it, was a while ago that i saw it

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