And Now to Explode Your Head As You Head Off For the Weekend
Posted on June 27, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 50 Comments
I pretty much guarantee you that you won’t guess which well-known 80s song this is a cover of until at least a few lines of lyrics in. And when you do figure it out, blood will shoot from your temples.
[display_podcast]
There’s more here.
Wow. I hope he does Danger Zone too.
the songs not loading for some reason! It may be on my end.
Well, I was kind of dozy and thinking of a nap before dinner until I heard the “punch” line and woke straight up.
Man, that’s NOT THE WAY I think of that song.
My head go all esplody.
Willy, if the song doesn’t load, just follow the link.
ok thanks.
That was oddly touching. The story was very touching. Thank you.
Strangely cool. Of course, now I’m trying to imagine that version in the movie, and I can already hear my brain parts sizzling like Rice Krispies.
Wow, its like Roger Waters covers Kenny Loggins.
I like.
Son. Of. A. BEECH! *head asplodey*
Ok, I listen to the whole awful, awful song and I still don’t know what it was supposed to be. Although I must admit I nodded off at least twice.
I give, what was that supposed to be?
Oh, I knew it from the first line. (But that’s because the young lady I roomed with in uni had the movie and would watch it when she felt down to feel better. Which increased in frequency the higher we got in our degrees, of course.) Ahahahaha oh MAN.
Dude, that is dragging me DOWN. *turns it off* You’ve heard Alanis’s emo take on Fergie’s My Humps, right? Now THAT is brilliant.
Kelly Norton:
Follow the link and all will be revealed.
Julia @12: As is Jonathan Coulton’s sensitive white-boy version of “Baby Got Back.” This, however — no … just, huh-uh. Ear floss, please!
This is just horrible.
Heh.
Fair warning: The link gives it away.
Jeff @14: Frankly, I prefer his cover of Bills, Bills, Bills.
oh man….when i figured it out, my brain went all :reerreeerreeerr: like a swarm of cicadas…
I had it from the first line, but only because I worked costume crew for that show a few years back. Before the run even began, we had to start telling people to quit singing that in the costume shop (that, and “Popular” from Wicked, which to this day gets stuck in my head every time I try to thread a serger).
Jeff Hentosz@ 14: If you want a brilliant cover of “Baby Got Back,” try it Gilbert and Sullivan-style.
I’m not sure I’m ok with that version of the song…
However, Alanis doing “My Humps” is absolutely classic. It’s not really emo… But it’s hilarious to see “My Humps” in the whole “Alanis/Sarah McLaughlan (SP?)” brooding piano bit. Now, an emo version with someone like My Chemical Romance would be almost as good. It might even almost make me not hate My Chemical Romance for a few seconds. ALMOST.
Like the Aztec Camera version of Van Halen’s “Jump”, I think this suffers not from being too campy, but from not being campy enough. If this was recorded with Tom Waits-esque vocals, better drums, upright bass, and perhaps a sad trombone solo, now THAT would kick some ironic jazz ass.
Best cover of anything ever: Dylan Hears A Who. The worst possible thing the Geisel trust could ever have done for their rep was threaten to go after the creators. What a shame…
That’s just ill. I’ve heard so much weirdness in the name of music in my life that it didn’t make my head go all asplody.
Though a couple of years ago, I watched a skinny little five-year-old girl perform all of Baby Got Back out in the lane in front of our KC RenFest booth. She had no back, she had no front. She was barely four feet tall.
I laughed so hard I was nearly on the floor.
When I heard the first few notes, I thought, “This will turn out to be ‘Born to Run’. Hilarious!”
And then I caught the lyrics. Never in a million years would I have expected “Footloose.”
Clapton is digging a grave so he can spin in it.
Kinda creepy. Not nearly as good for cleaning house with…. heh.
I too was just thinking it was some Springsteen song when I heard the word Footloose and realized what it was. I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be campy, and unlike the original song which I hated, I liked this version.
I hadn’t a clue until “kick off yer Sunday shoes”. Even after that I needed a couple more clues.
It’s not exactly what I’d call rolicking.
I had it from the first line, and don’t feel the need to explain myself. I believe I had most of the 45s from Footloose.
And I’m still waiting to hear Tom Waits do “Careless Whisper,” which I think would be bitchin’.
I think I hurt something while listening. I didn’t care much for the original version but aaaaarrrrgh…
Monica @ 30 Hell ya that would be great!!!
This is either great or awful. Maybe both simultaneously.
I like the cover of Holding out for a Hero much better from this album.
Oh that was horrrrrrible…..A+ for the effort, tho…..you have to admire an artist like that….where’s his take on I’m Alright???
So I followed the link to find out why this happened and am feeling a bit more charitable. It’s still not my cup of tea but the sentiment is in the right place.
Monica @30 Tom Waits and Careless whisper? Ya know that could work for me too.
My wife got it very quickly, and I had to turn it off to keep her head from exploding (or to keep her from taking a crack at making MINE explode).
I got it from the first line — Footloose was filmed just a few miles from my house, so it’s kind of a local classic and everyone who lived in these parts in the ’80s was required to see it 1,900 times — but none of that prevented the cranial detonation John warned of. Too weird…
That prediction unfortunately only works if you don’t know the song lyrics by hear, as I do. As soon as I could understand the mumbling voice I knew what it was. I quite like that version, too ^^.
Thanks for making me aware of that.
Oh, fooey. I thought it was Flashdance until he got to the chorus.
It’s like Susannah & The Magical Orchestra’s version of AC/DC’s It’s A Long Way to the Top.
This made me think of Nina Gordon’s cover of Straight Outta Compton (warning: sweary lyrics).
Ha! Nailed it in 4 words.
Of course, you only have my word on this….
I avoided blood-drenched temples . . . but only because of the mind-control techniques that I learned from my years with the Shaolin monks.
Thank you SO much for that, John.
I tried to play it directly from the buttons in your post, but all I got was “The Sounds Of Silence”.
So I followed the link, and ended up spending the next fifteen to twenty minutes trying to unfreeze and re-boot the computer. That wasn’t supposed to happen, was it?
I gather the song is “Footloose”, but I think I’ll just skip the experience.
From the first few words I thought Footloose and then I was like no way, it can’t be. But my sister and a couple of my friends were in a school production of Footloose a few years ago so I heard the song many many times.
Those of you with surviving neurons may wish to locate a copy of the Yayhoos’ cover of “Love Train”.
I liked it, actually. but then again i disliked the original.
OMG….and I thought the song about riding your bike (completely unrelated) was weird.
As I heard the music I was thinking it was a Kenny Loggins song. First line nailed which one.
Head no asplody, but wow, that’s going to make for a surreal rest of the afternoon.