Somebody, anybody, please assure me that this was just a dream gone terribly wrong…
Last night I drifted off to sleep on the couch while watching TV for a bit, then awoke and started to head up to bed. Another show had by then come on from what I’d been watching and slowly, to my brutal horror, it became clear that what was being broadcast was Paul freakin’ Anka about to perform his rendition of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit with an entire classical symphony in tow. :eek: How so many adults came to the conclusion that this was in any way acceptable I’ll never know but, shamefully, I continued to watch transfixed, reeling to the same degree as if it had instead been a bus full of babies on fire plunging off a cliff into a tar pit.
I remember not what the show was, lest I another name to curse but it was the most unspeakably bad television I’d seen since ESPN’s fake Yankee news conference last week.
Paul Anka? Doin’ Nirvana? Curt would freakin’ roll.
It’s on his recent album Rock Swings, along with covers of songs including but not limited to Wonderwall, It’s My Life, Eye of the Tiger, Black Hole Sun, and a number of others.
I’ve got the CD, and I think it’s pretty cool–but that’s just me (I got a kick out of Pat Boone’s “In A Metal Mood”, too). Great driving music. He put together a great bunch of musicians, the band really sounds terrific.
Yeah, sorry to put you off your lunch. The full track listing is:
It’s My Life
True
Eye of the Tiger
Everybody Hurts
Wonderwall
Blackhole Sun
It’s a Sin
Jump
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Hello
Eyes Without a Face
Lovecats
The Way You Make Me Feel
Tears in Heaven
I just had to correct this… It’s Kurt. Other than that, I remember they had an interview with Anka on NPR and he talked about his album. It was interesting, but I can’t remember what he said. I’m sure it’s in their archives somewhere.
Haven’t I already heard a couple of other people do a wacky ironic Smells Like Teen Spirit? I know for sure Tori Amos did it.
I like the way Paul Anka does Wonderwall.
When I was a kid my mom had a lot of James Last-type records which were all swinging adult contemporary versions of hit songs that I think were supposed to be edgy rock songs to begin with and sad to say that was actually the closest thing to edgy rock I was exposed to in early life. I got to the age of 9 thinking Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds had a flute solo and that Under My Thumb was hot stuff because it prominently featured such saucy vibraphone work.
I don’t understand the attitude that people can’t cover song in a different style these days. Is it a product of the recording industry that makes us associate each song with not only a specific artist but also a specific recording?
Good point. Remember Toad the Wet Sprocket’s cover of Kiss’ “Rock & Roll All Night?” From the Kiss tribute album.
Horrible the first time I heard it, because it was very slow and low key. The more I listened to it, though, the more I realized that it WAS a great version of the song.
And your “some” is the point of focus. With some covers, like the aforementioned Pat Boone covering Fats Domino, it’s not that much of a stretch. However, I’m having trouble thinking of two artists with less in common than Kurt Cobain and Paul Anka. Eh, maybe Liberace and Jimi Hendrix.
I am pleased that some do indeed find it enjoyable but I’ll stick with the original near perfect blending of melody and maker.
I don’t know about this. I think most rock snobs – at least indie rock snobs – would agree that a cover done in a different style is a good thing. It’s covers that sound exactly like the original that are disposable. Notice all the praise from the “snob circles” with The Scissor Sisters cover of “Comfortably Numb.” Paul Anka himself has gotten fairly favorable reviews from the same community on his new disc.
Oh, you mean the Paul Anka that was labeled his generation’s John Lennon.
Funny, I’m of an age that I probably should prefer Paul Anka and have found it hard to listen to “all that grunge crap”. And yet with the possible exception of Beck there wasn’t any other artist in the last 20 years that I’ve derived as much enjoyment from their music as from Cobain and Nirvana. Some songs just gotta be sung with an edge. Can you imagine anyone other than U2 doing Fly, Redding doing Dock of the Bay or Zepplin doing Stairway?
I’m not against covers overall. Parts of Encomium were pretty awesome but it didn’t necessarily work for every song.
Moderator explains and apologies for confusion:
You will see that there is a minor gap in the fabric of reality here. We had a “sock puppet” who had posted several times, and who has had several different identities on our boards. We have therefore caused his posts to disappear.
This is our standard practice with trolls and sock puppets. If they see that their efforts vanish into smoke, we hope that they will go away and stop pestering us.
Unfortunately, this causes some hiccoughs in the logic of the thread. That seems a small price to pay, but sorry about it anyway.
