Paul Anka + Nirvana = Bizarro grunge

Cafe Society
1

In the world of strange covers we’ve had:

Big Daddy - does covers of current hits in the style of 50s & 60s tunes
Dread Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin as performed in a Reggae style by a 300lb Elvis impersonator
Hayseed Dixie - bluegrass covers of hard rock/heavy metal tunes
Pat Boone did a CD of heavy metal songs

Now we add Paul Anka to the list. He was on Letterman last night doing a big band version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. The CD, Rock Swings contains several Top 40 hits from the 80s/90s.

What next?

2

Richard Cheese and his band Lounge Against the Machine do Vegas lounge act-style covers of current pop, rock, and hip-hop songs, and they are terrific. Lots of tinkly piano and Rat Pack-esque cocktail lounge banter over songs like Weezer’s “Hash Pipe,” Limp Bizkit’s “Nookie,” and Britney Spears’ “Crazy.”

3

Ten Masked Men do death metal covers of top 40 stuff (and the occasional older hit).

4

The best cover band in the world (self proclaimed, anyway) is Me First and the Gimmie-Gimmies. It’s SoCal Punk, and on their varrying albums they have covered 70’s easy listening, the 60’s, R&B, and my favorite, showtunes. These guys make Andrew Lloyd Weber rock!

5

Warren Zevon backed by REM did a cover of Prince’s Raspberry Beret. It’s pretty good.

6

I heard him singing “Love Cats” last night on Promosquad.

I liked it!

7

Remember when Pat Boone did heavy metal?

8

As long as we are talking about this type of cover, Tom and Doug have a mean laid back cover of “We’re not gonna take it” (Twisted Sister) that actually played on Dee Snyder’s radio show. And an even better version of “Macho Man”. Sadly, they don’t have the covers available for download.

Not a cover, but the “Gangsta knitta” video rocks and is online.

9

The absolute best: “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Let’s Get It Started,” and the mambo version of “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.”

10

I saw that last night. It was probably the oddest thing I’ve seen all week, except for maybe that guy sitting in Rupert’s cooler.

11

That Paul Anka album is awful. We’ve had it as an instore play for a couple weeks now and while giving it one or two spins was good for a laugh, now I just want to go back in time and kill Paul Anka so he can never record it.

12

Beatallica cracks me up. Beatles + Metallica = songs like “The Thing That Should Not Let it Be” and “Got to Get You Trapped Under Ice.”