I was thinking about this idea for a thread this afternoon driving home and I hope I can explain what I mean.
What songs strike you as very well done examples of a genre outside an artist’s usual oeuvre?
I have two examples. One is “As You Said” by Joy Division. JD is usually described as industrial/alternative/indie, but “As You Said” could pass for a hip-hop track. I’m pretty sure you could play it in a hip-hop club and kids would be bobbing their heads to it, completely unaware it was written by Mancunians almost 30 years ago.
The other is “Barbarism Begins At Home” by The Smiths. They’re in the indie/emo side of things in most people’s estimation, but this song is a straight-up funk workout, and outside of Morrissey’s voice, it really doesn’t sound much like anything else the band ever recorded. I played a snippet of this song to a friend once and he thought it was Chic!
I’d limit this discussion to bands playing well outside of their usual oeuvre. I wouldn’t think the Stones playing a blues standard would count, as they’re very much rooted in the blues. But if they wrote a convincing country song, that would work…
The first time I heard Looking Out For Number One I was amazed by its beauty, complexity, its ebb and flow. Who are these guys? What else have they done? Imagine my surprise when I found out it was… ummm… BTO. No offense to Randy Bachman but BTO?
Wherever they pulled this one from was a far cry from their norm. This wasn’t pop and knockoff riffs. This was virtuoso. Well done, fellas. Bravo.
Any track from The In Sound from Way Out. A hardcore Beastie fan (Beasthead?) would know about it or expect it (I think a track or two had been released on other albums), but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put this on and astonished people with who’s playing. The thing is, the album is that good – folks invariably turn and ask who it is. If you think you know the Beastie Boys, don’t particularly like them, hit Amazon and listen to a few tracks. Unbelievable grooves, and nothing like you’d expect.
The Stones have actually done more than few country-tinged songs. For example, on their “Let It Bleed” album there’s “Country Honk” (an acoustic version of “Honky Tonk Woman”); on “Sticky Fingers” there’s “Dead Flowers” (which went on to be covered by Steve Earle and Willie Nelson) and “Wild Horses”; and “Some Girls” features the thoroughly tongue-in-cheek country parody “Faraway Eyes.”
For a long time I hated the Grateful Dead. All I was really familiar with were songs from American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead, so I thought of them as more or less a country band. Then a friend played “Terrapin Station”.
Similarly, Little Feat’s Waiting For Columbus, didn’t prepare me for “A Day At The Races”.
Now I’m much more familiar with both bands, but at the time both songs were somewhat unexpected.
“Be The One” by Hootie and The Blowfish. It sounds nothing like any of their other singles.
Jill Sobule’s cover of “Hot in Herre.” The singer who is most famous for having kissed a girl covering rap? It works, though. (you can download it 1/2 down this page) Likewise “Paint it Black” by Vanessa Carlton. I never thought of a woman singing it before, but it’s great.
Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). By now they have made some more similar stuff, but it was very different from the fast-paced punk rock album Nimrod.
Same thing for Nothing Else Matters.
A Hazy Shade of Winter is rocking considerably more than the other songs by Simon and Garfunkel.
Perfect Circle - The Nurse Who Loved Me
Weezer - Butterfly. Didn’t expect them to go acoustic.
*Jump *stunned a lot of stoners back in 1984. “Dude, what are synths doing on a Van Halen song?” Of course, hard rock+synthesizers went on to become one of the signature sounds of the 80s, so in retrospect it doesn’t seem that unusual anymore.
Willie Nelson’s partnership with Wynton Marsalis is pretty damn good, from the little I’ve heard of it. And it definitely took me by surprise. Who the hell knew Willie Nelson played the sax? As of tomorrow, it will be the first and (probably) only Willie Nelson CD I buy. (Technically it’ll be the first Marsalis CD too, but Marsalis is generally much closer to my musical tastes.)
Blue Eyes by Elton John. Gosh, I hated this song! Granted, Elton’s done some soft rock, but this one really made me gag! I refused to believe it was Elton John when this song first was released! BTW, Sir Elton…I still don’t like it. I guess it must mean something special to either you or Bernie, huh?
It seems every hard rock band has its soft song. Not sure why. Must be a momentary lapse of reason. Oops, that’s a different band and a different story altogether!
The Breeders - “Drivin’ On” (a basically country song from a great alt-rock band.)
No actual video but this is a fan video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=VSTTF7Wts5A
