Now That’s What I Call Indie Covers! volume 1
July 27th, 2005 by Matt
The idea behind this was a simple one – collect enough mp3s of indie bands covering top 40 hits to fill up a cd. After I had been putting this mix together, I started to wonder what drives a smaller band to cover a famous one. Is it the kitsch appreciation that leads to a tongue-in-cheek cover (such as apparently is the case with Gibbard’s cover of Complicated)? Or perhaps seasoned indie vets like Ted Leo realize that there is something undeniably catchy about the newest Kelly Clarkson single. Either way, these covers have lead to some interesting musical moments and some hilarious stage banter. The majority of these are live recordings, which makes it all the more interesting in my opinion.
NOTE: Go here to download them. This’ll likely be taken down around Aug 15th, so hurry!
Now That’s What I Call Indie Covers! volume 1 (links removed. it’s been a week, people)
01 David Byrne – I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Whitney Houston?)
02 Ted Leo – Since U Been Gone/Maps (Kelly Clarkson/Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
03 Ben Gibbard – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper?)
04 Tilly and the Wall – Hey Ya! (Outkast)
05 Rilo Kiley – Simply Irresistable (Robert Palmer)
06 Flaming Lips – Under Pressure (Queen/Bowie)
07 Of Montreal – Can’t Explain (The Who)
08 Superwolf – Ignition (R. Kelly)
09 Bishop Allen – Ring of Fire (Cash)
10 Ben Gibbard – Complicated (Avril)
11 The Unicorns – The Clap/I Just Can’t Get You Out of My Head/P.I.M.P. (Kylie/50 Cent)
12 Elliott Smith – All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down (Williams Jr.)
13 Sufjan Stevens – This One Goes Out To the One I Love (REM)
14 Rufus Wainwright – Somewhere Over the Rainbow
15 Rilo Kiley – Let My Love Open the Door (Townshend)
16 The Mountain Goats – The Sign (Ace of Base)
17 Belle and Sebastian – Dancing Queen (ABBA)
NOTE: I wanted to badly to include things like the Decemberists covering the Smiths or Arcade Fire doing a Talking Heads song, but that wouldn’t fit the theme. I had to stick to songs that were easily recognized by most people out there in order to be true to the mix.
ANOTHER NOTE: Also, there’s the tiniest chance that some of these might have been mislabled and are not actually the band we think it is. However, they all sound like it to me, so whatever.
Tags:
tracy // Jul 30, 2005 at 3:43 pm
Ooh i like this! Maximo Park did a rather great cover of Natalie Imbrulia’s Shiver last week on Jo Whiley’s show. I am biased though featuring A Certain Trigger in my albums of the year list! Amazing live.
Kiks // Jul 30, 2005 at 5:37 pm
Awesome! Merci, ya?
dr howard // Jul 30, 2005 at 9:32 pm
These are all quiet mellow remakes. For something really different go to Beatallica.com and hear Beatles songs done in the heavymetal style of Metallica
identity~ // Jul 31, 2005 at 9:08 am
Awesome.
Johnny Cash… enough said.
All props for posting this.
Anonymous // Jul 31, 2005 at 3:22 pm
Does anyone have an mp3 of Of Montreal singing that Supergrass song from Clueless? That was a great cover and would make a great addition.
Anonymous // Aug 1, 2005 at 6:50 am
Dude, what about Fountains of Wayne doing “hit me baby one more time”?
Sterbus // Aug 1, 2005 at 7:24 am
You should check out also “baby one more time” by britney spears redone by fran healy of travis and matthew bellamy of muse!
very funny!
VZag // Aug 1, 2005 at 1:45 pm
Volume two should include Local H’s ‘Toxic’ it’s quite good! Does that make me a closet Britney fan?!?
Thanks for the tunes, keep on rockin
chris // Aug 1, 2005 at 7:48 pm
monty love has a cover of ‘girls just wanna have fun’ on there most recent album ‘girls are the new boys’
Anonymous // Aug 2, 2005 at 3:56 am
How about the other way around: popularized versions of classic indie songs! Check this one out by Das Aldi Combo:
http://www.dasaldicombo.com/content/MP3/ALDIcombo-HumanFly.mp3
Kelly // Aug 4, 2005 at 2:23 pm
this seems like the coolest thing ever. however the link isnt working for myself or anyone i know.
Anonymous // Aug 4, 2005 at 3:43 pm
yeah, i wish i could hear these, but no dice.
Anonymous // Aug 4, 2005 at 3:51 pm
I can’t get any of the links to work…
Anonymous // Aug 4, 2005 at 5:30 pm
the only problem with taking down the links is that Salon magazine just posted a link to your site with note to the covers!
C’mon put them up again okay? Please?
thanks
Captain Whiffle // Aug 5, 2005 at 11:01 pm
Audiofile on salon.com just now linked their readers to this post. How about you reactivate the links for another week?
Amy // Aug 5, 2005 at 11:21 pm
I know it’s been over a week, but I just got internet access at home and I collect covers like these! If you’re able to, please reactivate the links for a little while longer. thanks for collecting these together, no matter what!
Kid Funky Fry // Aug 6, 2005 at 1:02 am
aww come on bro one more week, please?
clarkbar // Aug 9, 2005 at 11:44 am
pretty pretty please reactivate the links. i saw the concert where rilo kiley and bright eyes covered the who song and i’d love love love to get my hands on a copy of it.
Anonymous // Aug 25, 2005 at 1:32 pm
I’d love to hear these :(
Any chance of them being uploaded by someone else, or perhaps again?
Please…..=)
Anonymous // Oct 10, 2005 at 5:52 pm
darn, i missed them
is there anywhere else i can get these