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:
Andrew Warren Smith! // Jul 27, 2005 at 12:12 pm
WOOO, i remember this in the process of being made
Goose // Jul 27, 2005 at 1:24 pm
awesome mix. I loved the Ted Leo song. I guess that means deep down inside I’m a Kelly Clarkson fan. Dear God.
angryrobot // Jul 27, 2005 at 1:31 pm
Who is that singing on the B&S track? It doesn’t sound like Stuart or Stevie. It’s hard to tell if it’s even them.
That David Byrne track is fun to listen to. Of course, he could perform any piece of top40 junk and make it sound cool. Is this from a recent-ish show? It sounds like the Tosca strings backing him up there.
adrienne // Jul 27, 2005 at 1:39 pm
how would people not recognize the smiths?
AdrianRyan // Jul 27, 2005 at 2:23 pm
Love this mix, but you should post those Arcade Fire covers anyway, at least so that I can get some live stuff of theirs. Thanks a bunch.
Anonymous // Jul 27, 2005 at 2:26 pm
me too! warhar!
i love the sufjan stevens remake of REM’s song.
and oh, elliot…
so good!
greg // Jul 27, 2005 at 2:51 pm
‘somewhere over the rainbow’ was written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, contracted by MGM to write a song for The Wizard of Oz. Judi Garland is generally considered the first artist to ever record it.
… which is all academic. if we’re talking about rufus wainwright covers, ‘hallelujah’ leaves so much dust…
ghost.frog // Jul 27, 2005 at 3:25 pm
This is terrific; thanks for it.
Franswa // Jul 27, 2005 at 3:36 pm
Great post (one more!!). Sufjan’s cover is really wonderful.
Did Kate Bush’s “Wuthering heights” enter the Top 40 ?
janet // Jul 27, 2005 at 4:26 pm
Excellent, excellent mix. :)
Last week I did a cover edition of my radio show… I think I’ll use some of these the next time I do one!
Anonymous // Jul 27, 2005 at 5:03 pm
You are amazing! I dont know how you find this mp3s but its truely amazing.
Do you think you could provide me the track list of “now thats what I call indie 1 and 2″ ? I’ll probably end up asking you agian anyways (this is shreveyboy on aim).
And youre a smoosh fan:)
how brilliant~
wyneken // Jul 27, 2005 at 5:42 pm
If I may venture a 5-word respose to your opening question (why do talented indie artists cover trivial pop tunes?), let me just say …
John Coltrane – “My Favorite Things” (1960), based on a drippy song from The Sound of Music.
Or maybe more to the point:
Guillaume Dufay – “L’homme armé” (around 1500), a famous Renaissance mass, still performed today, based on an medieval folk tune about a one-armed dude, so obscure that nobody really knows where it came from, or when, or what the hell it meant.
The thing about music — or art in general — is that creative people are part of a continuum, a process, a community that stretches over decades and even centuries … and they know it. Cool ideas never die, and they don’t magically become un-cool just because they are associated with Julie Andrews musicals, or Abba pop froth, or medieval beer ballads, or rappers popular among 13-yo skate rats.
molotov // Jul 27, 2005 at 6:27 pm
This is redundant — but great post. And thanks.
molotov // Jul 27, 2005 at 6:27 pm
This is redundant — but great post. And thanks.
Anonymous // Jul 27, 2005 at 7:20 pm
haha, hey, you’re that guy that was near the death from above pit by me. and you were pissed at those assholes next to us, and when they yelled “i want to have your children!” i said “you won’t have any,” which was what you were going to say…
yeah, anyway.
i don’t know if you remember that, but that’s pretty fucking cool that i found your site online.
you’ve got a nice little mp3 blog here.
if you want (and use AIM/MSN) message me at can8713 (AIM) or bariscan87@hotmail.com (MSN).
it’d be nice to talk to someone about music.
cameron // Jul 27, 2005 at 7:21 pm
dude, will you put up the Talking Heads cover anyways? I would love to hear that.
Michael // Jul 27, 2005 at 7:56 pm
It’s awesome that you stect to covers of opular songs. That makes what makes this list great. Kudos!
Gina // Jul 27, 2005 at 8:02 pm
That David Byrne track blows me away. Kind of gives you the feeling of dancing in tight jeans, for better or worse.
Preston // Jul 28, 2005 at 12:43 pm
First – this is awesome. Thanks for compiling it, great indeed…
Second – to AdrianRyan re Arcade Fire… check out http://bt.arcadefire.net for your live arcade fire needs.
Adam D. Miller // Jul 28, 2005 at 1:50 pm
Brilliant. I look forward to listening to this on my drive out to the lake tonight. Hopefully this will be the first of many compilations.
bethany anne // Jul 28, 2005 at 2:24 pm
dear matt,
thank you so much for this. (seriously, i was going on a hunt for the ted leo track today after i walked in the door) and i have two things:
a) yes, you’re right on who originally covered the songs on tracks 1 and 3
b) i would have appreciated colin covering the smiths for this little compilation. maybe for the next go-round? puh-lease?
this totally kicks ass. i’m linking this post in clever titles.
love,
bethanne
Jake // Jul 28, 2005 at 2:45 pm
Ooh, you’ve got to have Travis covering “Baby One More Time.” It’s so good!
Annabelle // Jul 28, 2005 at 3:13 pm
You’re forgetting “Let’s Dance” (David Bowie) – covered by M. Ward.
nm // Jul 28, 2005 at 3:41 pm
for volume II: travis morrison – “what’s your fantasy?” (ludacris)
Anonymous // Jul 28, 2005 at 5:19 pm
It looked like he was trying to avoid released songs, probably to try to avoid any legal headaches.
But if the next one includes released covers, you have to include The Dismemberment Plans cover of Crush. It gives me the chills.
Anonymous // Jul 28, 2005 at 5:46 pm
richard thompson doing “oops i did it again”
Anonymous // Jul 28, 2005 at 7:30 pm
Did anyone think to clear the sync rights with all the publisher’s of these orignal works before putting these songs on this site??…just curious…lol
kristine // Jul 28, 2005 at 8:15 pm
yay for Bishop Allen!!
this is awesome, dude.
Anonymous // Jul 28, 2005 at 9:49 pm
i heard final fantasy do mariah carey’s “fantasy” (oh, the irony)at a concert, and it was hilarious AND well done! i think there’s an mp3 on one of the arcade fire boards.
Jason // Jul 29, 2005 at 1:31 am
Awesome compilation! Ben Gibbard’s “Complicated” was especially entertaining :)
Anonymous // Jul 29, 2005 at 3:19 am
awesome
jensshoe // Jul 29, 2005 at 3:23 am
thanks for posting these. i saw ted leo do that cover live! anyway, there’s this really cool razorlight cover of hey ya, you should post that up if you find it
darkbluedrew // Jul 29, 2005 at 8:30 am
this is really great. thank you very much for this!
Anonymous // Jul 29, 2005 at 8:35 am
Hoooooly shit, Matt. You are the man. Mucho gracias, senor.
Anonymous // Jul 29, 2005 at 11:12 am
Travis do a very fine “Hit Me Baby, One More Time” live, which made it on to the b-side of one of their singles. That would seem to fit the criteria nicely.
erint // Jul 29, 2005 at 11:14 am
Uhh I don’t think that those are Rilo Kiley doing the covers…remember the singer is female. Just a thought… great list..
jds // Jul 29, 2005 at 11:14 am
The Of Montreal cover of I Can’t Explain by the Who is right on. But this is a list of “indie bands covering top 40 hits;” the nexus of the pockmarked outsiders and the ultimate insiders. But The Who were originally anti-establishment (especially during the time that this track was recorded). They were Mod for goodness sake, one of the original counter culture movements (despite their affinity for consumerism). I Can’t Explain was a pretty big hit in the UK, but barely broke the top 100 in the US when the single was released in 1965. What I’m saying is that this track should of been saved for a comp that doesn’t include tracks that were designed by a record company’s hit machine. But beyond that beef, I really love the mix.
Anonymous // Jul 29, 2005 at 12:23 pm
ah! you gotta include dynamite hack’s version of n.w.a.’s boyz n da hood. genious!
jacob // Jul 29, 2005 at 2:22 pm
it’s easily rilo kiley. they encored with the song their last tour, with their equally talented male co singer blake senate (also of the elected)
also, since gibbard does so much, i prefer his thriller above all others.
Anonymous // Jul 29, 2005 at 3:20 pm
for v2 – elliot smith doing dylan’s “when i paint my masterpiece” (live 10-4-98)
erint // Jul 29, 2005 at 3:25 pm
might be wrong about Rilo Kiley…it was just a thought..
Susan M // Jul 29, 2005 at 3:37 pm
Here’s one of my favorites, the Frames covering Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River”. Also good is Damien Rice’s former bandmates, Bell x1, doing Justin’s “Like I Love You.” I can post that later, don’t have access to it right now.
http://www.davidrochford.com/music/theframes/Misclive/The%20Frames%20-%20Cry%20me%20a%20river%20-%20BBC6.mp3
Anonymous // Jul 29, 2005 at 4:10 pm
the “under pressure” version is theUsed with mychemicalromance.
and its kind of lame.
Anonymous // Jul 29, 2005 at 6:36 pm
wow – glad i found this. too funny.
Anonymous // Jul 29, 2005 at 6:59 pm
Thank you! This is awesome!
Eric // Jul 29, 2005 at 8:47 pm
Awesome post. The Ted Leo cover is the essential “indie covering pop” song.
robopunk // Jul 29, 2005 at 9:47 pm
dunno how indie the futureheads are but their version of kate bushe’s hounds of love was one of my highlights at this years glastonbury…..wicked thread, thanks !
Beverly // Jul 29, 2005 at 11:37 pm
It sounds like one of the guys from They Might Be Giants on the “dancing queen” cover. Maybe it is mislabeled?
GiL // Jul 30, 2005 at 12:42 am
there’s a cover of destinys child
independent woman by elbow,
which is funky and accelerated
not really elbowy but really funny whatso
Anonymous // Jul 30, 2005 at 4:02 am
dude, david byrne did the MOST RAD cover of that crazy beyonce’ song, with the help of arcade fire and sise at hollywood bowl as of late.