My favorite K-Pop band that plays their own instruments covering Pink's classic of female empowerment that uses language not generally seen as appropriate in Korean culture?
Yes. MARMELLO traditionally covered this or another female empowerment song when performing live. Now, I share with you.
Covers are not only an English language phenomenon. Here, we have current K-Pop idols TWICE covering a Korean classic, a worldwide hit originally performed by the Wonder Girls.
Do you remember the 1980's, when Miami Vice was an absolutely giant hit show? Don Johnson, father of the girl from Fifty Shades of Grey, was also one of the stars on that television show. In 1986, this song went to #5 on the US Pop charts and was a similarly big hit worldwide.
What you didn't know is that it was originally released in 1983 by Helen Reddy.
Linda Ronstadt is not an artist you hear about much anymore. She was HUGE in the 1970's. She was once called the highest paid woman in rock and roll.
That's probably because a lot of her hits were covers. Take this one, originally recorded by Dee Dee Warwick in 1963. Ronstadt's 1975 version went to number one on the Billboard charts, the only time she would reach the summit in her illustrious career.
The irony is, she doesn't think she sang it very well. She doesn't like her own biggest hit. That's OK. Everyone else does!
Tame Impala is frequently compared to The Wiggles The Flaming Lips, and the bands have toured together. So, it makes sense that Wayne Coyne and co. would cover one of Tame Impala's best known tunes... and somehow make it even more psychedelic. Wayne is very much enjoying this song, and he and the Lips do it justice.
The THIRD track from Melody & Silence is this cover of a Moby and Gwen Stefani classic. I'm not sure who the female is in the duet with Mark Foster - who has supplied the vocals for all of these covers - but, once again, it is a song that respects the original.
The second track from Melody & Silence is a cover of a Beck classic that, frankly, I didn't think would ever be covered - because it was so uniquely Beck. This version replaces the jangly guitar with synthesizers, but still captures the Beck spirit.
The Knocks are a New York duo that have done a few singles with Foster The People. Some think the frequent collaborators should just be Foster the Knocks!
No matter. As part of the release of their collaborative single "All About You", the two groups collaborated earlier this year on an EP with some spectacular covers and that single, called Melody & Silence. This is one of those covers, and it really shows an understanding of what Richard Ashcroft was going for.
But this cover of a U2 classic, performed because U2 tribute band Rattle and Hum did a cover of a Wiggles song on the Australian game show Spicks and Specks, by the classic Wiggles lineup, is pretty incredible, even with Captain Feathersword's growl.
OK, the shock has worn off, but this cover is shockingly amazing and ADULT. Except for the "Fruit Salad" part. But I love fruit salad, so it's all good. Current Wiggles Anthony, Lachy, Simon and famed AUSLAN expert Emma (on the drums and CLEARLY enjoying herself, despite learning drums to play THIS very complex song and needing notes to play it (look closely)) are joined by ORIGINAL Wiggles Murray and Jeff.
This version of the song 1) adds a lot more keytar and pipe organ than the original does, which works as a stand in for some of the psychedelic riffs of the original 2) actually gets a prominent mention on the Wikipedia page for this song 3) is far FAR more complex than anything else The Wiggles normally do, but they knocked it out of the park.
This performance on Triple J kicks off the 30th anniversary of The Wiggles, so I think we're going to go further with them tomorrow on Wicked Guilty Pleasures.
PRXZM are a duo from California. They're pretty heavy on the synth, but it's nice at the beginning of this Grimes cover to hear obvious acoustic guitar incorporated in the electronica. Clearly, PRXZM takes a lot of inspiration from Grimes, so this cover makes sense..... and the vocal performance is so earnest, the musical portion unique.
The narrator on this particular video would have you believe that Jim Croce wrote this song. While he and wife Ingrid perform it beautifully, it's really Gordon Lightfoot's song.
Robin Lee is, of course, American. She was signed to Atlantic Records in the early 1990s, at the same time as Alannah Myles, so of course, it was a natural that she would cover this song, turning it into a pretty big country hit.
It's a faithful cover while still keeping to country roots.
