Cover Song

SONGS IN FILM: LOU REED- THIS MAGIC MOMENT IN LOST HIGHWAY

Ever since I went to see Nine Inch Nails a few days ago, I’ve had the Lost Highway soundtrack on repeat. It’s a fascinating soundtrack filled with great bands and artists like Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, David Bowie and Lou Reed. I’ve been a Lou Reed fan since I was a little kid, thanks to my mom playing Lou’s solo albums and of course The Velvet Underground. I haven’t seen the film Lost Highway in a while but I will always remember it. The twisted, dark, and mystery of David Lynch’s is masterful and quite possibly the most underrated film of his career. There are a slew of great scenes in the film with music accompanying it perfectly. One such scene that has always stuck out to me was this one with Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty and Robert Loggia set to the song “This Magic Moment” by Lou Reed. Though it’s actually a cover of The Drifters and Jay and the Americans. Lou’s voice and the arrangement makes this such the fitting song piece of work for a David Lynch film. Trent Reznor was tasked with putting the whole soundtrack together and my oh my what a wonderful job! Enjoy this scene and song!

Lou Reed- This Magic Moment Scene In Lost Highway:

COVER SONG: METALLICA (KILLING JOKE)- THE WAIT

Ah yes the elusive cover song. My it’s been a long while since there was a cover song article on Audioeclectica. The musical landscape these days has so many cover songs that there needed to be a moratorium on talking about them. Seriously, how flooded did things get with all the covers that were coming out?! It feels like there needs to be a bit of a refresher when it comes to cover songs. The point of a cover is to make it your own and that more often than not doesn’t happen. Thankfully there are some bands out there that know how to do it right, like Metallica. Back in 1998, Metallica released their double covers album, Garage Inc. Across two CD’s, Metallica paid tribute to the bands that inspired them from Black Sabbath, Diamond Head, The Misfits, Discharge, Thin Lizzy, Motorhead and more. The cover of Bob Seger’s “Turn The Page” is one of the best covers of all time. But there has always been one cover on this album that has been a favorite of mine and that is their version of Killing Joke’s “The Wait.” Originally this cover was included on Metallica’s 1987 Garage Days EP. The Killing Joke version appears on their 1980 debut album. When you hear “The Wait” by Killing Joke, you can instantly tell that this band inspired and influenced Metallica. In fact you more than likely have heard this song used in countless films and TV shows. Let’s get cover songs back on track! Here’s a great way to start it off!!!

Metallica (Killing Joke)- The Wait:

Killing Joke- The Wait:

Metallica- The Wait (Live 1998):

HAPPY HALLOWEEN: AFI- ALL HALLOWS EP

I’ve had a tradition for many years that when it’s Halloween, I have to listen to AFI’s All Hallows EP. It’s really a great Halloween companion. It sets the mood oh so sweetly. Released in October of 1999, All Hallows features three new songs and one cover. The three originals are damn good. “Fall Children” really captures the energy of AFI at the time. “The Boy Who Destroyed The World” is one of those songs that shows a bit where the band was heading into The Art Of Drowning. “Total Immortal” is one of my favorite AFI songs. I love the rawness of this song. It’s got such a great punk feel mixed with the right amount of goth/post-punk to make it quite memorable. And who can forget their awesome cover of The Misfits “Halloween.” I mean AFI and The Misfits is a perfect match. Some more fun history about this EP and era of the band is after the release, AFI would tour with Sick Of It All. Then concluding that tour, they went on to tour with Danzig. Talk about a tour!!! I’d love to see that now even. “The Boy Who Destroyed The World” was featured in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skakter 3 video game. The Offspring would go on to cover “Total Immortal” and that was featured in the Jim Carrey movie, Me, Myself and Irene. By the way, AFI’s version is way better than The Offspring’s. I really miss when bands would do one off’s like this. AFI is on quite the roll right now as their new album, Silver Bleeds The Black Sun is out and it’s fantastic! So when you’re done listening to the All Hallows EP, be sure to check out my review and listen to Sliver Bleeds The Black Sun. You can thank me later!

AFI- All Hallows EP:

SONGS IN FILM: SID VICIOUS (FRANK SINATRA)- MY WAY FROM GOODFELLAS

I love watching movies and TV shows and having those moments when a song really brings a scene or moment to life. It’s genuinely a really great experience and those that last in your mind for quite some time. The other night I was watching the classic and one one the best mob movies of all time, Goodfellas. This movie is downright fantastic. Sometimes I wish it were a longer movie like Casino is. The scene at the end of the film and how things play out is one of those that should be studied in film school. The way it’s shot, the actors, and of course the song. Martin Scorcese has always had a great ear for picking songs for his films and his inclusion of “My Way” the Sid Vicious version not the Frank Sinatra one really adds to this even more. The attitude in the Sid version has always stood out to me and it comes even more to life with being a part of this scene.

Sid Vicious (Frank Sinatra)- My Way in Goodfellas:

MEMORABLE TV PERFORMANCES: ADAM SANDLER (NEIL YOUNG)- LIKE A HURRICANE ON LETTERMAN

Let’s travel back to 2009. Warner Brothers Records was putting together a compilation album to celebrate their 50th anniversary. A bunch of different artists and bands were chosen to cover a myriad of bands and artists that have been on the label. There are some really interesting choices on this album as to what song was picked and who is doing what. For example Mastodon does a rad version of ZZ Top’s “Just Got Paid.” The one that I really want to highlight is Adam Sandler taking on “Like A Hurricane” by Neil Young & Crazy Horse. As a big Neil fan since I was a little kid as well as an Adam Sandler fan, this was quite the great one to hear. Adam is quite underrated as a singer and guitarist and he really does a great job on this. To promote the album, Adam was a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman in 2009 and performed this on the show. What a tremendous performance it is. Enjoy this one!!

Adam Sandler (Neil Young)- Like A Hurricane (Live on Late Show w/ David Letterman, 2009):

Cover Song: The Cure (Joy Division)- Love Will Tear Us Apart

Over the past few weeks I’ve been on a mini kick of listening to The Cure. Mainly I’ve been listening/watching live shows from different eras. While on this journey, I came across a show of theirs from 2000 in Australia. The recording of The Cure’s version of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” was recorded backstage. This version is very much more aligned to The Cure’s structure without losing the integrity of Joy Division’s original. There are only a handful of bands that can do Joy Division justice, The Cure being one of them (Nine Inch Nails is an obvious other one). Robert Smith channels Ian Curtis in a way that is hauntingly beautiful and very much Robert.

The Cure (Joy Divison)- Love Will Tear Us Apart:

Cover Song: Placebo (Tears For Fears)- Shout

This is actually pretty funny in my own mind. For years I’ve been talking about how Placebo should do a cover of a Tears For Fears song (my go to for the longest time when discussing this idea was “Everybody Wants To Rule The World). Then a few months back this idea actually came to fruition in that Placebo did cover a Tears For Fears song and they chose “Shout,” and it’s actually really good. I love that not only Brian Molko sings on it but Stefan Olsdal does as well and his voice is the one that sounds best on the track. No to take away from what Brian does but, getting to hear Stefan out in the forefront is awesome. Also, if you haven’t heard Placebo’s latest album, Never Let Me Go, you should check that out too. It’s quite good and reminds me a bit of Sleeping With Ghosts meets Loud Like Love.

Placebo- Shout:

Placebo- Never Let Me Go:

Cover Song: Faith No More (Portishead)- Glory Box

Faith No More was never a band to play it safe and that is one of the things I’ve always loved about them. Throughout their history, especially when Mike Patton joined, Faith No More was always a band that pushed limits and tried new things whether they worked or not. Back in 1995, there were a few times while on tour when Faith No More would add a cover to their set and this cover happened to be “Glory Box” by the one and only Portishead. It’s a solid cover and Mike adds his touch to it which makes it all that much more enjoyable. I personally would love to hear Mike cover a couple other Portishead songs as I think he’d do them justice!

Faith No More (Portishead)- Glory Box:

Memorable TV Performances: Placebo- Blind on The Henry Rollins Show (2007)

Way back in the mid 00’s on IFC, Henry Rollins had a really great talk show. It was a really good show with interview guests as well as musical guests. The majority of the episodes are quite good and Henry always had really interesting questions for his guests. One of the best parts of the show was the musical guests. Henry had a plethora of great music guests including Slayer! There is one episode that I’ve always been fond of and that happened back in 2007 when Placebo was the musical guest for the show. During their stop on the show the band played 2 songs “Blind” from their amazing album, Meds, as well as their cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” which is still the best cover of this song! I do have to emphasize that the performance of both songs are exquisite but, “Blind” takes the cake on this one. I’ve seen Placebo live a few times in my life but, I’ve never seen Brian Molko sing “Blind” quite like this. It’s otherworldly! This is genuinely one of my all time favorite TV performances ever! Enjoy!


Placebo- Blind (Live on The Henry Rollins Show- 2007):

Placebo- Running Up That Hill (Live on The Henry Rollins Show- 2007):

Cover Song: Nirvana (The Velvet Underground)- Here She Comes Now

I keep finding myself going on these artist catalog deep dives and finding things I’ve forgotten about. I love when that happens. Recently in the past few days, I wound up going on a Nirvana deep dive. I’m not quite sure how I wound up here but, while going through all sorts of their songs, albums, demos, etc, I remembered that they did a cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Here She Comes Now.” When I listen back to the Nirvana version, it’s kind of interesting that at moments, Kurt really does sound like Lou Reed. The cover is a pretty solid and good version. As a huge fan of both The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed, I can get behind this version. Plus it gives me an excuse to take a break from my Nirvana deep dive and go listen to The Velvet Underground!

Nirvana (The Velvet Underground)- Here She Comes Now:

Nirvana- Here She Comes Now (Live 1991):

The Velvet Underground- Here She Comes Now (from the album White Light/White Heat):