I feel so unsteady, oh, Tuscadero, I miss you already.

Downloadable tribute to Teenbeat Records.
Thanks, Stephen.

I am the eye in the sky.

I don't get to alert you often enough when it happens, but Womenfolk has a new "Cover Girls" entry up now.

Barely related: How on earth did I survive before Down Them All? And where on earth will I find the time to actually take in all this music? MP3 bloggers are taking over the world!!!

Have you waited so long for your love vibration?

Then, by all means, let Jennifer Love Hewitt help you out.

Funny, this doesn't make me want to dance or masturbate. Maybe shove pencils in my ears though.
Thanks, Louis.

Oh, how I rock in Keds and tube socks.

Superchunk "Beat My Guest" (Adam and the Ants cover)
Mac McCaughan wouldn't even have to pay me to dominate him. I think he's sexy and I love Adam Ant. I have no idea why I'd have waited this long to post this.

All Saints "Under the Bridge" (Red Hot Chili Peppers cover)
I don't even like Red Hot Chili Peppers and still I'm horrified by this massacre.

The Scala Choir "She Hates Me" (Puddle of Mudd cover)
Everyone has posted Scala's "I Touch Myself." I think I might've back when I first started this blog. (Which was more than a year ago, I can't believe it!) Anyhow, I like this cover better. I dislike Puddle of Mudd immensely, but I like hearing choirs sing the word fuck and variations thereof.

Clutch "Money" (Pink Floyd cover)
Clutch is my friend Eric's favorite band. This isn't exactly my kind of music, but having seen his Clutch sweatshirt many times, I can say that I like their logo. And, actually, I think this cover is kinda sexy. Yes. I said sexy. I like burly, tough-sounding guys.

Mr. Big "Wild World" (Cat Stevens cover)
Never in a million years would I have imagined I'd post Mr. Big covering something and that it wouldn't be the worst song of the lot. Say what you will, but those boys can harmonize. All Saints, you'd do well to follow their lead.

Pastel Vespa "Teenage Dirtbag" (Wheatus cover)

Wheatus "A Little Respect" (Erasure cover)
I was only vaguely aware of Wheatus' "Teenage Dirtbag" during its heyday and likely wrote it off as innocuous whiny pop drivel. Pastel Vespa's version is so hot it almost makes me like the original. And then I hear Wheatus' rendition of "A Little Respect" and I'm back at one.

Les Schtroumpfs (which are French—and/or French-Canadian—Smurfs) "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love (um, sort of)" (Solomon Burke, uh, cover)
God help us. "Schtroumpfez le blues, blues, blues/Avec nous, nous, nous"? Uh. D'accord.

How big a star do you have to be before you start a side project?

Oh yeeeah!

Atom feed.

You think I'd leave your side, baby? You know me better than that.

Groove Coverage "The Last Unicorn" (America cover)
Oh, man. A few months ago, I saw the VHS of The Last Unicorn on my good pal Nate's shelf, and asked if I could borrow it. I remember seeing it on cable all the time as a kid, but couldn't remember any real specifics. I suspected it would all come back to me as I watched, and I was right. Before I popped it in, I had completely forgotten about the America-penned soundtrack, but once it was on, I was singing along to the cheese. Also while watching and singing along, I innately knew that somewhere there must be a horrific cover of the title song, and I suspected it would be in the techno-trance vein. Once again, I was right.

Nate says: "This is a total rave song created so twentysomethings on X can hear it while they're dancing and think, 'Oh, yeeeeah! I remember this!' and think that they're somehow interconnected with the cosmos."

Mary Hopkin "Happiness Runs (which itself is a reworking of The Pebble and the Man)" (Donovan cover)
I'm always torn when I hear a song I like in a TV commercial. Should I be horrified that "my" song is being used to sell airline tickets or should I be happy to reminded of its existence in the first place? With this Donovan track, I'd say the latter. And Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin's Paul McCartney-produced cover is pretty and worthwhile, in my opinion.

Stiv. Bators "It's Cold Outside" (The Choir cover)
The Choir's "It's Cold Outside" is my favorite track in the Nuggets catalog. And this was Dead Boys' frontman Stiv Bators' first solo single. Or so I read somewhere. It's pretty good.

Bettie Serveert "Lover, I Don't Have to Love" (Bright Eyes cover)
Someone asked for this in a comment the other day, and though I usually don't take requests, I like Bettie Serveert a lot and figured, "What the heck." I like this more than the original, but that's easily explained as I'm not a huge emo fan.

Beachwood Sparks "By Your Side" (Sade cover)
I was never a huge Sade fan, but there was always something kind of haunting and mesmerizing about this track to me. This version is even more up my alley.

Cash Money Millionaires "Feelin' On Yo' Booty (Remix)" (R. Kelly cover)
Wow. You know you've got a jam on your hands when people want to cover a remix of one of your songs. Seriously, this is not for everyone. Kelly's remix is one of my biggest guilty pleasures due to its sheer wrongness, and the Cash Money Millionaires version is somehow even shadier.

They don't love you like I love you.

Hey, kids, Ben put up a couple of covers yesterday, if you're interested.

Similarly, Dylan has an alternate version of The Streets' "Fit But You Know It, a song I love, with the Futureheads as the backing band.

I wish I could post links to every MP3 blog that's posting covers on a given day, but considering the sheer numbers of MP3 blogs out there and most bloggers' predilection toward covers, that's more of an undertaking for a someone without a job and/or life. But I try from time to time.

I'll probably post some tracks later tonight (or from work tomorrow since it'll probably be slow what with all the art students on Spring Break and all).

Also: All you cool kids who are getting a chance to see The Go! Team completely suck and I hate you. Not really, of course.

Aw, hells no!

I don't usually make posts of this nature, nor do I have to because most of you readers leave friendly comments, but today I'm in a mood, so get ready:

If you're going to be an asshole in your comments to me and try to make me look like an idiot, you better be fucking sure you've got your facts straight. So, Mr. or Ms. "Some Music Snob" who thought you were schooling me on "Kiss Me Deadly," let me let you in on a little secret: You're wrong! Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong!!!

But, while we're on the topic, seriously, people, as knowledgeable as I like to believe I am, I am not a rock historian. I'm a chick (who doesn't work in a music-related field) who happens to have an MP3 blog and who also happens to be human. I make mistakes sometimes, and those of you who frequently read my site know that I freely admit when I've goofed and make edits as necessary. So there's no need to be a giant prick to me—especially if you're too lazy or stupid to do any sort of fact checking to make sure you know what in the hell you're talking about first.

It ain't the way that you shake me.

Eileen "Ces Bottes sont Faites pour Marcher (These Boots are Made for Walking)" (French Nancy Sinatra cover)
This sounds exactly as you would imagine it might: It's a perfect ye-ye girl version, nearly identical to the original except in French. Delightful.

The Futureheads "The Hounds of Love" (Kate Bush cover)
This far surpasses all of the other covers of this song I've heard. Granted, I'm a sucker for this post-punk/new-wave renaissance we've been in the past year or two, but even if you're not, you have to be pretty impressed by how perfectly timed the "woah ohs" are. Also, you can check out the video here.

Mansfield feat. Yukari Fresh "The New Pollution" (Beck cover)
One of my favorite covers I ever posted here was Low IQ 01 & Yukari Fresh's version of "Anarchy in the UK," so I was overjoyed to stumble on another cover involving Yukari Fresh. Of course, unlike "Anarchy," Beck's original "New Pollution" is already a little pastiche of bossa and samba, so it's not much of a stretch to run with that, but it's a fun reworking nonetheless.

Johnny Socko "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" (Night Ranger cover)
We all have our local guilty pleasure bar bands when we're in college, yes? Well, Johnny Socko was mine. I always felt I shouldn't have liked them, but I just couldn't help myself. Of course, this was in the early '90s just before the pseudo-ska wave really hit big. And Johnny Socko was a fun pseudo-ska band full of fun guys who did a lot of covers, as well as quirky originals. The covers I remember them doing regularly back in the day were classics such as Lou Rawls' "You'll Never Find" and the Charlie Daniels Band's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." They used to have prizes for audience members who danced the most, and I won on several occasions, which seems completely foreign to me now. Once I won an awesome jackpot prize that included a giant Christmas stocking full of tacky Coors Light promo junk (wall clocks, foam things to keep your beers cold, cushions for sporting event seats, etc.) and, more importantly, a free year pass to the Bluebird, a bar at which Socko frequently played. (Seriously, there is no better present to a poor gal who just turned 21 than a free pass to one of the most prominent bars in town.) I had a good rapport with the lead singer at the time, Mike Wiltrout (pictured here), and openly lusted after Charlie the trombonist. (Where are you, my love???) Another prize-winning night involved me getting on stage and Mike daring me to lather up my face and shave it with a razor they happened to have handy for some reason. Of course, I complied. And, for a while there, the band included the phenomenal bass playing of Brent Olds (later of Poi Dog Pondering and Wanamaker), who was amazing to watch. They were super-nice people.

All of that said ... while I'm sure they're still nice guys, the Johnny Socko you hear here is not the Socko of my youth. Yeah, a few of the members are original, but as far as I can tell they have nowhere near the talent or charisma as the Socko cast of yore. This is your standard case of a college band turning itself, like the Mike & Joes and Mr. Blottos before them, into a frat-bar franchise and not realizing when to call it quits. So, you've been warned. (Know, however, that this track is far better than the original songs modern-day Socko churns out.) This track comes from Metalliska, a "ska" tribute to metal bands (is Night Ranger metal?) that had a few decent tracks on it. Like it or leave it. I just wanted to reminisce a bit.

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup.

My favorite local cable access music video showcase, Ken Mottet's The Otherside, just showed the video for my gay boyfriend Rufus Wainwright's version of the Beatles' "Across the Universe," which was a byproduct of the horrible movie I Am Sam and which I'd not seen previously. (That was a long sentence!) Aaaaaaaaanyway, it's equally cool (Rufus is sexy and suspended looks as if he's suspended in mid-air) and lame (it "stars" that creepy Village of the Damned-looking Dakota Fanning and uses a variation on that once-cool/now-cheesy Schindler's Listian red-against-a-B&W-backdrop effect—not to mention it's use of the classic '80s "I know! There are paintings on easels in that room, let's frame part of the video inside them!" brilliance). Heh. Another super-long sentence. Aaaaaaaaaanyhow, you can see it for yourselves right here.

It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.

Holly Beth Vincent* "Chapel of Love" (comp. Barry/Greenwich/Spector)
Holly Beth Vincent (and the Italians, in some cases) had a handful of cover songs back in the day. Hell, I just saw her version of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" on VH1 Classics the other day and completely freaked out with middle-school flashbacks. New-wave covers of '60s hits make me happy.

*This track comes from an album titled Holly & the Italians, but is actually Vincent's solo project she was forced into by her Virgin contract.

Coheed and Cambria "Sister Christian" (Night Ranger cover)
Not surprising to see a band who regularly borrows from the rock stylings of 1980s supergroups (could this guy sound more like Geddy Lee?) covering this track. It is surprising, however, that I like it so much.

Pipilotti Rist "Wicked Game" (Chris Isaak cover)
Regular Copy, Right? reader Nicky sent this my way the other day, and I'm quite pleased. I had no idea that Swiss media artist Pipilotti Rist recorded any songs, let alone covers. Apparently she uses this as a backing track in one of her oceanic video installations, which I'm now dying to see. Obviously influenced by the sound recordings of Yoko Ono, Rist's "Wicked Game" is perfect to me considering how often I myself have wanted to start screaming in pain by the time this song gets to the end.

Petra Haden "Heinz Baked Beans" (The Who cover)

Petra Haden "I Can See for Miles" (The Who cover)
I like Petra Haden. Really. And I think it's, um, interesting that she covered the entire The Who Sell Out album acappella. Really. I'm just not certain it's something I'd want to listen to more than once.

I need all the world to confirm that I ain't lonely.

Placebo "Johnny and Mary" (Robert Palmer cover)

The Notwist "Johnny and Mary" (Robert Palmer cover)
I was vaguely aware of the original (which you can get on this page of one of my favorite MP3 blogs ever) "Johnny and Mary" as a child, but was shocked to learn later in life (post-"Addicted to Love," of course) that it was by Robert Palmer. I remembered Palmer in that "Clues" video, and I found him smarmy as hell. Anyhow, this song helps me understand why John Taylor liked him. I couldn't decide which of these covers to post (there are a lot more where these came from, by the way), so I went for both. Placebo's is your standard head-on, driving, whiny Placebo cover (not that there's anything wrong with that!) while the Notwist's builds from some soft strange little Parisian-sounding organ-grinder dirge into an indie powerpop speed metal trip that ends with a bizarre spoken-word answering machine message. Yes, you read right.

More stuff coming very soon.

Dear Stereogum:

Way to make me totally cum all over myself!

Was that too blue? Whatever. I reserve every right to fantasize that Ted Leo is seranading this to me while jumping up and down my bed in T-shirts, armbands and scarves from Hot Topic. Don't judge!

It was worth it just to learn some sleight of hand.

The Kidz Bop Kids "Float On" (Modest Mouse cover)
I'm usually not one for bandwagon jumping, but my pal Eric alerted me to the existence of this horrifying track—of which he learned via Ultragrrrl—and I just couldn't resist. I've long been holding off on posting a myriad of Kidz Bop massacres, but this track so perfectly encapsulates how wrong they are, I had to post it immediately.

People think I'm insane because I am frowning all the time.

These are songs I uploaded a while back for use on other sites I frequent, but I figure I might as well post them here since they're already uploaded and whatnot and I've been otherwise slacking the past few days.

Inspiral Carpets "Paranoid" (Black Sabbath cover)
I uploaded this the other day to prove to a LiveJournal friend that she is indeed wrong for loving Inspiral Carpets. Heh. Just kidding ... sort of. You should know that any criticizing I do comes from a place of love, really. Especially considering I still have (and like!!!) the "This Is How It Feels" Maxi CD.

Behl "Don't You Forget About Me" (Simple Minds cover)
Yeah, at first I didn't want to post this here because I've already posted so many John Hughes-related twee covers, but one more couldn't hurt I suppose.

I got something to put in you.

Peaches "Gay Bar" (Electric Six cover)
It's probably passé, but I loves me some Peaches.

Sebadoh "Cold as Ice" (Foreigner cover)
I'm very attracted to men who look like Lou Barlow, but not so much to Barlow himself. What's up with that?

Astrud Gilberto "Beginnings" (Chicago cover)
I'm currently experiencing a Chicago renaissance. I'm not sure why.

Cagney and Lacee (aka Dean Wareham and Claudia Silver) "Lovin' You" (Minnie Riperton cover)
Dean Wareham loves the covers, eh? Before he paired up with Jem (Britta Phillips) for 2003's L'Avventura, he worked with his then-wife to release an EP of somber little covers, Six Feet of Chain, under the Cagney and Lacee moniker. This track always made me happy.

Randy "Kiss Me Deadly" (Lita Ford cover)
This Swedish "punk" version is only worthwhile (in a humorous way) in the first few lines, in which you'll hear some iffy verb tenses and the word job pronounced as yob, which amuses me far more than it should.

Shaun Cassidy "Rebel Rebel" (David Bowie cover)
Oh, Shaun ... how I loved him back in the day. I had Shaun Cassidy pillow cases and a poster of him in that shiny white satin jacket with eyes that followed me wherever in my room I stood. To this day, I still dream of covering "That's Rock N Roll." But his Rundgren/Utopia-produced mostly-cover album that came out far past his heyday (in an attempt to reinvent him for the 1980s, I believe) is scary bad.