Things I Like #10 + 11: Twofer!Top Ten Lists + Good Cover Songs

Two posts today to make up for lack of updates. This isn't at all a copout, I swear.

First, an example of NOT a good cover song: My Chemical Romance's Desolation Row. You've probably heard it during the end credits of Watchmen. I refuse to link to it though, so treat yourself to the original, minus a minute or so.

#10 is Karl Wolf's Africa. Okay, granted, it's not /technically/ a cover, but the original is just so good, I had to get it on my list somehow. Besides, 6,953,237 people can't be wrong.
(Page view != individual person, shut up, I know)

#9 is a no-brainer: Avril Lavigne's Knocking on Heaven's Door. ... I'm totally messing with you-- it links to Clapton. Though you have to give Lavigne credit-- her video features clips of children from developing countries, so any naysayers are immediately castigated as baby-eating, obnoxious-cell-phone-using Nazi sympathizers. Which country are they from, you ask? Lavigne plays it safe and gets a few kids from each. Because she cares.

But not all covers have to be classics! This Ukranian band, apparently calling themselves Los Colorados, does a wicked cover of Katy Perry's Hot and Cold. The backup vocals /make/ this video. My personal favourite part is the "EY!" shouted near the beginning. It's a seriously sweet cover, accordian and all. 2:07, dude forgets the lyrics. Don't worry, you guys still rock, in your own odd folksy way.

#7 is a rare case of a cover being so awesome, it totally kicks the ass of the original artist (sorry, Nick Lowe). It's hard to deny that Elvis Costello rocks (What's so Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding pretty hard, in that charming Costello charmy way of his. What a dreamboat.

This one's another rare case a la #7 and most people don't even know that #6 is a cover. I didn't, and I still to this day don't know who sang the original (sorry, Unknown Original Artist, you're not even worth a quick Google). For most, though, all that matters is that the Beatles sang it. That, and they damn well rock it. Just ask any one those screaming girls, or perhaps your mom*. lol 1960 fangirls.
* = Not a yo' mama joke, I promise.

The next one on my list is pretty controversial: Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah. The penultimate question among indie music snobs (I mean besides "What kind of bands do you listen to, so I can berate you for having inferior musical tastes?"): is Cohen's better? I don't know. Battles have been fought hard for both sides-- mob riots en masse, houses burned down to ashes, lives destroyed-- and I'm not about to get involved now.
(no)

I know, I know, Joni Mitchell is totally awesome and a huge influence on the overall musical etc. etc. but, regardless, I still like the Counting Crows' cover better. If you're real quiet and listen closely, you can hear the footsteps of angry music purists storming to my house to draw and quarter me. I don't know why I like it better, I guess it's got that poppy appeal to it. It must be that, 'cause it's certainly not Vanessa Carlton's backup whining vocals.
...I'm kidding, I don't actually have a problem with her, but she was in White Chicks and I was forced to watch the movie (twice), so I gotta take out my anger somewhere. Sorry, Vanessa. We're still cool though, right?

Okay, the top three. They're not in any particular order, only because they're all totally awesome and it'd be way too hard to choose which I like better. I love all three of them equally. They're like my children, except not mine (and not children).

#3's a tie (also not at all a copout). I suspect this kind of threw people off, since Joey Ramone is not quite the first person that comes to mind when you think Louis Armstrong's It's a Wonderful World (...maybe the second), but he makes it work anyway. Skip to about :40 to get to the sweet, sweet Ramoney punk goodness. My other favourite's New Found Glory's Kiss Me). Actually, there are a bunch of NFG covers I like (and the obligatory shoutout to Me First and the Gimme Gimmes), so they all fall under #3. It's like a 9-way tie. That counts, right?

#2! Cake's I Will Survive. Hot damn! Listen to that bass line! I know absolutely nothing about music, but even /I/ know that bass line rocks the pants off anyone in a ten-kilometre radius. And just when you think it can't get any better-- bam! Trumpet! Mind = officially blown. I wouldn't say that he took Gloria Gaynor and made her song /better/, but he certainly worked his magic and made this song his own.

#1 is like a reverse-french-toast-bacon-and-syrup sandwich: it takes two fundamentally fantastic elements (and one catalyst) and synthesizes them into a byproduct of sheer brilliance. If I retained anything from Grade 10 science class, I'd break this down into your basic catalytic chemical reaction, but since I don't, I'll just use regular math:

(Ben Folds + Elton John)^{amazing sunglasses} = ...what's the mathematical symbol for AWESOME?