thirtysomething...

Caught tonight's CSI halfway into the episode. Kid gets decapitated while driving a go-kart on the street... Urban legends and all that. One thing I really like about this show is that they have great music. This season they hyped the first episode every chance they could with Kate Bush's "This Womans Work". Brilliant song. I absolutely love Kate Bush. The really cool thing about CSI is that not only do they have good music, they generally have great cover songs. Like tonight's episode. It ended with a cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" by Placebo.

So I'm on iTunes Music Store looking for it and thought, "Ya know, you should put together a playlist of some of your favorite artists doing cool covers, and vice versa." I'm quite fond of 80's music. One band (there are many) that sticks out is Tears for Fears. There was a superb rendition of "Mad World" done by Gary Jules on the Donnie Darko Soundtrack. I thought I had a copy, but no luck. So, I'm off again to iTunes to find it.

Search>Mad World

[FYI, all links go to the iTunes Music Store listings, so if you don't have iTunes installed, don't botha clicking the links. Or you could click HERE to go install it.]

Holy Crap. There must be 20 to 30 different artists with a cover of this song. Some are good, some crap, and some just odd (heavy metal??) Everybody and their folksinger uncle has a version. There's even a version that sounds like some dude screaming into a megaphone that is pointed at the microphone. That's a cool effect and all, but not for this song. IIRC Stone Temple Pilots had a song that had a bit of that in it. The Makeshift Heroes have a SKA version, which I find myself liking in a funky kind of way. Must be the trumpets.

Some of the crappier ones: Mesh. Almost like late 80's/early 90's hip-hop. VERY odd. Maybe if the guy could actually carry a tune and not sing straight through his nose it Might work. Some dude named Kid Moe sounds like he took a try at the college radio station late one night with a girl or two and cranked one out. Pass on that. The spoken word/poetry-esc Kill Switch...Klick makes me want to throw the radio out the window. He's got that damn megaphone thing going as well. The Red Paintings sound like REM if REM was bad enough not to get a record contract. And what's with the country slash rock?

There's even a version that sounds like Helen Ready meets Lounge Lizard. On a side note, Night Bird's album "Thank You" (which this cover is on) was put out by Cheese Records... :hehe: Check out their other covers. Seriously. Omm has a good cover. Close to the original with a bit of electronica/drums thrown in. The Wise Guys have done a barbershop quartet rendition that is on that borderline of really cool, or WTF? They appear to be German, so it's even stranger. Remember when New Order did that whole monk chanting thing? Well Tonus Peregrinus is trying to pull it off again.


I keep finding myself going back to the Wise Guys version... I guess it is pretty cool. I know you guys are all thinking, "WTF, mate?" I know I know.


After going through all that (there are PLENTY I didn't mention, like the dance club 180 beats per minute epileptic fit tracks) I ended up finding the Gary Jules/Donnie Darko Soundtrack listing.


Just for reference: The Tears for Fears original.

I'll post my playlist later when I finish it. :)

Seacrest Out.