They Say It’s Your Birthday: John Lydon (Johnny Rotten)

They Say It's Your Birthday: John Lydon (Johnny Rotten)

Posted by Brianna Goldberg at 11:00 am No Responses »

Jan 312012

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

Oh, the dark deeds that must occur on the birthday of the spiky-hair-crowned prince of punk. How does one fete a man whose very name conjures smoking images of filth, fetidness and psychopathy — Decorate a cake with rancid raspberries spilled over the Union Jack? Present a champagne flute of fermenting trash juice to pour on DVD copies of the Queen’s Christmas address? Continue reading »

Five Good Covers: The Killing Moon (Echo & the Bunnymen)

Posted by Dave Cowan at 5:00 pm 2 Responses »

Aug 242011

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

Echo & the Bunnymen formed in Liverpool in the late ‘70s. Vocalist Ian McCulloch had been in a band with Julian Cope and Pete Wylie. McCulloch recruited underrated guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson; and yes, there was a drum machine involved prior to Pete de Freitas joining in 1980. Was this the “Echo” in Echo & the Bunnymen? That depends on who you ask. The band’s best quality output came over their first seven years and five albums. An output that brought critical acclaim and UK success, but little more than a cult following in the States. Continue reading »