The Best Cover Songs of 1978

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Jun 152018
 
best cover songs 1978

Welcome to the third installment in our Best Cover Songs of Yesteryear countdown, where we act like we were compiling our usual year-end list from a year before we – or the internet – existed. Compared to the first two, this one has significantly less grunge than 1996 and less post-punk than 1987. It’s hard to have post-punk, after all, before you have punk, a new genre starting to hit its peak in 1978. And don’t forget the other big late-’70s sound: disco. Both genres were relatively new, and super divisive among music fans. Lucky for us, both genres were also big on covers.

Disco, in particular, generated some hilariously ill-advised cover songs. We won’t list them all here – this is the Best 1978 covers, not the Most 1978 covers. If you want a taste (and think carefully about whether you really do), this bonkers take on a Yardbirds classic serves as a perfect example of what a good portion of the year’s cover songs looked and sounded like: Continue reading »

In the Spotlight: Greg Dulli

 Posted by at 5:00 pm  6 Responses »
May 312013
 

In the Spotlight showcases a cross-section of an artist’s cover work. View past installments, then post suggestions for future picks in the comments!

Greg Dulli is back on top of his game. He’s sobered up, lost a lot of weight, and, after years of will-they-or-won’t-they speculation, his primary band the Afghan Whigs toured the better part of last year after a baker’s dozen years of absence. Dulli has never sat still for long, alternately fronting The Twilight Singers, The Gutter Twins, and going out solo from time to time. Through it all, he has focused his obsession with other people’s tunes, particularly black music across several genres, into a funnel cloud of cock rock fury, soulful loneliness, and unrequited lust.

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Five Good Covers: “The Weight” (The Band)

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Aug 172011
 

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

Once in a generation there comes a song so good, so perfectly written and arranged, that it transcends pure aural pleasure and becomes an anthem. The Band’s “The Weight” is one of those songs, without question – Easy Rider, anyone? If that doesn’t make you want to take a Harley across state lines, what would? Continue reading »

Glee Half-Season Roundup (Incl. the Five Best Performances)

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Dec 102010
 

When Glee opened its second season with “Audition” back in September, an in-show speech from choir director Will Schuester promised that our favorite kids would embrace more musical variety. Looking back through its offerings in the past few months, I’m not sure it’s succeeded in that mission (with one key exception). Then again, Glee‘s first season did a pretty good job of covering a lot of musical bases anyway. If we believe Will’s speech in “Audition,” Glee really wants to focus on more modern music. I suppose they’ve done that (check out “Furt,” half of which is given over to the songs of Bruno Mars), but then last season had its share of contemporary hits too; consider, for instance, the Lady Gaga episode. Overall I think Glee‘s basically maintained the fair variety it had already established for itself. Continue reading »

Glee Covers Roundup 11/9/10: Never Been Kissed

 Posted by at 11:30 am  2 Responses »
Nov 102010
 

Every Wednesday, our resident Gleek Eric Garneau gives his take on last night’s Glee covers.


Before Glee begins its parade of guest stars and themed episodes that will lead us into the half-season break, it takes a breather to give us a pretty standard episode in “Never Been Kissed.” In a year full of novelty shows, an episode where nothing too out-of-the-ordinary happens almost feels like a stunt itself. Alas, no crazy casting pops up to distract from the major drama that populates this week’s installment. Instead, we focus on another round of boys vs. girls mash-ups (a callback to last year’s “Vitamin D” competition) as the Glee gang deals with a lot of sexual tension or, more accurately, tension that results from one character’s sexual orientation. Continue reading »

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