Many of our readers will recognize the A.V. Club as the less satirical (but just as sharp) arts and entertainment companion to The Onion. They’ve been covering all things pop culture since 1993 and this year they decided to hone in on our turf embrace the world of covers with their own series of cover commissions, the A.V. Club Undercover. Once a week for 25 weeks a chosen band or artist would come in and pick a song off a list of 25 available tracks for them to cover. Once a song was chosen, it could not be performed again; Undercover operated on a first-cover, first-serve basis. We’ve already told you about a few; take a look here.
Now the A.V. Club rounds up the whole thing with one sweet video and asks you to vote for your favorite. No doubt about it, they assembled a mighty list of talent for this endeavor. Their stable of artists has been culled from the indie elite (Ted Leo, Cursive, Mates of State) and even a bit of the mainstream (Ben Folds, Coheed & Cambria). The list of songs up for covering was even more diverse, hitting everything from Guided by Voices to Starship (which, unbelievably, was chosen in week four!). Check out this recap video below, and then vote on your favorites here!
Here’s the complete list of A.V. Club Undercover participants. All of these are available to watch on the A.V. Club website.
1. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears)
2. Fruits Bats – One on One (Hall & Oates)
3. Alkaline Trio – Web in Front (Archers of Loaf)
4. Cursive – We Built this City (Starship)
5. Justin Townes Earle – Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen)
6. Retribution Gospel Choir – Kokomo (The Beach Boys)
7. Maritime – Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode)
8. The Clientele – Paper Planes (M.I.A.)
9. Ben Folds – Say Yes (Elliott Smith)
10. Wye Oak – Strangers (The Kinks)
11. Motion City Soundtrack – Cut Your Hair (Pavement)
12. The Wedding Present – 19th Nervous Breakdown (The Rolling Stones)
13. Owen Pallett – Game of Pricks (Guided by Voices)
14. The Antlers – Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
15. Rise Against – Sliver (Nirvana)
16. Frightened Rabbit – Confetti (The Lemonheads)
17. Clem Snide – Faithfully (Journey)
18. Coheed & Cambria – A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours (The Smiths)
19. Patrick Stump – My Favorite Dress (The Wedding Present)
20. Superchunk – In Between Days (The Cure)
21. Mates of State – I Will Dare (The Replacements)
22. The Swell Season – Two-Headed Boy (Neutral Milk Hotel)
23. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Detroit Has a Skyline (Superchunk)
24. Tokyo Police Club – Everybody Wants You (Billy Squier)
25. The Walkmen – Driver 8 (R.E.M)
AND a BONUS: Here’s my favorite, from week 1: Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Ted Leo & The Pharmacists.
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