I've always been a huge admirer of cover versions of songs, when done right. And while I can go into a lengthy debate over why certain covers work over others, or list off my top 10 covers of all time, or break down multiple covers of the same song (something I rather enjoyed doing on my short lived website Massive Hysteria - RIP), I have a very specific idea for this particular post. No it's not to lament about the 'Grunge Lite' compilation by Sara DeBell from '96. (Which, sadly, wasn't that great.) But close!
I'm fascinated by songs that we grew up once holding so dear to our hearts as really deep representations of our angst-ridden youth and then suddenly hearing them transformed into soft-spoken balled-esque reinterpretations. Often to accompany some upcoming movie trailer. And this gimmick works! Because it gets me every time!
I'm sitting in the theater waiting for some new movie to start a few weeks back, and up pops the trailer to the new Liam Neeson movie 'A Walk Among The Tombstones.' Looks alright enough, probably entertaining, but suddenly I'm drawn in, because I hear this beautiful melody of a song I know I'd heard before, and it takes me a moment for it to catch on. Why it's Soundgarden's 'Black Hole Sun,' but performed in a very intimate fashion with a single piano and female vocal track. It's gorgeous and mesmerizing and I immediately look for it on-line after coming home from the movie to discover it's by an artist named Nouela. I end up downloading this version below, along with a cover of 'The Sounds Of Silence' off her Bandcamp page.
Black Hole Sun by Nouela (from 'A Walk Among The Tombstones') (Trailer)
I love it. And afterwords I find this slightly more polished "band" version with SWANN that features a bit more instrumentation, which is the actual one used in the trailer. And it gets me thinking of other examples where either "grunge" songs are covered as ballads, or used for movie trailers. Well, it's not a grunge "hit" per se, but the other time where this struck me as an amazing way to present a song in a completely different context than the original version was for the 2009 'Last House On The Left' remake trailer, which features a cover of Guns N' Roses 'Sweet Child O' Mine' as performed by Taken By Trees. Switching the intent to factor into a parent's pain over the loss of their child gives this version a whole creepy new tone, even though I'm sure that's not what Taken By Trees probably intended with their version!
Sweet Child O' Mine by Taken by Trees (from Last House On The Left) (Trailer)
Well once I started down this rabbit role, I decided I might as well keep following this path to see what else I discover. Now, the first person to successfully do this sort of reinterpretation was actually Tori Amos when she did 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' for her EP 'Crucify', and at the height of Nirvana popularity no less! I do love her version. And there are literally dozens of great versions of this song out there (none of which match the power of the original, of course), but I recently discovered this mellow acoustic version by singer/songwriter Daniela Andrade, which is rather beautiful.
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Daniela Andrade
She's got several other various covers on her You Tube page, along with plenty of originals and they're all in that vein, so if you dig this cover, I encourage you to poke around and check out more of her stuff. Well, the more I got to thinking about the most popular songs of that era, I eventually remembered Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgan has such a unique and distinct voice. Surely no female musicians have covered any of their hits, right? Thankfully I was wrong! There's quite a few covers of 'Today,' but I rather liked this one by an artist named Terra Naomi, which is just her and her band performing it live in the back of their van while trekking to a gig.
Today by Terra Naomi
Now, Radiohead managed to just barely escape the "grunge" label by the skin of their teeth. 'Creep' was definitely considered an anthem of the latter half of that period in the mid to late 90's, but of course they were destined to evolve into something far more different and unique. (And are still evolving!) But rather than wade through a 100 different covers of 'Creep,' I went right for 'No Surprises,' the type of track that seems ideal for a female fronted reinterpretation and I found it courtesy of Regina Spektor.
No Surprises by Regina Spektor
In the same way that I initially found it difficult to think of anyone successfully covering Smashing Pumpkins because of Billy Corgan's voice, I wondered has anyone ever pulled off a Pearl Jam cover? Eddie Vedder's voice is very distinct, as well as easy to imitate, whether you're a Pearl Jam fan, karaoke enthusiast or one of the long line of Creed-esque rip-off bands. But I was really curious to find a female vocalist singing a Pearl Jam song. And so I went for my personal favorite (and one of their all time best) tracks 'Jeremy.' I found this very casual cover done at what seems like a party (hence the background noise towards the end) by this duo. I don't know their names. And perhaps I could do a more thorough job researching them, but the You Tube username is "eleauerreabe" and links back to several other covers with this guitarist.
