My wife and I were watching American Idol and we found out David Cook's crazy performance of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" is actually a mimicked performance of Chris Cornell's crazy performance of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". It was quite a letdown to find out that Cook just ripped off Cornell. Oh well.
Andrea couldn't remember who Chris Cornell was and I told her he was the lead singer of Soundgarden. Andrea had a hard time remembering that band. I said, "Black Hole Sun?" and I sang a few licks from the song which didn't help at all. So i cracked open iTunes and did a search for "Black Hole Sun". Andrea pointed out that some dude named Paul Anka did a version of the song. Andrea was quite surprised. I never heard of the guy. We listened to the sample and it's completely hilarious. I recommend you open your iTunes right now and take in the song.
My mother was (and I'm sure is) a huge Paul Anka fan. She had all of his albums, though I'm pretty sure I was introduced to Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden and not Paul Anka. I'm intrigued though. When I get home I'll be sure to check out Anka's version.
If you get a kick out of crooners doing less-than-likely croonable tunes, you might check out Richard Cheese.
Paul Anka is a famous 50s-60s singer guy. Like your parents (and mine) are probably fans. On Gilmore Girls, they named the dog Paul Anka. It was hilarious!
Posted by: shout on Apr 03, 08 | 10:08 pm
By the way, Erik..... have you heard the new R.E.M. album? It's great! I know, you are thinking "but the last few albums sucked." I agree with you there, I was on the verge of giving up too. But this new one is really good. I am happily surprised. It rocks.
Posted by: shout on Apr 03, 08 | 10:12 pm
R.E.M. went downhill big time when Bill Berry left. I remember reading an article saying Berry always made sure the songs didn't drag on. Sure enough when he left the songs lost their life. I remember buying "Up" because that one "Lotus" song was really good, but the rest of the album was preachy, suicidal, and beyond dull.
Maybe Stipe and gang finally learned their lesson. I heard the first single from the album. It's good. Though it reminds me a lot of one of their few good songs recently. I'll have to check it out.
It would be so great if this new album was on par with anything from the IRS years or Green or Automatic for the People. great stuff. I find myself most enjoying their music when I listen to entire album all the way through. Each album has a distinct charm.
If you want, I'll burn you the new CD and send it to you. It's no problem! Let me know and I'll put it in the mail.
Supposedly this new album is very political in its lyrics. I haven't really listened to the lyrics yet, I'm currently enjoying the music part. It's very energetic. Less "new age" and mellow than their last bunch of records.
Posted by: shout on Apr 04, 08 | 6:32 am
I agree about REM going downhill after Bill Berry left. Honestly though, I wasn't nearly as much of a fan of them as they warbled into the 90's. They had a few catchy songs, but the album "Document" was seminal to me … and, unfortunately, not for themselves.
