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by Eddie Sayago
There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.
From the album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006, Domino)
The world (especially music) was very different in 2006 when Arctic Monkeys released their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. YouTube debuted the year before, occupied by abstract and weird humor, home movies, and music videos and live performances. The best selling album of the year was the High School Musical soundtrack. (Olivia Rodrigo, of “Driver’s License” fame and who began her career on a TV series based on the musical, was three years old at the time.)
One of the first music acts to become popular thanks to the Internet (primitive music blogs, Myspace, non-creepy chat rooms, file-sharing sites), Arctic Monkeys were led by Alex Turner, who at age 19 revived a dismal indie rock scene in the U.K. with 13 rambunctious rock songs on Whatever People Say.... Their debut single, “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor,” is a homage to the punk rock of the late 1970s, a short, catchy dance song that can be played at both Sweet Sixteens parties and dive bars where only sixteen people can sit inside.
by Eddie Sayago
There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.
Dance crazes are a staple of pop culture, and back in 1962, “The Loco-motion” was a dance song that supposedly made listeners happy “even when you’re feeling blue.” Written by Gerry Coffin and Carole King for another singer in mind, Dee Dee Sharp, (whose signature song is the dance-fad song “Mashed Potato Time”) who rejected the song, thus allowing their sometime-babysitter, a 19 year old Eva Boyd, to record it. Boyd became Little Eva and “The Loco-Motion” was a big hit, peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Little Eva was an overnight success whose popularity was short-lived. Her last hit single was in 1963 and by the end of the '60s, she stopped performing and moved to North Carolina with her children. She died in 2003 from cervical cancer.
by Eddie Sayago
There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.
From the album So Excited! (1982, Planet Records)
One of the most popular songs of the 1980s, The Pointer Sisters’ “I’m So Excited” appeared in two different albums, So Excited! (1982) and Break Out (1984). In 1982, the song peaked at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100; two years later, it was remixed and re-entered the chart, peaking at #9.
The song became a mainstay in pop culture after its two trips to the Hot 100, appearing in numerous movies from Working Girl (1988) to The Nutty Professor (1996). In a very special episode of “Saved By The Bell”, Jessie Spano sings “I’m So Excited” (just the song title on repeat) when she is having a nervous breakdown caused by too many caffeine pills. “I’m So Excited” is also the title of a Pedro Almodovar comedy released in 2013 that takes place entirely on an airplane.
by Eddie Sayago
There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.
For this entry, we take a look at “Back On The Chain Gang”, a song about loss originally written and recorded by one-half of the original Pretenders, and a slightly sunnier Spanish-language cover performed by Selena over a decade later.
It was a tough time for the Pretenders when they stepped into the studio to record “Back On The Chain Gang” in July 1982. Only half the band was around; singer/songwriter Chrissie Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers. The previous month, they kicked out bassist Pete Farndon due to his drug issues and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died of a drug overdose only a few days later. (Farndon would die of a heroin overdose the following year.)
Hynde was feeling the pressure from the music industry as her profile rose higher. “I found a picture of you, o-o-oh, o-o-oh/Well it hijacked my world at night” references her estranged partner, The Kinks’ Ray Davies, as she was pregnant with their daughter at the time of recording. Hynde would dedicate “Back On The Chain Gang” to Honeyman-Scott and would become one of their signature songs, never losing its emotional punch.
by Eddie Sayago
There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.
(Original 1986 version)
(bootleg remix)
By 1986, singer Candi Staton, a working musician since the mid-1950s, was a born-again Christian whose heyday seemed to be behind her (The 1976 single “Young Hearts Run Free” is her most successful song in the U.S). She had left Disco and R&B to record and perform gospel. However, she was approached to record this song for a video about weight loss.