Features
The Ten Greatest A.V. Club Undercover Covers of All Time
The Greatest Things Of All Time
By Noisey Staff
If you don't recall, the Onion A.V. Club's Undercover series is basically a bunch of bands choosing a song from a predertimined list and then covering it in the venerable A.V. Club offices. The cover is an odd art for a band—do you reinterpret, or do you retain a sense of reverence about the whole thing? The best Undercovers are the ones where the band stretches themselves, not just playing to their influences. You can find the list of songs for the 2013 Undercover season here, and here are the best Undercovers so far:
YOUNG THE GIANT DOING "IGNITION (REMIX)" BY R. KELLY
It's pretty easy to fuck up one of the greatest songs of all time, so it's damn impressive that the band didn't. Young the Giant lead singer Sameer Gadhia gets extra-soulful at the end.
REGGIE WATTS DOING "PANAMA" BY VAN HALEN
Reggie Watts is a one-man comedian band, so it makes zero sense that he chose to cover a really famous guitar song. Shouts out to the air-guitar solo.
GROUPLOVE DOING "PARTY HARD" BY ANDREW W.K.
Points off for turning Andrew Wilkes-Krier's auditory eager into a sticky-sweet acoustic joint, but those points get replaced because they did it in costume.
GWAR DOING "CARRY ON WAYWARD SON" BY KANSAS
"Kansas was a big part of a big part of music where bands were named after geographical locations, so let's hope that that never happens again." No telling whether or not they have Kansas in space, but GWAR positively fucking slays this Guitar Hero staple.
COHEED AND CAMBRIA DOING "A RUSH AND A PUSH AND THE LAND IS HOURS" BY THE SMITHS
Prog-emo goofballs Coheed and Cambria did hella right by this deep cut from Moz and the gang, completely reversing Noisey's editorial stance on the band in the process.
LOW DOING "AFRICA" BY TOTO
Just your usual PSA that lots of kiknda-schloky songs from the '80s also work great as indie rock dirges!
TITUS ANDRONICUS DOING "BLUEBIRD IN MY HEART" BY THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
The Titus Andronicus drummer works the door at Shea Stadium and is the nicest dude of all ever. Oh, and this song is good too.
LITURGY DOING "PRAYER TO GOD" BY SHELLAC
Hunter Hunt-Hendrix. Steve Albini. Loop pedals. WHO WILL WIN?
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS DOING "BOXCAR" BY JAWBREAKER
John Darnielle is perhaps the single-most interesting human currently residing in the state of North Carolina. He and his Goats brethren deliver Jawbreaker's "Boxcar" with the joy of dudes who have had a few years to digest that the righteous and ultimately kinda-silly fury of the song's lyrics.
BOB MOULD DOING "IF I CAN'T CHANGE YOUR MIND" BY SUGAR (WHICH IS BOB MOULD'S OLD BAND)
Meta.
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Ace of Base's Secret Nazi Past
Before he founded Ace of Base, Ulf Ekberg was a member of Commit Suiside, a Nazi punk band.
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Parquet Courts - "Light Up Gold Road Trip" (Full Documentary)
In this new documentary, Noisey follows rising indie rockers Parquet Courts from Mexico to Texas and London as they tour to support their debut LP, 'Light Up Gold.'
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Yung Lean Doer Is the Weirdest 16-Year-Old White Swedish Rapper You'll Hear This Week
Yung Lean raps over pillow-fluffy beats and raps about glory holes and Arizona Iced Tea. Who the fuck is this kid? And why is he like this?
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Adam Ant - The British Masters, Chapter 6
Noisey's John Doran talks with the great post-punk pop star Adam Ant about tribal body mods and layering tape.
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Photos: Taking Acid at Coachella
When Paley sent these photos in, she included a nice little caveat over email that we've decided to reprint here in full, not only because it's too good to edit, but because her photographs of her and her weird buddies riding the snake are some of the best
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R.I.P. Storm Thorgerson (1944-2013)
On Thursday, the hyper-talented graphic designer, artist, and famed album cover creator Storm Thorgerson passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 69 years old.
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The Internet Is Scary
As of six months ago, my Facebook fanpage is like a dojo where hormonal teenagers hone their technique. Here is a heartfelt poem from some kid who wants to rape, kill, and marry me.
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I Accidentally Touched Little Richard's Butt One Time
It was in the Detroit airport. After it happened Little Richard said, "He graze my derriere."
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Listen to St. Lucia's Remix of The Colourist's "Little Games"
Last month, Cali quartet the Colourist released "Little Games," and St. Lucia just pulled a warm Balearic blanket over the whole thing, sanding away its rough edges with bright synths and lightly gated percussion.
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Aaron Montaigne, Godfather of Screamo, is More Interesting Than You Can Ever Hope to Be - Part Two
On surviving combat in Iraq and Afghanistan with the help of magic, 'Bladerunner,' and everything in between.
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