The Most Memorable Covers

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for an original song. I love celebrating a brand new creation! Sometimes, though, a cover song is so spectacular or so perfect for the moment that even just the memory of it blows you away. Over the past year, I've been lucky enough to experience a few of these gems for myself while adventuring through the Athens music scene. These particular remade tunes certainly deserve some love!

Now, the first Athens band to introduce to me the world of rockin' covers was (yep, that's right) Crumbling Arches with their always wildly popular and mind-blowingly ridiculous take on "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan. Rock and Mulan in the same sentence? It doesn't seem like it would work, but boy, does it! Every time I've seen them play it, the crowd goes wild, and every one of us eighties and nineties kids bursts into song. Fun times. And hey, while I'm at it, I have to mention their cover of the Ghostbuster's theme that they played at my birthday bonanza last fall. Although nearly every band ever chose to cover that song for Halloween 2009, I think you'll be able to understand from this video why theirs was my favorite.

But they're not the only ones who've given us some super awesome covers and memorable moments. Doctor Squid definitely comes to mind. While they usually focus on their original tunes, longtime fans have come to gleefully await their Squidmas celebrations in December of every year where they play Squidified versions of everybody's favorite carols. Seriously, I've never heard a thing like it before! Even thinking of it right now fills me with unparalleled amounts of joy. However, my absolute favorite Doctor Squid cover moment happened just before this summer's mass exodus from Athens in May. They were rockin' all of their regular tunes when suddenly all of us in the crowd heard something new. So familiar... but what could it be? Ahahaha! Yeah, they were playing Stacy's Mom, originally by Fountains of Wayne. Somehow, the song just fit the band perfectly. Oh, I loved it!

And going along the lines of hilarity, what could be more comical than a band of guys playing Lady Gaga's "Love Game"? That's right, nothing. I've laughed about it before, but hearing Groove Tangent sing about taking a ride on your disco stick still has got to be up there on my list of favorite Athens music moments. Seriously. And it seems that Lady Gaga is the one to cover at the moment. The Novanauts have got their own cover of "Bad Romance" on the scene that takes it to a more musically-electronic level. It's so good!

I'll finish this blog with a short mention of Venice is Sinking's beautiful cover of Galaxie 500's "Tugboat." I wasn't previously familiar with the original song, but I loved their cover of it immediately when I first heard it. From last week's review of their latest album, I'd say I still can't get enough of it!

So these are just a few of my recent favorites. Oh, what brilliant memories I have of hearing these live! How about you? Heard any favorite covers of your own that you want to share?