So there I was, perched on the edge of the porcelain convenience, veins popping out of my forehead, heaving and straining to dislodge a particularly hideous agglomerate of Indian food, chile relleno, and soft-serv ice cream. I shifted back and forth nervously on the seat, pressed my elbows against my knees, and with one final, purple-faced cry towards the heavens, “ngggrrrgggghhhh…ALEX LIFESON!!!,” it was done.
As the sweat dripped off my brow, I turned to contemplate my peanut-studded masterwork, floating placidly in the water below. Then, like a bolt of lightning, two thoughts smashed together in my mind: one, Mod’s recent Last Man Standing challenge to find unlikely movie stars in rock videos; and two, my cry for help to Mr. Lifeson in my hour of need. My mind raced back to a video that, while not appropriate for Mr. Mod’s challenge, inspired me to post.
I ask this question of you: Can you think of a musical collaboration stranger than this one?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1vy53Make sure you hang around until mile marker 0:59 to see what I’m talking about here.
I look forward to your responses.
HVB
That’s pretty weird, Hrrundi. For purposes of the Battle Royale, can we exclude all celebrity/schtick-based collaborations, such as any involving Shatner, Weird Al, and Pat Boone in his heavy metal phase?
I can think of one right off the bat, Joan Baez doing “You Lost That Loving Feeling” w/Phil Spector on piano from The Big TNT Show.
Oh man, she TOTALLY doesn’t know how you use that equipment. You can’t fool me!
Crap – wish I knew how to edit posts.
What I meant to say was:
Oh man, she TOTALLY doesn’t know how to use that equipment. You can’t fool me!
Mod, your proscription is appropriate. I approve!
that song completely rules.
Strange now, since they moved in opposite directions. At the time it was not that strange. Just an 80’s pop singer guesting on an 80’s pop record. And at shows our girl Amiee sang each nite from the video screen.
1) Don’t forget, this was very close to the height of her pop-chart popularity!
2) That proto-CGI just makes them look MORE wooden and boring than having them stand there and play would be.
3) How bad a singer do you have to be to give your lyrics to Geddy Lee?
Rush videos are always amazing in their unintentional hilarity.
Remember that New Year’s Eve when Alex Lifeson and members of his family got into some kind of huge brawl with police? That was awesome. I remember sending an e-mail to Oats about it that I think just read “ALEX DEATHSON!”
Aimee Mann had some fun things to say about working with Rush in an old A.V. Club interview.
http://www.avclub.com/content/interview/aimee_mann
Rush videos are always amazing in their unintentional hilarity.
This morning, VH1 Classic aired “Roll The Bones.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXeUXLzD3o4
Every single second of this video is hilariously dated. Make sure you watch long enough to get to the “rap.”
Oats, put the remote down, and step away from the VH-1 Classic. Now put your hands over your ears.
As much as I appreciate the Rush commentary, that wasn’t the real point of this BATTLE ROYALE challenge. So far, we’ve only received one entry in the “weird rock and roll bedfellows” contest. Personally, I’m shocked — and maybe a bit proud — that nobody’s mentioned the obvious Bowie/Bing collaboration for “Little Drummer Boy.”
Hrrundi, the Bowie/Bing collaboration is strange, but I’m still trying to think of something stranger than this Rush/Aimee Mann collaboration. Coupled with the proto-Sims video, I’m stumped at finding a stranger set of bedfellows. This is a Battle Royale, in which we attempt to win the belt, not just be the last man standing. I’ll keep working on it, as I’m sure other Townspeople are doing. Great challenge!
Were any of the tapes released from that session that Nixon had with Elvis?
Johnny Cash and Fiona Apple
To keep the Rush collaboration going:
South Park and Rush:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrejJHPnVfk
Well, K-dex, that’s a weird one, for sure. But the rules of the RTH Battle Royale are specific: you need to find a collaboration so peculiar it knocks Aimee Mann and Rush out of the ring! This ain’t no namby-pamby Last Man Standing… this is a BATTLE ROYALE!
Even though it worked wonderfully (in my opinion Mod) I’ll offer Daryl Hall and Robert Fripp.
I’m a belt size 34.
when i saw this post i didn’t hit play on the video and assumed the post was about Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee being a strange pair, which I think they are. But I think Alex Lifeson and Amiee Mann would be a good band with like a Blondie or an Echo and the Bunnymen kind of rythm section.
I think Rush and The Mckenzie Brothers is just as strange as this one.
And I can’t believe that HVB started this off by describing on of his own turds.
ONE of his own turds
Andrew W.K. and Lee Scratch Perry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0vrqoEyXAA
Shane McGowan and Nick Cave singing “What a Wonderful World”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxCM9dellRs
and the Bare Naked Ladies collaboration with Fox for a saturday morning public service announcement:
the Ballad of Gordon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtXoKOwTo2M
https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php/2008/06/27/last-man-standing-unlikely-rock-collabor?jal_no_js=true&poll_id=311
cherguevarra just caught us in an RTH circle jerk.
Indeed. My apologies for everything except for that accounting of my Olympian dump this morning.
Thank you, Alex Lifeson!
BUSTED!
Hey, these things happen. People change. Sometimes they don’t change much. Great story, Hrrundi. Nice work, Cher!
I knew this thread was starting to look a like a rerun. Did anybody mention the Mann/Rush collaboration in that original thread?
TB
Aimee Mann says:
Canadians are funny
That shit is totally racist!
I say Neil Young/Devo or the Beach Boys/Fat Boys team-up would have been in front had the original thread been under Battle Royale rules.
Hey, that was almost two months ago. How are any of us supposed to remember back that far?
But this explains why no one was coming up with anything. We’d recently experienced a memory dump … and forgotten it!
I didn’t forget the sweet memory of *my* dump!