There is one thing that bums me out the most about the legacy of The Clash: that the song “London Calling” is generally considered their anthem and stock song for modern-day artists to cover.
It’s not that I don’t like the song “London Calling”; it’s a keeper, but I consider it most valuable as a set up for what follows on the band’s breakthrough album by the same name. I also consider it a song that only The Clash have the right to play. Of course, maybe that’s why the song has taken such a high place in the band’s legacy, but musically the song leaves me wanting a lot more that I typically expect from a Clash song. If I could erase one thing from The Clash’s legacy it would be this song as the go-to song for artists like The Boss to cover. If a blowhard like The Boss (with or without Elvis Costello, a blowhard I love) must cover a Clash song, I wish it could have been a song with a little more to it, like “Death or Glory.”
How about you, what would you most like to see wiped clean from the legacy of a favorite artist?
In the late 80’s there were a bunch of 120 minutes bands that crossed over into the mainstream MTV rotation with hits that sounded nothing like the rest of their work. in the pre Nirvana world, these tracks were known to my friends & me as sell out songs.
I would take away the “breakthrough hits” of the following artists:
So Alive by Love & Rockets
Love Song by The Cure
Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode
Here Comes Your Man by The Pixies
But Here Comes Your Man is the only song that I really like by the Pixies.
This is a little off topic but Mod says: “I also consider it a song that only The Clash have the right to play”
This is an ongoing discussion between my wife and I. She’s of the mind that certain songs should simply never, ever be covered because the original is definitive. The only one that I can think of right now is one that I suggested: Let’s Get It On by Marvin Gaye.
As for wiping a song, I’d get rid of I’m So Hot For Her by the Stones. They may have worse songs but none as high profile. I really don’t understand why that phoned-in POS is included in the playlist of 5 Stones songs worthy of radio airplay.
i just watched the clip.
SO WEIRD! It’s like Bruce is the only one who gets it, and he’s just doin a half-assed strummer impersonation. the rest of the band sounds at a loss.
Rock The Casbah
Clampdown
Police on My Back
Charlie Don’t Surf
or I Fought The Law (cover of the cover)
would all be better for the ESB.
I would love to hear Bruce and the band cover Oliver’s Army. I think they could really own it!
In the original “Clampdown,” when Joe sings “In these days of evil presidentes,” he’s imitating Springsteen, right? Maybe the ESB should do an instrumental version of “Clampdown,” where Bruce only sings that line.
I think Costello could really nail (or could have, anyways) Death or Glory, but can’t imagine Bruce doing that. I think kilroy’s right about Oliver’s Army, though, oddly. And more importantly, there’s literally not another cover I want to see more right now than Bruce and the E-Street Band doing a really weird, uncomfortable version of Let’s Get It On.
As for my chance to erase one thing from an artist’s legacy, I’d get rid of all those murders for songwriter Charles Manson.
Oats – what Prince song was it that I was trying to convince people was actually originally written by Springsteen? Manic Monday? I don’t think we ever managed to come up with a funnier song for there to have been a hypothetical long-lost Springsteen demo of than that.
Yeah it was “Manic Monday.” I like the idea that there is a really somber Nebraska-esque demo that the Boss did of it.
I would erase “Blowin’ in the Wind” from Dylan’s legacy. I am well aware of the historic significance of the song, that it put him on the map (courtesy of P, P,& M) and all that. There are versions and different arrangements of it that he has done through the years that I sort of like; for instance, the Concert for Bangladesh version is quite wonderful. There are, of course, far greater blots on Dylan’s record. But on the gap between the merits of the song vs. its ubiquity as a singalong, its adoption or co-option by a generation of hippies who thought they owned Dylan and wept bitterly when he declined to play along, for these and other reasons, I erase “Blowin’ in the Wind” from the record.
alexmagic says “And more importantly, there’s literally not another cover I want to see more right now than Bruce and the E-Street Band doing a really weird, uncomfortable version of Let’s Get It On.”
I say: alexmagic, if my imagination now somehow conjures up a version of that, or worse yet, conjures up a video clip of them playing it live during which Bruce awkwardly starts mashing up against Patty or that fiddle player, you will be hearing from my attorney.
I imagine a review of some Springsteen box set mentioning “…Springsteen’s rarely heard, elegiac demo of ‘Manic Monday’.”
cdm: If? This will happen. And it’s definitely a live concert video version that I’m envisioning and you will too, now, though I was expecting the awkward mashing to come from Bruce and the Big Man. Perhaps there would even be an “eroticly-charged” Rock Iwo Jima moment during the climax of this E-Street Let’s Get It On.
Christ, I got 56 seconds into that Bruce clip before I had to stop. Awful. If I cared more, I would suggest erasing Bruce’s penchant for covers he is totally unequipped to handle. I’m sorry, but I can’t think of one time I have heard (or heard about) Bruce covering such-and-such and thinking, “wow, he nailed that” or “he really brought something to that” or “holy cow, I’ve got to hear him do that.” I find his covers phony, phony, phony. I get the impression sometimes that he thinks he is the Walt Whitman of rock and roll–he is large, he contains multitudes. Maybe he’s the William Carlos Williams: really awesome to people from NJ but only occasionally interesting to others. Anyway, it’s a theory.
That’s not a bad LC cover, as far as that goes. But… how many freakin’ guitar players does one band need?!
I’ve seen this before. I watched this concert on VH1 Classic last summer. It’s neither bad nor good. It’s just there. Guitar solo’s pretty good, though.
This concert also featured a version of “Rosalita” that I found much more troubling. A stupid little dance, an “ain’t I a stinker” look on his face, wolf whistles and dog noises — how did this guy get to be cool again?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa77j0_rosalita-hard-rock-calling-09-bruce_music
I like his cover of Trapped in all its overblown glory. But then again, I’m originally from Jersey…
alex, that’s cruel AND unusual. The damages for emotional distress continue to pile up. I may even seek punitive damages.
I did think the guitar solo was surprisingly spirited. But ever since Springsteen did that Seeger tribute record, wherein he had a vocal twang that could shame the raisins out of a jar of moonshine corn-mash, I am just annoyed by him. However, everyone has a right to cover whatever, and if it doesn’t hold a candle to the original, then coverer beware. It’s not as bad as remaking a whole movie, and the easy part is, you can do a different one every night.
Note: Could Stevie have turned in a less able-bodied vocal performance at a bar anywhere in this great land? Every single line starts and ends off-mic, and is mumbled because he needs to look at the neck of his guitar. You know, those four chords are particularly complex…
C’mon, Bruce’s cover of Edwin Starr’s War (huh! good God, y’all!) is the one to beat. He also does a good job with Tom Waits’ “Jersey Girl” even though he just subtracts Waits’ voice for Broooce fans that would never hear the song otherwise.
I wish Pink Floyd would have credited Dark Side of the Moon to another band name. That one should stand by itself. And if Waters released The Wall under his own name, Pink Floyd would be one cool band with a great track record.
XTC should have “Peter Pumpkinhead” excised from the record. It displays the worst sing-song-y Partridge-isms with irritating clarity, and is far too popular for the band’s historical good.
Oh, and the lyric is idiotic.
Excellent call on Peter Pumpkinhead.
“Brown-Eyed Girl” should certainly be erased from Van’s legacy.
My Ding a Ling by Chuck Berry. Knowing what we know about Chuck, it is not surprising he likes it, but seriously, when you’re EIGHT, it might be funny, but that has to be up there on the list of embarrassing comeback hits. Especially since it went #1 or something.
My Ding a Ling, dear God, should be erased not only from Chuck’s legacy but from the human legacy entirely.
I will personally erase “Peter Pumpkinhead” from the record, if given the chance! Great call, HVB.
I’d like to erase the aborted Smile project from The Beach Boys’ legacy. It led to a lot of infantilism by the band and among Brian Wilson worshippers, partially ruining my enjoyment of Pet Sounds.
I’m fairly certain that My Ding A Ling was Chuck’s only number one song.
While we’re on the subject, let’s get rid of Big Balls by ACDC
Mod, I would be happy to see the resultant infantilism erased, but me, I like Smile. Obviously, I would erase Mike Love’s presence from it, but why dwell on it.
I would erase The Monkees from Michael Nesmith’s past. I like The Monkees and all, but I do feel that Nez was never really taken seriously as a writer or artist after being associated with them. Then again, he might have been the Eagles…
TB
The only Beatles song I hate is Rocky Raccoon.
I wish Jimmy Page had never formed The Firm.
Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas should never have performed together.
I could do without Paul Westerberg’s duet with Joan Jett — Let’s Do It.
funoka wrote:
That’s a great one! There are a few other Beatles songs I can’t stand, but most of them I can attribute to being “a Paul song,” or whatever. “Rocky Raccoon” seems to have the stench of a little more than Paul on it. Someone in the band could stopped him, should have stopped him!
I know I’m one of the few Springsteen defenders here, but I thought the clip was fine. In fact I can’t think of any other band who could do the song as well. But are we really ready for teleprompter rock?
I’d remove Moonbeams & Bluejeans from Capt. Beefheart’s legacy. Unconditionally Guaranteed is not as bad as its reputation, but I won’t argue if that one gets removed too.
And the Dead could have split after Terrapin Station, with maybe the Alabama Getaway single as a final wave goodbye.
And btw I love Brown-Eyes Girl, never get tired of hearing it. But I’m sick of the overrated Blowin’ in the Wind too.
Oh yeah, and Sid Vicious is erased from the Sex Pistols’ history and musical history in general.
Note to Mod; Keep your eraser away from Nick Lowe’s Cowboy Outfit.
Love and Rocket’s “So Alive,” mentioned in a different post, should also be considered here. Dismal, pure drivel.
Oops, shout out to shawnkilroy on that. I must have subconsciously noted it early. Good call, sk! I would agree with your other suggestions, too.
I also would nominate all REM songs that include intelligible lyrics. Although the lyrics can be good, I just don’t like the sound that REM was making and continued to make after that.
ABC is a fabulous, over the top, orchestral post punk band (although not necessarily of the liking of most RTHers), but their second album, Beauty Stab, must go!
I wish the Byrds had not let Crosby insist on including Mind Gardens on Younger than Yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GrBqXpJGV0
Big Steve, I think the following current working rock outfits could do a better job covering London Calling:
Gorillaz
The Specials
Muse
U2(though they would NEVER)
Ringo’s All Star Band(kidding)
Klaxons
Franz Ferdinand
Spice Girls
Goldfrapp
The Streets
Tricky
BUT NOT The Libertines or Babyshambles
cause THEY SUCK.
Also:
I would erase Cut The Crap, as we all probably would.
I don’t know, kilroy, those artists would be doing it in quotation marks, ironically on some level. London Calling is majestic, and Springsteen and his band at least have a shot at capturing that in way none of those other artists do. Maybe Franz Ferdinand.
And btw from the U2gigs site:
London Calling
Artist: The Clash
Show all 689 song names in database.
This song has been snippeted at the following 5 shows:
Elevation Tour
· 2001-08-19 – London, England – Earl’s Court Arena (20 songs)
· 2001-08-22 – London, England – Earl’s Court Arena (20 songs)
Vertigo Tour
· 2005-06-19 – London, England – Twickenham Stadium (23 songs)
360° Tour
· 2009-08-14 – London, England – Wembley Stadium (23 songs)
· 2009-08-15 – London, England – Wembley Stadium (24 songs)
All in all, we’ve found 4 different song(s) with London Calling as snippet:
Beautiful Day, Elevation, Vertigo, Walk On
Wow! holy database!
i thought London Calling would be too oppression oriented for the Irish Rockers to be singing.
But i guess U2 aren’t Irish anymore right?
They’re global.
BigSteve, absolutely correct on Mind Gardens, such a rank weed on the otherwise great Younger Than Yesterday, esp. since they had Crosby’s wonderful It Happens Each Day in the can that could have, should have been there instead. Crazy.
I’m really not anti-Springsteen, but I admit that I bitch about him more than I praise him. It’s just that the things about him that annoy me are just so bloody annoying. Most of them are on display in that clip. Whereas the things I like about him have mostly been out of my view since about 1980 or thereabouts.
As for the Beatles, I would erase Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. I can live with Rocky Raccoon. Amusing enough JWH-era Dylan pastiche/parody. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer? Pure torture.
****PSA**** Tickets for the Guided By Voices reunion show at the troc in philly just went on sale. Mod, you should try to see them live if possible.
GBV – only show I have ever walked out of. Bob was so drunk and belligerent that it was bringing me down. Maybe on the reunion tour he would be easing up on the Bud a bit?
I saw GBV at the Troc sometime in the early- or mid-’90s, before I actually liked any of their records. I thought they sucked and left halfway through their set. That band featuring those Record Exchange and Siltbreeze guys (I’m blanking on their name right now) opened, and they were excellent. Maybe I’ll give them another try now that I like a good chunk of their catalog.
Yesterday I bought tickets for Nick Lowe – with a band – at World Cafe Live on October 17!
I would get rid of the film “From Justin To Kelly,” a horrible blotch on Justin Guarini’s otherwise stellar musical career.
You’ve only walked out on one show, ladymiss? I’ve probably walked out on nearly a dozen national touring acts that I actually paid to see, including New Order, Violent Femmes, Yo La Tengo (after 2 songs!) and Elvis Costello (although I suffered through 3/4 of his Mighty Like a Turd tour show). The same goes for movies. One of my dining mates last night said she’d never walked out on a movie.
I see a new thread, Mr. Mod: shows we’ve walked out on and why.
I’m pretty forgiving about bands during live shows and usually find something worthwhile to keep me there. (The audience is another matter.) YLT is one of my favorite live acts; I’ve seen NO and
EC both before, too, only 1x each. Never seen Violent Femmes so no comment there. But Bob Pollard was such a royal ass during this particular show (about 2 years ago) that it was killing so much about what I love about their music. I left to preserve what I enjoy about them, which I guess is their recordings, not live material. However, I have friends who love GBV live and have said that Bob et al have put on a great show (beer or not).
ladymisskirroyale — Beauty Stab, really? I love Beauty Stab!
“You’ve only walked out on one show, ladymiss?”
I too have only walked out of one show (the previously mentioned Buddy Guy in which he was painting by numbers for a well healed audience that was lapping it up).
And I’ve never walked out of a movie. In fact I think I’ve only ever turned off one movie that I’ve rented (My Beautiful Launderette). I should probably work on being more discerning.
Hey, my wife and I walked out on another movie yesterday, unfortunately about an hour too late. It was a French film called “Wild Grass.” Ten minutes into it I leaned over to let her know that I’d be on board with leaving at any point. She kept thinking it would get better. Finally, my wife gathered her stuff and nodded in the direction of the aisle. We split! Please avoid this movie at any cost. If you do go, please do me a favor and stay to the end so that you can ask people in the theater if anyone enjoyed the movie. I’m really curious to know what kind of person might get the slightest bit of enjoyment out of this movie.
i walked out of Don Juan DeMarco with Brando and Depp. It BLEW!
i once left a Stinking Lizaveta show because it blew my mind. I was enjoying it, but the sheer power of it mad me have to leave.
i can’t even really explain it.
almost took the wife to see Wild Grass.
glad we skipped it.
I walked out of “Pulp Fiction” — not because the movie sucked (though I think it’s far less iconic than a lot of my friends do), but because I watched it on the fateful day when my feelings about my girlfriend of five years finally turned to “oh my God, I don’t think I love this girl after all…” That was the WRONG thing to be thinking while watching a guy jab a six-inch hypodermic needle into the chest of his girlfriend.
The last show I walked out of was a performance by the US Army rock and soul band, the name of which I can’t remember. I cannot TELL you how bad they sucked. I mean, I’m no knee-jerk army hater, ready to assume the worst about Uncle Sam’s intentions. But this band was the worst misuse of my tax dollars I may have ever seen.
To begin with, they were “hired” for a high school district “American Idol” final, where they would both perform (in the school theater) and judge the contestants. The theater, on a good day, holds a couple hundred people. They brought a SEMI TRUCK of PA equipment, video cameras, computer-controlled lights and so forth. A backstage staff of at least six people ran the gear and did what roadies do. I know how much this stuff costs, and — well, it was just wrong.
ESPECIALLY since the band showed no taste or common sense at all in their repertoire. I mean, come on — having (for example) a curvy female sergeant in camo pants, jungle boots and tight T-shirt singing “Walk This Way” — I mean the whole lyric, with all the references to schoolyard pussy and what-not — to a room full of teenage boys? With Sam Ash guitars screaming in the background? I’m no prude, but… wha? What does that have to do with love of country, or the caissons rolling along?
Yes, I know this show is part of a calculated effort to get star-struck teenage boys and girls to enlist and “serve their country.” But when the Duncan yo-yo company does this kind of thing, a.) it doesn’t cost me, the taxpayer, anything; b.) it hardly costs *Duncan* anything; c.) the worst that can happen is that a kid buys a couple of yoyo’s and maybe knocks somebody in the noggin. If the army band achieves its goal, my neighbor’s kids get shanghaied into a one-way trip to Afghanistan. And they’re bamboozled not just by the appropriation of popular music (which bothers me) but by tasteless performance of that music (which *really* bothers me). I mean, really, with all that money, couldn’t they at least play these songs *well*?!
Anyhow, I watched, literally slack-jawed in amazement, as the evening unfolded, with each song worse, stupider and more assholish than the last, until I could take no more. I split before the second “set,” filled with disgust and righteous indignation. It was awful.
HVB, Taxpayer and Super-Patriot
p.s.: I’ve actually hung out with a number of members of the Air Force “Airmen Of Note” jazz/funk band, and they’re cool. They love the music, and try to bring some artistic cred to the gigs they do. But these army rock band cats were the *worst*. All I know is that if they suckered me into that band, I think I’d go AWOL. These people seemed to be loving every minute of it.
I walked out on Buddy Guy too. It was at House of Blues. He was playing his Strat straight through a Marshall with no pedals and absolutely no effects. I think I lasted about three and a half songs.
When I tell you the tone of that guitar was not fit for a dying dog, believe me. In fact, it probably euthanized several in the vicinity of the venue. It was ex·cru·ci·at·ing·ly painful.
Not only did he insult the crowd (with various “SHUT UP’s and F-Bombs), he did more talking than playing. Come to think of it, that was a good thing.
The only movie I walked out on was that Michael Douglas POS (is that redundant, excepting Wall Street?) called The War of the Roses. When I pass it on the tee-vee today I must quickly reach for the remote. Was Kat-a-leen Turner in that one? I know she was in that Romancing The Bone, er, Stone film.
I”m actually interested in seeing Wild Grass, and will consider your review, esp. if I go and if I make it to the end. Did see “I Am Love” which I thought was good, although a bit DH Lawrence-y. I can’t think of any movies I’ve walked out on, although SOOOO wanted to have left the recent re-make of King Kong (Jack Black, really?????).
Lady: We REACH! I actually *did* walk out of that King Kong re-make — what a colossal, fly-blown, peanut-studded crester that was.
The only things that kept me sitting through that horrendous version of King Kong was my then-8-year-old-son, who wanted to see it, and the hope that Naomi Watts would replicate Jessica Lange’s waterfall shower and slide down Kong’s palm, from the otherwise-horrendous 1976 remake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUNeG94HXCY
NOTE: In a country that turned on Paul Reubens’ for one embarrassing instance of poor judgment, this is the #1 result you get on YouTube when you type “Jessica Lange King Kong” into the search window. I wonder what the #1 search result for “Mel Gibson” is these days.
“Lola.” The Kinks, one of my two or three favorite bands ever, are mostly known for a novelty song. It drives me nuts that it’s what people first think of when they think of them.