Tatu, “Nas Ne Dogonyet”: I thought the “they’re hot underage lesbians!” marketing angle on this band was pretty exploitative and offensive in it’s exploitation, but I secretly liked their sound. Which is fairly impressive as I rarely gravitate to female vocalists, particularly female pop vocalists. The only song of theirs I ever remember getting any serious airplay was the English version of “All the things she said” but I particularly always liked hearing their songs in Russian. Frankly, it just sounds “right” with the music and beat to hear their songs in the original language.

Men Without Hats, “Pop Goes the World”: I think this was actually a second, modest hit for the group, but let’s be honest. People only remember “The Safety Dance.” That they were a pretty solid 80s synth-pop band will be lost to history, so long as VH1 can still find comedians in need of a paycheck who will sit in a front of a camera and make fun of a video that in actuality wasn’t significantly goofier than any other video from the period.

Sparks, “Moustache”: Even though Sparks has been around, well, longer than I have, I’m still surprised that people are surprised they’re still around. That is, when they even realize that they weren’t just Jane Wiedlin’s back-up band. This video is worth checking out just for the unsettling and unusual sight of Ron Mael without his moustache.

The Hidden Cameras, “Awoo”: I’m not sure what it is about sarcastic gay Canadian musicians, but they appeal to me. Most people, if they’ve even heard of the Hidden Cameras (don’t Google them…you’ll only regret it), are only aware of “Ban Marriage,” but Joel Gibb has been pretty steadily releasing material of high quality. I find that I generally prefer the band’s albums as a whole to isolating particular tracks, but this song works fairly well on it’s own. The video is a little masterpiece in and of itself, offering creepy imagery which seems at odds with the cheery tune, but not the lyrics themselves.

Well, if you’re going to create a wholesome, kid friendly band to do covers of your songs, I guess a group like A*Teens isn’t a bad solution. To be honest, they’re kind of bland, but I don’t mind their sound because it’s a little lower than the screechingly high soprano voices of Agnetha and Anni-Frid. This song, “Super Trouper” is one of the rare Abba tracks when the boys in A*Teens actually get to sing, even if it’s just “su-u-per trou-u-per” in the background.
Honestly, if they hadn’t written the songs, I don’t think there would have been any need for Benny and Bjorn either.

I think I’m one of the few people who actually liked Robbie Williams’s album of swing covers. It was just a slight, playful album of stuff that you could tell that Robbie and his sometimes curious choices for duet partners enjoyed themselves immensely making. And while Robbie and Jon Lovitz singing “Did You Ever?” is probably my favorite track, the version of “Somethin’ Stupid” with Nicole Kidman is the only video available.
Hey, if anything it’s not as creepy as Frank and Nancy Sinatra singing the song.

William Shatner should really have never been allowed near a microphone. At least Leonard Nimoy can carry a tune. And it may make me a kill-joy, but the ironic, hipster “love” for Shatner gets on my nerves.
I’m also not terribly fond of fan-made music videos, as they’re so rarely any damn good whatsover. But this video for “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is very well done, and witty, and I’ll even excuse the post-modern irony just this once.

One of my favorite covers techniques is to take a song clearly written for one gender, and have someone of the opposite gender sing it. It may be a bit on the cheap and easy side, but it almost never fails to entertain me. Cake is, not to put too fine a point on it, not a band I like. At all. But they did do a version of “I Will Survive” that I love out of all proportion to it’s quality, just because their approach to the song, with a male singer and a kind of lethargic delivery, really let the lyrics stand out for me.

I have an inordinate, and probably surprising to many of you, fondness for the musical Godspell, or at least the film version of the same. It’s vision of Jesus as a hippie super-hero, combined with utterly sincere and unironic songs are inspiring and charming. That it seems to completely and utterly annoy most American conservative Protestants, who object to it’s message of God’s unconditional love, is a plus in its favor as well.
Now, I’ve often said that the song “Alas for you” reminds me of blogging, but “All for the Best” works really well in a number of situations as well. It’s a very subtle smack-down on the “gospel of prosperity” that has become popular in recent years. John/Judas’s line, “someones got to be oppressed” says so much in so few words:

(Besides, if you haven’t seen Godspell you probably should, as it seems to be continually referenced in contemporary comedies.)

Of course, you can’t really talk about “hippie musicals” without mentioning the grand-pappy of them all, Hair. I sort-of like the film version more than the theatrical versions, even though it takes massive and extensive liberties with the plot, or what little plot the play has, anyway. If nothing else, I’m glad the film version exists, as it provides definitive visual proof that yes, Treat Williams was at one point a sex symbol.
He’s not in this clip. Instead I highlighted one of the more popular songs, one that doesn’t get covered very often, “Black Boys/White Boys.” I love the twist they pulled in the film, giving parts of the song to male singers.

For absolutely no good reason, other than that I couldn’t find any clips from The Apple (see, hippies=folk music=”The Apple”=not terribly good=attempted sequel), here’s “Bitchin’ in the Kitchin” from Shock Treatment. Any song that manages to incorporate household appliances into it’s verses as effortlessly as this deserves a look.

(Featuring appearances by Barry “Dame Edna” Humphries and Rik “the Prick” Mayall!)

Now, even though most of that song was for some reason given to Cliff DeYoung to sing, it did feature the sublime Jessica Harper. And since you can never have enough Jessica Harper (I sat through Suspiria for her!), here’s “Special to Me” from the criminally under-rated Phantom of the Paradise.

Aw, heck, I can’t leave you with just one Paul Williams song. Here’s a certain something from the best film of both Scott Baio’s and Jodie Foster’s careers.

“This Corrosion” by the Sisters of Mercy. The album this song was from was my first “goth” purchase, from a period when the first wave goths had mostly outgrown their pretentiousness and Hot Topic wasn’t around yet. So the Sisters had pretty much fallen into the self-parody realm. Or more of a self-parody than they always really were anyway.

“Kiss Them for Me” by Siouxsie and the Banshees. I still have an inordinate amount of fondness for Siouxsie and companies. Their music has held up so much better than that of their contemporaries. Of course, you can never be taken seriously as a goth band unless you have at least one song about a famous death.

“She’s Lost Control” by Joy Division. Possibly stretching the definition of “goth” a little too include them, but Ian Curtis, if nothing else, certainly influenced many a goth band. This clip is worth watching, despite the wonky sound in bits, if only to see Curtis actually MOVING. I know, it’s amazing, you wouldn’t think it was possible.
Joy Division always makes me remember this conversation I once participated in.
“Hey, what do you call someone who likes New Order by not Joy Division?”
“What?”
“A poseur?”
“But isn’t that what we call Joy Division fans anyway?”

“Codo” by DOF. For my money, you can’t get any better than this for a searing look at the hardcore, heavy German techno/industrial/goth sound. If you watch no other clips, watch this one.

So, I’ve been in an Afghan Whigs/Twilight Singers/”why doesn’t Greg Dulli put more stuff out” sort of mood lately, which prompts me to do a quick YouTube search. Lo and behold, here’s a video I haven’t seen in years, of “Debonair” from what is probably my favorite album of all time.

Thinking of 90s bands whose albums I played so much I actually managed to wear out CDs, I always did like Faith No More’s version of “Easy” a whole hell of a lot.

So, now that you’ve seen the best damn video of a Lionel Ritchie cover featuring drag queens, here’s the best damn line-dancing competition set to a song sung by a drag queen, from the film Adam & Steve.

All this talk of drag queens made me think of Eartha Kitt. Trust me, it sort of makes sense.

Ah, YouTube…the lazy blogger’s friend.

I got to see Dolly Parton sing “Jolene” live and in person.

More photos here.

There’s been a sudden surge in straight men doing drag.

Robbie Williams

Jake Gyllenhaal

Now, I get that they’re supposed to be doing bad drag, but the result is still…unsettling. And I think I know why. Fellows, when you’re doing drag, that’s one of the few times that “manscaping” is appropriate. If not necessary, in fact.

Pal John wrote a piece for AlterNet about The End of Faith author Sam Harriss and his, er, frankly irrational embrace of pseudo-science and support of torture. Now, don’t get me wrong, people are entitled to be wrong, but it seems odd for a man whose based his professional career on debunking Western religions to embrace just as kooky Eastern superstitions.

Needless to say, many AlterNet readers were not amused. Which, you know, doesn’t surprise me in the least. Check out John’s site for his response to his detractors and some of the not at all veiled threats he’s received.

Tom’s blogging semi-regularly again, which is always a good thing. I guess he was even on some game show of some kind.
Now if we could only get Ken to post a little more often…or get GayProf on a daily schedule.

Matt’s been posting some examinations of kanji based jokes. Not being able to read kanji, I don’t quite get most of them, but it’s still an interesting look at visual puns in Japanese. Link is to the first post in a series.

Spencer Carnage has a much improved version of Civil War starting in this post. If nothing else, it’s funnier than the actual series. On purpose, that is.
Speaking of Civil War (must we?), Steven at The Roar of Comics has ideas on how to improve the actual series. He’s pretty spot-on, though I perhaps would have said that the first and most critical one would have been hire a different writer, but that’s just me.

And one last little note on the comic that will radically redefine the Marvel Universe until the next retcon, I’d like to make a personal plea to the internet to stop spoiling the ending. It’s not for me, mind you, but I’m not sure how much more whining over delays and rushed product I can stand to hear about if they decide to rewrite the ending again in response to internet rumors hitting too close to the mark.
(Oh, like it hadn’t occurred to any of you as the real reason for the delays!)

J. Bone has been posting new pictures in a mystery theme starting with this post, which is also my favorite of the pictures so far. That may be because it’s a really clever allusion once you figure out what the theme of the series is.

Here, have some Tiger Lillies:

Nothing like songs about obscure philosophical figures beating children to death sung in a falsetto.

This is the only Christmas song I need to hear, at this point in the season.

Mindy Smith: sweet country version

Olivia Newton-John: poppy version

Strawberry Switchblade: 80s gothy synth version

Queen Adreena: scary industrial version I like a lot

Dolly Parton and Melissa Etheridge: duet version