one shit wonder - amazing acts that somehow created one of the biggest duds in history

I don’t see Paul’s “granny” music (ugh that term) thing as being that far from the general whimsical children’s book vibe that was a big part of uk psych

I am going to be super basic and assert that the best "Across the Universe" cover is by Rufus Wainwright.

Come on. Laibach take this in a walk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTQcJx7xqAc

i spent several years on a project to find a cover i liked of every beatles original released under the "beatles" name between 1962 and 1970

"what goes on" was the last one i found a cover for (sufjan stevens' cover is good imo, but i don't like it)

for "across the universe" i have clammbon. worst across the universe cover is probably roger waters'. "honey pie" is of course a trifle but i like Göran Söllscher's version.

I don’t see Paul’s “granny” music (ugh that term) thing as being that far from the general whimsical children’s book vibe that was a big part of uk psych

― brimstead

so like toytown?

yeah I think there are definitely parallels in how psych referenced Lewis Carroll stuff and rave referenced tv cartoons, but now I want to walk back what I said because Paul’s top hat and cane stuff is for sure a different impulse

The Boo Radleys - Free Huey and It's Lulu

yeah I think there are definitely parallels in how psych referenced Lewis Carroll stuff and rave referenced tv cartoons

I love making this comparison to people - more-so that end of rave connecting to the more overt whimsy of the Bonzos etc. I'm assuming Kate meant toytown as in 60s toytown pop though - to the UK what sunshine pop is to US where retrospective record collector type genres with rather rigidly defined if still ultimately quite ineffable parameters are concerned.

I am going to be super basic and assert that the best "Across the Universe" cover is by Rufus Wainwright.

Come on. Laibach take this in a walk.

Fiona Apple to thread. One of few covers I'll take over the original

Let's all hug it out and agree that there are some absolutely stellar covers of this song which is not even in the top five Beatles songs.

That could be a topic in itself - songs that are not the original artists' best songs, but that lend themselves to good covers.

*cough* paging Leonard Cohen *cough*

I don't know if there's really a bad Beatles song

Wow. Hard disagreement re "Party." It took Rosanne Cash for me to hearthe sadness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fjsQPS5l-w

list of mostly great songs there

If it’s good enough for Bowie and Fiona Apple it’s good enough for me.

my least favourite Beatles song is Do You Want To Know A Secret, ever since I heard the V/VM version I've found it almost unlistenable.

I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
If I Fell

whaaaaaaaaaat

Not even a big Beatles fan, but those songs are gorgeous and objectively great

I knew I was opening up a can of worms (probably worthy of its own thread tbh) but I must disagree — despite promising hooks, they’re fundamentally trash.

Anyone mention “Batdance”?

That something so fundamentally weird as Batdance became a hit is entirely a good thing, whatever the track’s merits.

"Batdance" rules and I will hear nothing to the contrary

Vicki Vale
Vick
Vicki Vale

OOOOH YEAH

A few years ago we did a thread about universally held opinions and I think we found that there were none.

There is no song so bad that it doesn't have any defenders. And no song so good that it doesn't have any detractors.

hey Duckie
why don't we put the seven inch in the computer

Batdance camouflaged quite well in the UK charts where collage-type things like that were not uncommon so its extra neat it was huge in the US. Also it sort of reminds me of Meat Beat Manifesto's Cutman.

Hey! I like it as well. But after the magnificence of "Lovesexy" it was...um...a surprise at the time.

You Know My Name is one of the best Beatles songs fwiw

Companion thread

POX: Worst Songs by artists you normally enjoy

I was trying to think of a comparison for how a Bobby McFerrin fan might feel about "Don't Worry Be Happy" & I think it might be something like a Yello fan would feel about "Oh Yeah".

I’m a Todd Rundgren fan and I kinda feel that way about “Bang On the Drum All Day.”

Yeah! Like, they aren't totally out of line with the rest of the artists' work, it's just that these songs became society's singular focus on an almost tossed off aspect of one of many things that the artist does.

I cannot believe Bang on the Drum All Day isn't a Bad Manners original.

My disbelief is always the first thing I think of whenever I think of the Todd album let alone the song.

the rest of that album is really good, too. “Influenza”, “don’t hurt yourself”…

"Stand" by REM springs to mind.

^only came to that song through Chris Elliott show "Get a Life"

Wake up Boo!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJXPTnPmm78

Crazy Beat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohyqek7fj6Y

Working on a Dreamzzzz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ZMfPXgd_M

Winner
https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AEO21i-oN0

Crazy Beat is naff but not ever sure it's the worst Blur single when Bang exists

Bang is great. I made my partial (partial) case for Crazy Beat upthread.

the band hate Bang but it's probably my favourite song on Leisure, I will say its charms are kind of fleeting and intangible and it's a bad choice for a single (they should have gone with Sing)

imo Sing is probably the song that would have worked least well as a single - too lengthy, droney and vaporous - but it is the best early Blur song.

I think - as shown on Trainspotting - that Sing is sonically interesting and immediately gets your attention, it would really stand out on Radio or TOTP and show their range. Whereas Bang sounds like every other shuffling post-Madchester indie song and doesn't even have a proper chorus, it's only by listening to the LP a lot that you start to get the feel of it, so it's madness to put it out as your third single, it's like announcing you have no other ideas.

Sing would stick out but I don't think it would have sold to an audience who only know There's No Other Way. Not that 'Bang' sold much either, mind, but I can't imagine 'Sing' would have taken them to TOTP again. The closest thing to it on the 1991 charts would be To Here Knows When which was selling to a fanbase who already knew what the band were about.

"Sing" was left off the US version of Leisure, which disappointed me. I guess the wags at SBK didn't see the hit potential either.

"Honey Pie" might be the worst song in this entire thread.

Underworld - Bruce Lee

Wake Up Boo, much as I do like it, is a good example of a hit song that eclipsed a great, multifaceted band

I also know people who maybe missed the original Britpop era who associate Blur with downbeat pity-fests like Tender, Coffee + TV and No Distance Left To Run. Damon's extracurricular work corroborates that view quite a bit - his default post- Britpop mode is to sound a bit tired and despondent. But in the 90s I remember them being upbraided in the press for being all cheery and chirpy

Bruce Lee is fucking amazing

It’s an instant skip for me, the rest of Beaucoup Fish is so propulsive and then slap bang in the middle, Skym then this lumpen slow plod for 4 minutes. Never understood why it got a single release compared to say, Moaner or Cups.

I can never skip anything on Beaucoup Fish

Moaner got a limited single release at the time of Batman & Robin but was already two years old by 1999. Although I somehow can imagine a radio edit of Cups despite it being 12m long.