The Darkness - All the Pretty Girls

I'm planning to go see these guys when they come around again next year:

Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love?

This blog has had a major shortage of the Buzzcocks. Let's fucking fix that.

Shonen Knife (少年ナイフ) - Top of the World

More Shonen Knife, because Shonen Knife is always better when there is more, or more volume.

Cover of The Carpenters from the tribute album "If I Was A Carpenter."

Hagfish - Stamp

This was the first song I heard by Hagfish, I think from seeing this video on MTV. I ended up getting "Rocks Your Lame Ass" mostly on the strength on this. Good album, but a cruddy car CD player in my old Dodge scratched it until it was unplayable.

I like how cheery and blatant the whole song is.



and Hagfish did this nice cover of Walking in L.A. by Missing Persons.

Xiu Xiu - Wondering

I was digging through AV Club covers a while back, and found this band Xiu Xiu doing Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top. I didn't like the cover. But I was intrigued enough to want to hear their own music.

This?

Oh, wow.



Just goes to show, sometimes an interesting cover is just a lead-in to the great originals of a band.

Paranoid - released 47 years ago today

Thanks to MK for pointing this out today - it's the 47th anniversary of the release of Paranoid.

Here it is:



and what the fuck, here is The Dickies doing it, too, because The Dickies. This is a nice live version:



I can't say I like the cover better, but I can say I like them equally well.

The Vapors - Turning Japanese

I loved, loved, loved this song the first second I heard it - probably seeing this video on MTV. I haven't stopped loving it since.

No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women, no fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark.



Weird to see the video again after all of these years. I remembered it, pretty much exactly, even after a long time not seeing it.

Let's say this is for my friend K~, who a Japanese person we both know - a bona fide woman from Toh-Kay-Oh - commented had a very Japanese manner. He even said the same, "I think I'm turning Japanese."

All could say back was, "I really think so."

Not sure he caught the reference. Well, maybe he will now.

And hey, Liz Phair cover. I can't find anything wrong with the phrase "Liz Phair cover."