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seedarklyxeroWelcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
'Tis the season when the bells ringing outside grocery stores and other centers of Christmas commerce remind us of the many stories of how the Salvation Army has notoriously denied their charity to members of the LGBT community, unmarried couples, and even (in at least one anecdotal case) those who look "too goth." If you haven't heard such tales of woe, you are just a web-search away from an endless indictment of the group's practices which seem to belie the very spirit of their supposed faith. On the other hand, though it's far from balancing the scales of any injustices on their part, their very existence had a hand in the making of the song that inspired today's featured EBM cover!:
Obscenity Trial - Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
The White Stripes, an alternative rock duo formed by Jack White and Meg White (no relation), released Seven Nation Army as the first single of their fourth studio album, Elephant in April 2003, though it was already receiving airplay in March.
The central riff of the piece was a happy accident guitarist/frontman Jack discovered during a soundcheck before a show in Australia. He dubbed the riff Seven Nation Army, which was how he misspoke the name of the Salvation Army as a child. He imagined he'd save that unique sound in the hope he might one day get to use it composing a theme to a James Bond film. Despite the rising popularity of The White Stripes at the time, Jack gave up the Bond aspiration (perhaps prematurely since he went on to co-write & perform the theme song of Quantum of Solace with Alicia Keys) and decided to use the riff in what became the band's first number one hit on the American alternative charts. According to Jack, both his American and British labels didn't even want to release it as a single, favoring There's No Home For You Here instead.
While lyrically the song is about how rumors of the band's lovelife developed seemingly in direct proportion to the success they attained, the "Seven Nation Army" line, and the concept of what that actually is, morphed into something more than its origin suggests and remained an undefined entity of some vague authority, offering itself freely to listener interpretation of its power.
The track has been covered over forty times. Some covers of interest include those by Audioslave, The Flaming Lips, Kate Nash, Melanie Martinez, and Unwoman.
Obscenity Trail, the EBM/electropop project led by German musician Oliver Wand, released a cover of Seven Nation Army on their second album, Here and Now in August 2006. Inspired by the likes of Yello, Click Click, and Depeche Mode, Wand's motivations for the tribute are now difficult to ascertain as most of Obscenity Trial's online presence has disappeared. The project website has little more than a message stating, "thanks for the great time." Wand is currently pursuing a career in artistic photography and has not indicated any future for Obscenity Trial, though he has an taken extended break from it in the past.
Wand delivers a richly electric rendition of the track with deep resonating and dramatically punctuated vocals amid a kinetic dance rhythm. Given that Jack White made such a point of declaring that “no computers were used during the writing, recording, mixing or mastering of this record” in the liner notes of the original album, Obscenity Trial's almost entirely electronic version is itself a perverse stab at what might be Jack's previously proclaimed fear of robots.
While the degree to which The Salvation Army's actual influence on the making of this song is perhaps tenuous, and it's not particularly festive by any stretch, nonetheless feel free to let it move you to find, and give to, more open-hearted and inclusive charities than your local bell-ringers this holiday season.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Second Sunday Slowly takes you on a shadow-lined downtempo drive!
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
Two public holiday parties this December I'll spin. Check out my schedule if you'd like to join in!
(A little poetry for you there. Ha!) ಠ‿↼
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Nov 26 - NoNotNever - Cold-Hearted Snake (Paula Abdul)
Nov 19 - Alien Sex Fiend [as The Dynamic Duo] - Batman Theme (Neil Hefti)
Nov 12 - Inertia(w/Ayria) - Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
Nov 05 - Rummelsnuff - Mongoloid (Devo)
Oct 29 - 5X5: Bonecollectors/Dead Brothers/Camping Car/Godhead/Pink Skulls - Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
'Tis the season when the bells ringing outside grocery stores and other centers of Christmas commerce remind us of the many stories of how the Salvation Army has notoriously denied their charity to members of the LGBT community, unmarried couples, and even (in at least one anecdotal case) those who look "too goth." If you haven't heard such tales of woe, you are just a web-search away from an endless indictment of the group's practices which seem to belie the very spirit of their supposed faith. On the other hand, though it's far from balancing the scales of any injustices on their part, their very existence had a hand in the making of the song that inspired today's featured EBM cover!:
Obscenity Trial - Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
The White Stripes, an alternative rock duo formed by Jack White and Meg White (no relation), released Seven Nation Army as the first single of their fourth studio album, Elephant in April 2003, though it was already receiving airplay in March.
The central riff of the piece was a happy accident guitarist/frontman Jack discovered during a soundcheck before a show in Australia. He dubbed the riff Seven Nation Army, which was how he misspoke the name of the Salvation Army as a child. He imagined he'd save that unique sound in the hope he might one day get to use it composing a theme to a James Bond film. Despite the rising popularity of The White Stripes at the time, Jack gave up the Bond aspiration (perhaps prematurely since he went on to co-write & perform the theme song of Quantum of Solace with Alicia Keys) and decided to use the riff in what became the band's first number one hit on the American alternative charts. According to Jack, both his American and British labels didn't even want to release it as a single, favoring There's No Home For You Here instead.
While lyrically the song is about how rumors of the band's lovelife developed seemingly in direct proportion to the success they attained, the "Seven Nation Army" line, and the concept of what that actually is, morphed into something more than its origin suggests and remained an undefined entity of some vague authority, offering itself freely to listener interpretation of its power.
The track has been covered over forty times. Some covers of interest include those by Audioslave, The Flaming Lips, Kate Nash, Melanie Martinez, and Unwoman.
Obscenity Trail, the EBM/electropop project led by German musician Oliver Wand, released a cover of Seven Nation Army on their second album, Here and Now in August 2006. Inspired by the likes of Yello, Click Click, and Depeche Mode, Wand's motivations for the tribute are now difficult to ascertain as most of Obscenity Trial's online presence has disappeared. The project website has little more than a message stating, "thanks for the great time." Wand is currently pursuing a career in artistic photography and has not indicated any future for Obscenity Trial, though he has an taken extended break from it in the past.
Wand delivers a richly electric rendition of the track with deep resonating and dramatically punctuated vocals amid a kinetic dance rhythm. Given that Jack White made such a point of declaring that “no computers were used during the writing, recording, mixing or mastering of this record” in the liner notes of the original album, Obscenity Trial's almost entirely electronic version is itself a perverse stab at what might be Jack's previously proclaimed fear of robots.
While the degree to which The Salvation Army's actual influence on the making of this song is perhaps tenuous, and it's not particularly festive by any stretch, nonetheless feel free to let it move you to find, and give to, more open-hearted and inclusive charities than your local bell-ringers this holiday season.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Second Sunday Slowly takes you on a shadow-lined downtempo drive!
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
Two public holiday parties this December I'll spin. Check out my schedule if you'd like to join in!
(A little poetry for you there. Ha!) ಠ‿↼
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Nov 26 - NoNotNever - Cold-Hearted Snake (Paula Abdul)
Nov 19 - Alien Sex Fiend [as The Dynamic Duo] - Batman Theme (Neil Hefti)
Nov 12 - Inertia(w/Ayria) - Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
Nov 05 - Rummelsnuff - Mongoloid (Devo)
Oct 29 - 5X5: Bonecollectors/Dead Brothers/Camping Car/Godhead/Pink Skulls - Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies