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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.
It's time for another trip to the twentieth century with a Third Sunday Throwback. This week's industrial cover artist might be a bit (or more) on the obscure side but the song they re-interpreted is probably the most recognizable from these eighties alternative icons:
Carbon 12 - Burning Down The House (Talking Heads)
Talking Heads released Burning Down The House as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Speaking in Tongues in the summer of 1983. The track may seem to make little lyrical sense because Byrne was experimenting throughout the writing process to find phrases that matched the rhythm of the song, literally deciding to "stop making sense" while simultaneously trying to maintain some kind of theme. Lyrics that didn't make the cut include, "I have another body," "pick it up by the handle," "feelings not explanation," "you travel with a double," and "I'm still under construction." The title was almost either "What Are We Gonna Do?" or "Foam Rubber, USA." Members of the band trace the inspiration for the title lyric back to a show by Parliament-Funkadelic where the crowd was chanting, "burn down the house." During a jam in one rehearsal, drummer Chris Franz interjected the chant and lead singer David Byrne adapted it into the title.
Byrne said, in the same interview he revealed those unused lyrics, that he didn't know while writing the song what it would mean but later decided it "implies ecstatic rebirth, or transcending one's own self. If, like in classic psychology, the 'house' is the 'self' and 'burning it down' is 'destroying yourself.' And the assumption is that you get reborn, like a phoenix from the ashes."
The track went on to be their most successful single as their only top ten hit, attained despite limited radio play (possibly due to considerable MTV support of the video) and the album earned them a Grammy. There have been at least a couple dozen covers of the song, though most are live recordings or irreverent novelties.
Carbon 12, a solo industrial project manned by producer and engineer Steve Tushar, released its only album, Very Harsh Frequencies, in 1999. His cover of Burning Down The House was embedded on the album as an unlisted hidden track and was later included on a various artists compilation Don't Worry About The Coverband - A Tribute To Talking Heads in 2000. Tushar played briefly with 16 Volt and Fear Factory but is otherwise a fairly obscure artist in the genre. He has, however, gone on to work as a sound designer and effects editor on various films and TV shows with which you may have more familiarity like Coraline, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, ParaNorman, and Ash vs Evil Dead. Hard to say from available information what Tushar's motivations were for the cover or even if he "burned down" his own metaphorical "house" at any point, but his cover is nonetheless a grueling rock industrial grind with harsh vocals and stomp-worthy beats that make it "out of the ordinary.":
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Since Alpha and Omega seem to be kind of a loose theme for me this month, we'll keep that going with a recent goth-rock cover of a old eighties synthpop track that gets into the heart of the duality of beginnings and endings. ┌(Ω_α)┘♪
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.)
My next gig is a new event in the Boston area. Check my schedule for details, the RSVP link on Facebook, and keep an eye their for news of other upcoming events! ◉‿◉
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
May 13 - Aesthetic Perfection - Bye Bye Bye(NSYNC)
May 06 - Birthday Massacre - I Think We're Alone Now (Tommy James and The Shondells
Apr 29 - Celluloide - Precious (Depeche Mode)
Apr 22 - Funker Vogt - Get(t) Off (Prince)
Apr 15 - 16 Volt - Turning Japanese (The Vapors)
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.
It's time for another trip to the twentieth century with a Third Sunday Throwback. This week's industrial cover artist might be a bit (or more) on the obscure side but the song they re-interpreted is probably the most recognizable from these eighties alternative icons:
Carbon 12 - Burning Down The House (Talking Heads)
Talking Heads released Burning Down The House as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Speaking in Tongues in the summer of 1983. The track may seem to make little lyrical sense because Byrne was experimenting throughout the writing process to find phrases that matched the rhythm of the song, literally deciding to "stop making sense" while simultaneously trying to maintain some kind of theme. Lyrics that didn't make the cut include, "I have another body," "pick it up by the handle," "feelings not explanation," "you travel with a double," and "I'm still under construction." The title was almost either "What Are We Gonna Do?" or "Foam Rubber, USA." Members of the band trace the inspiration for the title lyric back to a show by Parliament-Funkadelic where the crowd was chanting, "burn down the house." During a jam in one rehearsal, drummer Chris Franz interjected the chant and lead singer David Byrne adapted it into the title.
Byrne said, in the same interview he revealed those unused lyrics, that he didn't know while writing the song what it would mean but later decided it "implies ecstatic rebirth, or transcending one's own self. If, like in classic psychology, the 'house' is the 'self' and 'burning it down' is 'destroying yourself.' And the assumption is that you get reborn, like a phoenix from the ashes."
The track went on to be their most successful single as their only top ten hit, attained despite limited radio play (possibly due to considerable MTV support of the video) and the album earned them a Grammy. There have been at least a couple dozen covers of the song, though most are live recordings or irreverent novelties.
Carbon 12, a solo industrial project manned by producer and engineer Steve Tushar, released its only album, Very Harsh Frequencies, in 1999. His cover of Burning Down The House was embedded on the album as an unlisted hidden track and was later included on a various artists compilation Don't Worry About The Coverband - A Tribute To Talking Heads in 2000. Tushar played briefly with 16 Volt and Fear Factory but is otherwise a fairly obscure artist in the genre. He has, however, gone on to work as a sound designer and effects editor on various films and TV shows with which you may have more familiarity like Coraline, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, ParaNorman, and Ash vs Evil Dead. Hard to say from available information what Tushar's motivations were for the cover or even if he "burned down" his own metaphorical "house" at any point, but his cover is nonetheless a grueling rock industrial grind with harsh vocals and stomp-worthy beats that make it "out of the ordinary.":
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Since Alpha and Omega seem to be kind of a loose theme for me this month, we'll keep that going with a recent goth-rock cover of a old eighties synthpop track that gets into the heart of the duality of beginnings and endings. ┌(Ω_α)┘♪
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.)
My next gig is a new event in the Boston area. Check my schedule for details, the RSVP link on Facebook, and keep an eye their for news of other upcoming events! ◉‿◉
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
May 13 - Aesthetic Perfection - Bye Bye Bye(NSYNC)
May 06 - Birthday Massacre - I Think We're Alone Now (Tommy James and The Shondells
Apr 29 - Celluloide - Precious (Depeche Mode)
Apr 22 - Funker Vogt - Get(t) Off (Prince)
Apr 15 - 16 Volt - Turning Japanese (The Vapors)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
friggin' awesome!!
Date: 2018-05-20 10:37 pm (UTC)every time it comes on my 80s playlist, I stop and do a quirky dance.
the cover is totally rockin', too.
cool find <3
Re: friggin' awesome!!
Date: 2018-05-20 11:26 pm (UTC)Glad you enjoyed this entry! ❣◕⌣◕❣
Re: friggin' awesome!!
Date: 2018-05-21 12:13 pm (UTC)yeah! it was a good one :)