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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.
This month our Third Sunday Throwback to the 20th century is another instance of a song you might recognize but not realize was originally done by someone else, probably because the one you know was way more popular at the time. It's also a cover that, while technically being "pop" at its core, crosses over into darkness in a few interesting ways.
Laura Branigan - Self Control (Raf)
Italian singer/songwriter Raf, short for Raffaele Riefoli, released his Italo-Disco/synthpop/new wave self-titled debut in 1984. Self Control was his first single, co-written by Giancarlo Bigazzi and Steve Piccolo, which was released in either 1983 or 1984; sources conflict on this. The b-side of the single featured Self Control Part II, an extended version with mild structure changes and a late act (and somewhat ridiculous) rap solo credited to a lesser-known rapper that went by the name "Shakespeare." The track was a huge hit for Raf in Italy and several European countries.
Laura Branigan had already released two albums, rarely writing her own music, and had made a hit of another of Bigazzi's songs, Gloria (originally recorded in Italian by Umberto Tozzi.) She took on Self Control and released it as a single also in 1984, along with her third album of the same name (which came out on April Fool's Day.) She sings it without the backing (as Raf does) and some of the original synth instrumentation was replaced with guitars in her version. It was a her greatest success and a number one hit internationally, which led to some curious charting in some regions. In Germany, for instance, (where Raf had to market his music as "Raff" in order to distance himself from the anagram for the Red Army Faction terrorist cell,) both Raf's and her versions entered the top 20 charts simultaneously. When Branigan's reached the number one position, Raf's was number two and they both held there for six weeks. For all their combined success with the song, Raf only ever charted higher than Branigan in his home country.
Branigan's success with the track was also helped by her video for the song, directed by William Friedkin, perhaps known best at the time for his award winning direction of the 1973 horror classic, The Exorcist. The video was a psycho-sexual depiction of Branigan's attempt to resist the seduction of a nightlife filled with mysterious masked characters engaging in dance and other hedonistic displays. The masks, created by Willa Shalit, had a somewhat featureless "Phantom of the Opera quality but the screenplay evoked more of a "haunting tempter" vibe similar to Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. Lyrically the song already breached the veil of her pop-oriented reputation to expose seemingly a desire for an arcane experience in joining the "creatures of the night" and a willingness to submit to the darkness that binds them.
The song has been covered by over 50 artists, often times giving credit to Branigan instead of Raf. Some darker covers of note include those by Paralyzed Age, Patient Zero, Zeitgeist Zero, and Savlonic (on the same album as last week's featured cover.) Again, not goth in and of itself, but whatever the songwriters' inspiration, there's something definitively relatable to goths in the imagery of this track:
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Feels like it's been a while since we've done some hard industrial of any kind... so let's do an oontzworthy stomper!
♪┌(◣_◢)┘♪
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 this week! Check my schedule for details and the RSVP link on Facebook. News of other upcoming events soon to be posted as well!
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Jul 08 - Savlonic - Go with the Flow (Queens of the Stone Age)
Jul 01 - Kanga - Metal (Gary Numan)
Jun 24 - Sopor Æternus & the Ensemble of Shadows - Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)(Cher)
Jun 17 - Die Warzau - S & M (Thin Lizzy)
Jun 10 - The xx - Teardrops (Womack & Womack)
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.
This month our Third Sunday Throwback to the 20th century is another instance of a song you might recognize but not realize was originally done by someone else, probably because the one you know was way more popular at the time. It's also a cover that, while technically being "pop" at its core, crosses over into darkness in a few interesting ways.
Laura Branigan - Self Control (Raf)
Italian singer/songwriter Raf, short for Raffaele Riefoli, released his Italo-Disco/synthpop/new wave self-titled debut in 1984. Self Control was his first single, co-written by Giancarlo Bigazzi and Steve Piccolo, which was released in either 1983 or 1984; sources conflict on this. The b-side of the single featured Self Control Part II, an extended version with mild structure changes and a late act (and somewhat ridiculous) rap solo credited to a lesser-known rapper that went by the name "Shakespeare." The track was a huge hit for Raf in Italy and several European countries.
Laura Branigan had already released two albums, rarely writing her own music, and had made a hit of another of Bigazzi's songs, Gloria (originally recorded in Italian by Umberto Tozzi.) She took on Self Control and released it as a single also in 1984, along with her third album of the same name (which came out on April Fool's Day.) She sings it without the backing (as Raf does) and some of the original synth instrumentation was replaced with guitars in her version. It was a her greatest success and a number one hit internationally, which led to some curious charting in some regions. In Germany, for instance, (where Raf had to market his music as "Raff" in order to distance himself from the anagram for the Red Army Faction terrorist cell,) both Raf's and her versions entered the top 20 charts simultaneously. When Branigan's reached the number one position, Raf's was number two and they both held there for six weeks. For all their combined success with the song, Raf only ever charted higher than Branigan in his home country.
Branigan's success with the track was also helped by her video for the song, directed by William Friedkin, perhaps known best at the time for his award winning direction of the 1973 horror classic, The Exorcist. The video was a psycho-sexual depiction of Branigan's attempt to resist the seduction of a nightlife filled with mysterious masked characters engaging in dance and other hedonistic displays. The masks, created by Willa Shalit, had a somewhat featureless "Phantom of the Opera quality but the screenplay evoked more of a "haunting tempter" vibe similar to Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. Lyrically the song already breached the veil of her pop-oriented reputation to expose seemingly a desire for an arcane experience in joining the "creatures of the night" and a willingness to submit to the darkness that binds them.
The song has been covered by over 50 artists, often times giving credit to Branigan instead of Raf. Some darker covers of note include those by Paralyzed Age, Patient Zero, Zeitgeist Zero, and Savlonic (on the same album as last week's featured cover.) Again, not goth in and of itself, but whatever the songwriters' inspiration, there's something definitively relatable to goths in the imagery of this track:
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Feels like it's been a while since we've done some hard industrial of any kind... so let's do an oontzworthy stomper!
♪┌(◣_◢)┘♪
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 this week! Check my schedule for details and the RSVP link on Facebook. News of other upcoming events soon to be posted as well!
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Jul 08 - Savlonic - Go with the Flow (Queens of the Stone Age)
Jul 01 - Kanga - Metal (Gary Numan)
Jun 24 - Sopor Æternus & the Ensemble of Shadows - Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)(Cher)
Jun 17 - Die Warzau - S & M (Thin Lizzy)
Jun 10 - The xx - Teardrops (Womack & Womack)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies