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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.
Well my initial hopes to devote this one to the recent death of dancer/choreographer Lindsey Kemp were foiled by a lack of access to the relevant songs influenced by his work. So with that intent dashed, I'll move on to another grimly topical Third Sunday Throwback to the 20th century. It's a grungy industrial cover of an apocalyptic vision from the sixties, the original track having been placed on a particularly chilling list following the events of September 11, 2001.:
Project Pitchfork - In The Year 2525 (Zager & Evans)
In the Year 2525 was written by Rick Evans in the year 1964, before he teamed up with Denny Zager to record and release it as a single, in the year 1968. But it wasn't until the summer of '69 when they also released their debut album 2525 (Exordium & Terminus) that the song became successful, spending six weeks as the number one song on the Billboard chart. This was unfortunately also the "exordium and terminus" (beginning and end) of their success leaving the duo recognized afterward as one-hit wonders. The song was somewhat of a science fiction Mex-Western grind-house psychedelia, envisioning a bleak future of humanity's downward spiral into emotional apathy and physical atrophy due to ever advancing technological conveniences. At the time, the themes were popular in modern culture by way of films like Planet Of The Apes and 2001: A Space Odyssey. During the time of the track's hit run, David Bowie had released Space Oddity and the United States landed a man on the moon!
In the Year 2525 was among 165 songs that were listed on a Clear Channel Communications cross network internal memo following the events of September 11, 2001. The memo was not "banning" the songs on that list, but strongly suggested that they not be played due to the various program directors for those stations feeling that they could be "lyrically questionable" following the attack. Zager & Evans were listed along side the likes of The Clash, The Cult, Korn, Nine Inch Nails, Queen, Rage Against The Machine, Tool, The Beatles, and Frank Sinatra, just to name a few. (I was working for Clear Channel at that time, and while none of the stations in my branch really heeded this list, none of them actively had Zager & Evans on their playlists anyway.)
This track has been covered over 60 times and in several languages. Notable artists who have covered it include Fields of the Nephilim, Ian Brown of the Stone Roses, R.E.M., Visage, and actress Gina Torres (who starred in the 2000 sci-fi TV series Cleopatra 2525 and sang her version of the song for the show's opening credits.)
The dark EBM group Project Pitchfork released their debut album, Dhyani, in May 1991. It's believed they recorded the album in three days, which would indicate they spent possibly as much time recording their version of In the Year 2525 as Zager & Evans, who recorded the original in one take. Another indicator is just how raw the sound is and that they seem to have omitted a portion of the lyrics in the opening lines of the track. Whether they did that intentionally or if it was a mistake they decided to plow through to complete the recording is unclear.
While it is clearly not the best of covers, (they can't ALL be the greatest) it does lend itself favorably on-topic to the general sense of dystopian nihilism that is a theme in much of Project Pitchfork's original music. It's certainly easy to imagine rivethead mutants of the wasteland galloping around a dancefloor to this growling and stompy rendition.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Another of my plans for this month (teased as "the naivety of piss") is very likely not going to come about in time for next week after all... but if it does... GREAT!
If it doesn't, since I seem to have turned September into a month rank with obscurity, I'll probably stick to that loose theme.
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.)
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Sep 09 - Skold - Pale As Chalk (Leæther Strip)
Sep 02 - Bestial Mouths - Being Boiled (The Human League)
Aug 26 - 4X4: Suzi Quatro/J.G. Thirlwell/Soft Lighting/Norman Sane - Warm Leatherette (The Normal)
Aug 19 - Billy Idol - [I Forgot] To Be A [Your] Lover (William Bell)
Aug 12 - Noctronyx - Wreath of Barbs (:wumpscut:)
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.
Well my initial hopes to devote this one to the recent death of dancer/choreographer Lindsey Kemp were foiled by a lack of access to the relevant songs influenced by his work. So with that intent dashed, I'll move on to another grimly topical Third Sunday Throwback to the 20th century. It's a grungy industrial cover of an apocalyptic vision from the sixties, the original track having been placed on a particularly chilling list following the events of September 11, 2001.:
Project Pitchfork - In The Year 2525 (Zager & Evans)
In the Year 2525 was written by Rick Evans in the year 1964, before he teamed up with Denny Zager to record and release it as a single, in the year 1968. But it wasn't until the summer of '69 when they also released their debut album 2525 (Exordium & Terminus) that the song became successful, spending six weeks as the number one song on the Billboard chart. This was unfortunately also the "exordium and terminus" (beginning and end) of their success leaving the duo recognized afterward as one-hit wonders. The song was somewhat of a science fiction Mex-Western grind-house psychedelia, envisioning a bleak future of humanity's downward spiral into emotional apathy and physical atrophy due to ever advancing technological conveniences. At the time, the themes were popular in modern culture by way of films like Planet Of The Apes and 2001: A Space Odyssey. During the time of the track's hit run, David Bowie had released Space Oddity and the United States landed a man on the moon!
In the Year 2525 was among 165 songs that were listed on a Clear Channel Communications cross network internal memo following the events of September 11, 2001. The memo was not "banning" the songs on that list, but strongly suggested that they not be played due to the various program directors for those stations feeling that they could be "lyrically questionable" following the attack. Zager & Evans were listed along side the likes of The Clash, The Cult, Korn, Nine Inch Nails, Queen, Rage Against The Machine, Tool, The Beatles, and Frank Sinatra, just to name a few. (I was working for Clear Channel at that time, and while none of the stations in my branch really heeded this list, none of them actively had Zager & Evans on their playlists anyway.)
This track has been covered over 60 times and in several languages. Notable artists who have covered it include Fields of the Nephilim, Ian Brown of the Stone Roses, R.E.M., Visage, and actress Gina Torres (who starred in the 2000 sci-fi TV series Cleopatra 2525 and sang her version of the song for the show's opening credits.)
The dark EBM group Project Pitchfork released their debut album, Dhyani, in May 1991. It's believed they recorded the album in three days, which would indicate they spent possibly as much time recording their version of In the Year 2525 as Zager & Evans, who recorded the original in one take. Another indicator is just how raw the sound is and that they seem to have omitted a portion of the lyrics in the opening lines of the track. Whether they did that intentionally or if it was a mistake they decided to plow through to complete the recording is unclear.
While it is clearly not the best of covers, (they can't ALL be the greatest) it does lend itself favorably on-topic to the general sense of dystopian nihilism that is a theme in much of Project Pitchfork's original music. It's certainly easy to imagine rivethead mutants of the wasteland galloping around a dancefloor to this growling and stompy rendition.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Another of my plans for this month (teased as "the naivety of piss") is very likely not going to come about in time for next week after all... but if it does... GREAT!
If it doesn't, since I seem to have turned September into a month rank with obscurity, I'll probably stick to that loose theme.
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.)
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Sep 09 - Skold - Pale As Chalk (Leæther Strip)
Sep 02 - Bestial Mouths - Being Boiled (The Human League)
Aug 26 - 4X4: Suzi Quatro/J.G. Thirlwell/Soft Lighting/Norman Sane - Warm Leatherette (The Normal)
Aug 19 - Billy Idol - [I Forgot] To Be A [Your] Lover (William Bell)
Aug 12 - Noctronyx - Wreath of Barbs (:wumpscut:)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies