If you listened to The Sunday Alternative when it was on the radio, you may remember a feature that ran for a while called 'Louie Smells Like Rock & Roll', in which I played three in a row cover versions of the songs 'Louie Louie', 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and 'I Love Rock & Roll'. Some were good, some were utter shit but I am a collector and I have to collect. I also collect covers of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' but this is a much more recent thing with me as it started during the run of the show when I found a terrible version by Paul Young and developed it into a game with my co-host Penny. My obsession began due to the fact that there are so many covers of these songs and I keep discovering more. I don't know which song came first to be honest, although I imagine it was 'I Love Rock & Roll' as it would have been the first of these that I heard, thinking as everyone does that it was a Joan Jett original (to my shame I once thought that 'I Fought The Law' was originally by The Clash - we are constantly learning). 

Another misconception is that the original version of 'Louie Louie' was by The Kingsmen when in fact eight years earlier Richard Berry wrote and recorded it as a Jamaican ballad rather than the proto-punk version that everyone thinks of. It is believed to be one of the most covered songs in the history of popular music and I have only scratched the surface as far as collecting versions is concerned. 

This came to mind this week following the news that Jack Ely, singer with The Kingsmen, has died. By the time the song became a hit the band had already split up and the legal bother over royalties dragged on for another thirty years. Given that Richard Berry had offloaded the song along with others for $750 and eventually becoming a millionaire in the 1980s thanks to a loophole that required his signature for use in an advert, and that The Kingsmen never followed up the success, it isn't a particularly lucky song. This got me to thinking about the other songs that I collect for no reason.

'Love Will Tear Us Apart' and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' were written by people gripped by depression who eventually took their own lives, which leaves 'I Love Rock & Roll' so I did a bit of research to see if anything bad had happened in connection that song, yet apart from a cover by Miley Cyrus (who has also inflicted a version of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' on the world) it seems to have come out unscathed. 

This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative can be heard here.

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April housekeeping

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picture from BBC

Although it might seem like I am moaning self-indulgently at the injustice of it all, I still genuinely can’t understand why BBC 6 Music never took up the option to broadcast The Sunday Alternative. I’m not suggesting that the BBC owe me a living but why ignore a show that couldn’t be more suited to their remit? If you listen back to the radio shows I will echo your view that while some of the shows were below par, (especially when there was no live band) when it worked the show was one of the best things on air, and I’m not just trying to sound boastful. I might sound arrogant but I am fucking proud of that show and its legacy; after all it was referred to as both “the reason computers have speakers” and most tellingly, “the best BBC 6 Music show that isn’t on BBC 6 Music, yet”.

One of the reasons I am so proud of it is the fact that it seems to have led the way to a small extent. It might have been seen by some as a local radio show (Fiona Sturgess of The Independent who I doubt even listened to it) because it wasn’t broadcast from London, but it was a worldwide show. Many is the time that I would play a new song and beat 6 Music to it by a few weeks, or I would hear a topic of conversation that we had previously covered. When Andrew Collins and Richard Herring stopped doing the Saturday 10am-1pm slot, (covering for Adam and Joe), I approached them as at the time I was doing the show with Erik Petersen and we would have been ideal in what was a light hearted comedy slot. I’d have been knackered when Erik decided to quit the show without mentioning it to me, or before that when he would randomly not turn up, but I didn’t know that at the time. Instead they gave the show to Peter Serafinowicz. This turned out to be a massive blunder because all it did was prove that the multi-talented actor, writer, comedian, director, and voice artist could not present a radio show and ended up looking stupid. The Sunday Alternative must spring into the heads of a lot of people when they hear the Sunday afternoon show on 6 music, I still want to call it Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service although he is on sabbatical and leaving it to a series of guest hosts. I did offer to keep his seat warm, they ignored me.

One of the things people remember about The Sunday Alternative on radio was my propensity to play a cover version or two. My collecting of the songs ‘I Love Rock & Roll’, ‘Louie Louie’, and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ formed the popular weekly feature Louie Smells Like Rock & Roll, and we came up with something resembling a game centred on covers of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. We featured punk/ska covers of pop songs and all manner of weirdness. Listeners were even invited to choose their favourite and least favourite cover versions.

BBC radio, under their new ‘BBC Music’ umbrella, is running a poll to find the greatest cover version of all time. You couldn’t make this shit up could you?

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Watching so many different versions of A Christmas Carol is a strange pursuit when you think about it. I can't think of any other type of film that I'd be willing to watch so many different versions of, in fact I wonder what is the most consistently remade film? Would I be prepared to watch a film or listen to an audiobook that I knew the ending to again and again? In other circumstances I certainly wouldn't, but A Christmas Carol has entered into my completest obsessive ways, along with the songs 'I Love Rock and Roll', 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', and 'Louie Louie'.

Although I know the story, it is interesting to watch the different versions. I'm familiar enough with the book to know which versions are sticking to the words of Charles Dickens, and which versions are merely using the original story as a guide. The BFI have a copy of the very first filmed adaptation, reckoned to be from 1901, in their possession. It is available from their YouTube channel and is a remarkable piece of work. At three minutes twenty eight seconds, Scrooge, Or Marley's Ghost tells the story without the burden of dialogue. To say it was 1901, the effects with the ghosts were certainly convincing enough and would have dazzled audiences in the early days of cinema.

On my last radio show, I played a cover of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Tori Amos, and Motorhead's version of 'Louie Louie'. For good measure I played 'I Love Rock And Roll' by Joan Jett And The Blackhearts. This has given me an idea for the show. For a long time now, I have been collecting cover versions of the above songs, apart from 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. It is only recently that the classic Nirvana ditty has entered into this obsession, so I have a little bit of catching up to do. So for a feature on The Sunday Alternative, I will be bringing in copies of these songs by different artists every week. The real beauty of a feature like this, is that it can come with us to 6Music when they finally offer us the Saturday 10am-1pm slot. So from this coming Sunday, I will be playing a three-in-a-row montage of versions of these three songs.

Part of me wants to experiment with playing nothing but versions of the same song for the whole two hours, maybe without talking at all. This will either be seen as high art, and a statement on the cover version, or as a self indulgent way to lose listeners. I enjoy taking people down these weird little avenues to see how far they come with me before they make their excuses and leave. When I was at Sherwood Radio, I was far more experimental than I am now because I knew that nobody would bother checking it for content before it was broadcast, (I did my Sherwood Radio show as a pre-record every week), and that I could do whatever I wanted. As much as it is important that broadcasters are allowed to have creative freedom, sometimes it might have been an idea in those days for someone to try and rein me in. I played a series of Alan Bennett reading Winnie The Pooh, comedy sketches, and my record for longest song I played was something lasting 29 minutes. Some of the shows are still available!

My attitude is that you can come with me, or don't. This is why I don't like explaining jokes, because if they don't get it then they don't deserve it. I have curbed my experimental nature somewhat on Trent Sound, but I like to think we are still taking risks. I am trying to develop a phone-in game of Ker-plunk, or maybe Buckaroo, that can be played with two people playing against each other. If Dave Lee Travis can do it with snooker on the radio then I'm sure we can manage it. Another idea that we can transplant onto 6Music when they see sense.

I Saw Him Standing There By The Record Machine...

I haven't written about this for ages, but today in celebration of the computer being fixed, I've been collecting up what I have so far. To bring newcomers up to speed, I collect cover versions of 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll'. I also have a thing for 'Louie Louie' as well but that's another blog.

'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' was written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of The Arrows in 1975 on RAK records. The Arrows version is here. Originally a B-Side, it became an A-Side on later pressings, this original version was not a commercial success, and has only really become part of rock folklore due to the huge amount of cover versions that have been released. It is unearthing these covers that started as a hobby and developed into an obsession.

Joan Jett

Jett first heard the song when touring the UK with her first band The Runaways, and recorded her first version of it with Steve Jones and Paul Cook in 1979. It wasn't until 1982 when with The Blackhearts, she released the classic version. (note- The video was filmed in black and white because Jett didn't like the look of the red jump suits in the original cut of the video). This version is in my opinion the best recorded version, and funnily enough it's not even my favourite song, just something that's got very out of hand.

Joan Jett re-released the song in 1992 for the release of Wayne's World. But since then it's been covered by a diverse range of artists. It's also been parodied and sampled, so here in no particular order is my list so far. If anyone has a copy of this song that I've missed then PLEASE let me know.

Squeaky clean girl next door all American princess turned coke hoovering, minge flashing, nanny harassing, human train wreck Britney Spears murdered the song as seen here. It should be illegal to cover a song and do such a hatchet job on it, and that law should be punishable by a slow and painful death. Although I hate to admit it, I really really fucking hate to admit it, but she did a better job of it when she performed it live. I'm guessing this was before the madness set in!

Weird Al Yankovic released a spoof titled I Love Rocky Road

I assume this is an overseas version of X-Factor or one of them such programmes. She seems to be singing the Britney version!

This is someone who used to be on Coronation Street, on a pointless celebrity version of X-Factor, if you think it's the worse version ever, just go back and listen to Britney!

This is an example of people using youtube to create a cult following, a'la The Back Dorm Boys. But this is cute when you see it ONCE! and never see it again!

This performance by Angela kicks in at about 4.06, but doesn't the man interviewing look like an oriental Jeremy Beadle?

Josh Zuckerman did an acoustic version.

Maybe it's the quality of the recording, but this sounds poor. Piss poor in fact!

Punk bands always manage pretty tasty covers, and this version by Conscious proves it.

The Investment as seen here.

Paperbox Transparan The Mudsharks Audicao Ghoti Hook

Marlies(?) Greencard Caitlyn Taylor Love Le Club Nerd

The Strums(this is crap)

'We Will Rock And Roll You' mash-up. Quite clever!

This song by shit 80s UK poodle permed, spandexed, hair metal fuck muppets Def Leppard borrows heavily from the song. But this 'song' by gladly defunct twattish boy band 5ive just steals it. To make matters worse they don't do it any justice. These are the same bunch of song rapists who covered Queen's 'We Will Rock You' in a similar style, AND got Brian May and Roger Taylor to play on it. Am I the only one who thinks they should give it a rest? Freddie is dead and he's never coming back, so stop pissing on his grave and fuck off home to count your money!

Do me a favour and help me finish this. If you have a version of this song, then please let me know so I can hopefully one day finish this collection.

If you find a version on youtube that I missed, then please put it in a blog comment for all to see, and if you go near a karaoke at all, sing it, film it, post it to this blog!

Thank you

Louie Louie

I was going to try and write a little opener to this blog, which as the title suggests is about the classic song 'Louie Louie'. Another one of my quests to find how many covers of this song exist. But I couldn't really be arsed! So here's a brief blurb instead:

It was written in 1955 by Richard Berry (and this is sadly the only decent clip of Berry singing it) and released in 1957 by Berry and his backing band The Pharaohs, (NOT the same Pharaohs as in Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs!), originally as a B-side to 'You Are My Sunshine'. The Most famous version, which most people think is the original version, is of course this one by The Kingsmen. So here comes the boring part....

Bob Dylan zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Black Flag although a much more audible version can be found on my music player on my other profile.

This version by Paul Revere &The Raiders was actually recorded before The Kingsmen version.

Horlicks for the ears, this very tiresome version by The Grateful Dead.

Jack Ely and the Courtmen, seen here in 1999. The original singer with The Kingsmen.

Patti Smith, not sounding her best when she covered it.

Jeff and the RFs, whoever they are!

A nice laid back version here by Toots And The Maytals and another fairly laid back brass version. There's even a festival in honour of the song, which is where this version by The Fabulous Wailers was performed.

A fairly faithful version here by MC5, which sounds as if the Motorhead version came from this although I couldn't find the clip to back that up.

No idea why I included this posey fuck head on here but it proves a point I'll make in a bit about simularities.

One of many versions performed by Iggy Pop. (I've been told I look like him, but I cannot see it)

Used quite famously in this scene from National Lampoon's Animal House. John Belushi recorded a version for the soundtrack album. And it made another cinema appearance in 24 Hour Party People showing how it was done by Jon The Postman

I have other versions on record and tape, but can't find the clips.

The Riff's Been Used In...

Keep the riff in your head and then listen to this classic bit of 80s pop rock, and if any man my age denies ever fancying Wendy James you're a fucking liar!

Slower but the same beat when he starts singing in this clip of The McCoys. It's also evident in the song 'Wild Thing'.

In this version by Iggy Pop, concentrate on the opening guitar riff, and then watch Nirvana steal it on one of their most famous songs! Although if you really wanted to get anal about it, you could play 'Louie Louie' or 'More Than A Feeling' by Boston and come up with 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' (try it).

Now imagine the 'Louie Louie' riff, but much slower. And then just cut a bit off the riff and go faster.

The bass line is also used in this song from one of the worse films ever

Bored? I know I am, please comment if I missed something, or post a video as a comment if you find one.