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60-556: Although most of the Squirrels material has been, technically speaking, cover versions , they are by no means a typical cover band. They have a theatrical stage sense derived from Alice Cooper and The Tubes (for a while in the mid-1990s, their stage paraphernalia included a working guillotine ), and an approach to arrangements that Morgan has described as "... the Frankenstein method of song arrangement... 'Well, we like these verses, but

120-502: A cover medley . On occasion, a cover can become more popular than the original, for instance Jimi Hendrix ’s version of Bob Dylan ’s " All Along the Watchtower " became the standard, and Dylan even adjusted his performance style closer to the Hendrix version. Johnny Cash ’s 2002 cover of " Hurt " by Nine Inch Nails is another example of the cover version eclipsing the original. This is

180-537: A Letter, Maria", a group of people in front of the stage jeered and pelted them. Arm's version of the story suggests a large group of hecklers, but according to Morgan it was "a small group... trying desperately to out 'punk rock' each other, while the rest of the audience... smart enough to realize that punk was much more of a mindset than a hairstyle & a jacket... looked on in befuddled amusement—" The Pudz' sole single—a Dave Locksley original called "Take Me To Your, (Leader)" b/w "Take A Letter Maria"—

240-726: A band called The Pamona Boners, then in 1984 he managed to draft the Young Fresh Fellows (YFF) to back him under the name Ernest Anyway and the Mighty, Mighty Squirrels, seen in retrospect as the first Squirrels lineup. This proved to be only a temporary expedient: most of the Fellows chose to concentrate on their own band, leaving Rob & YFF drummer Tad Hutchison to put together a new lineup that they christened New Age Urban Squirrels. This lineup, featuring Rob's high school buddy and fellow Fishstick Eric Erickson on guitar, really began to develop

300-501: A box, to be grabbed if his house ever caught fire and he had to abandon the rest of his collection. (It had a typically eccentric B-side: Gilbert O'Sullivan 's " Alone Again (Naturally) ".) Perhaps the most widely respected Squirrels album is The Not-So-Bright Side of the Moon (2000), a song-by-song cover of the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon , described by Jim DeRogatis , of

360-522: A favorite artist's hit tunes for the simple pleasure of playing a familiar song or collection of tunes. Today, three broad types of entertainers depend on cover versions for their principal repertoire: Since the Copyright Act of 1909 , United States musicians have had the right to record a version of someone else's previously recorded and released tune, whether it is music alone or music with lyrics. A license can be negotiated between representatives of

420-884: A generally punk rock approach to vocals and sound textures with poppy tunes and strong musicianship. Although these three band members have remained fairly constant, they have gone through numerous drummers, including Duff McKagan , later of Guns N' Roses . MTV 's web page on the Fastbacks says that estimates at the number of Fastbacks drummers "range from 12 to 20." For much of the band's heyday, Mike Musburger filled this role, but other Fastbacks drummers before him (or when he took occasional breaks) included Bloch himself, Richard Stuverud (perhaps best known from War Babies , Fifth Angel and his collaborations with Pearl Jam 's Jeff Ament , including Three Fish , Tres Mts. and RNDM ), Nate Johnson and Rusty Willoughby (both of whom also played in both Flop and Pure Joy ), John Moen (of

480-530: A long-term Squirrel, often "borrowed" musicians for the Squirrels from his many other musical projects. Other than Morgan and Kline, the band has had considerable turnover, with many musicians coming and going several times over the years. Erickson died of leukemia in 1996. Among the other frequent contributors have been jazz and soul guitarist Jimmy "J.T." Thomas, drummers Hollis the Bug & James "Cookie" Cookman, guitar wiz Aaron "A.T." Taylor, and bassist Matt Fox; for

540-517: A similar mix of strong musicianship and punk attitude to even poppier material. Contributing to the band's 2001 breakup was Kim Warnick's move to the band Visqueen in 2001 through 2004. In summer 2010 Kim Warnick started a new band with Mikey Davis ( Alien Crime Syndicate , Tommy Stinson ) called Cali Giraffes. The Fastbacks reunited for a one-off live performance 8 July 2011 at the West Seattle Summer Music Festival, featuring

600-454: A time, a woman named Mary K. would show up on stage for every show and (almost inaudibly) "play" a slinky . The band has also had guest appearances by the likes of Re Styles of the Tubes, Roy Loney of Flamin' Groovies , Tortelvis of Dread Zeppelin , and Skerik of Critters Buggin' . By 2005, the band had taken on more of a "hobby rocker" status: with the band performing only a handful of shows

660-456: A tribute to the original performer or group. Using familiar material (such as evergreen hits, standard tunes or classic recordings) is an important method of learning music styles. Until the mid-1960s most albums, or long playing records , contained a large number of evergreens or standards to present a fuller range of the artist's abilities and style. (See, for example, Please Please Me .) Artists might also perform interpretations ("covers") of

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720-455: A weekly segment called Like a Version in which a band or musician performs one of their own songs as well as a song they love by another artist. Originating in 2004, the popularity of the performances have resulted in the release of annual compilation albums of selected covers and, more recently, votes in the annual Triple J Hottest 100 poll (which has even sparked its own controversy). Conjoined cover songs are collectively referred to as

780-456: A widespread, common occurrence in the music industry. With advancements in artificial intelligence , internet users can create covers using RVC models. Cover versions (as the term is now used) are often contemporary versions of familiar songs. For example, " Singin' in the Rain " was originally introduced by Cliff Edwards in the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929 . The famous Gene Kelly version

840-575: A year, almost entirely within the Seattle city limits. Still, they maintained a steady & fairly rabid fanbase, with fans routinely flying in from all over the country for the band's annual XXXmas X-travaganza, an institution since 1990 that featured the Drunken Angel Bodyguards. After a long hiatus, the band revived in 2017 in the wake of the election of Donald Trump for a "Squirrels Trump Hate" tour. At this time Adam McKinney described them in

900-504: Is " Mack the Knife " ("Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"), originally from Bertolt Brecht's 1928 Die Dreigroschenoper . It was popularized by a 1956 hit parade instrumental tune, "Moritat", for the Dick Hyman Trio, also recorded by Richard Hayman & Jan August , but a hit also for Louis Armstrong 1956/1959, Bobby Darin , 1959, and Ella Fitzgerald , 1960, as vocal versions of "Mack

960-410: Is the only one that might currently get widespread airplay on most media. Similarly, " Unchained Melody " was originally performed by Todd Duncan , featured in the 1955 film Unchained (based on the non-fiction story Prisoners are People by Kenyon J. Scudder); Al Hibbler having the biggest number of worldwide record sales for the vocal version with Jimmy Young's cover version rival outdoing this in

1020-625: The Chicago Sun-Times as a "...brilliant through-the-looking-glass reimagining of Pink Floyd's classic..." The best recorded evidence of the Squirrels recombinant approach can be found on their Christmas recordings, such as "Smoke on the Housetop" (combining Deep Purple 's " Smoke on the Water " with B.R. Hanby's "Up on the Housetop"), "Peaceful Easy Town of Bethlehem" (combining The Eagles ' "Peaceful Easy Feeling" with " O Little Town of Bethlehem "), or

1080-708: The Bob Dylan track " Desolation Row ". This is more common with today's covers, taking older popular music and revamping it to compare with modern popular music. Aretha Franklin 's cover of Otis Redding 's " Respect " was voted the greatest cover song of all time, according to Forbes.com. The Fastbacks Fastbacks are a Seattle , Washington, punk rock band. Formed in 1979 by songwriter/guitarist Kurt Bloch (born August 28, 1960), and friends Lulu Gargiulo (guitar and vocals, born October 12, 1960) and Kim Warnick (bass and vocals, born April 7, 1959), they disbanded in 2001 but have reunited multiple times. Their sound mixes

1140-618: The Dharma Bums , later of Steven Malkmus 's Jicks and The Decemberists ), Jason Finn (of the Presidents of the United States of America ), Dan Peters of Mudhoney , and Tad Hutchison of the Young Fresh Fellows . Several of these people also served at times as drummers in The Squirrels , a similarly long-lived band, and the Fastbacks' sometime label-mates on PopLlama Records , who bring

1200-501: The Glenn Miller version (on RCA Victor's cheaper Bluebird label), not someone else's (sometimes presented on a more expensive record company's label). This trend was marked closely by the charting of record sales by the different artists, not just hit tunes, on the music industry's hit parades . However, for sound commercial reasons, record companies still continued to record different versions of tunes that sold well. Most audiences until

1260-646: The Weekly Volcano as "musical anarchists" and "a huge point of pride for the Puget Sound music scene." Andrew Hamlin, writing in Seattle weekly The Stranger described them as "still one of the city's greatest bands, now and forever. ... Rob Morgan... knows every rock-and-roll song ever recorded and can kill on at least five of them at the same time." Many of the songs the Squirrels perform live have never been released, because their tendency to combine elements of multiple songs raises issues with copyright law and tests

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1320-532: The 20th century it became common for phonograph record labels to have singers or musicians "cover" a commercially successful "hit" tune by recording a version for their own label in hopes of cashing in on the tune's success. For example, Ain't She Sweet was popularized in 1927 by Eddie Cantor (on stage) and by Ben Bernie and Gene Austin (on record), was repopularized through popular recordings by Mr. Goon Bones & Mr. Ford and Pearl Bailey in 1949, and later still revived as 33 1/3 and 45 RPM records by

1380-659: The Air" occur in Strictly Ballroom , Candi Staton 's "Young Hearts Run Free" appear in Romeo + Juliet , and adaptations of artists such as Nat King Cole , Nirvana , Kiss , Elton John , Thelma Houston , Marilyn Monroe , Madonna , T. Rex , David Bowie , Queen , and the Police are used in Moulin Rouge! . The covers are carefully designed to fit into the structure of each film and suit

1440-450: The American record market. Numerable English-language covers exist of " 99 Luftballons " by German singer Nena (notably one by punk band Goldfinger ), one having been recorded by Nena herself following the success of her original German version. " Popcorn ", a song that was originally completely instrumental, has had lyrics added in at least six different languages in various covers. During

1500-519: The Anglo-Saxon markets was once a popular part of the music business. For example, the 1954 worldwide hit " The Happy Wanderer " was originally " Der fröhliche Wanderer ", to this must be added " Hymne à l'amour ", " Mütterlein ", " Volare ", " Seeman ", " Quando, Quando, Quando ", " L'amour est bleu ", etc. Cover versions of many popular songs have been recorded, sometimes with a radically different style, sometimes virtually unrecognizable from

1560-462: The Beatles in 1964. Because little promotion or advertising was done in the early days of record production, other than at the local music hall or music store, the average buyer purchasing a new record usually asked for the tune, not the artist. Record distribution was highly localized, so a locally popular artist could quickly record a version of a hit song from another area and reach an audience before

1620-665: The Fire , although the German title was retained. The English version, which was not a direct translation of Falco's original but retained much of its spirit, reached the Top 5 on the US charts. " The Lion Sleeps Tonight " evolved over several decades and versions from a 1939 Solomon Linda a cappella song. Many of singer Laura Branigan 's 1980s hits were English-language covers of songs already successful in Europe, for

1680-433: The Knife". Europe's Radio Luxembourg , like many commercial stations, also sold "air time"; so record companies and others bought air time to promote their own artists or products, thus increasing the number of recorded versions of any tune then available. Add to this the fact that many radio stations were limited in their permitted " needle time " (the amount of recorded music they were allowed to play), or were regulated on

1740-513: The Rain" has been covered and remixed by British act Mint Royale for a television commercial for Volkswagen . Another example of this, from a different angle, is the tune " Blueberry Hill ", many mistakenly believe the Fats Domino 1956 release to be the original recording and artist. In fact, it was originally introduced on film by Gene Autry and popularized on the record Hit Parade of 1940 by Glenn Miller. The Fats Domino rock and roll version

1800-978: The UK, Les Baxter's Orchestra gaining the big instrumentalist sales, reaching the US Hit Parade number one spot in May 1955, but the Righteous Brothers ' later version (top five on the US Hit Parade of September 1965 stalling at number 14 in the UK in August) is by far the wider known version, and especially so following its appearance in the 1990 film Ghost . " House of the Rising Sun " has hundreds of versions and in many genres such as folk , blues rock and punk as well as dance and dubstep . Director Baz Luhrmann has contemporized and stylized older songs for use in his films. New or cover versions such as John Paul Young 's "Love Is in

1860-572: The amount of local talent they had to promote in live broadcasts, as with most national stations like the BBC in the UK. In the US, broadcasters pay royalties to authors and publishers. Artists are not paid royalties, so there is an incentive to record numerous versions of a song, particularly in different genres. For example, King Records frequently cut both rhythm and blues and country and western versions of novelty songs like "Good Morning, Judge" and "Don't Roll those Bloodshot Eyes at Me". This tradition

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1920-465: The band and referred to their last year's gigs as the "Death With Dignity Tour"; their last show in that era was the December 12, 2009 20th Annual XXXmas show. The band returned to the stage in 2017. Rob Morgan arrived in Seattle in 1977 from Edmonds, Washington , and lived initially in the same University District party house that spawned The U-Men and The Look . His first band, The Fishsticks (1979),

1980-552: The band's cut-and-paste method of arranging, welding songs on top of songs live onstage a good two decades before the current DJ craze of mash ups . In 1986 local label PopLlama Records released an album split evenly between the first two Squirrels lineups, with the Mighty Squirrels side consisting entirely of covers of songs by seminal British rockers Johnny Kidd and the Pirates , a band that most Americans had never heard of. Over

2040-444: The bowdlerized popular cover versions more palatable for the mass audience of parents and their children. Artists targeting the white-majority family audience were more acceptable to programmers at most radio and TV stations. Singer-songwriter Don McLean called the cover version a "racist tool". Many parents in the 1950s - 60s, whether intentionally racist or not, felt deeply threatened by the rapid pace of social change. They had, for

2100-403: The chorus on that song is way better. So we'll just graft it right on there, make a whole new beast.' We just start fooling around, and then we go 'Hey, this Alice Cooper song fits right on there, and to hell with the chorus. Let's put the chorus of " Runaway " by Del Shannon in there because it's better!'" In late 2008, the Squirrels announced a year ahead of time that they would be breaking up

2160-406: The disingenuous spirit of early cover versions remain. In the album-buying heyday of the 1970s, albums of sound-alike covers were created, commonly released to fill bargain bins in the music section of supermarkets and even specialized music stores , where uninformed customers might easily confuse them with original recordings. The packaging of such discs was often intentionally confusing, combining

2220-470: The heyday of Cantopop in Hong Kong in the late 1970s to early 1990s, many hits were covers of English and Japanese titles that have gained international fame but with localized lyrics (sometimes multiple sets of lyrics sung to the same tune), and critics often chide the music industry of shorting the tune-composing process. Although modern cover versions are often produced for artistic reasons, some aspects of

2280-587: The interpreting artist and the copyright holder, or recording published tunes can fall under a mechanical license whereby the recording artist pays a standard royalty to the original author/copyright holder through an organization such as the Harry Fox Agency , and is safe under copyright law even if they do not have any permission from the original author. A similar service was provided by Limelight by RightsFlow , until January 2015, when they announced they will be closing their service. The U.S. Congress introduced

2340-409: The limits of fair use . Nonetheless, they have released numerous recordings over the years, some of them in general releases, others in limited editions. The Squirrels' single "Oz On 45" (1988) was a " Stars on 45 "-style reworking of songs from The Wizard of Oz (and a fragment of a song about Oz by Mark Nichols). It was one of the 142 seven-inch records that British DJ John Peel had set aside in

2400-508: The lyrics of the carol " Joy to the World " sung to the tune of the Three Dog Night song of the same name. Cover version In popular music , a cover version , cover song , remake , revival , or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song . Originally, it referred to a version of a song released around

2460-709: The mechanical license to head off an attempt by the Aeolian Company to monopolize the piano roll market. Although a composer cannot deny anyone a mechanical license for a new recorded version, the composer has the right to decide who will release the first recording of a song. Bob Dylan took advantage of this right when he refused his own record company the right to release a live recording of " Mr. Tambourine Man ". Even with this, pre-release cover versions of songs can occasionally occur. Live performances of copyrighted songs are typically arranged through performing rights organizations such as ASCAP or BMI . Early in

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2520-517: The mid-1950s still heard their favorite artists playing live music on stage or via the radio . And since radio shows were for the most part aimed at local audiences, it was still rare for an artist in one area to reach a mass audience. Also radio stations tended to cater to broad audience markets, so an artist in one vein might not get broadcast on other stations geared to a set audience. So popular versions of jazz , country and western or rhythm and blues tunes, and vice versa, were frequent. An example

2580-483: The most part, shared entertainment with their parents in ways their children had become reluctant to do. The jukebox and the personal record disc player were still relatively expensive pieces of machinery — and the portable radio a great novelty, allowing truculent teenagers to shut themselves off. Tunes by introducing or "original" niche market artists that became successful on the mass audience hit parade charts are called crossovers as they "crossed over" from

2640-517: The most popular style of music in the mid-1950s / mid-1960s was still the professional light orchestra, therefore popular recording artists sought that format. For many purists these popular versions lacked the raw earthiness of the original introducing artists. Most did not have the kudos that rebellious teenagers craved, the street credibility — of rock and roll music; most were performed, and some were written, by black artists not heard in popular mass entertainment markets. Most parents considered

2700-515: The name of the original artist in large letters with a tiny disclaimer like as originally sung by or as made popular by . More recently, albums such as the Kidz Bop series of compact discs , featuring versions of contemporary songs sung by children, have sold successfully. In 2009, the American musical comedy-drama television series Glee debuted, featuring several musical performances per episode. The series featured solely cover songs performed by

2760-686: The next few years the band ran through numerous names: Squirrels Group '87, Ron Voyage and the New Squirrels, Squirrels Live Unit—one lineup that included longtime bassist Kevin Crosby and drummer Nate Johnson went by "Crosby, Squirrels, and Nate"—before finally settling down to just The Squirrels. The equally varied lineups intersected such Seattle groups as YFF, The Fastbacks , The Dynette Set, The Posies , and Pure Joy, and included several people with extensive musical theater experience. Guitarist/vocalist Joey Kline , who joined in 1985 and would become

2820-409: The original sound electronically; cover versions give a performer the ability to adapt music to their own style, typically allowing them to change the genre of a song and recreating it to their own taste. For example, in 2008, Fall Out Boy covered Michael Jackson 's hit song " Beat It ", changing the genre from pop rock to a more punk rock feel. Another example is when My Chemical Romance covered

2880-403: The original. For example, Sir Mix-a-Lot 's 1992 rap " Baby Got Back " was covered by indie rock singer Jonathan Coulton in 2005, in an acoustic soft rock style. Coulton's cover was then covered, without attribution, in 2013 by the show Glee , and was so similar that Coulton, among others, alleged plagiarism of his arrangement and melody. Some producers or recording artists may also enlist

2940-428: The popular hit parade and had numerous hit versions. Before the mid-20th century, the notion of an original version of a popular tune would have seemed slightly odd – the production of musical entertainment was seen as a live event , even if it was reproduced at home via a copy of the sheet music , learned by heart or captured on a gramophone record . In fact, one of the principal objects of publishing sheet music

3000-455: The same time as the original in order to compete with it. Now, it refers to any subsequent version performed after the original. The term "cover" goes back decades when cover version originally described a rival version of a tune recorded to compete with the recently released (original) version. Examples of records covered include Paul Williams ' 1949 hit tune " The Hucklebuck " and Hank Williams ' 1952 song " Jambalaya ". Both crossed over to

3060-504: The series' titular glee club until near the end of its second season with the episode " Original Song ". The series still primarily uses cover songs of both chart hits and show tunes, occasionally as mashups or distinct variations. The show's musical performances have been a commercial success, with over twenty-one million copies of Glee cast single releases purchased digitally, and over nine million albums purchased worldwide. Australian alternative/indie radio station Triple J presents

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3120-520: The services of a sample replay company such as Titan Tribute Media or Scorccio, in order to replicate an original recording with precision detail and accuracy. A song may be covered into another language. For example, in the 1930s, a recording of " Isle of Capri " in Spanish, by Osvaldo Fresedo and singer Roberto Ray, is known. Falco 's 1982 German-language hit " Der Kommissar " was covered in English by After

3180-430: The targeted country, jazz or rhythm audience. Also, many songs originally recorded by male artists were rerecorded by female artists, and vice versa. Such a cover version is also sometimes called a cross cover version , male cover , or female cover . Some songs such as "If Only for One Night" were originally recorded by female artists but covered by mostly male artists. Reworking non-English language tunes and lyrics for

3240-405: The taste of the intended audience. Other artists release new versions of their own songs, like German singer Nena who recorded an entire album with great success, with new versions of older hits. Cover songs can be used to display creativity of a performers work through the talent of another artist's previous production. Not to be confused with a remix , which is defined as altering or distorting

3300-478: The version by the artist(s) who first introduced the tune, and highly competitive record companies were quick to take advantage of this. This began to change in the late 1930s, when the growing record-buying public began including a younger age group. During the swing era , when a bobby soxer went looking for a recorded tune, say " In the Mood ", typically she wanted the version popularized by her favorite artist(s), e.g.

3360-471: Was a rather chaotic and amateurish affair, but its successor, The Pudz (1980–1982), became a Seattle legend: in an exhibit at the Experience Music Project , Mark Arm narrates the story of The Pudz warming up at Seattle's Showbox for a gig by UK punk band 999 . As The Pudz played their set, performing the likes of The Ohio Express ' "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" and the R. B. Greaves hit "Take

3420-426: Was a revision that brought it up to date for a 1950s Hollywood musical, and was used in the 1952 film Singin' in the Rain . In 1978, it was covered by French singer Sheila , accompanied by the B. Devotion group, as a disco song, once more updating it to suit the musical taste of the era. During the disco era there was a trend of taking well known songs and recording them in the disco style. More recently "Singin' in

3480-626: Was as close to a "hit" as one could have in the DIY era, receiving airplay on college radio up and down the West Coast. The single sold out quickly and was later incorporated into The Squirrels' CD Scrapin' For Hits . In 2000, "Leader" was included in an Experience Music Project 2-CD retrospective of Northwest Rock, which also featured more famous groups like The Sonics , Paul Revere & The Raiders , Heart and Pearl Jam . The Pudz broke up when lead guitarist Dave Locksley left town; Rob briefly put together

3540-427: Was expanded when rhythm and blues songs began appearing on pop music charts. In the early days of rock and roll , many tunes originally recorded by R&B and country musicians were still being re-recorded in a more popular vein by other artists with a more toned-down style or professional polish. This was inevitable because radio stations were reluctant to play formats outside their target audience's taste. By far

3600-510: Was to have a composition performed by as many artists as possible. This made the song more important than the performing artist and rival cover or 'copycat' versions would vie for success. In previous generations, some artists made very successful careers of presenting revivals or reworkings of once-popular tunes, even out of doing contemporary cover versions of current hits. Since the 1950s, musicians now play what they call "cover versions" (the reworking, updating, or interpretation) of songs as

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