Battle of the Covers: Holding Out For a Hero

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
09/12/2014 at 12:30 • Filed to: Battle of the Covers, BOTC, Musiclopnik, Does anyone read these tags?, Besides Gamecat?

I secretly love this week. In part because I found ten dollars in the couch cushions, but mostly because I've been able to go a bit Kevin Bacon with this week's covers. First by linking between two of the biggest musical Davids, Bowie and Byrne, with their two songs, both of which were released just three months apart in 1977. And now I get to go from one Hero song to another, as we jump from "Heroes" to "Holding Out For A Hero." Silly little things like this are important to me.

Apocalyptica's German-language cover of "Heroes" shot out to a massive early lead in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! at one point holding 7 of the first 10 votes. A massive push for The Wallflowers threatened Apocalyptica's lead and turned it into a true fight, but in the end Apocalyptica managed to hold out, winning with 10 votes to The Wallflowers' 7. The battle for worst belonged to Janelle Monae from the start, though Peter Gabriel and Apocalyptica both threatened toward the end. Janelle ended up beating Peter by one and the mad cellists by two.

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"Holding Out For A Hero," despite now being a hit classic that virtually everyone has heard at some point, originated as a movie soundtrack song. Famed music composer Jim Steinman was hired to write the music for the upcoming 1984 film Footloose , and, with the help of Dean Pitchford, he came up with "Holding Out For a Hero." It wasn't until after the song was fully written, demoed, and approved by the film's bosses that Bonnie Tyler was asked to perform it for the soundtrack. Before recording the track Tyler was even asked to watch the movie scene the song would be paired with to ensure she would give it the right feel for the film.

Upon release in April 1984 the song was a decent hit in the States, reaching 34th on the Hot 100 chart, but strangely became a bit of a yo-yo in Tyler's home country of the United Kingdom. It peaked in 1984 at #96, disappeared, then inexplicably returned the next year to rocket all the way up to #2. The song again left the charts, then came back a full six years later to reach #69 in 1991. There were no re-releases or film releases including the song to coincide with these returns to the charts. You can't explain that.

Jennifer Saunders - (2004)

Frou Frou - (2004)

Joss Stone - (2004)

Emery - (2007)

Ella Mae Bowen - (2011)

Emerald Sun - (2011)

Van Canto - (2014)

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LEST YE FORGET! If you want to check back on the results of previous rounds, or see what covers are coming in future rounds, there is now a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with past rounds and the upcoming battle schedule.

AND THE BONUS GAME! IDENTIFY THE FOUR ARTISTS IN THE "FIGHT" IMAGE AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE! BONUS POINTS IF YOU CAN DO IT WITHOUT THE GOOGLES!