Battle of the Covers: Psycho Killer (request)

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
09/08/2014 at 12:30 • Filed to: Battle of the Covers, BOTC, Musiclopnik, The Talking JRCBs, Psycho Gamecat

It's only fitting that I'm watching "Criminal Minds" while writing this, because today's song is "Psycho Killer" by The Talking Heads. Welcome back to Battle of the Covers.

There was no lagging in the votes for Lagwagon, as they won the battle for best cover of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! by a solid five votes, earning as many votes as the next three artists combined. Emmylou Harris and Mourning Ritual (who I expected to challenge for the win and possibly take it) ended up tying for a distant second. The one battle Mourning Ritual did win was the battle for worst, though I'm reluctant to give it to them based on the results (no, this isn't because I liked their version, it's strictly math). Five of the eight artists in contention received two votes in the battle for worst. Mourning Ritual earned three. Based on these results I think it's far easier and more accurate to say they were all bad than it is to say Mourning Ritual's cover was the worst.

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"Psycho Killer" was the debut hit for the new wave band Talking Heads, and technically pre-dates the band by a year, as they were still officially known as The Artistics when they first played the song in 1974. In early drafts of the lyrics the song was a semi-narrative of a serial killer actually committing murders. In the liner notes of Once In A Lifetime David Byrne described his though process when writing the song:

When I started writing this (I got help later), I imagined Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman-type ballad.

Only David Byrne could think of such a bizarre mashup.

Another popular song, I found a full 28 covers between Wikipedia and WhoSampled.com alone. Fortunately for me most could only be found on YouTube as live covers (which aren't allowed in competition). Sadly this meant dropping artists like Local H and Phish.

Psycho - (1982)

Barenaked Ladies - (1989)

Antiseen - (1991)

Rico - (2004)

Bruce Lash - (2004)

Velvet Revolver - (2007)

James Hall - (2008)

Cage the Elephant - (2011)

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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!

DISCUSSION (24)

Dusty Ventures > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 01:38

Sometimes I can't help but be disappointed with how the top image turns out. This, however, is not one of those times. It's such a fantastic collage of weird.

Gamecat235 > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 12:42

I am quite intrigued by this round, though again, we have a song which is very very difficult to top the original (I sometimes wonder why people bother with songs which are essentially perfect as is).

Somehow, I hadn't heard the Velvet Revolver version of this yet, so I thank you for bringing that to my attention (I'm a closet VR fan).

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 12:45

Clockwise from Top Left - Velvet Revolver , BNL, Blink 182, & Misfits?

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 12:45

(I know Jeff Clayton from working at Tremont Music Hall for 8 years. He now drives a minivan.)

Dusty Ventures > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole
09/08/2014 at 12:50

You got the top two. All the artists in the image are part of the battle.

Takuro Spirit > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 13:22

This one.

CalzoneGolem > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 15:42

Identities

Velvet Revolver | BNL

AntiSeen | Cage the Elephant

The best cover is clearly Moxy Fruvous.

This was a toughy. That chick in Phsyco can fucking belt it out! I was prepared to hate Cage the Elephant but the band fucking nailed it. I'm going to go with Rico for the best and Velvet Underground for the worst because fuck them that's why.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 16:23

I didn't know Cage the Elephant did a cover of this, and the only album it's on is a live album. But holy hell did they do a perfect job on this song.

I had to put Antiseen in the worst list, because that this song does not do well to that style.

Dusty Ventures > CalzoneGolem
09/08/2014 at 16:31

You get the prize for identifying the bands

vorspringing > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 20:41

I ended up voting for Bruce Lash as best because I liked the cover better, but Velvet Revolver actually did pull this off remarkably well live - the studio version doesn't do them justice.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 21:28

Are you still taking suggestions?

Dusty Ventures > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time
09/08/2014 at 21:29

Always

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 21:31

How many covers do you need for a good voting? Like amount of covers a song has

Dusty Ventures > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time
09/08/2014 at 21:37

Absolute minimum of four "decent" studio covers, preferably at least six.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 21:40

Ok. How about "Mamma said knock you out" By LL cool j.

According to whosampled.com it has 7 covers

Dusty Ventures > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time
09/08/2014 at 21:49

Oooh. Good choice. We haven't had anything from the rap/hip hop genre yet.

CB > Dusty Ventures
09/08/2014 at 22:22

Voting for Cage The Elephant as the best. Unfortunately, going with Barenaked Ladies as the worst. As much as a fan I am of them, their cover is lacklustre.

CalzoneGolem > Dusty Ventures
09/09/2014 at 07:49

I was just guessing on Antiseen but after listening to them it was pretty clear it was them.

CalzoneGolem > Dusty Ventures
09/09/2014 at 14:59

I am disappointed the Velvet Revolver won't be best and worst.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Dusty Ventures
09/09/2014 at 15:42

I saw Cage this past Friday. They opened for the Black Keys.

They were better than the Keys, but then Keys had their encore where they killed me with "Act Nice and Gentle", and then absolutely leveled the place with "Little Black Submarines"

Cage puts on a fantastic show. They play hard

leicester > Dusty Ventures
09/09/2014 at 16:10

ok, dumb question - not seeing the poll... ?

And nominating low-hanging fruit: Thunderstruck.

Because Finnish hillbilly cover:

Dusty Ventures > leicester
09/09/2014 at 16:31

Weird, the poll's showing up for me. What are you using as a browser?

leicester > Dusty Ventures
09/09/2014 at 16:37

Chrome

mcseanerson > Dusty Ventures
09/10/2014 at 00:56

I'm the only person to vote in favor of James Hall.....