August 27, 2008

The cover song to end all covers

In my music knowledge, there are five types of covers songs: good, bad, unexpected, hilarious, and epic. Occasionally, you'll come across a cover that fits into two of those categories, and very rarely will you find one that fits into three or four. But never have I found a cover that fits into all five categories. Until now.

Dimension Zero's cover of the Motown classic "Staying Alive" is good because it's an excellent metal arrangement of a song that would normally never fit into a metal style. It's bad because metal vocals on "Staying Alive" just ruin the whole atmosphere of the song. It's unexpected for very obvious reasons - there have been some pretty crazy covers out there, like Norther covering Europe's "The Final Countdown," Firewind covering Michael Sembello’s "Maniac," or even Children of Bodom covering Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again" - but this transcends crazy, straight past insanity into completely surreal. It's hilarious because, when you combine the three things I've just mentioned, you get a cover that, upon recognizing what song they are covering, you immediately start cracking up and wondering where the hell the idea to cover this song came from. And it's epic because, in spite of how hilarious it is and how bad it is, it's also good enough and unexpected enough to make you want to listen to it over and over again.

The only way I see this being topped is if a grindcore or brutal death metal band gets it into their heads to cover "Thriller." Beyond that, this will remain, for me, the most epic cover ever made. It's not my favorite, nor is it the best, but it is certainly the most epic.