When it comes to music, metal is our lifeblood. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds our noisy little galaxy together. Of course, like the ol' cake for breakfast adage goes, too much of anything starts to get old at some point. That's where, normal aka "pop" [derived from the ancient Greek phrase: popular] music comes in.
After all, not everyone was conceived on an altar of madness; most people start off on the Top 40 road before eventually starting down the left hand path that is…well you know. Metal musicians are no different. In fact it seems that most touring extreme metal bands try to listen anything but loud ass screams and blast beats while on the road. We here at Metal Injection have crafted a list of ten heavy bands paying homage to ten, not so heavy pop songs. Some make sense, some come out of left field but this isn't rocket science or "The Rime of The Ancient Mariner" we're talking about; it's pop music. So have fun with it; the band's on this list sure did.
Sepultura – “Bullet The Blue Sky” (U2)
Brazilian thrash legends paying homage to Ireland’s favorite sons, who would have thought Sepultura covering U2 would have worked out so well? It helps that the Sepultura lads picked the dingiest song off The Joshua Tree [and probably heaviest jam of U2’s career…period] to tinker with. Derrick Green’s raspy spoken word delivery plus Igor Cavalera’s smashing tribal rhythms add that extra kick needed to make this a legitimately awesome cover.Throwdown – "Baby’s Got Back" (Sir Mix A Lot)
Copernicus had his heliocentric system. Newton, gravity…but it was Sir Mix A lot’s 1992 smash “Baby’s Got Back” that revealed what the universe truly revolved around: the all mighty booty. The metal core bruisers in Throwdown capture the tongue-in-[butt]cheek irreverence of the original track while transforming it’s buoyant Hip Hop vibe into infectious, beat down hardcore. Me so horny.System of a Down – “Metro” (Berlin)
Who else but System of a Down could do such an exceptional job terraforming a dance heavy New Wave classic like Berlin’s “Metro” into a schizophrenic, depressing punk rager? Daron Malakian’s trademark polka skank guitar, Shavo Odadjian’s ominous bass tone and Serj Tankian’s operatic scream all help take SOAD’s cover version light years away from the original.Botch – “Rock Lobster” (The B-52’s)
Peter Griffin’s favorite song has stood the test of time for a reason, it’s just that damn good. Botch re-create the infectious pogo party of The B-52’s original, but around the two minute mark they inject their crushing slab of math metal into the mix, resulting in a perfectly balanced cover; equal parts homage & head smasher. Also, gotta love that cowbell.Deftones – “Ordinary Love” (Sade)
Deftones are genre bending riff masters. They’re true musical chameleons, capable of crafting haunting, heavy and oh so tender jams; yet even these blokes can’t touch the skills of the legendary Sade. Their sultry stab at this lovelorn classic is a noble attempt, damn good actually, but c’mon, Chino would be the first to laugh you at of the room if you think anyone could out croon Sade. A for effort though.
