Thursday, March 31, 2011

An Earlier Than Usual, In Fact Totally Mach Schnell, Clue to the New Direction

Just because it's so damned...Teutonic, for want of a more precise word.



As always, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded to the first reader who gleans the clip's relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.

[h/t Kerrin L. Griffith]
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17 comments:

  1. Gummo3/31/2011 9:12 AM

    Wildly inappropriate cover versions?

    Though this is about what Smoke on the Water deserves.

    Did I ever tell you about my freshman semester in college there was a guy on my floor who would get up early on Sunday morning, crank up his bass and play the Smoke on the Water riff over & over & over ... until a bunch of people banded together, trashed his room and held him under a freezing cold shower until he got the message.

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  2. edward3/31/2011 9:21 AM

    Best use of brass not by Herb Albert?

    Teutonic influences of Heavy Metal?

    Standing around looking uncomfortable?

    Songs invoking at the four classic basic elements (fire, water, earth, air)?

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  3. steve simels3/31/2011 9:22 AM

    A sort of joke band I was in had a summer long engagement at a club in 1973, and one of the stupid things we used to do was play "Smoke on the Water" and while we were doing it, a friend would go out on the dance floor handing out xeroxed copies of the lyrics with the heading GREAT THOUGHTS OF WESTERN MAN.

    Swear to god.
    :-)

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  4. J. Loslo3/31/2011 9:43 AM

    For what it's worth, the guy standing around looking uncomfortable is Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg, and the occasion is his Military Farewell Ceremony, as he steps down as Germany's defense minister after admitting to plagiarizing his doctoral thesis. Now, that's resigning in disgrace with class! He apparently chose the song himself.

    As for the clue, um, instrumental covers of songs that originally had lyrics?

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  5. steve simels3/31/2011 9:52 AM

    And speaking of which, my 80s skinny tie band used to do "The Lonely Bull." But with lyrics, that we wrote.

    My favorite, from the bridge:

    "That bull's such a lonely bull
    He's by himself
    That bull's such a lonely bull
    He ain't got nobody else"

    :-)

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  6. Anonymous3/31/2011 12:02 PM

    Vunderbar!

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  7. pete3/31/2011 12:21 PM

    Songs that should be played wearing a helmet?

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  8. Sal Nunziato3/31/2011 12:32 PM

    Songs that reference other rock stars.

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  9. steve simels3/31/2011 1:12 PM

    We used to sing it as "Mickey Dolenz and the Monkees" instead of "Frank Zappa and the Mothers."


    Again, seriously.

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  10. Billy B3/31/2011 1:31 PM

    Frank Zappa

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  11. Blue Ash Fan3/31/2011 3:19 PM

    Wouldn't "Mike Nesmith and the Monkees" have fit better with the original melody? Just nitpicking a bit.

    Don't have a clue as to what the theme is.

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  12. Shriner3/31/2011 4:54 PM

    Songs by bands that are currently touring with a full symphony orchestra accompanying them?

    (But that's probably too obvious...)

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  13. Anonymous3/31/2011 5:02 PM

    man's inhumanity to man?

    AP

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  14. Brooklyn Girl3/31/2011 5:55 PM

    Love the glockenspiel!

    Rock songs done by marching bands?

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  15. billy b3/31/2011 6:25 PM

    Couldn't watch that at work. Wow. The Wehrmacht Marching Band complete with torches.

    Who was the jackass in the suit?

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  16. Faze3/31/2011 9:10 PM

    Hey, no bad associations with those helmets.

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  17. MJConroy3/31/2011 10:58 PM

    Songs that reference the recording process? Switzerland? The Rolling Stones?

    Songs that made you want to hold someone under a cold shower?

    That video is awesome!

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