Under The Covers 7-22-24

 Under The Covers 7-22-24

A weekly look into the world of cover songs. 

Week 13

40 years ago this past weekend one of the better fantasy movies of the 80’s premiered. While it never became a box office success, The Neverending Story through video rentals, sales, and cable TV, it garnered a huge cult following. Based on the 1979 German novel of the same name by Michael Ende about a bullied kid who lost his mother and escapes into the world of Fantasia. While the author of the book had lots of issues with the movie, those  of us that grew up in the 80’s and love fantasy find it a fun, emotional, and sometimes traumatizing adventure. And who didn’t want to take a ride on the luck dragon, Falkor.

The Original

Written by Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey, and sung by former frontman of the 80’s group Kajagoogoo, Limahl. The Neverending Story theme did eventually achieve success reaching #6 on Billboards Adult Contemporary and #17 on Billboards Hot 100 charts. The song did end up in relative obscurity until Dustin and Susie reconnected through this song in the season 3 finale of Stranger Things. After airing on Netflix, the song saw an 800% increase in views on YouTube and 825% increase in streams on Spotify. 

The Cover

Going from one European metal cover artist last week to another. Angelo Bissanti, an Italian musician with over 150 videos and close to 10 million views, brings us a good heavy rock cover of The Neverending Story. 

https://youtu.be/7uXH5baOwcc?si=VIdfxTFpEE7kMDxV

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever run out! 😜 

https://youtu.be/wIEDV3oFYLM?si=y5HIxlankDJ00js8

And here is another cover by Angelo that was pulled from the 80’s and made huge again by Stranger Things.

https://youtu.be/KmJlz9EsYsU?si=Zq9J1o5wOYotJW2m

3 Facts 

1. A life sized prop of Falkor resides in the Bavaria Filmpark in Munich, Germany and can be climbed upon its back for pictures. 

2. The AURYN (a protection medallion given to Atreyu by the Childlike Empress) hangs in Steven Spielberg’s office. 

3. If you would have walked up to the box office the weekend when The Neverending Story debuted, these are some of the other movies you could have chosen to see. 

Ghostbusters, Gremlins, The Karate Kid, The Last Starfighter, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom, Bachelor Party, Conan the Destroyer, Revenge Of The Nerds, Canonball Run II, and Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. 

Under The Covers 7-14-24

 Under The Covers 7-14-24

A weekly look into the world of cover songs. 

Week 12

Pokémon - The world’s largest IP with over 400 million games sold, 50 billion cards sold, and over 1 billion downloads of the mobile game Pokemon Go. First realized in the late 80’s/early 90’s by Satoshi Tajiri when he saw that the new Gameboy console’s link cable had the ability to trade info from machine to machine. Satoshi grew up on the outskirts of Tokyo and was a huge bug collector and trader, so much so he was given the nickname of Dr. Bug by his classmates. With the love of bug collecting and a love of arcade and video games, Satoshi created the video game company Game Freak with graphic designer Ken Sugimori and game designer Junichi Masuda. Taking several years of development, Pokemon Red/Green were released in February of 1996 and as Pokemon Red/Blue in America September 1998, becoming the massive sensation it is today. 

The Original

Premiering in Japan in April 97 and in the USA in September 1998 was the popular Pokemon anime series. Debuting with the English dubbed series was the “Pokemon Theme” song sung by Jason Paige. Written by John Siegler and John Loeffler with the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” catchphrase that became synonymous with the Pokemon franchise. Originally only a 60 second spot, the team involved was brought back in to produce a full version for a 13 song soundtrack with songs from the TV series. 

The Cover

Leo Moracchioli is a Norwegian metal musician and is one of the most prolific cover artists on YouTube. With his studio, Frog Leap Studios, Leo has produced more than 400 covers over the past 10+ years including popular covers of Adele - Hello, Toto - Africa, and Gorrilaz - Feel Good Inc. In this cover Leo enlists fellow frontman Truls Howgren from the metal band Circus Maximus to bring forth this epic cover. 

https://youtu.be/PZqx-lMZHM0?si=6HGSDJEo1_eVF32k

“Sumimasen“ 😜

https://youtu.be/AjSuZgNgMZc?si=5fQJ92H1wbLDViJA

And how about another great Saturday morning cartoon theme song! 

https://youtu.be/1zivl632phI?si=ReYEgTHJ4w9cbEmR

Facts

1. Pokémon (pocket monsters) was originally going to be called Capumon (capsule monsters) but the creators couldn’t get the copyrights to use the word capsule. 

2. While Pokeballs are representations of gashapon (vended capsule toys). The colors and design come from Campbell soup cans. 

3. Since the launch of Pokemon Go back in 2016, players have caught more than 88 billion Pokemon. 

Under The Covers 7-1-24

 Under The Covers 7-1-24

A weekly look into the world of cover songs. 

Week 11

Everyone loves a bit of drama right? From squabbling with a rival musician to quarreling lovers to fighting band mates and even to battling brother, artists feuding has been a staple to music since before the invention of the radio. This past week may have bared witness to the beginning of a big feud when Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters called out Taylor Swift for not singing during her concerts. Even though he’s been given the moniker the “nicest guy in rock n’ roll”, Dave has never shied away from calling out other artists or bands from Courtney Love, to Axl Rose, To Lars Ulrich. Many of these spats died just as fast as they began and this latest one might just be a flash in time, well at least until Taylor writes a song about it. 😜 

The Original

Coming off there 3rd studio album “There’s Nothing Left To Lose” was their first Billboard Hot 100 charted song “Learn To Fly” reaching number 19. Almost more famous than the song itself is the music video of it. Winning the 2001 “Best Short Form Music Video”, This video features the band playing multiple characters including Taylor Hawkins as a female flight attendant, Dave Grohl as a little pigtailed girl, and also a cameo from the band Tenacious D. 

The Cover 

Opposite of feuding would be people coming together and that is exactly what people did in 2015. In the small town of Cesena, Italy 1000 musicians assembled to pay tribute to the Foo Fighters and ask them to come play in their small town. A day later Dave responded in Italian thanking them and telling them they will come play. A few months after the Foo Fighters kicked off their European tour by playing in Cesena to a crowd of 3000 fans. Since then the Rockin 1000 has gone on to play many European cities and have embarked on a world tour as of 2023. 

https://youtu.be/C5oeWHngDS4?si=XTK4Np84C9-II_Rx

That wasn’t 1000 musicians, just a man with the power of a 1000 singers. 😂

https://youtu.be/JozAmXo2bDE?si=FAiEA0obFY_gRWk-

And again in 2022 to pay tribute in to Taylor Hawkins after his death.

https://youtu.be/014D-qS0hrw?si=478MYknf7SGr85e6

And here is my favorite cover that the Foo Fighters have done. 

https://youtu.be/8S2wveZTkBg?si=1f1cdJO09FDt0tMH

3 Facts

1. The Foo Fighters name comes from a term used by the US military in the 1940’s to describe UFOs. 

2. The late drummer Taylor Hawkins was the tour drummer for Alanis Morissette from 1995-1997.

3. Dave Grohl had an alley named for him in his hometown of Warren, Ohio.