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.