Before they were rock stars, they were fans: impressionable kids who scoured the racks at their local record shops looking for something, a single or an album that would change their lives. Once they found it, they took it home and played it to death while obsessing over every detail of the packaging until it was all committed to memory. Then they would return to find something new and repeat the process all over again.
Even after they started their own bands and achieved their own level of success, they never stopped being fans. From time to time, they even recorded their own versions of their childhood favourites with varying results.
But sometimes the best way to pay tribute to a classic song is to be subtle. Instead of doing a full throttle remake, why not just make a quick passing reference in one of your originals? Like a direct lyric lift or a sample.
These five bands did just that:
1. Rush honours Simon & Garfunkel in The Spirit Of Radio (1980)
Drummer Neil Peart was a fan of CFNY, the tiny FM alternative rock station that would introduce the likes of Elvis Costello, the Sex Pistols, U2 and countless other cutting edge acts to Toronto-area listeners beginning in 1978 while also playing the latest from Neil Young and The Who, two revered influences on the burgeoning movement.
As a tribute to the station, Peart wrote the lyrics to The Spirit Of Radio, one of CFNY’s early ad slogans, which became one of the key singles from the 1980 album, Permanent Waves.
In the final reggae section of the song, singer/bassist/keyboardist Geddy Lee sings:
“For the words of the profits are written on the studio walls/Concert hall”
That’s a sly reference to this lyric from Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sounds Of Silence:
“And the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls/And tenement halls”
Peart was mocking the corroding influence of the commercial music business on individual creativity.
Ironically, The Spirit Of Radio would only receive sporadic airplay on CFNY, much to Rush’s disappointment. It would be spun far more often on local competing classic rock stations. In fact, it still is. It wasn’t until Catherine Wheel was commissioned by the station to do a cover for the Spirit Of The Edge Vol. 2 compilation in 1996 that the song, albeit in this remade form, was finally put in high rotation.
2. Bush references David Bowie in Everything Zen (1994)
Ultimately derided as Nirvana clones (they were really trying to sound like The Pixies), this English foursome couldn’t produce enough modern rock hits to ever win over their increasingly unimpressed critics.
Their first album, Sixteen Stone, quietly debuted just before Christmas in late 1994 and would go on to spawn five singles which flooded alt-rock stations for the next two years. (The last one, Machinehead, continues to be a jock anthem at numerous sporting events today, most notably hockey.)
Of all the Sixteen Stone hits, none was better than their debut offering, Everything Zen. At the start of the second verse, singer Gavin Rossdale sings:
“Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow/Dave’s on sale again”
After the massive UK success of his fifth album, The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars in 1972, David Bowie’s record company RCA decided to release a single from his previous LP, Hunky Dory, in order to cash in on his sudden fame the following year.
Smart move. Life On Mars? went on to become a Top 5 smash despite being two years old. (Strangely, it was never released as a single in North America.) At the start of the second verse, Bowie sings:
“It’s on America’s tortured brow/Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow/Now the workers have struck for fame/Cause Lennon’s on sale again”
Bowie was referencing future close pal John Lennon who would release the Imagine album in 1971. (Four years later, they would collaborate on Bowie’s first US number one smash, Fame, which gives that portion of the lyric unintentional prescience.) In turn, Rossdale was giving a tip of the hat to Bowie who actually didn’t release any new CDs in 1994. Presumably, the Bush frontman is referring to his 1993 solo comeback, Black Tie White Noise.
Interestingly enough, Bowie himself referenced another song in Life On Mars? While the female protagonist is watching the fictional, unnamed film in the chorus, he sings “look at those cavemen go”. As noted by Wikipedia, that’s a direct reference to a 1960 song called Alley Oop by a forgotten band called The Hollywood Argyles. (“Look at that caveman go!“)
3. The Tea Party pays homage to Joy Division in Fire In The Head (1995)
Another band who knows a thing or two about having their egos bruised by the critics is this Windsor, Ontario trio. Often dismissed as “Jim Morrison fronting Led Zeppelin”, which is only partially correct (the band has freely admitted deriving inspiration from the English metal pioneers), The Tea Party were actually more influenced by Joy Division.
Case in point: the 1995 single Fire In The Head from their third album, The Edges Of Twilight. At the end of every verse, deep-voiced frontman Jeff Martin croons with his higher-voiced self:
“This is the way/Step inside”
That just happens to be the chorus for Joy Division’s Atrocity Exhibition, the opening track from their second album, Closer. (Atrocity Exhibition was also the name of an experimental J.G. Ballard novel.)
Tired of comparisons to The Doors, The Tea Party named their fourth album Transmission (also the name of an early non-album Joy Division single) and added keyboards to their already unique sound. By the end of the decade, they were one of the most successful bands in Canada, half-accurate critical descriptions be damned.
4. Garbage quietly samples R.E.M. for Stupid Girl (1995)
The fourth single from the first Garbage album was their Top 40 breakthrough. The drum hook that plays throughout the track is from The Clash’s Train In Vain which, curiously enough, was their first Top 40 achievement.
But there’s another unoriginal drum part not credited in the liner notes that pops up during several instrumental breaks. If you listen closely, you’ll notice a quick rat-a-tat-tat sample from R.E.M.’s Orange Crush.
So, why wasn’t this noted? A number of quick web searches didn’t provide any answers. (My guess: a secret financial deal was reached without the need for credit which, as Alan Cross has noted, is pretty standard for the industry.) Maybe when the 20th Anniversary edition of Garbage, the band’s self-titled debut, comes out later this year, we’ll get the full scoop.
5. The Killers tip their hat to David Bowie in Mr. Brightside (2004)
This one I just noticed recently after buying the Hunky Dory CD.
In the last verse of Queen Bitch, his glammy tribute to Lou Reed, Bowie sings about being isolated, cold and envious in his hotel room. At one point, while continuing to observe his male companion “down on the street”, he reports:
“So I throw both his bags down the hall/And I’m phoning a cab/Cause my stomach feels small”
In Mr. Brightside, frontman Brandon Flowers is tormented in the aftermath of an ended affair. In the second half of the song’s only verse where he punishes himself by dreaming about his ex getting involved with another man, he sings:
“Now I’m falling asleep/And she’s calling a cab/While he’s having a smoke/And she’s taking a drag/Now they’re going to bed/And my stomach is sick”
Earlier, near the end of the first verse of Queen Bitch, Bowie sings:
“I just can’t see her letting him go.”
In Mr. Brightside, in the midst of his imaginary nightmare, Flowers observes:
“But she’s touching his chest now/he takes off her dress now/letting me go”
These similiarites between the two sets of lyrics (both songs deal with jealous lovers) are not a coincidence. Flowers has openly declared his admiration for Bowie in the press for years. In fact, in 2010, he said his music changed his life. In a 2013 interview with Entertainment Weekly, he admitted that the bassline for All The Things That I’ve Done was stolen from Slow Burn, an underrated Bowie single from 2002’s Heathen. In that same interview, he revealed that as The Killers were starting to generate material, he was very much into 70s glam rock, Lou Reed’s Transformers & Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust in particular.
Dennis Earl
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Sunday, July 26, 2015
10:18 p.m.
CORRECTION: I can’t believe I screwed this up. The Tea Party lyric stolen from Joy Division is “This is the way/step inside” not “aside”. My apologies for this stupid mistake. The text has finally been corrected.
Dennis Earl
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Saturday, July 8, 2017
4:17 a.m.
THE WRITINGS OF DENNIS EARL 
Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley & The WWE’s Race Problem
Hulk Hogan hates Black people. How do we all know this? His comments were caught on tape.
And not just any tape. His infamous sex tape.
A few years ago, Gawker broke the story that Hogan was secretly recorded having sex with Heather Clem, the then-wife of his then-friend radio jock Bubba The Love Sponge. They even posted a brief snippet of the encounter with their report. An infuriated Hogan filed lawsuits against both the website and Bubba, only the latter of which has been settled.
Ever since, Hogan has been trying to prevent the rest of the video from being shown publicly. Now we know why.
The National Enquirer and Radar Online recently reported that in 2006, the WWE legend didn’t approve of his daughter Brooke dating a Black man. Upon getting a head’s up about the coming scandal, the WWE immediately erased its most important star from its website and its imaginary Hall of Fame. He will no longer appear on the reality competition series, Tough Enough. You can’t buy any of his official merchandise any more. He will likely not be doing any more live events or appearing on their weekly TV programs. Who knows if this will extend to the WWE Network and any upcoming WWE home video releases.
I’ve been a fan of Hogan’s wrestling career for 30 years. I saw him wrestle live numerous times in my local arena in the 80s. I watched him bodyslam Andre The Giant in the main event of WrestleMania 3 live on closed circuit TV in that same arena. I used to have a Hogan T-shirt, his early action figures, a black & white banner, the two Wrestling Albums and dozens of magazines with him on the cover. I still have the official No Holds Barred magazine, a bookmark, some buttons and old stickers on one of my dressers. I’ve seen many of his VHS and DVD releases.
But I can’t support him any longer. I’m not a Hulkamaniac any more. Hulk Hogan’s views of Black people disgust me. They are repugnant and completely based on ignorance. There is absolutely no justification for them whatsoever. He doesn’t deserve any sympathy for his cruel views. None.
Which brings me to his bogus apology. Trying vainly to weasel his way out of this mess, Hogan released this public statement to People Magazine. Rather than admit that he has a huge problem, he offers the old “this isn’t how I really feel” bullshit. That did wonders for Michael Richards nine years ago, didn’t it?
Read those words in that tape transcript. Those are his beliefs. Make no mistake about it. Thanks to Hogan Knows Best, the reality show he made with his dysfunctional family, we know firsthand how controlling he is of his daughter Brooke. It became a running joke throughout the series. She couldn’t even go on dates without him constantly spying on her.
But this is worse, much worse. It’s deplorable and inexcusable.
Tell that to Mick Foley, one of a number of fellow wrestlers supporting him. Instead of getting angry with Hogan on Twitter, he wrote this.
“I’m pulling for you, brother!” What the fuck is that?
It doesn’t end there. Foley tweeted this and a link to this.
Give me a fucking break. Hulk Hogan didn’t make “a very bad mistake” that he deserves “forgiveness” for. He’s a racist who deserves every criticism he receives. I want nothing to do with him.
By the way, this isn’t the first time Foley has shown questionable judgment regarding racist public figures.
Around this time last year, Anthony Cumia, the then-half of notorious radio jocks Opie & Anthony, went on a despicable Twitter rant about supposedly being beaten up by a Black woman while taking photos in New York City. (His story was never verified.) Long a controversial figure known for making sexist and racist remarks in the guise of “comedy”, the incident ended his gig with Sirius XM and severed his partnership with longtime colleague Opie Hughes.
What was Mick Foley’s initial reaction to the news? He thanked Anthony for all the times he appeared on the O&A show.
It was only after fans (including myself) complained about his lack of outrage that he even bothered to criticize Anthony’s now deleted rant on his official Facebook page in the first place. Unfortunately, he also declared him a “comedic genious [sic]” in the same posting.
A year later, Foley hasn’t learned his lesson, so I’m done with him, too.
As for the WWE, no one should be throwing out hosannas for them, either. Under longtime owner Vince McMahon Jr., the company has a terrible history with race. Rolling Stone recently highlighted just 5 examples in a recent posting that you can still see on home video and on the WWE Network, not to mention YouTube. The Wrestling Observer website has an ongoing retro recap series on the old Tuesday Night Titans talk show where they’ve often made note of how poorly Black wrestlers were treated by their White counterparts in the 80s.
And that’s just scratching the surface. We could also talk about demeaning gimmicks (think The Boogeyman, The Godfather, Kamala The Ugandan Headhunter, Virgil, Papa Shango or Saba Simba (AKA Tony Atlas)), awful promos (Paul Orndorff calling Atlas a “souped up spider monkey” and “a big gorilla” on TNT), off-camera incidents (a drunken Michael Hayes saying he’s a better “nigger” than Henry after WrestleMania 24) and lack of Black world champions (The Rock, now just a part-timer, was the last one two & a half years ago and he only defended the WWE title twice on pay-per-view). Furthermore, don’t get me started on the use of the Confederate Flag by the likes of “babyfaces” Dick Slater (during his thankfully short-lived Rebel gimmick) and The Fabulous Freebirds (which included Hayes as a member).
Even today, the WWE continues to think little of its Black talent. Before they became heels, The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods) were packaged as inspirational preachers which the audience instantly rejected. R-Truth, so effective as a jealous, paranoid, insecure villain in 2011, is back to doing his terrible babyface rapper gimmick.
Thankfully, there have been exceptions past and present. Consider former World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry who, despite suffering indignity after indignity on and off-screen, was never better than as an angry, ambitious bully between 2011 and 2013. Or former InterContinental Champion Shelton Benjamin, the incredibly agile daredevil who stole the show in the first four Money In The Bank ladder matches at WrestleMania 21, 22, 23 & 24 during his run in the company. And we can’t forget old school grapplers like Bobo Brazil and Sweet Daddy Siki.
Yes, The Prime Time Players (Titus O’Neil and pioneering gay performer Darren Young) are the current tag team champions but are their characters memorable and special? Catchphrases and silly dancing aside, not really, which is a shame because they’re good workers and work well as a team. (They’re pals in real-life which helps the chemistry.)
So, let’s be clear. The WWE is merely covering its ass here by firing Hogan. (His lawyer says he quit but who’s buying that one?) Its recent public statement to the contrary, it does not have a great track record on race. (Women aren’t treated much better but that’s a whole different rant.) Yes, it has a lot more talented Black performers on its main roster today. But are any of them getting pushed like John Cena and Randy Orton?
Back to Hogan. Does anyone truly believe this distancing act the WWE is doing right now will be permanent? Please. Despite being retired and into his early 60s, Hogan is still a bonafide moneymaker for professional wrestling generally and Vince McMahon Jr. specifically. When the Gawker lawsuit is finally resolved either by settlement or dismissal (most likely the latter; he doesn’t have much of a case) (MARCH 19, 2016 UPDATE: Apparently, the jury disagreed. Will Gawker’s appeal be more successful? We shall see.) and after Hogan’s despicable comments inevitably fade completely from the media’s headlines and the public consciousness, the WWE will come calling again and all will be forgiven.
Don’t believe me? Consider the example of Dog The Bounty Hunter (AKA Duane Chapman). During the 4th season of his own hit reality show on A&E, he left a voicemail message for his son which revealed he didn’t approve of interracial romances, either. A&E temporarily pulled his show off the air. Then, much to my surprise, it came back for four more seasons before it was cancelled for good in 2012, five years after that infamous voicemail was reported by, you guessed it, the National Enquirer.
But it wasn’t the end of Dog’s TV career. Since 2013, he’s been starring with his wife in a new CMT show called Dog & Beth: On The Hunt. (You can see it in Canada on OLN.) It’s pretty much the same as the A&E program. Back in 2009, Dog even wrote a book, his second, called Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given which apparently addresses his racist comments.
If a mullet-haired bigoted bounty hunter can continue to thrive with his professional life, Hulk Hogan has nothing to worry about. (Neither does Michael Hayes who was only suspended for insulting Mark Henry.) (MARCH 19, 2016 UPDATE: The Fabulous Freebirds will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before WrestleMania 32.) Expect the WWE to re-embrace him sooner than later. And expect them to continue to deny it has a race problem.
Dennis Earl
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Saturday, July 25, 2015
8:39 p.m.
- Commentary
- Pro Wrestling
- TV
on July 25, 2015 at 8:39 pm Comments (2)