Take That! Songwriters Taking Swipes At Others Vol. 3

“Angry young man” Andy Partridge sets his sights high with Dear God - XTC.  The boys have never rocked harder than they do when they’re viciously attacking Amy Grant - The Young Fresh Fellows.  Snotty punk problems abound in A Pop Song - Wreckless Eric.  Paul’s response to one of many public criticisms from Lennon; Silly Love Songs (Live) - Wings.  This tongue-in-cheek tribute was a contractural obligation filler and a hit in Japan; Rollers' Show - Nick Lowe (as Tartan Hordes).  Only A Fool Would Say That was Steely Dan’s response to Lennon’s IMAGINE.  No one lashes out more melodically than John Doe & Exene; I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts (Live) - X.  Impossible to find record I taped because my roommate worked in the studio where it was recorded; Pope John Paul Can Suck My Dick - The Impotent Sea Snakes.  Jonder shares this sentiment; Don Henley Must Die - Mojo Nixon.  Turn off your TV is the message behind Idiot Box - The Damned.  Jello Biafra demands MTV Get Off The Air - Dead Kennedys.  After they wrote New York (on Vol. 1) about The New York Dolls, the reply to The Sex Pistols was London Boys - Johnny Thunders.  When strict disciplinarian Johnny Ramone swiped Joey’s girl, he wrote The KKK Took My Baby Away - The Ramones.  There are varying opinions of WHO is the titular Prince Of The Punks (Live) - The Kinks.  While being respectful toward the author, Kris states he’s known for the worst song he ever wrote, which is served here more to Kristofferson’s taste: Okie From Muskogee.  After inspiring the country period of Rolling Stones that included Wild Horses, Gram Parsons was discarded by the cockney gangsters with electric guitars according to Grams Song by John Phillips.  Tom Petty’s contemptuous story about following Jackson Browne onstage during The No Nukes Show leads into My Problem Is You - Jackson Browne, in which Jackson sings: “I don’t worry about Madonna, or the next thing she might do,” which dovetails into Jammin' Me - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers which really pissed Eddie Murphy off.  “Take back Eddie Murphy” didn’t sit well with the most talented man to ever portray Gumby.  My Baby Moved by The Hillbilly Hellcats—singles out Big Head Todd while giving the monsters a pass.  Van Halen proves Nerf Herder lands in Diamond Dave’s camp. Which leaves just enough room for a blistering LIVE version of Slow Death (Live) - Roy Loney & Chris Wilson—both Flamin’ Groovies who never played together in the band. - Stinky

Boogie Iggy Iggy

Iggy Pop's birthday is just two weeks away -- and I haven't received my party invitation yet.  He will perform at Coachella just a couple days before he turns 79. There are several Iggy compilations here on the blog, mostly from tribute albums, soundtracks, and guest appearances with other artists. 

Iggy may have slowed down a bit.  His most recent album under his own name was 2023's Every Loser.  I only found a few guest appearances from 2024 and 2025.  But another dig through his recording credits yielded a few things that I hadn't heard before, as well as some interesting live performances.  

Iggy joined NRBQ onstage for Wooly Bully, and he sang Rebel Rebel with Lenny Kravitz.  In Mexico, he did TV Eye with Metallica; and Michael Rother was Iggy's guest for a performance of Neu's Hero.   

There are some excellent studio collaborations in today's share, and a couple of odd cover songs that previously escaped my notice.  Iggy contributed a punk version of the Rat Pack classic "I Gotta Be Me" to the soundtrack to Freddy Got Fingered, and he sang the pioneer ballad "Sweet Betsy From Pike" for The Lone Ranger (the 2013 film with Johnny Depp as Tonto).

If you enjoy listening to spoken word performances, the last eight tracks feature Iggy's rich baritone.  I audaciously used Audacity to extract Iggy's recitations of William S. Burroughs from Bill Laswell's Acid Lands.  

PS - when I saw Iggy in concert (on the 1988 tour promoting his Instinct album), at one point he looked to his left, then to the right, and then he flipped off the audience with both hands.  It was just like the photo above! 

WEIRD AL JAMS AT EMO PHILIPS' BIRTHDAY PARTY - A JON-KY Exclusive!

It’s rare that we get our grubby little hands on something that’s unavailable anywhere else, but we believe this WEIRD AL performance to be a JON-KY EXCLUSIVE.  It's hardly The Pharma Brothers Wu-Tang Album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, but it's as close as we're likely to get.

As you know, we’ve been making a pretty solid case for WEIRD AL’S BAND being one of THE WORLD’S GREATEST COVER BANDS.

As near as we can determine this is WEIRD AL and his band (TBITB) performing at a private party on an off night on the VANITY TOUR.  AL’s opening act on that tour was the brilliant comedian EMO PHILIPS who’s no stranger to AL’s fans as he was in the weird one’s first film; UHF.  It’s clearly at least partly Emo’s birthday party as there’s a hilarious short version of Yoda that’s about him.

The impromptu affair begins with Al’s Band jamming, and drives home how good they are.  Al jumps up for Superstition & some wise guy requests (Loudon Wainwright III’s) Dead Skunk which seems to be an inside joke.  

But the band accommodates the request, which emboldens another audience member to shout out Disco Duck, which the band takes a swipe at.  Another heckler calls for (The Tubes’) Don’t Touch Me There, which devolves into I Touch Myself.  The fourth request is the more challenging I’ve Never Been To Me by one hit wonder Charlene—which is actually quite good.  But the hilarity is far from over.  

After the short tribute version of Yoda (with Emo-specific lyrics), the guest of honor cracks a couple jokes.

I’ve rounded out that admittedly short set with the two songs that Al’s Band put out to come closer to our usual goal: CD-length compilations.

WEIRD AL - NPR's Tiny Desk Concert! 3 Live Tracks & An Interview!

What's not to love about NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts?  Or Weird Al, for that matter?  

From Brandon Choe’s fantastic Los Angeles Times feature article about AL:

Yankovic is far and away the most successful comedy recording artist of all time. He’s sold more than 12 million albums. His last album, “Mandatory Fun,” was the first comedy album in history to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — and the first one to top that chart at all since Allan Sherman dropped “My Son, the Nut” in 1963. It went on to win Yankovic his fourth Grammy Award — of what are now five — in 2015. 

We're clearing the decks of Weird One's posts, with our final gem landing on Wednesday.

 

WEIRD AL COVERS LIVE Vol. 3 The Eighties & Beyond! DEVO Violent Femmes BOWIE Talking Heads

WEIRD AL COVERS LIVE Vol. 3 The Eighties & Beyond!  features fantastic "straight" covers of songs by; Devo, Violent Femmes, David Bowie, Stealer's Wheel, Elvis Costello, & The Talking Heads!

Weird Al Yankovic is the most successful comedy recording artist of all time, & has sold more than 12 million albums. His Mandatory Fun was the first comedy album in history to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.  It won Yankovic his fourth of FIVE Grammy Awards.

Even the casual fan knows Dr. Demento, was the first person to play Yankovic’s music on the radio when Al was still a student at L.A.’s Lynwood High School. He went on to be the most-played artist in the history The Dr. Demento Show.  Al & Al's Band generally include a serious cover in their live shows & I've collected the best of these, & attempted to break them into general eras.

Weird Al's audience started including young kids when Radio Disney became popular & started playing his songs—but his audiences are “made up of men who have not been 12 for quite a while, except maybe on some internal, spiritual level” as Brandon Choe wrote in the wonderful Los Angeles Times article most of this info came from: L.A. Times.  

Choe wrote: Whether they all would self-identify as nerds is hard to say, but when Yankovic’s opener, veteran comedian Emo Philips, begins a joke by saying, “There’s probably no one here who was not bullied,” he will have to wait out a long and seemingly cathartic laugh before adding, “… today.” 

Emo Philips appeared in Weird Al’s first feature film UHF, and the two geniuses are old friends who joined forces for THE RIDICULOUSLY SELF-INDULGENT, ILL-ADVISED VANITY TOUR.

 

WEIRD AL COVERS LIVE Vol. 2 The Seventies - Mostly DEEP PURPLE Tom Petty DAVID BOWIE

WEIRD AL COVERS Vol. 2 The Seventies - Mostly 

Here’s the second volume of live performances by WEIRD AL & the band without an official name.  They’re sometimes jokingly referred to as The Innocuous Silhouettes, or The Boys In The Band (TBITB).  The core members are; JIM “KIMO”WEST, STEVE JAY, JON “BERMUDA” SCHWARTZ, & RUBEN VALTIERRA.  

These are live cover versions that prove they’re contenders for the title; THE WORLD’S GREATEST COVER BAND.  On Vol. 2 The Seventies - Mostly they play rock, pop, funk, rockabilly, punk, new wave, & heavy metal.

Some of the highlights are their versions of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’s Breakdown and Refugee, The Monkees’ Last Train To Clarksville, & The Sex Pistols God Save The Queen.

Check out Vol. 1 here: WEIRD AL COVERS LIVE VOL. 1

Wintersleep: Awake Again in 2026

 

Could be wrong, but it seems like the "big in Japan" phenomenon applies less often to Canadian artists than those from other countries.  To phrase it less awkwardly: Canada seems to value its artists.  They don't have to go away to become famous or to be appreciated for their artistry.  There aren't many prophets without honor in the Great White North.  Again -- just one blogger's impression.  There may be exceptions. One bad apple might spoil the whole bunch, girl.

Case in point: the Nova Scotia band Wintersleep.  As the winter of 2026 comes to an end, there's a new album on the way called Wishing Moon, and a European tour begins in April.  

Perhaps you've slept on them?  Wintersleep began as a side project of another band called Kary.  Their self-titled debut appeared in 2003, followed by an untitled Wintersleep album in 2005.  I got into their music after hearing the amazing song Archaeologists on college radio.  I saw Wintersleep during their US tour supporting the 2007 album Welcome To The Night Sky, which remains a personal favorite. 

Members of Wintersleep also perform in a group called Contrived, and they released an album in 2024 called Addicted To Sadness.  Meanwhile, Wintersleep's frontman Paul Murphy has a side project called Postdata.  These are busy people.  You're probably busy too.  You don't have time to dig through Wintersleep's history and compile some of their best songs into a CD-length mix.  If only someone could spare you the effort and give you the lowdown.  A bird's eye view on the Wintersleep caper, if you will.