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"U2? You mean those old guys?" - These guys

Another day, another round of U2 covers from the Q Magazine thingy they are doing. Today we have three more covers this time from Nine Inch Nails, Snow Patrol and Garbage.

First up is the Nine Inch Nails version of “Zoo Station.” As far as NIN stuff goes, this is pretty laid back. In fact, if it wasn’t labeled as “Nine Inch Nails” I would never had guessed who this was. This cover, like a couple of the other we’ve heard so far, doesn’t really stray too far from the source material. But check it out:

Nine Inch Nails’ “Zoo station:”

Next up is Snow Patrol’s version of “Mysterious Ways.” Um… I’m not real sure what to say about this one other then Snow Patrol turns it down a notch. At the end the whole band comes in a bit but for the most part this version is just Gary Lightbody and some effects. Check it:

Snow Patrol’s “Mysterious Ways:”

OK, is it me or are all of these songs starting to sound the same (except maybe Jack White’s cover)? Did they all have a meeting and decide to shot a ton of heroin before recording each song? Holy shit. The original isn’t this devoid of life. Here’s Garbage’s version of “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” which is barely interesting enough to keep me awake this morning.

Garbage’s “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses:”

Maybe tomorrow we’ll get a better round of tracks.

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"We're old... but still kinda cool" - These guys

As I expected, because I am an expert in these types of things (and not because it’s 2011 and these things just happen now so it was just a matter of time), a couple more of U2 Achtung Baby covers have hit the interwebs. The new cover tracks popping up today are from The Killers and Depeche Mode.

The Killers have covered “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)” and the result is… eh. Not that all that great. I respect what they are trying to do but it’s just not really working for me. Check it out yourself:

The Killers’ version of “Ultraviolet (Light My Way):”

That said, I am digging Depeche Mode’s version of “So Cruel” but that should be taken with a grain of salt as I am already a huge Depeche Mode fan. The band sticks pretty close to the original and really just gives the song a slight Depeche Mode feel but it’s still pretty good. Not as good as the original (no duh) but it’s the second best cover we’ve heard so far – the first being Jack White’s version of “Love is Blindness.”

Depeche Mode’s “So Cruel:”

There are still a bunch more of these set to come out so… you’ll see ‘em when I see ‘em.

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"How do?" - This guy

I tend to not really get in to cover songs because rarely are they worth a shit but this…. this is pretty damn cool. Jack White has kinda been all over the place lately. Keepin’ (very) busy since he broke up all his bands. And now Jack White, who is awesome, has covered U2’s “Love is Blindness” and it’s… definitely different from the original. Also, it’s good.

The song is part of some all-star tribute to Achtung Baby that Q Magazine is putting together. I like Jack White and I really like U2’s “Love is Blindness” so I might be a little predisposed to liking this track but… just listen for yourself.

Jack White covering U2’s “Love is Blindness:”

Awesome.

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Well here we are. It’s 2011. Already. This is the start of our last full year of existence (you know… 2012 and all) so let’s kick it off with a couple “new year” metaphors. We could start it off with some kind of crazy dance party thing but I think we should take a moment and think about hings other than dancing and partying and banging for once. I mean… we can’t party and dance and bang ALL the time. You know what I mean?

Death Cab for Cutie takes on U2 in a battle of New Year songs. These are both breakthrough tracks from two big names so let’s see who wins this one shall we?

The winner of last week’s “Battle of the Champions” bout was Flight of the Conchords. I guess Eels never really stood a chance. That Eels song is a great on and the video is simple and nice but… come on. How can it compete against “Business Time?” Well, it can’t and it didn’t.

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It’s December, 2010. Let me say that again so it can sink in. It’s December, 2010! Holy shit! That’s so far in the future. I mean, we are obviously living in it right now but remember back in 1995 how far away 2010 seemed? And now it’s almost over. It’s almost 2011! Holy shit!

That aside, December means it’s championship time! That’s right. The top for vote-getting videos will now face off to take on the grand champion, Flight of the Concords. The brackets are typical championship fashion meaning that number one will take on number four (this week) and number two will take on three (next week). The winner of each of these bouts will fight for the right to take on Flight of the Concords at the end of the month!

Ex-fucking-citing!

So, this week we have #1 Eels taking on #4 U2! Go and vote right now!

Last week’s winner, R.E.M., has been sent to the winner’s circle.

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Monday. Blah. You kn ow what I mean? You totally know what I mean.

But there is some good news this morning. I haven’t posted very many tour dates on this site for a while. Not sure why… just haven’t. But my inbox is flooded (not literally – that would suck) with people letting me know band’s are heading out on tour. So rather than posting each of these individually, here is a big ass list of bands that are going on tour this fall and a link to their tour dates. This obviously isn’t a full list of EVERY band that is going on tour… because that would be a stupid long list. Anywho, here you go:

James
Eels
Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos
Jonsi
Foals
The National
Frightened Rabbit
Owen Pallett
U2
Stars
Guided By Voices

Like I said… there are a ton more, that’s just the ones I had in my inbox.

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"We're rich as shit and don't care about you anymore" - These guys

When I was a kid, my third favorite band was U2. I fuckin’ loved The Joshua Tree. I still fuckin’ love The Joshua Tree. But as we all know, that band is dead. That band has been dead for a long time. Now we have a band that is so pretentious that when it does charity work, it wears designer sunglasses inside while talking about doing the charity work because it’s too busy to actually do the charity work. I’m not saying that U2 isn’t helping to make things better… I’m saying that U2 should at least try to look like it isn’t making a calculated marketing move when it is helping to make things better.

Anywho, U2 released a new video for the song “City of Blinding Lights.” The video is a live performance of the song from the band’s recent 360 tour.

Here’s U2’s video for “City of Blinding Lights:”

Neat?

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