Trademark-Infringing Tune Tuesdays: Season 2 VOL IV

Because this is the off season and there's nothing better to do, because there are approximately 2,357,861 days until football season (that's just a guesstimate, give or take a few), and because it's Tuesday and you need a pick-me-up, I'm presenting "Trademark-Infringing Tune Tuesdays". Trademark-Infringing Tune Tuesdays is an off-topic post that will feature a band playing a song by a different band each week. Some you may have heard and, hopefully, some will be completely new to you.

In keeping with last week's theme of loud, out of control music, this week's Tune was originally written by one of the loudest, out of control bands in rock, The MC5. The MC5, or Motor City 5, was formed in Detroit (oh.... MC5, I get it) and saw the height of their popularity in the late 60s. Their first album is one of the few live debut albums out there. Kick Out the Jams is proto-punk at its loudest, garage-y best. The Detroit band was on the more militant edge of the counter-culture movement, and one of the more amusing things to hear is the opening track on Kick Out the Jams, Ramblin' Rose, which is preceded by "inflammatory rhetoric" urging the audience towards "revolution", and that "it's time to move, it's time to get down with it!" I never did care much for a lot of the hippy/ counterculture politics, although it's definitely intriguing to hear that speech and the language they used during that volatile time. What I do care for is loud rock, and Kick Out the Jams has more than enough of that.

The title track of that debut, Kick Out the Jams is one of the most heavily covered songs in hard rock. If you ever hear someone yell "KICK OUT THE JAMS, M*****F****R!" at a show, cover your ears, you're about to hear yet another version of a great, eardrum rupturing song. This particular version by Pearl Jam is a great one, by a band that truly embraces the art of the cover. Pearl Jam seems to know when to take a song in a completely different direction from the original, and they know when to leave a song as is. Kick Out the Jams was left as is. For a song like this, if it's loud and fast, the rest is just gravy. Enjoy!

(ED: I almost forgot.... NSFW!!)

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to run through a wall now.

Tune in next week when Trademark-Infringing Tune Tuesdays will feature........ another band playing a song by a different band!