Fame

Sort of a spare, dirge-like rendition.

For the September/October Music challenge to record an "uncool" song, without irony. I never thought this song was particularly "cool."

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posted by chococat (32 comments total)

This is like Kurt Cobain and Matthew Sweet fucking while Billy Corgan watches.

And I mean that in a good way.

Seriously, Mr Cat, your shit is so good I wonder why the rest of us bother sometimes. Ten tons of awesome.
posted by unSane at 2:44 PM on October 11, 2011 [11 favorites]

Owned.
posted by TheRedArmy at 3:23 PM on October 11, 2011

That's the last song that I thought would ever be covered here. And while I actually like the original, this is pretty amazing and totally works. (Don't ask why I love the original, it's totally out of character for me.)

Good show!
posted by snsranch at 6:43 PM on October 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also, I gotta say this is exactly the kind of song I hope would be covered for the challenge. The one that wormed its way into your ear despite your best efforts, and then a quarter century later (thirty years! I just checked!) it pops out again and it turns out to have depths you never imagined.
posted by unSane at 6:52 PM on October 11, 2011 [3 favorites]

Hey, thanks.
To clarify, I never hated this song or anything; I just wouldn't have used the word "cool" to describe it.

Actually, the challenge was a bit confusing to me. I don't really get the "guilty pleasure" thing when applied to music; if I like something then I just like it and cool doesn't really enter into it unless it's something groundbreaking or brand new or whatever, something that blows my mind and I can't figure it out.
I don't really have any interest in covering something I think is bad or boring. Why bother?
posted by chococat at 7:04 PM on October 11, 2011

The challenge wasn't so much meant to be about guilty pleasures as songs you liked that were generally considered uncool, which is pretty much exactly on the nose for this one. As opposed to songs that *you* considered uncool or déclassé or whatever. For instance, I really like Elton John's YOUR SONG, which is scary, but there you are.

I think the virtue of the challenge is not so much that *you* thought the song was bad or boring, but that other folk might have, and you put them right. Which you totally did here.
posted by unSane at 7:13 PM on October 11, 2011

Jesus H. Perfect. This is the song I want playing during the closing scene of the hour-long cable drama of my life. Slow motion scenes of a tragic swerve that leaves half of the audience hollering for an Emmy and the other half clamoring for the writers' heads.

so good I wonder why the rest of us bother sometimes

Half of me wants to pawn all my gear, the other half wants to stay up all night being morose in front of a microphone.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:55 PM on October 11, 2011 [4 favorites]

I got me some chills listening to this. unSane's comment nails it.
posted by arcticseal at 3:08 AM on October 12, 2011

Fantastic, as always.
posted by spiderskull at 10:10 AM on October 12, 2011

Ha ha, sweet.

In this version of the movie, the main characters go on an ultimately doomed tri-state crime spree.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 11:06 PM on October 12, 2011

I am happy to be listening through this collection presently circa 2007 and was happy to see you and flapjax happily together on the front page. Took me a while to make the connection with the original.

Ethereal, haunting and beautifully poppy as always. I am always happy to see my daughter in her chocolate shirt, giving props.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:08 AM on October 13, 2011

Awesome piano solo.
posted by koeselitz at 7:49 AM on October 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Nice job, chococat.
posted by Corduroy at 4:16 PM on October 14, 2011

Slamming.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:20 AM on October 15, 2011

This is perfectly executed--your voice and the dry production is spot on. Why hasn't anyone done this before?

I like how there's just enough understated menace in the take that you're not sure if it is invoking the disillusionment of someone who tried to make it and didn't, or whether their fame is actually going to be better described as infamy.
posted by umbú at 12:05 PM on October 18, 2011 [8 favorites]

“People will see me and cry...”
posted by koeselitz at 12:10 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wooo! This is seriously awesome awesome.
posted by Glinn at 10:16 PM on October 31, 2011

I almost *almost* want so badly to hear, at that part of the chorus where they normally sing "fame", that movie sound of a katana being unsheathed in a concrete room.
posted by sourwookie at 7:21 PM on November 29, 2012 [4 favorites]

Too much is not enough.
posted by Yellow at 7:42 PM on November 29, 2012

Wow, great stuff!
posted by carter at 8:07 PM on November 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Holy shit!
posted by OmieWise at 4:26 PM on November 30, 2012

I've only heard this now. This is legitimate stuff.
posted by hanoixan at 12:04 PM on December 10, 2012

Metafilter Music: legitimate stuff.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:12 PM on December 10, 2012 [2 favorites]

Got here via the Fame soundtrack FPP. This is amazing.
posted by Mchelly at 6:16 PM on April 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

I do not throw this phrase around lightly - I may never have said this phrase before - but this is mind-blowing.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:08 PM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Same as Mchelly.

Fame.
Chococat gonna live forever.
People will see him and cry.
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:17 PM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

It's very rare when you come across a version of a song you can't stand, or think trite, or whatever, and that version makes your hair stand on end. This is simply, beautifully done.
posted by wallabear at 11:21 PM on April 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Belated thanks for a song that I share every chance I get. Turns the original version inside out.
posted by she's not there at 9:54 AM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

I cannot express how much I love this. Wow. (also here via this).
posted by rtha at 11:24 AM on April 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've lived with this song for five years. I've put it on mixes, I've played it for many people. Everyone is astounded by it, and loves it. I'd like to think that Ryan Adams heard this before he decided to do an acoustic dirge cover of that Taylor Swift album. Seriously, this is cover is the GOODS.
posted by OmieWise at 11:17 AM on April 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I probably should have added that I also love the original version with no irony.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:47 AM on April 22, 2018

Love you, rtha.
I miss your presence and I wish I could have met you.
posted by chococat at 9:43 PM on August 10, 2020