Oh God Yes.
April 23, 2007 7:55 AM   Subscribe

Apache. The greatest song for an action movie ever made. The 1977 Disco Version? It's hard to say.
posted by Alex404 (39 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
So if everyone in the free world saw this already, sorry for wasting your time. It certainly blew my mind when I found it yesterday, though. The uncanny Prodigy Breathe match up is solid, too.
posted by Alex404 at 7:56 AM on April 23, 2007


Disco Apache killed Boris Yeltsin.
posted by Dr-Baa at 8:03 AM on April 23, 2007


i like the version by the INCREDIBLE BONGO BAND (can't find an mp3 or youtube, sorry)
posted by tnai at 8:03 AM on April 23, 2007


I hope I'm not either dating myself or revealing that I am a philistine [NOT RACIST], but what action movie is this the song from?
posted by DU at 8:10 AM on April 23, 2007


Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band's version (video tacked on by someone else). It's among the best covers of all time and the bit 2.23 and 3.47 is one of the longest and most sampled bongo solos evah (I prefer the Bongolia one myself though).

Good find - the vid for the disco version is very funny.
posted by davehat at 8:16 AM on April 23, 2007


JUMP ON IT! JUMP ON IT!

I love this song.
posted by bbuda at 8:18 AM on April 23, 2007


Come to think of it, DU, I had no idea it was in an action flick either... Anyone care to enlighten us?
posted by davehat at 8:20 AM on April 23, 2007


I would like to register two simultaneous reactions:

1) SWEET GIBBERING CHRISTWAGONS! MY EYES!! MY EARS!!!1!

2) Dude fucking rocks those fringes.
posted by LMGM at 8:22 AM on April 23, 2007


Ahh, here it is.
posted by bbuda at 8:25 AM on April 23, 2007


I had no idea it was in an action flick either... Anyone care to enlighten us?

According to Wikipedia, the song was inspired by "Apache", a western made in 1954 in which Burt Lancaster co-starred with a badass wig, Charles Bronson, and the cop guy from CSI!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:28 AM on April 23, 2007


Tommy Seebach remains to this day the sexiest bastard on the face of the planet.

Props to the bassist on that sweet Gibson Ripper, too.
posted by davelog at 8:32 AM on April 23, 2007


Oh, wait, different guy than the cop guy from CSI.
That did seem off to me. Stupid Apache song, distracting me with its awesomeness.

Just out of curiosity, was anyone else's first encounter with this song via Fresh Prince?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:33 AM on April 23, 2007


Don't forget Jorgen Ingmann's version!
posted by kimota at 8:35 AM on April 23, 2007


Sorry guys, didn't mean to say it actually had been used in an action movie. Alvy got what I was going for.

And my first experience with Apache was with the Prodigy's Dirt Chamber Sessions.

I probably shouldn't admit that tough.


...

I'm going to put it on now.
posted by Alex404 at 8:35 AM on April 23, 2007


DJ Grandmaster Flash interpolated parts of the Incredible Bongo Band song "Apache" in his song "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel".

I have an Incredible Bongo Band 8-Track. No lie. Now that's Old School!
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 8:36 AM on April 23, 2007


What was up with awful Scandinavian bands in the 70s? I can't find the site, but there are some really stellar examples of ridiculous looking Swedes on album covers.
posted by kdar at 8:37 AM on April 23, 2007


I Wanna Love You Tender (Finland)
posted by growabrain at 8:42 AM on April 23, 2007


Apache was covered in this post a while back. Still some great links.
posted by JBennett at 8:53 AM on April 23, 2007


Sir Mix a Lot's version is always a winner.

'SEATTLE, JUMP ON IT, JUMP ON IT!"
posted by stenseng at 9:06 AM on April 23, 2007


Meh. The greatest song in an action-type movie has to be "Neon Slime" from the opus Vice Squad. It was even performed by megastar Wings Hauser! The man is a triple-threat. He acts! He writes (he co-wrote the epic Beastmaster II: Through The Portal Of Time)! And he sings! He is the creative force behind the 1975 album Your Love Keeps Me Off The Streets, which he recorded under the name Wings Livinryte and whose sales figures can't even be calculated.
posted by Midnight Creeper at 9:31 AM on April 23, 2007


Well, now I have a mental picture of "honky."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:33 AM on April 23, 2007


Wings Hauser! A hero....
posted by NationalKato at 9:35 AM on April 23, 2007


"The uncanny Prodigy Breathe match up is solid, too."

Thx, broke my mind.
posted by Eideteker at 10:23 AM on April 23, 2007


man, that shadows film is great. I love how at times they just cut in footage of them playing some totally different part of the song. and that bit with the bassist smoking 2 drags of a cigarette at the end is awesome.
posted by shmegegge at 10:35 AM on April 23, 2007


Sweet Mary Mother of Christ in wood shop!

I am humbled.
posted by katillathehun at 10:41 AM on April 23, 2007


Someone, somewhere here, clued me in to this video by posting about it overdubbed with a Madonna song.
posted by now i'm piste at 10:47 AM on April 23, 2007


Man they just don't do rhythm sections these days like they used to.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:58 AM on April 23, 2007


i like the version by the INCREDIBLE BONGO BAND

My parents had the 45 single of "Bongo Rock", backed with "Bongolia" -- as a toddler, I evidentally LOVED these two songs.
posted by davejay at 11:01 AM on April 23, 2007


Thx, broke my mind.

Me too, man, me too. Great post and comments!
posted by maxwelton at 11:01 AM on April 23, 2007


Holy crap. I was totally prepared to hate the disco version, but that video is probably the BEST. MUSIC VIDEO. EVER.
posted by found missing at 11:01 AM on April 23, 2007


Someone, somewhere here, clued me in to this video by posting about it overdubbed with a Madonna an ABBA song that Madonna crowed on top of.

Fixed that for you.
posted by katillathehun at 11:12 AM on April 23, 2007


For those looking for mp3's of "Bongo Rock", "Apache", and some other tracks, here's your link.
posted by schleppo at 11:15 AM on April 23, 2007


People sure do love doing their own thing to that video of the disco version of Apache; Cannibal Corpse among them.
posted by NoMich at 12:34 PM on April 23, 2007


Recently sampled in the club mega-hit:

Switch - A Bit Patchy

(multiple remixes at that link, but check the original and eric prydz mixes, at least)
posted by empath at 2:04 PM on April 23, 2007


Love that "All Roads Lead to Apache" article, JBennet. Thanks for re-posting.
posted by hue at 5:16 PM on April 23, 2007


guitar rules...
posted by aiq at 5:36 PM on April 23, 2007


I've heard most versions of this song before. I literally can't count the number of times I've heard the Bongo Band version sampled...

However, I hadn't seen that Prodigy mash-up. That's eerie. The Cannibal Corpse version is also breaking my mind.
posted by sparkletone at 6:13 PM on April 23, 2007


I really like the Fatboy Slim mix that cuts between The Bongo Band and Jungle Brothers. It's a choice piece. But, in general, a great piece of music. I thought everybody knew about it though...? It's just an essential part of music, especially some of the newer big beat and electronica stuff that's been out over the last ten years or so.
posted by avriette at 7:23 PM on April 23, 2007


That disco version had me howling with laughter.

Thanks, Alex!
posted by jason's_planet at 9:02 PM on April 23, 2007


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