They're gonna rip it off

May 1, 2009 6:11 AM

Jack and Meg did it first. Audioslave did it poorly. The Hives tried to do it by rote. The Flaming Lips did it best while simultaneously Moving To Florida. It's been done in Mario Paint and on a ukulele. But the latest people to attempt it? Country legends The Oak Ridge Boys.
posted by namewithoutwords (108 comments total)

And, thank you Jack White for the fibre optic jesus.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 6:14 AM on May 1

I always dug the Nostalgia 77 cover.
posted by Benjy at 6:21 AM on May 1 [16 favorites has favorites]

I am entirely unsurprised at the raft of covers of this song. In my opinion, it possesses one of the greatest riffs in rock music - right up there with "Layla," "You Really Got Me," "Fire," and all those hoary old classics.
posted by Dr. Wu at 6:22 AM on May 1 [2 favorites has favorites]

Damn...whoever is playin dem drums for the Oak Ridge Boys knows how to kick out the jams.
posted by spicynuts at 6:22 AM on May 1

one of the greatest riffs in rock music

So much so that I had no idea that it was from a White Stripes song. It's as if it always existed. A primeval riff.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:26 AM on May 1 [11 favorites has favorites]

Well, that's . . . something. The bullhorn + siren are what make the Lips' version a thing of fucking beauty.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:26 AM on May 1 [5 favorites has favorites]

Surprising how well it translate to both ukulele and piano.
posted by DU at 6:31 AM on May 1

I first heard the studio version of the Flaming Lips' cover on their Late Night Tales mixed CD, which is a pretty amazing collection of songs chosen by the bandmembers to represent their various musical interests. Highly recommended.
posted by saladin at 6:33 AM on May 1

Whoa. The Flaming Lips own that song so hard, they probably get royalties.
posted by chillmost at 6:37 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wow. I love it. I super love it. I want to marry it and run away into the sunset.
posted by bunnycup at 6:38 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

2nding the love of Nostalgia 77 and their cover of the song.

Here's The Flaming Lips and The White Stripes counting down to the New Year, then playing 7 Nation Army together.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:40 AM on May 1 [3 favorites has favorites]

+1 for the surfers reference.
posted by googly at 6:47 AM on May 1

The guitar riff has also become a popular football chant.
posted by PenDevil at 6:48 AM on May 1

....The Oak Ridge Boys still exist?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:50 AM on May 1

PenDevil: Thanks for that now I can't get this outta my head: Jock Jams remix.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:52 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Problem with this song is every time it's on the radio while I'm driving, I almost get into an accident as my foot starts to pound up and down on the pedals.

Here's hoping it makes it onto Rock Band at some point (they can let the Bass play the part everyone thinks is bass anyways) so I could at least be justified in my "Hey, Meg, why don't you turn up the difficulty to Medium?" joke I always make when the song is over.*

* Usually to distract my wife who is having conniptions from my poor driving skills from the first part. It rarely works.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:53 AM on May 1 [4 favorites has favorites]

Hey FWIW AudioSlave did everything poorly.
posted by Mister_A at 7:02 AM on May 1 [6 favorites has favorites]

I could do without the sung "bom bom bom bom bom bom bom" part, but other than that The ORB versions is pretty great.

I see goatse in the White Stripes video.
posted by iconomy at 7:12 AM on May 1

Holy cripes, I got goosebumps with the Flaming Lips.

I also like the Adam Freeland mix of the original. Extended dance mix, indeed!
posted by Madamina at 7:23 AM on May 1

Hey FWIW AudioSlave did everything poorly.

I have to politely disagree. Best Vanishing Point tribute EVAR. That being said, Chris Cornell is either really good, or just really awful, there's no middle ground in that guy's career.

The telling point in all the covers, is at the one minute mark when the guitar kicks in with that monster riff. If the person covering the song doesn't pull it off right, the whole song falls flat.
posted by inthe80s at 7:24 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

As dull as that Audioslave version is, the Hives version is barely on par if not worse. At least Audioslave has Tom Morello...

Flaming Lips version is almost better than the original though.
posted by Mach5 at 7:27 AM on May 1

3rd'nding the Nostalgia77 / Alice Russell version. She is so amazing.
posted by freq at 7:28 AM on May 1

I am really amused by the fact that, thanks to the Oak Ridge Boys, my grandpa and I can totally groove out to the same damn song.

It puts me in mind of Johnny Cash's covers of Rusty Cage and Hurt, or the collaborations between Loretta Lynn and Jack White on Van Lear Rose. Really. I don't know what the younger "country" people are doing these days with the shitty Jesus+America=Yay bullshit they keep spewing*, but the older ones seem to just remember that good music (and good musicians) know(s) no boundaries.

*To be fair I have no idea what the younger slut-pop/boy-band top 40's American Idol bullshit is about either, except that I am certain it sucks just as much as the "New Country".
posted by caution live frogs at 7:30 AM on May 1 [6 favorites has favorites]

Qualo did it, too.
posted by paisley henosis at 7:31 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Holy crap I never knew there was such a thing as a resonator ukulele and now I need one so badly it hurts.
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:31 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

That's nothing, it's awesome as a football chant.
posted by Artw at 7:33 AM on May 1

It's as if it always existed. A primeval riff.

Precisely, like "Whole Lotta Love" or "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" or "Mannish Boy" or Dr. Wu's list. Do the evolutionary-musicology-psychology people know why some riffs appeal on practically a chromosomal level?
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:34 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Oops, PenDevil got there first
posted by Artw at 7:36 AM on May 1

It's as if it always existed. A primeval riff.

well, 1960's close - mix in a bit of rock lobster and bob seger's 2+2=?
posted by pyramid termite at 7:37 AM on May 1

Audioslave's guitarist annoys the shit out of me.
posted by bwg at 7:37 AM on May 1

Your favorite cover of Seven Nation Army sucks.
posted by punkfloyd at 7:42 AM on May 1

well, 1960's close - mix in a bit of rock lobster and bob seger's 2+2=?

The Ventures -> Pipeline -> Anthrax maybe?
posted by Artw at 7:44 AM on May 1

EUROTECHNO!
posted by Artw at 7:47 AM on May 1

Thank you for that--for the Oak Ridge Boys cover, that is.
posted by raysmj at 7:51 AM on May 1

I wish I was 18 years old and at a Flaming Lips concert right now.

Seven Nation Army is one of those songs that I'll always remember the first time I heard it. It was that feeling of "Wow, what is that! I must know what that is! I must possess it immediately and listen to it repeatedly." Of course the all-time leader in that regard will always be Smells Like Teen Spirit.
posted by diogenes at 7:53 AM on May 1 [2 favorites has favorites]

That ones very Johnny Cash - actually that's like the one thing he didn't cover. Damn he's missed.
posted by Artw at 7:55 AM on May 1

(he Oak Ridge Boys cover that is)
posted by Artw at 7:55 AM on May 1

I'm still biased towards the White Stripes original, because I think it's probably the best-executed demonstration of Jack White's minimalist aesthetic of stripping everything down to a three-part arrangement. The Flaming Lips live version certainly rocks, but it's really busy. The vocal bass part of The Oak Ridge Boys just made the whole thing sound cute to my ears, too much like rebranding the song for an aging "adult contemporary" audience.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 7:55 AM on May 1

Oh, and I'm in the Oak Ridge Boys cover is good camp.
posted by diogenes at 7:57 AM on May 1

Damn, why the hell have I not been to a Flaming Lips concert. Funny that two of the most interesting bands around these days got there start with one hit wonder songs and one hit wonder band names. Radiohead and Flaming Lips.
posted by any major dude at 8:05 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

I actually liked the White Stripes version, which is funny since I normally don't like that band. Hope to see it in Rock Band at some point!
posted by Talanvor at 8:08 AM on May 1

I'll pass along the kind words to the Oak Ridge Boys. They have a theater here in Branson, MO that they share with a few rotating acts.
posted by shinynewnick at 8:13 AM on May 1

a few rotating acts

The Aristocrats!
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:16 AM on May 1 [2 favorites has favorites]

I'll tell you what I'd buy for a dollar: a double album with one album being White Stripes covers of the Oak Ridge Boys and on album being Oak Ridge Boys covers of White Stripes songs.
posted by spicynuts at 8:16 AM on May 1 [10 favorites has favorites]

Not a huge White Stripes fan or anything, but this proves simply that this song is insane. Just a great piece of work that, IMO, stands right the fuck up alongside almost any song in rock history. Wow. Just, wow. (Even the not-so-good versions have a little bit of awesome in 'em.)
posted by grubi at 8:20 AM on May 1

Any post with Jack White is a super post in my book. I wish there were more musicians around like him.
posted by caddis at 8:21 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

I must be the only dummkopf who doesn't like this song.
posted by bitterkitten at 8:26 AM on May 1

I'll tell you what I'd buy for a dollar: a double album with one album being White Stripes covers of the Oak Ridge Boys and on album being Oak Ridge Boys covers of White Stripes songs.

I don't know. I think I can deal with not hearing a White Stripes cover of Elvira.
posted by chococat at 8:27 AM on May 1

I like the Flaming Lips but I have to give a big thumbs down to that live version. The vocals just sounded like shit. Seriously, if you're not Tom Waits, then don't sing through a megaphone.
posted by rocket88 at 8:28 AM on May 1

Any post with Jack White is a super post in my book. I wish there were more musicians around like him.

Pasty and corpse-like? Confusing his fans by stating his bandmate is his sister or wife? Reviving an old Country star? Or reviving the magic of basic rock riffs?
posted by filthy light thief at 8:32 AM on May 1

Hey, everyone! filthy light thief doesn't like Jack White! Did we get that? Everyone aware yet?

Thank god we've settled the debate.
posted by grubi at 8:36 AM on May 1

Oh wow, maybe I need to start listening to North American music again...
posted by nightchrome at 8:36 AM on May 1

Do the evolutionary-musicology-psychology people know why some riffs appeal on practically a chromosomal level?

IAN an evolutionary etc. person, but I seem to vaguely recall hearing something about the Bo Diddley beat mimicking or suggesting or yada yada'ing the human heartbeat. Or was it the "backwards" reggae rhythm that does that? Never mind, I don't know what I'm talking about.
posted by scratch at 8:42 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Pasty and corpse-like?

Some people (like me) have pale skin. It's NATURAL. Stop calling us pasty. Not gonna go sunbake or spray tan to make my skin color more acceptable to you. This pisses me right off every time I see it.
posted by iconomy at 8:46 AM on May 1 [13 favorites has favorites]

Robert Randolph did it.
posted by thecjm at 8:53 AM on May 1

Oh dear. That Hives cover was a big mistake. I love those guys- their particular brand of superserious calculated ridiculousness turns me right on and as a band they are tight as hell. But Seven Nation Army is too slow, too spare, to be a good idea for my beloved Hives.
posted by Monsters at 8:56 AM on May 1

Funny that two of the most interesting bands around these days got there start with one hit wonder songs and one hit wonder band names.

Sorry, but the Flaming Lips had several albums and an established fan base before their "she don't use jelly" hit, and have had several successful albums since, specifically The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, both widely critically acclaimed.

Flaming Lips are 100% under the radar, but by no means a one hit wonder band, no idea what to say on the band name, most band names are pretty dumb anymore.

/fanboy rant
posted by jester69 at 8:56 AM on May 1 [4 favorites has favorites]

jester69: Flaming Lips are 100% under the radar, but by no means a one hit wonder band, no idea what to say on the band name, most band names are pretty dumb anymore.

Actually most one-hit-wonders are musicians or groups with an extended history and discography. They get their one big chart-topper and then go back to producing music they like for a market of fans who like them.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:05 AM on May 1

Hard Fi Version

Flaming Lips and Nostalgia 77 versions rock
posted by boyinmiami at 9:06 AM on May 1

I don't know. I think I can deal with not hearing a White Stripes cover of Elvira.

Ok fine..how about a White Stripes cover of "All The Gold In California"??
posted by spicynuts at 9:07 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Beat me to it, boyinmiami.

I always thought that version was good but somehow lacking. It does have the distinction of being the first cover of the song that I ever heard, though.
posted by hifiparasol at 9:11 AM on May 1

Also, I was never what you'd call a Danzig fan, but this is one song I would've liked to hear his take on. Just like I always thought a mariachi version of "Wicked Game" would be awesome, as would a Pearl Jam cover of REM's "Turn You Inside Out."

I have this whole fantasyland of covers I'd like to see performed.
posted by hifiparasol at 9:16 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Stripes/Boys double album? I dunno . . . but I would spring for a split 7-inch.
posted by barrett caulk at 9:22 AM on May 1

Nostalgia 77 does a soul/jazz version which strips out the main guitar riff. Grant Phabao does a reggae-ish remix of it.
posted by juv3nal at 9:37 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Right. On non previewing, nostalgia 77 one already linked, but the remix is good for a laugh.
posted by juv3nal at 9:38 AM on May 1

I had no idea that this had become stadium rock for sporting event. Wow. I guess the White Stripes have finally made it and are the new Queen.
posted by GuyZero at 10:00 AM on May 1

Is this a good place to put a video of the White Stripes doing Jolene? Because I find it oddly mesmerizing.

The White Stripes seemed too derivative to be interesting when I first heard them, but watching their live performances has converted me.
posted by small_ruminant at 10:09 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Just as long as they aren't the new Gary Glitter
posted by Mick at 10:11 AM on May 1

Little booy-oys, little boys!
Little booy-oys, little boys!
Doctor Who, the TARDIS!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:18 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Can't say enough good things about the White Stripes and Flaming Lips.
posted by Xoebe at 10:26 AM on May 1

Actually most one-hit-wonders are musicians or groups with an extended history and discography.

I've always taken "one hit wonder" to be somewhere near "no talent hack that got lucky once." Since they have had critical acclaim, and had another hit with "do you realize." That song was in a heavy-rotation Intel commercial for goodness sake. I don't think they fit with either definition. The lips do NBC Commercials now. They would probably be sellouts if they weren't laughing at themselves so hard. Is NBC "a market of fans who like them?"

Anyway, one hit wonder is a term I view as pejorative, so take my objection with a grain of salt if that isn't part of your definition.
posted by jester69 at 10:27 AM on May 1

This is the best rendition still. :) Primeval, indeed.

jester69, I think you're reading any major dude wrong. They never said FL are a one-hit wonder, just that they got their start with a one-hit-wonderish song and band name. Well I agree that whatever they did before "She Don't Use Jelly" has no bearing on their breakthrough, or their later success for that matter. I sure didn't know them before that single came out, and it definitely came across as a novelty song. So, an unknown band with a silly name and a silly song: definitely seemed like one-hit material at the time. (Here's where I would have linked to the infamous Lips appearance on 90210, but for some unknown, bizarre reason Warner had it yanked from the tubes. So have a 1994 Jon Stewart instead.)

BTW I know that "Jelly" is a bit of a red-haired stepchild among some Lips aficionados, but let me just for the record state that I love the Lips to pieces, that I count Yoshimi among my favourite records, but also that I have a very soft spot indeed for "Jelly".

So AFAIC pointing out how the Lips seemed a one-hit wonder when they were first noticed by a wide audience seems completely warranted to me, and I don't understand why you're tilting at windmills like this.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:57 AM on May 1

Seriously, if you're not Tom Waits, then don't sing through a megaphone.

Its an honest mistake but I think you meant "if you're not Gibby Haynes then don't sing through a megaphone"
posted by Sailormom at 10:58 AM on May 1

The Ventures -> Pipeline

The Chantays
posted by kirkaracha at 11:01 AM on May 1

I'm going to leave this here: "Sweet Dreams are Made of Seven Nation Army"

It's pretty good once you get past that both tracks are pitched up/down from their originals.
posted by flatluigi at 11:01 AM on May 1 [5 favorites has favorites]

Oh, are we dissing Queen now?
posted by Artw at 11:12 AM on May 1

This tune's ripe for Moxy Fruvous cover.
posted by middleclasstool at 11:24 AM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Great song.

"Oh, are we dissing Queen now?"

Perhaps, but I am totally dissing the lips as they are sucking at the NBC teat.
Off the list forever! (thanks Bill).
posted by blink_left at 11:27 AM on May 1

So, just a few hours ago, I'd never heard of resonator ukuleles. Now I own one. Thanks, MetaFilter!
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:59 AM on May 1 [4 favorites has favorites]

I'm going to leave this here: "Sweet Dreams are Made of Seven Nation Army"

Good catch, it tends to fall apart on the chorus though.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 12:07 PM on May 1

Mr. MoonPie that is freakin sweet. Can you play slide on a uke?
posted by spicynuts at 12:13 PM on May 1

It's pretty good once you get past that both tracks are pitched up/down from their originals.

There wouldn't be a lot of mashups if you always had to have perfectly bpm-matched tracks.
posted by GuyZero at 12:15 PM on May 1

spicynuts, it has nylon strings, so I don't know how well that'd work. But the next time I re-string my steel-string acoustic guitar, you better believe I'll put those strings on the uke, just to see how they sound.
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:37 PM on May 1

Oh man Ray now PLEASE you ain't got to imitate Jack White
posted by subbes at 1:37 PM on May 1 [3 favorites has favorites]

I guess the White Stripes have finally made it and are the new Queen.

Speaking of which, I wish Freddie [sniffle] had lived long enough for Queen to have a crack at "Seven Nation Army" because they would have rocked the shit out of it.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:56 PM on May 1 [3 favorites has favorites]

Now, what we need is a page with mp3s to all of these SNA covers.
posted by sciurus at 3:16 PM on May 1

Let me add, as mentioned often, Nostalgia 77 does one of the best covers of this song.
posted by Rashomon at 3:53 PM on May 1

I've always liked Vyvienne Long's cello version.
posted by robcorr at 4:44 PM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Orb cover? Links or keywords, please!

The Orb vs. Killing Joke singles and one-offs were some of the most under-rated tracks of the 90s. I need to see if I still have those discs somewhere so I can rip them.
posted by loquacious at 6:00 PM on May 1

Not to brag too much, but this thread inspired me to give it a try myself.
posted by grubi at 6:40 PM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Flaming Lips are 100% under the radar...

Not to our state legislature. Thanks to Governor Brad Henry, though, "Do You Realize?" is now our official state rock song. I'm so proud.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:48 PM on May 1 [2 favorites has favorites]

(1) The Oak Ridge Boys' version wasn't bad, and would have been better if they got rid of the vocal riff replacing the guitar.

(2) If Wikipedia is to be believed, when "the core group that would eventually lead to the Oak Ridge Boys" formed, the oldest current Boy was about four. At least one of the others was not yet born, and the remaining two were born in the same year as the group's formation.

I wonder if, seventy years from now, there's going to be, say, "the Rolling Stones".

(3) I totally agree with the "primeval" comments in this thread. I distinctly remember the first time I heard this song, and immediately thinking "Oh, I love this song. I haven't heard it in a long time. Who is this by again?"

It took me a long time, and many listens, to come to truly believe that it wasn't a cover of... something. Some great, great song from long ago.
posted by Flunkie at 7:14 PM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Is this a good place to put a video of the White Stripes doing Jolene? Because I find it oddly mesmerizing.

Holy Mother of All Things Evil - that is just awful. I liked the White Stripes right up until 45 seconds ago, when I saw Jack rip that haunting guitar work and those beautiful lyrics to pieces. Good God Holy Crap, that was terrible.
posted by bradth27 at 8:57 PM on May 1

There's a classical version, too, of course.
posted by Topkid at 8:59 PM on May 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

The Flaming Lips Soft Bulletin is one of the greatest albums ever. E.V.E.R. It's also not the album with 'She Don't Use Jelly On It'. So yeah - they are fantastic.

I prefer the Nostalgia 77 version ever since I heard it in da club (i.e. a local dive bar with a decent DJ one night) a year or so ago. It's just so.... awesome.
posted by Bageena at 8:59 PM on May 1

Flaming Lips are 100% under the radar...

I'm pretty sure that playing the Earth Day concert on the National Mall puts them squarely on the radar. I mean, I'm not saying they suck or anything, but, yeah, a few folks have heard of them by now.
posted by MrMoonPie at 10:37 PM on May 1

8 bit version
posted by juv3nal at 11:45 PM on May 1

If the Oak Ridge boys had kicked into a mean fiddle riff instead of singing the guitar line, they would have knocked that fucker out of the park.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:33 AM on May 2 [3 favorites has favorites]

FWIW, re megaphone, the oldest Flaming Lips song I can think of with megaphone lyrics on an album is "lightning strikes the postman" off of Clouds taste metallic, published in 1995.

They pretty much do 1 or 2 songs with megaphone at every concert, or at least every concert i've been to, and i've been several times, starting in 2001.

So, other people do the megaphone shtick, its not like any one person has a trademark on it, but at least I can say with certainty their seven nation army cover was not the first time the lips used this method.
posted by jester69 at 2:26 PM on May 2

Mr. Moon pie: I meant they are not in the major label hit churn machine. I pretty much consider anything not shoved down the public's throat by clear channel et. al to be flying a bit low. point taken though.
posted by jester69 at 2:28 PM on May 2

I always say I don't like The White Stripes, but then I'll hear song penned by Jack White (either as Stripes, solo, or side project) that just knocks me to the floor. I think it's because there's that big part of him is a blues musician and a big part is a sort of stripped down garage rocker. The songs that call up his inner Robert Johnson really speak to me and the ones that focus on the raw, Stooges-style aesthetic don't do as much.

But when a song hits, I agree that it brings with it that sense that you're listening to something that rose fully formed from the primeval tar pits of rock and you can't imagine a musical landscape where it never existed.
posted by mostlymartha at 2:30 PM on May 2 [2 favorites has favorites]

Obligatory link to Jack showing Meg his Tesla coil.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:37 PM on May 2

Jack and Meg did it first

Yeah, though Cream came pretty close in 1967 -- esp. the tone of White's guitar on his solo.
I'm a huge White Stripes fan, but frankly I'd rather hear Death Letter, Black Math, Ball and a Biscuit, or Fell in Love With a Girl any day. But then again, I'm a romantic.
posted by msalt at 9:04 PM on May 2

how about this Electro Version? by Dsico (direct mp3 link from Dsico website)
posted by mary8nne at 3:22 AM on May 3

It's funny, in the face of uncleozzy's comment that the riff in Seven Nation Army feels like it has been always around, that Jack White was inspired by Bruckner's fifth. Check out 3:35.
posted by umbú at 1:23 PM on May 4

Oops. Here's the link.
posted by umbú at 1:23 PM on May 4

This post has inspired us over in metafilter music. Grubi and I have already recorded our own covers, and there may be more on the way.
posted by umbú at 6:17 PM on May 19

I guess I'll be the first to say that this song has been so amazingly played out on local radio and everywhere else since it first emerged that I think it needs to be locked up for half a decade before it has the same effect on me that it did back in the day.
posted by Defenestrator at 2:26 AM on May 30