You’ve been handed the AUX cord. You are in control. You can choose to play the originals, but that’s not why you’re reading switching styles. You can choose one close to the original like Philip Serino, or even Game Boy Jones. You want more, and weirder. That’s why you’re here, to weird out your family once and for all. It’s time for some confusingly weird tunes.

Let’s get it out of the way. These are the weird of the obscure covers of well-known songs. These are the oddities of the oddities, the complexities of YouTube brought to you by Switching Styles. If you wanted something less odd, I would suggest Mike Masse, or Koto Covers, or Tarzan.

Now that you’ve been warned, let’s begin with some of the oddest covers to weird out your family.

 

The top of our list is “Candyman” originally by Sammy Davis and covered by Primus. I would highly suggest listening to the original song as it’s been covered quite a few times since the 70’s including The Sloppy Seconds (1989). It was made popular by the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971). Primus brings that classic into a whole new realm.

At the start of the music, you aren’t quite sure if they are doing a cover of “CandyMan”. Then comes in the horror movie sound effects and the sound of cows mooing and you’re even more confused. The vocals, if you’ve never heard a primus song, is rather eerie. But if you take into account their style and the instrumental, it mixes in perfectly!

With a music video that looks like something out of a Katy Perry acid trip directed by Tim Burton, the weird cover song is complete.

 

 

Following the theme of weird music videos and creative acid-inspired creatures, here is Red Band with Asaf Avidan and the Mojos. Covering “House of the Rising Sun”, they provide an amazingly quirky cover. Together they bring a whole new sound to The Animals’ classic. Red Band are the fluffy muppet rockstars that are taking sesame street style to the stage. Asaf Avidan is a singer-songwriter and a part of Asaf Avidan and the Mojos until they sadly disbanded in 2011.

Back to the topic at hand, cover songs! What makes this cover unique is funny enough not the puppets but the vocals. Combining the deepset vocals of the Mojos’ back up vocalists and Red Band’s lead singer with Avidan’s amazing range and pitch, it’s intriguing.

Red Band’s lead singer, Red, comments in the music video that “[Avidan’s] voice is penetrating my very soul”. That couldn’t be truer.

 

Prepare to be ThunderStruck. Prepare for quite a few references. Steve’n’Seagulls. Yes, that is a nod to Steven Seagal, an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. Seagal is known for his action films in the 90’s as well as playing the antagonist in the 2010 Machete film. In case you need a refresher, here he is.

Dramatic, I know. It’s a perfect image for the Steve’n’Seagulls cover because Thunderstruck is a dramatic song before the anvil addition. The lead singer plays a mean anvil. and honestly it fits right in with the overall style of the music and aesthetic of the musicians. If you aren’t sure about how much the anvil adds to the cover, listen to it again. Another listen through means that you’ll be able to catch more of the banjo player that is just shredding those notes!

Remember Insidious? Remember Tiny Tim? Remember the terror of the song, “Tiptoe through the tulips“? It was creepy. We can all agree that it was a creepy song. This may be due to the fact hat the modern popularization of this song came from Insidious (2010). Others argue that it was a creepy song as soon as it was performed by Tiny Tim.

Well, tiny Tim has a cover, of “I got you babe” by Sonny and Cher.

The first note of the Ukelele is all the time allowed to get prepared. This is not the duet cover you expected but it’s exactly what you’d expect of a cover performed by Tiny Tim. There is not a sense of disspoinemtne with this cover. Singing both parts for Sonny and Cher, he managed to sing both the high and low parts while providing his signature vocalization and tone.

 

If you’re a fan of old school video games, then this is the style for you. 8-bit games may have turned from retro to nostalgic to hip and back within the past several years. One thing remains true, it’s nostalgic as all heck.

Bringing you back to the past is 8-Bit covers. Their covers sound as if they are straight out of a video game. As an overall concept, this is fantastic. More specifically is this Gorillaz cover taking a chill song to a nostalgic place.

“Clint Eastwood” started as a chill and rather mesmerizing song only to be enhanced thrusting the audience into a retro groove.

Please do share your family’s reactions on twitter @StyleSwitching!