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News24
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- News24
Weekender playlist: From Hendrix to Nirvana, Whitney to Winehouse... some iconic song covers
In this edition of The Weekender's playlist, Joel Ontong has you covered. He takes a look at some of the best and most iconic covers of all time. When Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor first heard country legend Johnny Cash cover his song, Hurt, he said it was like 'someone kissing your girlfriend'. 'I knew where I was when I wrote it. I know what I was thinking about. I know how I felt,' Reznor told The Sun in 2008. 'It felt invasive.' But, after watching Cash's music video, Reznor was floored: 'It really, really made sense, and I thought, what a powerful piece of art.' 'I never got to meet Johnny, but I'm happy I contributed the way I did. It felt like a warm hug. I have goosebumps right now thinking about it.' Cash's version of Hurt is hailed as one of the best covers of all time. What made it great was that he sang as if he meant every word, like it was coming straight from his heart. This raises the question: What makes a great cover? It's not better or more theatrical vocals or upscaled production, but rather the ability to make a song one's own and find ways to reinterpret, not just redo. News24's Weekender playlist looks at some great or notable covers. Another iconic cover is Jimi Hendrix's take on Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower. Hendrix's recording is the stuff of guitar legend. Midway through the song, he delivers arguably the greatest guitar solo put to wax. The song showcases what happens when cutting-edge guitar technology falls into the hands of a visionary. Plenty of Hendrix's peers had access to wah-wah pedals, reverb, and delay effects, but none of them could play like him. If Hendrix hadn't covered All Along the Watchtower, and Dylan hadn't written it, rock music wouldn't be the same. Dylan was also so impressed by Hendrix's version that he even changed the way he played the song live. READ | Weekender playlist: From Oklou, Internet Girl and Weed420... to prog rock by Pope Francis Sometimes, a bit of theatricality can help make an iconic cover – case in point, I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston, written by Dolly Parton. Parton's original is lovely, but Houston's version is monumental. Though the 1992 version is backed by a dated adult contemporary instrumental, Houston gives a vocal performance for the books. In the song's coda, Houston lets it rip, but not at the expense of emotional rawness. A similar case is Aretha Franklin's cover of Respect, originally by Otis Redding. In an era where everyone was covering each other's songs without really adding much, Franklin's performance defined the Southern Soul sound of the 1960s. Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson's cover of The Zutons' Valerie is, to many, the definitive version of the song. The Zutons might not have known it at the time, but Valerie was made for Winehouse. A great cover can also simply highlight great songwriting, especially when it's overlooked. When Nirvana decided to add David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World to their MTV Unplugged setlist, they probably didn't put that much thought into it. Their raw and rugged rendition is simple but brilliantly highlights Bowie's compelling songwriting, much better than the original ever did. Mainstream jazz music has also been noted for artists frequently doing covers, and there are many great ones by the likes of Miles Davis, Bill Evans and Abdullah Ibrahim. For our playlist, we included John Coltrane's take on Sound of Music's My Favourite Things. It's a significant departure from the original, but it is one of the best cool jazz recordings ever. We also included two songs you might not have known were covers: I'm a Believer by Smash Mouth (used in Shrek) and Red Red Wine by UB40. Both songs were written by Neil Diamond and appear on his debut album.
Indianapolis Star
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indianapolis Star
Jim Irsay left behind 'greatest guitar collection on Earth.' What happens to it now?
INDIANAPOLIS -- As Jim Irsay immersed himself in professional football for the past four decades, first as general manager of the Indianapolis Colts and then as owner, he always had a side gig -- rock 'n' roll relic collector extraordinaire. Especially guitars. Irsay amassed a colossal collection of guitars (199 to be exact) and other musical instruments, spending tens of millions of dollars on what Guitar Magazine once called "the greatest guitar collection on Earth." When Irsay died last week, many of the instruments in the collection were on loan throughout the country, including at the "Amped at IU" exhibit at Indiana University and at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle for "Never Turn Back: Echoes of African American Music." The items in those exhibits will remain at those locations until the displays are scheduled to end. The long-term plan for The Jim Irsay Collection, which also includes artifacts of American history and pop culture, has not been determined. The team told IndyStar on Wednesday it would be "getting more info on the collection in the coming weeks." Irsay had a penchant for obtaining rare musical instruments and items that were used by some of the greatest artists in history. Among them: Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Prince, Eric Clapton, Sir Elton John, Jerry Garcia, Les Paul, David Gilmour, Jim Morrison, Pete Townshend, Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, The Edge, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain. But Irsay's collection goes beyond music and includes eclectic items like an Apple II manual signed by Steve Jobs, Hunter S. Thompson's Red Shark convertible and Jack Kerouac's original typewritten manuscript of "On The Road." Experts have valued the collection at close to $1 billion, should it ever be sold in its entirety. 'My purpose in building this collection," Irsay wrote on his collection's website, "is to preserve, protect and share items that tell inspiring stories about dreaming big, overcoming obstacles and accomplishing great things in life." The "Amped at IU" exhibit includes pieces from Irsay's collection that help illustrate the instrument's history, including an 1850s CF Martin, a 1910 Gibson U Harp, 1939 Rickenbacker Silver Hawaiian Lap Steel and more. The display also feature artifacts from The Beatles, their manager Brian Epstein, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash and others. Details: "Amped at IU" runs through September at University Collections at McCalla, 525 E. 9th St. in Bloomington. McCalla's galleries are open noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. The "Never Turn Back: Echoes of African American Music" includes three items Irsay loaned to the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle -- James Brown's stage-worn, red sequined cape from the 1960s and 1970s, John Coltrane's 1966 Yamaha alto saxophone and Miles Davis' 1980 Martin Committee trumpet. The exhibit explores "the rich legacy of African American music, tracing the deep cultural roots of gospel, blues, jazz and soul. Through evocative photography, rare concert flyers, instruments and costumes, the exhibit showcases the profound influence of Black communities on the evolution of these genres." Details: Runs through early 2027 at the Museum of Pop Culture, 325 5th Ave N, Seattle, WA. Info and tickets
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'Nasty Nick's' Hendrix tape sold for nearly double expected price
A recording of an interview with rock star Jimi Hendrix, made by a former EastEnders star, has been sold at auction for £3, recording was made backstage at a concert in Central Hall, Chatham, Kent, in December 1967 by John Altman, later to find fame as Nick Cotton in the BBC soap tape, which also contained an interview with Pink Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright, was expected to fetch between £1,000 and £2, was sold, along with several other items of Mr Altman's rock memorabilia, at Ewbank's in Send, Surrey, on Thursday. Then aged 15, Mr Altman had played truant to attend the gig, along with his two best collection included autographs and rare 7-inch the recording, the copyright of which was included in the sale, Jimi Hendrix talked about recently having to leave a US tour with the Monkees, while Richard Wright described the different reactions to Pink Floyd's music from UK and American Altman said he recorded the interviews in breaks between the afternoon and evening shows, after he and his friends helped the musicians unload their equipment.
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
With death of Jim Irsay, Colts lost a lifer and Indianapolis lost an icon
When my phone buzzed late at night and 'No Caller ID' flashed across the screen, I knew. I knew who was calling. I knew I needed to get my notebook ready. Most of all, I knew I wasn't going back to sleep for several hours. Those calls with Jim Irsay, the longtime Indianapolis Colts owner who died Wednesday at 65, were … an adventure. It came with the territory. I was a Colts beat writer for 10 years. The Irsay Experience was part of the gig. Advertisement Sometimes they'd last for hours. Sometimes I'd barely squeeze in a question. He'd start on one topic, veer into a dozen others, then eventually find his way back home. He'd dish on Peyton Manning and Jimi Hendrix and Hunter S. Thompson in the same thought. He'd tell stories about watching Gayle Sayers in the 1960s and how it reminded him of watching Jonathan Taylor in the 2020s. He'd vent on the state of his team or an article I'd written that he didn't appreciate or whatever else happened to be on his mind at 1 in the morning. Say this much about the man: in a buttoned-up league that often takes itself too seriously, he was a renegade. Jim Irsay couldn't do boring if he tried. I watched him belt out the lyrics to 'All Along the Watchtower' at a concert in Nashville the night before a game. I sat with him in his office, in his suite at Lucas Oil Stadium and on the balcony of his hotel room at the NFL owners' meetings in Phoenix. I watched him sit in a cheap plastic chair and fight back tears the night Andrew Luck walked away from football. I shared too many late-night conversations with him to count, conversations that helped me better understand his football team and what it takes to win in this league. He was a character, eccentric and outspoken, ruthlessly competitive and unfailingly optimistic. He could be combative, too, if his team's season wasn't going the way he thought it should. During those calls, Irsay did not hold back. He didn't just read what reporters thought about his team, he cared what reporters thought about his team. He valued local media in a unique way. He'd invite us into his office, the one with guitars worth eight times more than my house enclosed in glass. He'd stop to chat after road wins, knowing his words would fill up our notebook. He'd call, often late at night. He'd text. (Big emoji guy.) Advertisement I imagine no owner in NFL history relished a microphone or camera as much as Irsay. He always reminded us that he was a broadcast journalism major at SMU, so he knew our jobs better than most. We weren't supposed to be cheerleaders. We were supposed to be fair. He understood that. Even if, on occasion, what we wrote ticked him off. After one testy conversation late in the 2022 season, he called back after a few minutes to apologize. He'd fumed over a story I'd written about the Colts' reckless decision — his reckless decision — to hire Jeff Saturday as interim coach midway through the ill-fated campaign. He'd bragged the night he hired Saturday, challenging the reporters in the room to 'put your money on the table and bet against this man.' Everybody in that room — aside from maybe him and Saturday — knew it wouldn't work. The Colts stumbled home 1-7, were outscored by 87 points and suffered the single-biggest collapse in NFL history. So when Irsay called back later that night, he was calmer. He seemed angrier at himself than at what I'd written — a 'brutal, sucker punch' of a season 'set up by destructive rationalization.' What kind of owner admits that? Irsay was so stunningly honest in front of the cameras and microphones that it sometimes hurt him. (The same night he introduced Saturday as interim coach, he somehow mentioned Michael Jordan, flights to Mars, the CIA and the enduring lessons of Al Davis. Try fitting all that into a story on deadline.) He might own the NFL record for most news conferences held without uttering a single cliché. He told stories. He quoted musicians. He sold hope. He boasted about winning 'three straight Lombardis' even though his roster was in no way ready to compete for a championship. Right or wrong, his passion spilled out of him every time he spoke. I once wrote he was the 'biggest Colts fan who ever lived.' He never disputed that. In fact, he wore it as a badge of honor. The man couldn't help himself. The team was his life. Consider what some of his former players wrote on social media Wednesday night: This is devastating.. Jim had friendships with a lot of his former players.. I was lucky to be one of them. Playing for a team that Mr Irsay ran was an honor. He was funny, brilliant, unique, and somehow still wildly relatable for a man who became the sole owner of an NFL team… — Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 22, 2025 Please don't ask me if I'm ok. Cuz I'm not. Thank You Sooo Much I will forever hold our talks close to my heart. Love You! RIP 🥹🥹🥹🥹😢😢 — TY Hilton (@TYHilton13) May 22, 2025 This hurts my soul…. — Reggie Wayne (@ReggieWayne_17) May 21, 2025 His reputation nationally — that he was this weird, rambling owner, the son of the guy who snuck the Colts out of Baltimore in the middle of the night — never squared with how he was viewed in Indianapolis. Here, he was respected. Revered, even. Irsay was the man who lifted a franchise from the league cellar into Super Bowl champs. Advertisement Once a basketball hotbed, this is a proud football town because of the likes of Manning, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James. Make no mistake, it's also a proud football town because of Jim Irsay. He'd watched his father sabotage this franchise in the 1980s, and privately, always vowed he'd do it differently. He learned what to do by learning what not to do. 'He had no idea how to run a football team,' Jim said of his father, later noting that his dad 'fired me more times than I can count.' The younger Irsay, in many ways, became the opposite: a man of the people, beloved as much for his generosity as his accessibility. Fans never had to wonder what Irsay thought. Neither did reporters. From our seat, that's all you can ask for. He didn't hide, and he didn't sugarcoat. For better or worse, he was unfailingly authentic. He was the owner who passed out $100 bills at training camp, who held contests on social media for free tickets, who flew fans to the Super Bowl and covered their hotel rooms and meals. And there was so much more he did that never made its way into the news. Ask anyone who's worn the horseshoe. Chances are, if they lost a loved one while playing for this team, Irsay flew them home on his private jet for the funeral. Starter or third-string, head coach or low-level scout, it didn't matter. He was, without question, among the greatest philanthropists this city and state have ever seen. 'It has to be about more than just football,' Irsay once told me. 'It has to be about the community, making the community better. I think it's the most notable endeavor you can pursue.' He was the rare owner who grew up in the game; Jimmy, they used to call him, started out as a teenage ballboy for his father's Baltimore Colts in 1972. He was general manager by 24, and the hard lessons from his draft whiffs and free agency misses humbled him. I once asked him why, after his father passed in 1997 and he assumed full control of the team, he didn't stay heavily involved in personnel decisions. Why not try and be the next Jerry Jones? 'There's no way I could do both, even back then,' he said flatly. Advertisement Deep down, he knew if the Colts wanted to compete for championships, he needed someone else calling the shots. So he traded for Bill Polian in 1998 and stepped back. Months later, in the tense few days before the 1998 NFL Draft, Polian stormed into his office, sweating over the No. 1 pick. When Polian weighed the pros and cons of Tennessee's Peyton Manning, part of him saw another Bernie Kosar. 'You're getting Bernie Kosar!' Polian screamed at his new boss, slamming his fists on Irsay's desk. 'Can you live with Bernie Kosar?!?' Irsay nodded. He knew he wasn't getting the next Bernie Kosar. The city would never be the same. The NFL lost an original on Wednesday. Indianapolis lost an icon. The Colts lost a lifer. There will never be another quite like Jim Irsay. Not in the NFL, and likely not in any sport. He made the Colts more competitive and my job far more fascinating. I'll be forever grateful our paths crossed along the way.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd interview by 'Nasty Nick' auctioned
A recording of an interview with rock stars Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd's Richard Wright, made by former EastEnders star John Altman, is to be who played Nasty Nick Cotton in the soap from its launch in 1985, met the rock stars when as a 15-year-old he helped carry their equipment into Central Hall in Chatham, Kent, on 1 December three-minute recording is expected to fetch up to £2,000 when it is auctioned at Ewbank's in Send, Surrey, on 22 items being auctioned include autographs and rare seven-inch singles, with the collection estimated to fetch up to £17,000. Altman said: "l played truant with my best friends."We had tickets to see the Jimi Hendrix tour, along with Pink Floyd and Keith Emerson's band, The Nice."We arrived early at Chatham, Central Hall and helped the roadies carry in the gear. The stage door closed and there we were locked in with all these rock stars."We saw the afternoon show and the one in the evening. In-between shows l managed to interview Rick Wright from Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix in his dressing room."Jimi was gentle and cool, and showed us his new album - Axis Bold As Love." Hendrix talks about his recent US tour with the Monkees, which the guitarist quit after eight shows."As people, they're all right," he said. "It wasn't the kids who didn't like us, it was the parents, you know, they'd complain and all this mess." The autographs include Hendrix's and Wright's Pink Floyd bandmates Roger Waters and original lead singer Syd talks about the positive response the band had received at a show in Bristol."In America, you know, they're the same really. But except that they do tend to, you know, give you more chance to say what you want to say."Altman decided to sell his memorabilia rather than have it "gathering dust" in a said: "I thought it would be nice to share the joy of an amazing interview that no one else in the world would otherwise have the chance to hear."
