Tim: I was at a wedding last weekend, and it was very enjoyable indeed – the vicar was a bit naughty in his sermon, with lots of talk about things you wouldn’t normally expect a vicar to talk about, and the cake was all lovely and multicoloured. Somehow, though, the band didn’t know Teenage Dirtbag, which I found absolutely horrifying (not least because me absolutely losing it to that song was one of my highlights of my sister’s wedding six months back).
Tom: Okay, so full disclosure here: until a couple of years ago, when I saw the Teenage Dirtbag video, I didn’t realise the lead singer of Wheatus was a guy.
Tim: Seriously? Huh.
Tom: I guess I’d never listened to the lyrics that closely either.
Tim: Oh, you mean the, uh, gun bit. Yeah, that’s awkward.
Tom: Still, at least we can add another track to the list of turn-of-the-century songs that unnecessarily use record scratches.
Tim: I don’t know, I think we can call that necessary. Anyway, here’s a slightly (considerably) reworked version of it from Danish artist Pauline.
Tim: And I don’t really know what to think about that.
Tom: Really?
Tim: Well, actually that’s not true, because mostly I’m not that keen on it – I’d happily take a straight cover of the original, because with different genres they’re often enjoyable (though sometimes they’re downright criminal, looking at you Calum Scott).
Tom: Yep, that’s true. This seems… unnecessary, somehow. It doesn’t really fit as a cover, and it doesn’t fit as an inspiration. This can be done really, really well (see The Vamps’s cover-slash-interpolation of Simon and Garfunkel’s Cecilia) but this… isn’t?
Tim: Right: we’ve a weird remix with a resung chorus, some repeated lyrics and not much structure to follow that I can find five listens in. Not so great – and certainly not when they don’t even include the happy ending of the original. Upsetting.