Woo Hoo! Led Zeppelin Goes Reggae: Blur, Mushmellow (Britney Cover), Led Zeppelin

"SONG #2"           BLUR

Clocking in at only 2:02, one of the 90's greatest indie rock anthems has two verses, two choruses, and two bridges.    It's the second song, second single on their second album.    Hmmmm, I'm getting a good idea how their title "Song #2" was chosen.     Let's see how good you are at trivia, how high did this song make it to on the UK charts?   Yes, you guessed right (#2!)   Woo Hoo!    The song has lived on in video games, movies (great Charlies Angel's scene with Drew Barrymore), and commercials.   "Song #2" was actually conceived as a parody song of the grunge explosion and ironically began knocking those types of songs off the radio.

"D'YER MAKER"     LED ZEPPELIN

Zeppelin fans didn't love this track when it first came out.  Led Zeppelin does reggae?    When Houses Of The Holy was released, fans were surprised to hear their change in style, bassist John Paul Jones was embarrassed by it, and Zep never played it live in concert.   Yet, the song has become a classic rock favorite.    The song was recorded at Mick Jagger's Stargroves home in England and John Bonham tried to mix a 50's doo wop beat with a little Jamaican soul.   If you want to hear a travesty, google Sheryl Crow's cover version of the song complete with an accordion solo.

"TOXIC"     MUSHMELLOW

The Beatles recorded "Back In The USSR" with the line, "The Ukraine girls really knock me out, they leave the west behind....."  well, a real life Ukranian rock band show us how special those girls are in this video.   Alex Mushmellow Zhuravel lived in Seattle during the grunge period and mixed that sound with his Russian rock band roots for a dynamic cover of the Britney Spears #1 hit.   The video maintains the theme of enticing girls except this time it's on a Russian train instead of a plane.  I was introduced to this song by a special mix CD given to me a couple of years ago, great song to play at high volume!