Monday, July 19, 2010

Tunes Inspired By 'Toons: Part 3

Your silence has been deafening. 'Tunes Inspired By Toons' hasn't been one of my more popular features. Very few of you have taken advantage of the mp3s, and I haven't received any emails... not even complaints. I can take criticism, but I cannot handle indifference. So, I'm going to put this one to bed today with the compilation 'Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits.' I don't listen to this one much these days. The bands involved were all about time and place. As you will immediately be able to tell, it's all about mid-'90s alt heroes singing their favorite '60s-era cartoon theme songs. Commercially, this was alternative music's brightest days. It was a glorious time when a band like fIREHOSE could be signed to a major. 'Saturday Morning' was a pretty big hit. It peaked at No. 67 on the Billboard album chart.

I have 'Saturday Morning' for Matthew Sweet's take on 'Scooby Doo.' Throughout my childhood I used to tell my best pal Jeff that a band should do that song. After I went away to college I kind of lost track of my friend. When we met up again years later, the first thing he told me was that he heard Sweet covered it. The five songs below are my favorites from the collection, but I could have featured Butthole Surfers doing 'Underdog,' Violent Femmes covering a song from 'The Jetsons' or many others. If you don't know remember Tripping Daisy but think they sound familiar, it might be because the band's leader, Tim DeLaughter, went on to form the Polyphonic Spree. 'Saturday Morning' is still in print, and you can purchase it right here. OK, I'll grow up now. Done.

Matthew Sweet - Scooby Doo, Where Are You? (mp3)
The Ramones - Spider Man (mp3)
Tripping Daisy - Friends/Sigmund And The Seamonsters (mp3)
Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donelly - Josie And The Pussycats (mp3)
Liz Phair and Material Issue - The Tra La La Song (One Banana Two Banana) (mp3)

Related:
Tunes Inspired By 'Toons: Part 1
Tunes Inspired By 'Toons: Part 2

2 comments:

rem2rigs said...

Matthew Sweet - Scooby Doo, Where are You? is a great cover! I like that you put this up here but like you posted its not a go to these days... like Not love....

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite albums. I wore the grooves out of it and had to buy it digitally. It's definitely "of a time", and most younger people on whom I try to foist it don't get it. But rock on.