Classin' Up the 80's

This past weekend I started working on a mix. I was trying to combine two of my favorite types of music...lo-fi indie, folk and/or bluegrass, with cheesy 80's pop music. My mission was to find some great covers of 80's pop music and compile them into a mix that sounded more like any respectable indie/folk mix you might share with a friend. I accomplished this task, and have been listening to the result ever since.

Since I was so content with the result I thought I would share the tracklisting with you and include a few links for the songs with you guys. Enjoy!

Classin' Up The 80's

The Pickin' On Series - "Unskinny Bop (Poison)"
The Be Good Tanyas - "When Doves Cry (Prince)" (via My Old Kentucky Blog)
Gilli Moon - "Need You Tonight (INXS)"
Nina Gordon - "18 and Life (Skid Row)"
Emm Gryner - "Pour Some Sugar On Me (Def Leppard)"
The Puppini Sisters - "Heart of Glass (Blondie)" (via Adzuki Bean Stash)
The Boy Least Likely To - "Faith (George Michael)" (This can be streamed on his site)
Rasputina - "Fire & Ice (Pat Benatar)"
Jerree Small (w/ Scott "Starfire" Lunt) - "You Spin Me Round (Dead or Alive)"
Adrianne - "Blister In The Sun (Violent Femmes)"
The Harvey Girls - "White Wedding (Billy Idol)"
The Softies - "Together Forever (Rick Astley)"
Petra Haden - "Don't Stop Believin'(Journey)" (left click)
Greg Laswell - "Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper)" (via Line of Best Fit)
Christy Jefferson - "Come On Eileen (Dexy's Midnight Runners)"
Jonatha Brooke - "Eye In The Sky (Alan Parsons Project)"

Petra Haden's guilty pleasures

My love for indie rockers covering pop songs is no secret. I especially get a thrill out of women covering songs originally sung by men. So, how could I not be excited to see that Petra Haden has covered Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" for a compilation called "Guilt By Association" that includes many indie artists covering some of their favorite "guilty pleasure" songs.

I originally heard of Petra when she was a member of the 90's alt-rock band That Dog. She and her sister Rachel (both the daughters of jazz bassist, Charlie Haden), made up half of the band, Petra contributing violin. After That Dog disbanded, Petra went on to record with other bands, including The Rentals and The Decemberists, before setting off to do solo work.

Petra's cover of Journey doesn't surprise me, though, as she obviously has a love for 80's pop as much as I do since she did a remarkable cover of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" a while back. Definitely worth checking out (you can hear a streaming version on her website). Until then, listen to her covering Journey, as well as a beautiful cover of The Beach Boys "God Only Knows".

• Don't Stop Believin' (left click)
• God Only Knows