Bad Copy

Here’s another round of Cover to Cover!

For this session I will be talking about the song “Goofy’s Concern.”

The Original:

This song was originally performed by the band Butthole Surfers.

Butthole Surfers are a noise rock/art punk/psychedelic band that was formed in 1981 in San Antonio, Texas by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary. While the band didn’t start out with this colorful name, they decided to go with this name which was the name of an early song of theirs. Prior to this name, the band went by other names such as The Dick Clark Five, The Vodka Family Winstons, Ashtray Babyheads, the more colorful Fred Astaire’s Asshole, and more. From what I have read, the story goes that an announcer at one of their early concerts forgot their actual name and introduced them as Butthole Surfers. The band went with the name from then on.

To date, the band has released eight LPs, four EPs, two live albums, and three compilation albums. Their first release was a self titled EP that was released in July 1983 by Alternative Tentacles.

The song I am talking about comes from their 1993 full length album Independent Worm Saloon. It was released in March of that year by Capitol Records. It was their debut for the record label (although their previous album piouhgh which was originally released by Rough Trade was re-released by Capitol in 1992). The album was produced by former Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones. Independent Worm Saloon reached #154 on the US Billboard 200 and #6 on the Heatseekers chart.

When the song originally came out I was only vaguely familiar with the band. I had not heard many of their songs and I really didn’t bother listening to any of it until after the Ministry song “Jesus Built My Hotrod” came out in 1991. Gibby Haynes had provided guest vocals on the song and actually co-wrote it with the band. I really liked this song and, even then, only kind dipped my toe into their catalog. However, when Independent Worm Saloon came out, I really enjoyed it. I even went to go see this band on the tour in support of this album.

The Cover:

The song was covered in 2013 by Long Island based punk band Iron Chic.

This band was formed in 2008 from the ashes of the band Latterman.

To date, the band has released three full length albums, a 2008 demo, and several EPs and splits with other bands.

The song comes from an EP titled Spooky Action which was released in June 2013 by Bridge Nine Records.

The Verdict:

To be honest, I’m not sure what compelled me to pick this particular song for an rendition of Cover to Cover. I have a pretty hefty list of songs that I am planning to write about and could have picked any of them. This one just called to me for some reason this week.

The original has that archetypal chaotic sound that the band is known for, especially on the album that it comes from. Lyrically, the song is about… uhhh … who the hell knows? That he doesn’t care about anything? Each line of the song begins with either “I don’t give a fuck…” or “I don’t care…” But yeah, it’s got that characteristic filthy experimental noisy Butthole Surfers sound. I like it.

As for the Iron Chic version, I’m not sure what the point of the intro part with the M*A*S*H theme song was. I mean, there is a reference to the Vietnam War in the song but M*A*S*H took place during the Korean War. Maybe the guys in Iron Chic were just confused. Or maybe they were just being weird. Who can tell.

In any case, theirs is uncannily similar to the original version. Almost, dare I say, indistinguishable aside from the different vocal styles of the two singers. Perhaps due to the vocal delivery of Jason, the song is just a tad less chaotic? I dunno. Both versions are pretty damn close to sounding the same. Almost to a point where trying to decide which one I like better is impossible. However, that is the point of this column so I’m going to go with the Iron Chic version simply because, as a band in general, I prefer them. That is, if I got the urge to listen to this song at some point in my life, I would probably listen to this version over the original.

The original is great though.

But what do you think?

That’s it! You’ve made it through another edition of Cover to Cover! Come back for another ride soon!