BOC Covers

[John A. Swartz]

Here's what the BOC FAQ has for cover tunes on BOC - a few additional
comments by me are [in brackets]:

John


Bands Covering BOC
==================

     Tracking down all known covers of BOC tunes is probably an
impossible task.  Several people have given me information on band's
covering BOC, although some of the bands may be local acts that most of
us have never heard of.  Some of the covers were never recorded, while
others may exist on demo tapes only.  For the most part, I have tried to
include only covers by artists that have actually recorded the cover on
one of their albums.  I have used computer resources available to me to
verify as many of these covers as possible, and where available, I have
listed the recording on which the cover can be found (note:  with the
proliferation of compilation albums and box sets, these recordings might
be found on multiple sources - the source listed is believed to be the
original source, and no effort has been made to track down every
available source).  The information is presented in the following
format:

Artist - "BOC Cover" - *Recording Title*

Agents Of Fortune - "Stairway To The Stars", "Burnin' For You", O.D.'d
                    On Life Itself", "Lips In The Hills" - 4-track CD
Apollo 440 - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - *Millennium Fever*

[BOC as a dance tune - ugh]

Big Country - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - *Ships* (CD single)
Bigod 20 - "Dominance And Submission" - *One* (CD single)
The Boo Radleys - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
Braindamage - "Flaming Telepaths" - *The Turning Point*
Braindead - "Godzilla"
The Bridewell Taxis - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
CHOP (Mike Watt project) - "I'm On The Lamb, But I Ain't No Sheep" and
                           "She's As Beautiful As A Foot" - single
Current '93 - "This Ain't the Summer of Love" - *Swastikas For Noddy*
Fighting Gravity - "Godzilla" - *No Stopping, No Standing*
fIREHOSE - "The Red And The Black" - *Live Totem Pole EP*
Fu Manchu - "Godzilla" - single (10-inch vinyl)
                       - *Eatin' Dust* (different version than single)
Goo Goo Dolls - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - *Goo Goo Dolls*

[DFTR as a punk/thrash song - interesting for one listen only]

Guitar Orchestra - "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" - *Interpretations*
Gumball - "She's as Beautiful As A Foot" - *Revolution On Ice*

[decent rendition - Albert Bouchard on background vocals]

Gus - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - *"Scream" Movie Soundtrack*
Honeymoon Killers - "Godzilla" - *Let It Breed*
L7 - "This Ain't The Summer Of Love" - *"I Know What You Did Last
                                       Summer" Movie Soundtrack*

[heard it on the radio and thought it sounded pretty good - others have disagreed]

Rose McDowall - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - single (U.K. 12" vinyl)
The Meatmen - "Hot Rails To Hell" - *Pope On A Rope*

[Hot Rails as a punk song - I'm not into punk, but it seems to work]

The Meices - "Burnin' For You - *West X North-South*
             (Compilation/Box Set)
Metal Flake Mother - "Godzilla" (live)
Metallica - "Astronomy" - *Garage, Inc.*

[decent, and easy to find - but Kirk Hamment is no Buck Dharma]

The Minutemen - "The Red And The Black" - *3 Way Tie (For Last)*
              - "The Red And The Black" (live) - *Tour Spiel* (7" EP)
The Mutton Birds - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - *"The Frighteners"
                                               Movie Soundtrack*
The Panther Moderns - "See You In Black" - *Red Star* (John Shirley's
                                           band released their own
                                           version, with different
                                           music, before BOC's *Heaven
                                           Forbid*)

[sort of funky - nowhere near as heavy as BOC - interesting though in
that you get more the point of view of John Shirley, the lyricist for
this song]

Radio Birdman - "Transmaniacon MC" - *Surfing At 2JJJ* (bootleg)
              - "Career Of Evil" - *Rock'n'Roll War* (bootleg - credits
                the song to "Bouchard/Smith - Blue Oyster Cult)
                                 - *Murder City Nights* (bootleg - the
                                   track is mislabeled "Career Beatle")
              - "ME-262", "Before The Kiss", and "Dominance And
                Submission" have also been covered live - unknown
                whether or not recorded versions exist
Rattlebone - "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll"

[very cool, IMHO]

The Riverboys - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
David Roter - "Joan Crawford" - *Bambo*
            - "Unknown Tongue" - *Bambo*

[reasonably close to how BOC did it, though Roter gives it more that
kind of "mad scientist" sounding vocal that I think of when I try to
characterize a lot of Albert Bouchard's vocals in BOC]

Clint Ruin & Lydia Lunch - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - *Don't Fear The
                                                        Reaper* (EP)
Screaming Dizbusters (The Nomads) - "This Ain't The Summer Of Love" -
                                    single
The Screaming Tribesmen - "The Red And The Black"
The Sinners - "Dominance and Submission" - *Ten Year Jubilee* (EP)
Smashing Pumpkins - "Godzilla" (live) - *Tribute to BOC* (bootleg CD)

[heard an MP3 of this recently - not bad]

Patti Smith - "Fire Of Unknown Origin" (her original poem, with
              instrumental accompaniment), formerly released as a b-side
              to the single "Frederick" and on a 3-song EP, is to be
              included as a bonus track on the CD re-release of her
              *Wave* album
Superfuzz - "Godzilla" - *Godzilla* (CD - 3 different versions)
Teutonic Guilt - "Tenderloin"
Thanatos - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - *665 - The Neighbor of the Beast*
Thunderpuss 2000 - "Godzilla" - single (4 dance remix versions)
Tommyknockers - "ME-262" and/or "Career Of Evil"
Too Hip For The Room - "Don't Fear The Reaper/Burnin' For You" medley -
                       *All-Time Greatest Hips*
                     - "Godzilla", "Veteran Of The Psychic Wars", Sole
                       Survivor", "Cagey Cretins", "Searchin' For
                       Celine", "Lips In The Hills", "Joan Crawford",
                       "O.D.'d On Life Itself", "Black Blade", "Last
                       Days Of May", "Before The Kiss (A Redcap)", "Fire
                       Of Unknown Origin", "E.T.I.", "The Vigil", "Take
                       Me Away", "Shooting Shark", "Dragon Lady",
                       "Harvester Of Eyes", "In Thee", "Mirrors",
                       "Unknown Tongue", "Divine Wind" -
                       *Don't Fear The Remake*

[BUY THIS CD!! This is an ultra-cool CD for any BOC fan - lots of cool
little references in the liner notes, plus participation from BOC fans,
and also Buck, Eric, and Danny Miranda -- all versions are very
different from the BOC originals, so don't expect a BOC copycat sound.
A great novelty, and some cool sounds to boot.]


Bonnie Tyler - "Goin' Through The Motions" - *Faster Than the Speed of
               Light*

[A poppier version of an already poppy song - not bad though]

UV's - "This Ain't the Summer of Love" - U.K. magazine *Bucketfull Of
                                         Brains (#26)* flexidisc
Mike Watt - "Dominance And Submission" - *E-Ticket Ride* and
                                         *Piss Bottle Man* (singles)

[THE DEFINITE VERSION on CD!  Joe and Al Bouchard are very prominent on
this track - Albert even does the lead vocals!  Hard to find, but "smokin'"]

Helen Wheels - "Tattoo Vampire" - *Archetype*

[Another great CD - available from Al's Cellsum records.  This is a
great version of this song - Helen backed up by members of tBS and X
Brothers - check it out!]

White Flag/Tesco Vee - "Hot Rails To Hell" - *Wild Kingdom*
                     - "Hot Rails To Hell" (live) - *Feeding Frenzy*

[Another punk rendition of Hot Rails which also works decently]

World of Pooh - "Dominance and Submission" - *Not All That Terrifies
                                              Harms* (compilation)


     Also, the magazine *Forced Exposure* published a fake review of a
non-existent BOC tribute album.  The review appears in issue #18 (Spring
1994).  The fake album is called "Then Came The Last Days Of May", and
presumably features the following artists and BOC covers:

     Crawlspace - "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll"
     Sonic Youth - "I'm On The Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep"
     Helios Creed - "Career Of Evil"
     DOS - "O.D.'d On Life Itself"
     Kray Cherub - "Transmaniacon M.C."
     Beme Seed - "Baby Ice Dog"
     Skullflower's - "She's As Beautiful As A Foot"
     MX-80 - "Tenderloin"
     Sun City Girls - "Extraterrestrial Intelligence."

     Note:  Again, this album does not exits - the review is fake.


     Speaking of BOC tribute albums, however, there now exists one.  The
acoustic trio Too Hip For The Room has recorded an album of BOC covers.
Entitled *Don't Fear The Remake*, this album contains musical
contributions from Eric Bloom, Buck Dharma, and Danny Miranda of BOC, as
well as contributions by BOC lyricist John Shirley, Buck Dharma's wife
and brothers, Broadway Blotto, and several BOC fans.  See above for
which tracks were known to have been covered.  More information will be
provided in a future version of the FAQ.  To obtain a copy of this
release, write to:

     Too Hip For The Room
     P.O. Box 1300
     Bellmore, NY  11710

     Or send e-mail inquiries to Zurna at aol.com