When is a cover song better than the original? Only you can decide. This week Queens Of The Stone Age takes on the Kinks’ “Who’ll Be The Next In Line.” MAGNET’s Ryan Burleson pulls the pin. Take cover!
Listening to the Kinks’ jangly, direct “Who’ll Be The Next In Line,” it’s impossible to miss the band’s influence on modern acts like Spoon, the Black Lips and, in a less refined sense, the burgeoning crop of garage/punk outfits making waves with prominent bloggers in recent years. Led by the brothers Davies, the London-born quartet was, in 1965, leading the British Invasion as a rawer, less wholesome version of the Beatles (drugs hadn’t deflowered that band’s work yet), which makes sense when you consider that, despite modest success, bands like Spoon in particular have never really garnered the attention of the happy-go-lucky mainstream set. All acts listed above make or made rock ‘n’ roll for a crowd definitively at odds with the screaming masses taking part in Beatlemania-esque cultural events.
It should be unsurprising that one of the last true rock bands standing, Queens Of The Stone Age, would pay reverence to the Kinks’ early work as well. Released on b-sides/rarities album Stone Age Collection in 2004, QOTSA’s “Who’ll Be The Next In Line” isn’t markedly different from the original, but, in a way, it would’ve been strange if it had been: This band is direct as they come. Nevertheless, there are differences, however subtle, so get to listening.
The Cover:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWa67_dS924
The Original:
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