Pure Nostalgia

2010-11-21

by Darknut

Cambodia Got Covered

I love finding stuff like this.

I have been a fan of Apoptygma Berzerk for some years now. But I didn't know their song "Cambodia" was actually a cover of Kim Wilde. This is funny because I already liked some Kim Wilde songs, even though I'm apparently not aware of her whole discography. I didn't really get into MTV until about 1991, and this was not one of the old videos that they liked to keep playing forever. (Kids, you will never know how great MTV was in 1991.) So this was a pleasant discovery, if not a bit awkward. Its not often that I fit the role of the punk kid discovering things from the 80s I should have known already.

Now that I've seen it, I don't really care for Apop's video, whereas Kim Wilde's video is still haunting today despite the 80s cheese. Also: Daaaaamn, Kim Wilde is hot. (Is she still hot today? Google will tell me... Thanks, Google.)

I like both versions of the song, though.

While we're talking about Kim Wilde, here's an 80s song that happens to be a cover of Diana Ross. I just love the synth stuff in the bridge.

Here's another one: Genesis covered by some synthpop band called Interface. This time the discovery of the cover went more the usual route: I always liked the Genesis video, and I wasn't aware of the newer band until I heard this cover. With "Cambodia" it was more of a "reverse discovery".

I think 20 years is about the right amount of time for a song to age before it's ripe for a cover. I would have liked No Doubt's cover (2003) of Talk Talk (1984), except I wasn't able to like No Doubt any more after the millionth time they came on the radio (1996).

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