Heave Media

We've Got You Covered

The Polyphonic Spree preach Nirvana

For Nirvana, 1991 brought one of their more well known performances - the MTV Video Music Awards. Kurt Cobain, in an act of rebellion against MTV executives, played and sang the beginning of “Rape Me” before breaking into the scheduled song, “Lithium.” Bassist Krist Novaselic threw his bass in the air in frustration and caught it…with his forehead and Dave Grohl repeatedly said hi to Axl Rose. What does any of this have to do with The Polyphonic Spree? Well, not much except that the unnecessarily large band from Texas covered Nirvana’s “Lithium” on their 2006 EP entitled Wait.

The song, originally by a band that was known for so much angst in its vocals and rebellious fury in its distorted guitars, turns into something completely different when sung by Polyphonic Spree front man Tim DeLaughter. Cobain’s well known voice is replaced by the happy sounding DeLaughter, and the addition of piano, harp and other strings to the sections of the song that originally featured only a bass line and simple percussion go a long way to turn “Lithium” on its ear. You almost believe that DeLaughter is so happy because today he found his friend. The transition from the low-key verses into the loud, somewhat angry chorus isn’t jarring in the same way as the original, but it still works. All in all, a good tribute to one of the most influential American bands of the nineties, if not all time.

STREAM: The Polyphonic Spree - Lithium

Posted by Cory Roop on Mar 17, 2008 @ 12:00 am