Typing in the name of any popular song on YouTube will lead to a slew of parody videos – most of which were made in people’s basements. There’s also a number of professional parodies — most of you have probably seen Alanis Morrissette’s version of “My Humps” or any number of Weird Al videos.

However, some artists have referenced other bands in the videos for their own original songs. These videos, though often amusing, are many times done more as homage than parody — here’s a couple from the past few years that you might have missed… (more…)

When a film writer bases a script on a novel, it often sits somewhere between his own ideas and those of the original author. Take, for instance, a movie like “10 Things I Hate About You,” which recreated Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew as a modern teen romantic comedy. Hardly Shakespeare’s original intention, but it can’t be completely credited to the new writers either.

The same concept can be applied to certain songs. We’ll call them “reinterpretations” – songs that aren’t exactly originals, but are something more than covers. Let’s take a look at 10 artists who used older songs to create something new from their own unique perspectives. (more…)

“Girl! I wanna take you to a gay bar.”

With that immortal opening line, Electric Six both garnered their biggest hit and assured their future failure. You see, there is nothing worse for the longevity of a band than starting a career with a novelty hit — it’s almost a guaranteed ticket to one hit wonderland. Think about it: Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy,” Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” Nada Surf’s “Popular” — all songs that were major hits, but were too quirky, funny, or generally off the wall to let the bands break free from their goofball shackles.

And the truth is, most bands that begin with a novelty hit will take a few more stabs at another success and then fade into obscurity. However, in the five years following debut album Fire, Electric Six pulled out four more records — most of which were actually pretty effin awesome. While their first album was mostly dancefloor fun, later work became more genre spanning, and, as a lyricist, singer/principal songwriter Dick Valentine proved he had something of a knack for cultural satire. (more…)

With Halloween quickly approaching, I thought I’d take a look at one of the scariest things on the internet – homemade band merchandise being sold on eBay. A look through the listings for any popular artist will reveal an assortment of extremely unofficial merchandise featuring an array of poor artwork, misspellings, and general bad taste. Let’s take a look at 10 of these gems available for purchase on eBay right now… (more…)

Per·fect song - /pur-fikt sawng/ : 1) A song that you find to be perfect; one in which you would not change a single note, beat or word. 2) A song that you connect to emotionally, or attach to a memory, a special person, or an experience. 3) Songs that speak directly to you or about you.

We here at Blendetta have decided to compile a top 50 list of what can only be described as perfect songs. No two people will have the same reasons as to why they find a song to be perfect, so we made two separate lists. So without further ado, here are the songs and the reasons why they are perfect, to us: (more…)