Modern music may not be your thing, but re-imagined in the hands of the Postmodern Jukebox, everything from Macklemore to Miley Cyrus takes on new life with an old sound.
The latest effort from Scott Bradlee's impressive, often viral Jukebox is a jazzy rendition of the Guns N' Roses staple "Sweet Child O' Mine." With singer Miche Braden leading the way, the band cuts loose on the hit off the rockers' debut 1987 album. The goal? To sound as if "New Orleans blues legend Bessie Smith had recorded it back in the '20s."
Forget Axl and Slash and instead appreciate the heavy lifting of the horn section and Braden's immense vocal talents — especially as she closes with the song's memorable "Where do we go now?" lyric. The sound may not fill a stadium the way the GN'R spectacle did in its heyday, but if a smokey little club is more your speed, this would do the trick.
Bradlee, the piano-playing brainchild behind the Postmodern Jukebox, has put together a large assortment of unique covers. His website, YouTube channel and Facebook page all have hefty followings, and there's an album on iTunes called "Twist is the New Twerk."
"My goal with Postmodern Jukebox is to get my audience to think of songs not as rigid, ephemeral objects, but like malleable globs of silly putty," Bradlee writes on his site. "Songs can be twisted, shaped, and altered without losing their identities — just as we grow, age, and expire without losing ours."
Here are a few more of our favorites.
1950s-style doo wop Miley Cyrus:
Motown tribute to Nickleback:
1920s Gatsby-style Psy: