First off, welcome back. I did one MC Lars Monday a few months back and just fell off the train of continuing the series, but in 2022, I’m staying on track with Spose Saturdays, Specs Sundays, and MC Lars Mondays.
To restart the series, I’ll be covering the MC Lars and Jaret Reddick, the lead vocalist and guitarist from Bowling For Soup, cover of the hit Gorillaz song, Feel Good Inc. that was released in July of 2021.
While Lars kept the lyrics pretty much the same, there are a lot of differences stylistically. The most noticeable change has to be the tempo difference between the two versions.
MC Lars’s version is extremely fast compared to the Gorillaz version. The Gorillaz version is slow, you’re able to absorb the lyrics that are coming at you easier because of the tempo. Lars comes right out of the gate punching you in the face with fast paced lyrics which really does work.
Because of the uptempo pace of the MC Lars version, the song is thirty six seconds shorter than the original Gorillaz version which I don’t mind. Traditionally if you hear a remix or cover of a song where the cover changes a lot of the original style it doesn’t work, but this cover of Feel Good Inc. is great.
An example of a cover that strays away from the original songs style that works is the Sound of Silence cover by Disturbed. The band added heavy guitar to the Simon and Garfunkel song and it was great.
Because the pace of the beat is a lot faster than the original Feel Good Inc., the lyrics hit you in a faster manner. Something about that, when I’m listening makes me think of a supervillain, especially when we get to the part where it goes “Windmill, windmill for the land, Turn forever, hand in hand, Take it all in on your stride, It is ticking, falling down”.
Something about that sequence of fast paced lyrics with the beat sounding a bit like swirling wind make me think of a badass supervillain introduction.
What I do like about the song is that MC Lars didn’t tinker with the lyrics. He kept the original ones from the lyrics, but did find a way to add his own flare.
In between the second verse and second chorus, Lars adds what seems to be a very literal verse about actual Gorillas. The Gorillaz who wrote Feel Good Inc. are a digital band, not a three hundred pound silverback.
“Speaking of Gorillaz, I wanna give a shoutout to Koko the gorilla, For learning sign language and showing us that gorillas could love kittens, It's a beautiful story”.
Koko the Gorilla is a gorilla who lived in the San Francisco Zoo and learned sign language to communicate with humans and actually befriended a kitty.
Lars finds a way to slip something like this into songs because it may not seem like it fits and comes out of left field, but it does work.
In a song like Bigfoot Left the Bay he says “Get it? Bigfoot was sick of the tired tech world of San Francisco, So he moved north to the Redwoods”. While you could imply that’s what the song was about, he breaks down the wall and lets you know. It’s a nice twist into songs.
Next week, I’ll be covering the MC Lars song White Kids Aren’t Hyphy that released in 2009.