Many up-and-coming Australian bands see triple j’s Like A Version as a chance to shine in front of the biggest audience they’ve had up to that point and they’re right to. After all, the station is our official national youth broadcaster.
So it’s not surprising when a band decides to take on an especially ambitious song choice when they finally hit the triple j studio. Sometimes, this can really pay off, as it did last year when The Belligerents performed an incredible rendition of the seemingly uncoverable ‘Praise You’.
Other times it can backfire, as it did with The Rubens, who left listeners unsure of what to think of their mash-up of Adele’s ‘Hello’ and Kendrick Lamar’s ‘King Kunta’, shortly after they took out the top spot in the Hottest 100.
It’s a similar story for talented Sydney outfit Bootleg Rascal, who pulled off an excellent performance of their song ‘Asleep In The Machine’ before splitting the opinion of listeners with their cover of The Weeknd’s ‘The Hills’.
“Damn, that was awful. Disappointing, after their original song was so good!” wrote one commenter on YouTube. “Yeahhhh. Not that great,” another added, whilst another still noted: “Trying to cover The Weeknd is just a bad idea. It’s like trying to perfect something that’s already been perfected.”
Some fans were harsh — “Next on like a version, anyone that wants to have a go! That was rough.” — but others were more forgiving — “Am I the only one who actually thought it wasn’t too bad? The chorus does sound a bit scratchy, but I think that was what he was going for.”
Of course, it also bears remembering that the band’s Like A Version performance comes hot on the heels of Methyl Ethel’s last week, which many agreed was an absolutely sterling rendition of Justin Timberlake’s 2002 hit ‘Cry Me a River’.
As we’ve previously mentioned, this year’s Like A Version series has gotten off to an interesting start – we’ve seen a heart-wrenching David Bowie cover, an ambitious mash-up from this year’s Hottest 100 winners, a revamp of a Hottest 100 favourite, and what was maybe the most un-triple j Like A Version ever.
