Acoustic vs. Electric

Back in the 1990's, MTV made acoustic versions of songs popular with their "MTV Unplugged" programming.  Since then, it's become pretty commonplace for bands to perform acoustic versions of their music at concerts, on TV shows, or when visiting radio studios.

My track record for acoustic music has generally been negative -- meaning that I usually prefer the original, electric versions of the music I listen to.  There are very few exceptions to this rule.  The ONLY one that sticks out in my head (before today) is "Times Like These" by The Foo Fighters.  The acoustic version of that song is amazing, and I prefer it over the original album version by far.

I think the reason for my impartiality to acoustic music stems from the fact that a lot of today's musicians sound utterly horrible live.  Sad, but true.  I remember the first time I heard Third Eye Blind perform live.  I was horrified, and the only thing I could say was, "WTF IS THIS SHIT?"

I now present you with two exhibits that serve as a recent exception to the above.  Both of these songs are by a new-ish band called Foster the People.  I love both versions of both songs in such a way that I treat them as four distinct and different songs.  This is unique because of how DIFFERENT these guys sound live.  That in itself is not uncommon, of course, but this isn't one of those cases where a singer sounds like utter crap because they don't have their auto-tuner.  While the lead singer sounds nothing like he does on his album, it's not a WORSE sound.  It's just different, and I like it.  It's a different song to me now.

Admittedly, I don't expect anyone to like these songs.  My taste in music is extremely broad, and I tend to latch onto the strangest things.  This is one of those cases, and you shouldn't feel bad if you attempt to listen to this music and just turn it off after a few moments.  

First up is the song "Pumped Up Kicks".  
The Original vs. The Acoustic

The other is "Helena Beat".
The Original vs. The Acoustic

There's something that I've heard a lot of people say about these guys:  "Their lead singer's voice is AMAZING live!  Why do they alter it so much in their original songs?"

That's a fair point, really.  The guy is clearly talented on his own -- you can hear that from listening to the acoustic songs above.  The original have a very different voice to them, very processed and altered with effects.  I think this is one of the reasons why I can't decide (whether you should live or die...er wait no) which version I like the best.  They're so very different, and that was an interesting artistic choice on their part.

Incidentally, while "Pumped Up Kicks" is a very upbeat SOUNDING song, the lyrics are incredibly dark.  It's about a kid with a gun planning a Columbine-esque shooting spree.  It's the band's way of speaking out against gun violence, which I think is pretty cool.