Evolution of a classic, part II; Tune!

If ye like more than one genre of music, then there's a fair chance you will have heard of the classic tune, 'Duelling Banjos' from the film Deliverance. If not, here it is:



Now, I hope ye didn't just skim past that or decide to not read on at all, because ye have to admit there is some seriously good fretwork going on there - both from the guitar and the banjo. Mind you, I have never understood why it's called 'Duelling Banjos' when there's obviously only one banjo there... Ah well.
All petty nit-picking aside, my point is that ye know when there is a classic tune when it's covered by other artists. And yes, a quick search reveals that it's been covered by pretty much all the usual suspects from much of the country and western world. However, the mark of a true classic is when artists from outside the original genre take an interest and decide to put their own slant on it.
For many folks recently, the most obvious example is to be found on the DVD of Bill Bailey's Tinselworm tour. On this, our multi-gifted, intellectual and absurdist comedian comes back to do an encore. This is no ordinary stand-up encore, though - not by a long chalk. Waiting for him are the Hindi group known as the Bollywood Pandits. Hopefully, ye can guess what happens...



Bill Bailey is well known fer striking out and beyond what many folks would consider to be 'normal', but there are plenty of places that you really wouldn't expect to find a cross-genre influence creeping in. The musical form known as 'Oi' is an offshoot of the British wave of punk. One of the most well-known proponents of this were Sham 69 ('If The Kids Are United', 'Hurry Up Harry'), but there were plenty of other acts too, all recognisable by the football terrace feel to their music: The Piranhas, Splodgenessabounds and The Toy Dolls. The latter were more famous for their punky rendition of the kiddie classic 'Nellie The Elephant', but the following clip shows they weren't averse to dipping their toes in foreign waters...



Obviously, once something has entered the collective consciousness to a great extent, it's going to be ripe fer - how can I put this - less serious renditions. There may be gentle ribbing, fond homages and complete piss-takes. Again, modern technology steps in and the glory of engineering helps to shoehorn tracks into clips of film that, until now, did not fit.
To that end, may I thank Marc Bullard fer providing us with what I feel to be a future classic; 'Close Encounters Of The Redneck Kind'.


Close Encounters of the Redneck Kind from Marc Bullard on Vimeo.

Getting good and steamed.

Steampunked, that is.
For those that don't know what steampunk may be, it's a genre of art and fiction that essentially shoehorns modern machinery and ideals into Victorian English/European technological levels. Since the tech at that time was basically steam-driven (or horse-drawn), everything must be powered by steam. No electricity, just steam.
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The general results are plenty of gadgets and gizmos built in wood and bound in brass and leather, leaking steam or having little smokestacks on the top. Also, since this is obviously well within the realms of science fiction, there ore steampunk robots and other such genre standbys.
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It's long since left the realms of the word and the screen, though. Often as not these days, artists will specialise in creating Steampunked* versions of familiar items and/or people. A cracking example is Sillof. He specialises in steampunking sci-fi characters from Star Wars and the Marvel and DC comics.
Here's a great article via Wired showcasing a whole mass of familiar items that have been steampunked:

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This? It's an eye-pod of course...
Go HERE to see the whole glorious lot.
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*wondering why I haven't shortened the word 'steampunk' to save wear and tear on my fingers? Well, considering you also have cyberpunk and now greenpunk, there needs to be some indicator for a difference. Unfortunately, that leaves us with 'spunk'. Yeah. Not happening, mate.