10 Greatest Rock Cover Songs Of The 1980s
7. Into The Groove(y) - Ciccone Youth
Madonna and Sonic Youth are two artists you wouldn't immediately put together, but there is a link between the pair, thanks to the 1988 release, The Whitey Album.
Hey look, another Beatles reference.
Ciccone Youth, a side project featuring all of Sonic Youth and members of Firehose and Dinosaur Jr., released this record mere months before Daydream Nation came out. As well as some original experimental pieces, Whitey also contains a cover of Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love and two Madonna songs; Burnin' Up and Into the Groove.
Into the Groove(y), as its stylised, is a dark, twisted version of an out-and-out pop banger. The vocals are hauntingly low in the mix, drowned out by murky guitars and brutal hand claps, with the Queen of Pop herself appearing sporadically via samples.
Though not to everyone's liking - the singing is rough, to say the least - Into the Groove(y) is a completely fresh take on one of the biggest pop songs of all time and couldn't have been made by anyone else.
Hopefully Madonna saw it as the loving tribute it was intended as, and not some sort of Satanic threat.