Muse Cover Prince’s “Sign ‘O’ The Times”: Hear The Rock Reinterpretation

Carl Williott | September 28, 2012 12:50 pm

British space-rockers Muse covered Prince‘s 1987 head-bobber “Sign ‘O’ The Times” for BBC Radio, and the result was very Muse-like. With their recent foray into dubstep, we were expecting the Brits to zero in on the funkier aspects of the original, but instead they homed in on the track’s minimalism. The result is a straightforward buzz-saw of a rocker, the likes of which we haven’t heard from the band in a while. Hear it after the jump.

The synth plinks from the Prince take are intact, but that’s about it. The Purple One’s groovy bass line is replaced by a chugging blast of guitar, and the chorus is trademark Muse: Matthew Bellamy’s desperate wail, a wash of cymbals crashing and six-string squalls. It’s an aggressive reinterpretation, but not nearly as aggro as Foo Fighters‘ cover of “Darling Nikki.”

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