Supercute! plays Misty Mountain Hop on ukulele

Here's Supercute! performing a ukulecious rendition of Led Zep's "Misty Mountain Hop." (Via Bedazzled!)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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sebastian6

Why is this getting any attention? This is junior high talent show level performance.
inness

Again, no offense to the girls, but here’s a quick post for true Zeppelin lovers. The recent film It Might Get Loud, showcases a mature Jimmy Page discussing his past in the group, along with a current clip of the Good Gray Guitar God playing a contemporary version of Evermore on mandolin. A nice, neat bookend to the first vid posted by Avram of him in his heyday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xfy9W9my_w
Scott

Well, Sophie Madeleine doesn’t have competition there.
munchkin

”Campus”? These girls are 13 years old. I looked at their myspace page, they write some pretty cool songs. Seems there are a few (old man jealous uke players)!!!!!!!!!
sebastian6

I watched the rest of this hoping it might get better, but nope. This demonstrates the sort of cliquish nature of boing-boing. They would dream of putting one of my uke songs up but this is “hip” so up it goes- style over substance. ;-)
- Uncle_Max
  
  Girls under 17 who even know Led Zeppelin, let alone want to cover them, and covering them on ukuleles is a pretty wonderful thing to me. It’s not so much about musical ability in this case, but about the fact that such a thing exists.
  
  Here’s a video of them (under previous name the Oh My God Girls) playing a cover of The Kinks’ “Death Of A Clown”, while hula hooping: LINK
  
  Again, not musically the most talented ever, but pretty unique and delightful.
  - sebastian6
    
    To me it feels like they are cashing in on looking kinda cute but have nothing behind it. It used to be that looks could get the door open, then talent would seal the deal with your public. Now, in the age of post-Mtv, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, etc. It doesn’t even matter if you have talent, as long as you’re, ya know, kinda cute and fun.
    Ugh. I’ll take talent over cute any day.
    - Uncle_Max
      
      I’d agree with you if I thought they were exploiting their cuteness, but they seem to so far just be playing shows for fun. As I mentioned earlier, the main singer has been in the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players for most of her life at this point, so it’s pretty natural that she’d want to make a band with some friends. And judging by the video of them playing for a bunch of under-10-year-olds at the Freak Fest in NY they’re not exactly full of themselves.
      
      I guess the difference for me is intent. Paris, Britney, they’re all trying to sell themselves and are filled with some unearned self-importance. These girls seem to be having fun and not worrying about importance.
arack

Actually, I *love* this. They’ve found a naÃ¯ve bubblegum heart nestled inside one of the best rock songs ever – kinda a loving tribute to (a) Plant’s dippy hippie lyrics, (b) the simple dumb greatness of the riff, mixed with (c) devlish ingenuity and love from a trio of girls who are creating something uniquely their own. I bet you Plant & Page’d love it.
milhouse3

look, you don’t have to worship the band. but you don’t have to say rude things either.

for one, i like the outfits.
- sebastian6
  
  If they put themselves out there, it isn’t rude to criticize. That’s part of the risk that goes with performance, yyyya know?
occult control

Led Zeppelin > Supercute… by several orders of magnitude.
Anonymous

THERE’s NO DEBATING the critics on here are not being sincere:

they made it sound like these are tone-deaf girls with no talent but a cute idea!

Their timing is great and they show skill on their ukes etc, so it’s clear that JEALOUSY is the main motive. (I’m not against criticism. I LOVE it. I just don’t like phony criticism with ulterior motives.)

Their cover is tight and sharp (i’m a musician with a lot of skill) but also silly and fun.

C’mon, “men”: jealously is REALLY lame.

And the fact that a ukelele trio of teenage girls is covering Zep and Pink Floyd puts them way ahead of all other teen acts.

Having seen more live bands of all stripes than the rest of you, I can say that these girls are more interesting, colorful, and UNIQUE than most of the “legends” you all parrot on about!

ANd it’s simply not honest to say they don’t have “talent”.
milhouse3

i started looking at their other stuff and i like it a bit better, the recording is a tad rough it seems, like a crappy demo. but its a cool concept. if you want listen to candy city, from what i know its about a city made of candy (ha, ha). I think i’m sorta getting it!
http://www.myspace.com/supercute
lost feliz

Yes. Cute. But their harmonies need work.
Brett Myers

The MySpace page is out of date. Rachel is 16.
cookie

Also- Moose and Squirrel seems to know alot about what pedophiles like. Just sayin’.
Tom Hale

I’m gonna have to agree – Supercute is indeed very cute – but needs work on their songs. I’ve found that if you watch the video full screen on mute, the video is great!
zikman

really, the only word I could think to describe it while watching was super cute ;)
rootboy

Concept: 9
Execution: 4
arack

Cookie’s got it. Moose and Squirrel has got the white elephant problem – hope he can work that out on his own. And what’s with all the bitter commentary? There seems to be more than enough whiny “testosterone” here, hopefully making up for Boing Boing’s shameful lack of spotlighting men-with-ukes. Thank god the girls (Rachel 16, Julia 14, June 13) are being imaginative and having fun and presenting an alternative to other girls their age – to NOT have to be Lady Gaga or Miley Cyrus. And I thought the triumph of punk rock was about empowering people to take up their instruments and create art without necessarily having to have rock-God-like-chops, no? I don’t think Supercute! is claiming to be as good as Led Zeppelin; I think they’re fans who love the song and want to play it in a different way.
mooseandsquirrel

I like the concept of the band, like what they’re doing, actually. But mark my words: future audiences will be dominated with drunk white hipsters who won’t give a fuck what they’re playing as long as the skirts stay short. And yes, Cookie. I’m a pedophile. That’s right, you got it. So smart. Pat yourself on the back now. Just sayin’.
mooseandsquirrel

What I don’t get is the big white elephant in the room that no one is talking about: three hot little minxes in minidresses. They are a pedophile’s wet dream. Would they be getting any attention if they wore blue jeans and were fat? Don’t think so.
mooseandsquirrel

P.S. – their Hula Hoop song is one of the best things I’ve heard in a long time. Just sayin’.
cookie

“And has Mark ever posted a guy playing uke? Hmmmm. Makes one wonder.”
Stop wondering.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/10/very-young-kid-is-a.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/09/shane-speal-plays-gu.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/17/hodgman-plays-uke.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/13/ukelele-covers-of-jo.html
http://boingboing.net/2008/12/09/ukulele-version-of-w.html
http://boingboing.net/2008/12/01/ukulele-cover-of-sty.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/25/ukulele-blitzkrieg-b.html
- sebastian6
  
  Yay! Good to see some TESTOSTERONE happenin’ up in this mutha! Hahahahaa.
adamnvillani

More like
Concept: 6
Execution: 2
Keir

Sometimes I can’t help wondering, Mark posts all this stuff and if he ever posts any guys playing the ukelele it’s certainly rare, I wonder what you might say the politics of that is.
MobyDikk

and a new day will dawn for those who stand long
and the forests will echo with laughter
Anonymous

uhhh.. at the Knitting Factory, really? Does this signal that avant garde jazz is officially dead?
significantpickle

I think I gagged a little. At least every fuzzy, drug induced memory I had when I was younger has been now rendered mute and pointless.
Jordan

Was that Corn Mo doing the intro? That guy is great.
Pip_R_Lagenta

I will cut a lot of slack for cute girls, but, man, you’re pushing it here.
munchkin

I love Led-Zeppelin! This is a really great and unique cover!!!!!!!! They really ARE Supercute!
Guysmiley

I need to go listen to the original to cleanse my brain.

As said above, incredible idea, poor execution. Also as said above, for three teenage girls to even be AWARE of Zep is just plain made of win. A well done version of that routine would be epic.
Uncle_Max

I really liked this so I checked them out a bit more, and apparently the lead singer is Rachel Trachtenburg of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, and she’s only 16 (the other girls are either 15 or 16). Craziness.

Also they have a cover of Melanie’s “Brand New Key” on their myspace, which I recommend if you liked this one.
- Anonymous
  
  no, june and julia are 13
Lord Xenu

Nice ukulele. Too bad they forgot the rest of the band at home.
Avram / Moderator

For a moment I got “Misty Mountain Hop” mixed up with “The Battle of Evermore”, which’d be a natural for ukulele. (Here it is on mandolin.)
- Tom Hale
  
  Wow – Avram thx! after Stairway, The Battle of Evermore is my fave Zeppelin song – I love this
  
  Funny, in the first 5-10 seconds, my wife said, ‘I don’t know what you’re playing but it sounds like Evermore.’
- dwdyer
  
  I also had that confused in my mind. I thought “wow, this could be good”, then I realized “dumbass, you were thinking of the wrong song.”
  
  Is the cute girls with ukes thing ever gonna fade?
WaylonWillie

ooof. BB had almost single-handedly convinced me to get a uke, but that was a major setback.
inness

OMG. Now I know how Rudy Vallee must have felt as the America that once embraced the celebrity of his megaphone and coonskin coat moved on; imagine, first comes the poorly done imitation, then the ‘homage’ and finally, the [un]intentional satire mode.
No offense to the ‘cute’ sincerity, but I seriously gagged a little. This act might be tolerable if they took to a greased stage barefoot and attempted to play, otherwise everyone’s time would be better used if they stayed on campus and entertained each other.
- sebastian6
  
  Great comment inness- you bring up a good point. They turn a great song by Led Zeppelin into a barebones puppet show, trivializing both themselves and Zeppelin beyond recognition. I find nothing useful, tasteful, or fun about this video. And has Mark ever posted a guy playing uke? Hmmmm. Makes one wonder.
  - Anonymous
    
    No no, Led Zeppelin did a pretty good job of trivializing themselves. They’re not as much all that as your nostalgia would have you believe.