Back in 2010, The AV Club launched a series that was perhaps the site's greatest contribution to popular culture: AV Undercover. The basic premise of the video series was that AV Club staff would come up with a list of cover songs, and invite touring bands into their studio for a few hours to rehearse and record a cover from the list. Once a cover was performed, however, it was no longer an option—leaving some bands to make due with the dregs of songs they weren't familiar with.
AV Undercover hosted a ton of weird, wonderful covers over the course of 7 years, but the series has been defunct since 2017, when the The AV Club was sold to a series of post-Gawker private equity holdings. But now that The AV Club brand has been purchased by Paste Media, the company has announced that AV Undercover is finally coming back! From the announcement:
It's been 14 years since Ted Leo and the Pharmacists kicked off the beloved video series by covering Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." And it's been almost seven years since the last entry—Filthy Friends covering "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston—to finish season 8. We're working to get all of those episodes back on the site, but in the meantime, we're ready to kick off season 9. If you've been reading The A.V. Club for a long time, you know the drill.
I couldn't be more excited. Where else can you see Screaming Females cover Taylor Swift and Sheryl Crow? Or They Might Be Giants playing Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping?" Or hell, Titus Andronicus covering They Might Be Giants? And who can forget GWAR covering Kansas and Billy Ocean?! There was also that time that Barenaked Ladies covered, uhh, *checks notes*…Barenaked Ladies? (Also "In The Air Tonight.")
If you're as excited as I am, you can head over to The AV Club and suggest some songs for the next cover list.
Help us choose the songs for A.V. Undercover season 9! [Josh Jackson / AV Club]