Welcome to My Nightmare

Not sure if you heard about this... Next month, The Nightmare Before Christmas will be re-released in 3D. 13th anniversary, I guess? That's pretty cool, though Edmonton is unfortunately not one of the cities where it's at. Anyway, coinciding with the release of the film, Disney is also re-releasing the soundtrack with a second disc of covers of the songs from the likes of Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Marilyn Manson, and Fiona Apple. While normally this kinda news would thrill me (i.e. favourite childhood movies + cover songs), I'm less than thrilled by the prospect of some "it" bands messin' with the originals. Fiona Apple is the only name there that sounds like she'd do a worthy cover.

If I was a producer, I'd be going straight to the likes of Rasputina & the Dresden Dolls to create thematically/musically cohesive covers. I'm all for radical interpretations, yet somehow a "racous" rendition of What's This? by Fall Out Boy is not cool .

A dream cast for Nightmare covers:
Alice Cooper or Iggy Pop - Oogie Boogie's song
Rasputina - Kidnap the Sandy Claws
The Dresden Dolls - Poor Jack or Jack's Lament
Maxwell/Mosher (or in a pipe dream, the reunion of their former band Squirrel Nut Zippers) - Town Meeting Song
and
I'd like to hear Jon Brion re-interpret some of Danny Elfman's score. That'd be trippy. White Stripes could probably throw in a capable cover too.

Alas, we'll have to settle for whatever the Disney execs deem as hip right now. Here are some of the songs that came to mind when thinking of ideal Nightmare covers:

Alice Cooper - Welcome to My Nightmare
Iggy Pop - Space Goofs Theme [from the cartoon show]
Iggy Pop - Louie, Louie [popularized by The Kingsmen]
Rasputina - When I Was a Young Girl
Rasputina - Tourniquet [originally by Marilyn Manson]
The Dresden Dolls - Amsterdam (live - 2005-03-02 Hamburg) [originally by Jacques Brel]
Maxwell/Mosher - Hell [originally by Squirrel Nut Zippers, though technically not a cover but a do-over]
Squirrel Nut Zippers - The Ghost of Stephen Foster (with Andrew Bird's wicked violinin')

From the original Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack by the inimitable Danny Elfman:
Kidnap the Sandy Claws
Oogie Boogie's Song