10,000 Maniacs: [ Don't Talk.Unplugged ]
There aren't enough days in the weekend.-Rod Schmidt
Everyone's heard 'Because the Night,' but whose song is it? Here we look at some of its famous and not-so-famous covers.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News , Exclusive Rock 'n' roll could have looked very different if not for Peter Asher. To be sure, there are the obvious roles the Grammy winner played in musical history: as part of British invasion duo Peter and Gordon , as the Apple A&R executive who signed and nurtured James Taylor and as producer of such acts as Linda Ronstadt (who he also managed), 10,000 [...]

Filed under: News , Video , New Music , Exclusive Bruce Springsteen fans are in for a treat when 'The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story' hits stores on Nov. 16. The release will be bundled in various configurations -- from an encyclopedic Deluxe Package (featuring more than six hours of film, more than two hours of audio and an 80-page notebook) to an abridged 2-CD or 4-LP set. Regardless of which one you go with, [...]

Filed under: News Although they represent two different musical decades, Jackson Browne and Natalie Merchant appeared together onstage to pay tribute to the legendary record label that launched their careers. The singers-songwriters made an appearance at Elektra Records' 60th anniversary celebration Thursday night at New York's 92Y. The event, which featured Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman , was a discussion on the history of the label, whose roster has included such artists as [...]

There's a party semi-raging on the ground floor of our three-story treehouse. Paloma and I are sandwiched between it and a couple of Chinese grad students on the top floor. We won't be attending. (I doubt that the Chinese will either) It isn't because of the music, though the organ-driven jam band is hardly a selling point. It's a lot of noodling and the kindest I could be in describing their efforts is symmetrical. We won't be attending because there is nothing left that either of us could accomplish at such a [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News , New Music , Exclusive In the early 1990s, 10,000 Maniacs were riding high with a string of hits such as 'These Are Days' and 'Candy Everybody Wants.' Both would go on to become alt-radio staples, vaulting lead Maniac Natalie Merchant into the spotlight. But in August 1993, she abruptly quit the band for a solo career. The Maniacs continued to play in various incarnations over the years: two studio albums were released in the late '90s with Mary [...]

Last fall, Levon Helm , the former drummer for The Band, was forced into vocal rest after doctors found a non-cancerous lesion on his vocal chords. While the docs kept us from hearing his iconic and instantly recognizable voice, that didn't keep the soon to be 70-year old from occupying his perch behind the drum kit during the frequent Rambles at his home recording studio known as The Barn and occasionally taking the show on the road. Now fully recovered and ready to sing again, Helm has lined up an lengthy summer tour that includes [...]
Apr 5, 2010, 2:55am
Fmly
"Because the Night" was written by Bruce Springsteen. With modified lyrics, it was a big hit for the Patti Smith Group. 10,000 Maniacs covered the song in 1993, with a large string section. In 2008, Cascada performed it at the MEN Arena.
She might be better known today for her flamboyant style, plastic surgery excesses and dumb blond stage persona, but before she became a pop-culture caricature, Dolly Parton was a tremendous singer, under-rated songwriter and country music ambassador to the world. By the age of 13, Parton had already been signed to a label and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry and was well on her way to being dubbed the "Queen of Country Music". To date, she has 25 number-one singles and a record 41 top-10 country albums. Along with classics like "Coat of [...]

It might have taken me a while but I'm finally back with three 80's-related tunes for you. As usual there's a Cure cover ( Pictures Of You by Lit ), an unexpectedly good take on The Cult 's She Sells Sanctuary by Keane and a beautiful rework of Morrissey 's classic Everyday Is Like Sunday by 10,000 Maniacs . For the grand finale I've saved a Portishead cover by none other than White Lies , one of my favourite bands of 2009. Enjoy! [...]

This is 10000 Maniacs live at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California, back on the 3rd June 1993. This concert was recorded for the Westwood One Radio Networks 'In Concert' series and was subsequently broadcast on October 25th 1993 . The band had already recorded the MTV Unplugged concert a couple of months earlier, and that was of course released as an album around the same time as this concert was originally broadcast. As was mentioned in the last 10000 Maniacs feature, Natalie Merchant had already informed the band she was [...]

Some bloggers whose writing I regularly enjoy incorporate recurring segments into their mix. JB over at The Hits Just Keep On Comin' has One Day In Your Life , Whiteray has the weekly Saturday Single at Echoes In The Wind , and the Major Dude of Any Major Dude With Half A Heart has several regular features. (I keep waiting for another installment of Major Dude's Great Moustaches In Rock ) Alas, though I might have recurring subject matter, I [...]

Uh oh. Now I'm on a very specific kick: this certain kind of sometimes a bit folky, sometimes a bit post-punk-inspired rock from the 80s. Can anyone stop me? I doubt it highly. The stage is perfectly set for my big reveal. My very favorite band from the end of middle school until about the end of high school was the 10,000 Maniacs, who were pretty much just breaking up when I got into them. I know this is extremely nerdy to admit publicly (new tag: I Am Not Ashamed ), but [...]

This is 10000 Maniacs back on the 30th March 1992 during their ' Our Time In Eden ' tour rehearsals, at the Bearsville Theater; Bearsville, NY. The tour that promoted the new album has a few live recordings (more about them another time), however I found it interesting listening to the band developing the live versions of songs that seem so familiar now, If You Intend * is a good example of the band rehearsing the then new material if not exactly one for your mp3 player, the majority of the songs are however tight live [...]
After the dmca take-down of the other day, I feel it is in the public interest to find the song that caused such offence.I'm convinced that The Man From Delmonte are totally innocent, and I've not had any previous issues when posting songs by Teenage Fanclub. So the initial attention is going to focus elsewhere.Davenelli said in his comment, "I'd guess 10,000 Maniacs as they were signed to
When you put together a bag of sweets from the pick'n'mix counter, you can end up with all sorts of strange things next to one another that seemingly have nothing in common other than they taste delicious.So it is with this random selection of fine tunes. Savour them individually. Or wolf them down in one sitting. You can even throw away the ones you don't like (much the same way as I could never