The Hilltop Hoods Just Covered The Red Hot Chili Peppers And Ooft, It’s A Lot

When you were 16, chances are there were two bands that shone as guiding stars in the abyss of your musical tastes: The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Hilltop Hoods.

After all, there is something gloriously immediate about the output of both bands — something that feels warm, and inviting, and utterly disparaging of pretence. Between them, the two bands never wrote an insincere or ironic lyric. For better — and maybe sometimes for worse — the groups wore, and continue to wear, their hearts on their sleeve, making music that’s striking in its primacy.

Anyway, long story short: prepare your inner 16-year-old, ‘cos The Hilltop Hoods just covered the Red Hot Chili Peppers for Like A Version. And guess what: it’s a goddamn riot.

Never one to shy away from the opportunity to make a bold statement, the Hoods chose ‘Can’t Stop’ as the song to lend their talents to. One of the Chilis’ biggest hits, ‘Can’t Stop’ is the anthem that you want to dedicate your entire life to when you’re a teenager — it’s this big, impossibly brash thing, all hooky choruses and licks so impressive they trick you into thinking absolutely anyone can play the guitar.

For their version of the song, the Hoods decide to take things up a notch, pummelling the song with a brass section, spat lyrics and cooing, layered backing vocals, making a big thing even bigger. They even throw in a little Phil Collins, because why the fuck not?

This is, needless to say, not the last that you’ve heard of this particular cover — chances are triple j are going to be spinning this thing for the rest of the year.

Indeed, the radio station have been on a bit of a roll recently, what with Denzel Curry’s incendiary, burn it all to hell take on Rage Against The Machine, and a Velvet Underground/Pixies mash-up from Byron Bay deviants Skegss.