Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ is the last track on the 1970 Velvet Underground album Loaded. Loaded would be the last Velvet Underground album before guitarist/lead singer Lou Reed left the group to start a solo career.

I’ll tell ‘ya, if you do actually listen to all five versions of this tune – and you happen to listen to them all in a row, you’re going to have the overwhelming urge to blast some loud and aggressive tunes as soon as that’s done. 44 minutes of Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ might bring you a little bit down, so have something queued up – I went with a live version of Immigrant Song.

The Contestants:

$10,000 Gold Chain: Not a whole lot of information out there on this band, but I do know it’s led by Mike McCready (the lead guitarist in Pearl Jam). It’s possible the only song this ensemble ever recorded was this cover for a 1996 Jim Carrey movie. Source: The Cable Guy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…

The Black Crowes: Taking lead vocals on this one is Rich Robinson while his brother Chris supplies some harmonies. This is a really good take and the inspiration for this week’s selection. HT Contributor Luke Sacks emailed me on September 3rd telling me that he had seen the Crowes the previous night and thought this would be a good Cover Wars. Thanks, Luke. Source: 9-9-2009

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My Morning Jacket: It’s quite interesting, My Morning Jacket is one band 98% of the time. They’ve got their song rotations and rely almost exclusively on original material. But every once and a while, whether it’s New Year’s Eve or an Under The Sea Prom event, they start getting crazy. Bonnaroo 2008 was one of these shows, as the setlist was flooded with covers and guest appearances. Source: 6-13-2008

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Phish: The last time Phish played Halloween, it was Las Vegas in 1998 and the band played Loaded in its entirety. Almost 11 years – and 223 Phish shows – later, the band played its second performance of Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ at the Shoreline Amphiteater in Mountain View, CA. The fans at Merriweather Post in Maryland were also treated to a rendition ten days later. Source: 8-5-2009

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Video starts a little shaky then gets good:

Yarn: Yarn had the extremely rare opportunity of performing this song with Mike Gordon sitting in on upright bass at a gig in Burlington, Vermont. This is a nice rendition despite a few artifacts on the SBD recording. Source: 1-31-2008

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