Covered: Cool vs. Tite is our way of sharing and comparing some amazing songs that got fantastic cover treatment!
“Oi To The World!” – hell. yeah.
Think what you will of either The Vandals or No Doubt – we know many people have opinions on both, but the hand each band played in making this feel-good, punk holiday anthem is undeniably cool AND tite in our books :p
Huntington Beach’s The Vandals have been pushing out their own brand of sarcastic punk since 1980. It wasn’t until after the time-tested Peace Thru Vandalism EP and 5 studio albums – or about 16 years – that The Vandals finally released a Christmas album. Titled Oi! To The World!, the record was released on October 8, 1996 by the band’s own Kung Fu Records and contained silly holiday songs with titles like: “A Gun For Christmas,” “Grandpa’s Last X-mas,” and “Christmas Time for My Penis.”
The real stand-out of the album is the catchy, shout-along title track, “Oi To The World!”
Just a year later, in 1997, No Doubt paid respect to their friends, tour mates, and fellow O.C. band by covering the track and releasing an associated music video for a Christmas compilation called A Very Special Christmas 3 – which featured big names of the time like Sheryl Crow, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sting, and, of course, Hootie and the Blowfish. At the time, No Doubt was still surfing the wave of hit singles from ‘95’s Tragic Kingdom. As a result, their cover and video brought a lot of attention to a great holiday punk anthem that also serves as a very prime example of punk going pop!
If god came down on Christmas Day,
I know exactly what he’d say!
He’d say “Oi! to the punks, and Oi! to the skins –
But Oi to the world and everybody wins!”
Click below to take a trip back in time with No Doubt’s “Oi To The World” video! You’ll also find a flier from the No Doubt/The Vandals 1997 tour AND info on where you can catch The Vandal’s playing the ENTIRE Oi To The World! album live (like they’ve done every year since its release) at their 19th Annual Christmas Formal this Friday!
