Listen To Heart’s Ann Wilson Take On Grunge Classic

Listen To Heart’s Ann Wilson Take On Grunge Classic
John Lill, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons; Rex Aran Emrick, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Ann Wilson is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer as the powerhouse voice behind legendary rockers Heart. Recently, she released a cover version of the Alice In Chains classic, “Rooster.” The song is also the B-side of Wilson’s limited-edition 45rpm single available now at AnnWilson.com. Wilson told the Seattle Times about her version of “Rooster”: “I wanted to remain true to the song as much as possible, but I wanted to make it my own. But really, honoring the original spirit of the song, which is cockroaches and flies and all this kind of stuff. (Laughs). Before I knew what form the MoPOP (Museum Of Pop Culture Founders Award) thing was gonna take with the live performances, I made a video for ‘Rooster’ that was really dark. They decided not to use it because they wanted it to be a bunch of live performances. But sometime I’ll put that video out because it’s really cool. It’s just maggots and war stuff and darkness and insanity.”

Wilson explained why she chose the song for her performance at the MoPop event: “Talking with (Alice In Chains guitarist) Jerry (Cantrell), who’s a friend, about which song I should do, I said, ‘How would you feel if I did ‘Rooster’?’ Because I’d sung with them on the record of ‘Rooster’ years ago. And he thought that was a really good idea, so that’s what we did.”

Cantrell sung Heart’s praises. “I’m from Seattle, man,” he said. “We didn’t have too many heroes coming out of our town. We had (Jimi) Hendrix and Heart, Queensryche and that was pretty much it. We didn’t have a lot of nationally respected acts, and those were the people we had and they were real fucking quality bands. Quality music and quality people as well. I’ve known the girls for many years now. Seattle’s not that big a town, so everybody pretty much knows everybody and we’ve spent many years hanging … The most powerful voice I’ve ever heard is Ann Wilson. Hands down. And the guitar work and the singing that Nancy does is incredible too. It’s an amazing thing. They’re legends in my mind.”

B.J. LISKO
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