Other Cover Versions
It has since been covered by various artists, including DJ Voyager, Anarchic System with vocal version, a pre-fame Jean Michel Jarre (under the pseudonyms of The Popcorn Orchestra and Jamie Jefferson), Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, Unter Null, Richard D. James AKA Aphex Twin, Goodiepal, M&H Band, Muse, DJ Fantomas, Gigi D'Agostino, Guru Josh, Iranian artist Shadmehr Aghili, Afrosound, The Time Frequency (TTF), Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Norrie Paramor & the Midland Radio Orchestra, Ronnie Aldrich, The Treble Spankers, the Boomtang Boys, Space Penguins, Pattie Brooks (disco version as part of a medley that also included Black is Black & Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye), Bass Bumpers (fronted by the Crazy Frog cartoon), Liars, Finnish band Seidat, Swedish DJ Richi M, the Irish DJ Showey, South African Psytrance act Parana, Italian pop band La Strana Società, Japanese electronic artists Denki Groove, Russian Virtuoso Guitar Player Victor Zinchuk, Spanish rock band Los Pekenikes, Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, and the Swedish Chef. It has also been remixed by Hexstatic on the Pick 'n' Mix album. In fact, more than 500 cover versions of the song exist, some of which add lyrics (lyrics have been added in at least six different languages). In 2003 Greek synthpop Duo Marsheaux released a darker mix of "Popcorn" as their debut single, which became a radio play hit in Europe. The song was also featured as the background music in the first version of the 1982 arcade game Pengo, the 1983 IBM PC game Digger, and the 1984 Mikro-Gen microcomputer game Pyjamarama. Many cover versions were made on popular home computers such as Atari, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amiga, often by anonymous artists. On 17 September 2007, Electropop group Plemo released a free track on micromusic.net based on the original "Popcorn" melody. It includes samples from "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" of the Beastie Boys.
Big band arranger James Last recorded "Popcorn" in 1972 A Soviet cover version was recorded by Vyacheslav Mescherin's Orchestra.
The song has never been covered by Kraftwerk although there are mistagged copies of the song allegedly by them (most frequently the version by M&H Band) in circulation. This version is also sometimes attributed to synth-pop artist Jean-Michel Jarre. There is also a version circulating on the internet that is claimed to have been made by avant-garde group The Residents even though it sounds vastly different from The Residents' usual experimental sound. This version is actually made by the hard house artists called The Rezidents, hence the confusion between the two.
A variation of "Popcorn" was used by WDIV in Detroit, Michigan as background music for the station's Michigan Lottery Lotto drawings during the 1980s.
Most recently, alternative rock band Muse performed this song live in Teignmouth, UK during their two nights at The Den. The song featured prominent electric guitar along with heavy percussion and bass. A studio version of their cover was released on the 2010 single "Resistance". Faith No More covered the song live in Argentina in The Second Coming Tour.
The Muppets recorded a cover of the song featuring it as the theme of a new Swedish Chef sketch, hence its naming as Pöpcørn, which was released in July 2010.
Read more about this topic: Popcorn (instrumental)
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