Viva Las Vegas (song) - Cover Versions

Cover Versions

• Influential punk band Dead Kennedys recorded a version of "Viva Las Vegas" on their 1980 debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. The song had been a part of their live set almost since the band's inception. Their version strips the musical arrangement down to guitar, bass, and drums, and uses a slightly faster tempo, yet maintains the song's melodic structure. It also features satirical lyric changes by lead singer Jello Biafra in the second and third verses, referencing a gambler using speed and cocaine in order not to "sleep a minute away". This version can also be found in Terry Gilliam's 1998 film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
• Nina Hagen recorded a version of "Viva Las Vegas" on her 1989 album Nina Hagen.
• ZZ Top recorded a version of "Viva Las Vegas" in their own inimitable blues-rock style, as one of two new tracks on their 1992 Greatest Hits CD. (This remake can also be heard on the compilations that succeeded it, the box set Chrome, Smoke & BBQ (2003) and the double-CD anthology Rancho Texicano (2004)). The video for this song was reviewed by Beavis and Butt-Head in 1993.
• Film co-star Ann-Margret recut a version of the song for the live action movie The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000) under the pseudonym of her animated alter-ego Ann-Margrock and with the song's title changed to, of course, "Viva Rock Vegas".
• Polish street punk/Oi! band The Analogs covered the song in Polish, without changing its name.
• The bluegrass act The Grascals did a version of the song on their debut album in 2005.
• Chilean punk band Fiskales Ad-Hok covered the song in Spanish, changing its name to "Viva Santiago".
• The song is featured in the film, The Big Lebowski. Shawn Colvin performs it as a folk ballad during the closing credits. A rock version in the film is credited to a band called Big Johnson, and is styled after the ZZ Top version. The Colvin version was recorded originally for the 1995 Rhino/Forward release, Til the Night is Gone: A Tribute to Songwriter Doc Pomus. The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas is a reference to the song
• The 2003 Scooby-Doo movie Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico featured a variation of the song entitled Viva Mexico, done in a Latin beat.
• The song is a part of Bruce Springsteen's live act, and was included in The Last Temptation of Elvis, a commemorative album of renditions by singers, and rock groups, of songs made famous by Presley. Springsteen's studio version of "Viva Las Vegas" was also included in the soundtrack of the 1992 film Honeymoon in Vegas, and in his 2003 compilation, The Essential Bruce Springsteen.
• The Thrills performed Viva Las Vegas with James Burton at Elvis' induction to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. The song was recorded live and later released as a B-side to The Irish Keep Gate-crashing.
• There are also cover versions of the song by Wayne Newton, The Residents, The Misfits, Billy Swan, Dolly Parton & the Grascals, Dread Zeppelin, Engelbert Humperdinck, Lee Rocker, Phil Cody, The Gipsy Vagabonds, The Stray Cats, Cornell Hurd, King Junior, The Blues Brothers, The Royal Crown Revue, Mort Shuman himself, The Southern Boys, and many, many others.
• The Dread Zeppelin version of "Viva Las Vegas" was used as the theme to the Travel Channel reality series American Casino.
• Radio station WGIR-FM in Manchester, New Hampshire, did a parody version, "Viva Manch Vegas" (referring to the sarcastic nickname of the city) on its "Morning Buzz Show".
• At UNLV athletic events, UNLV's band often plays a version of "Viva Las Vegas" in the same way most college bands play schools' fight songs.
• The song was recorded for a Viagra commercial with lyrics changed to "Viva Viagra".
• The song served as the theme tune for NBC's short-lived animation series, Father of the Pride.
• The Mexican band Plastilina Mosh released Viva Las Vegas in their Tasty album.
• In the 2003 movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action, the song is played on the radio of the spy car Bugs Bunny and Kate Houghton are driving in on their way to Las Vegas with Bugs singing along to the song till Kate takes his guitar he was playing with and throws it out of the car.
• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson sang a portion of the song during his WWE stint with the chorus changed to "Viva Rock Vegas".
• Presley's version serves as the opening number in the first episode of the BBC One series Blackpool, with the various members of the Holden family singing along.
• Johnny Ramone had recorded an instrumental version of this song.
• In 2010, Vince Neil covered the song on his solo release, Tattoos & Tequila.
• Dark-synth band Lost Children (Formerly Depressed Children) performed a version of this song on their debut CD Our Fallen Cities.
• Spanish band La Frontera has recorded and performs a version of the song.
• The Simpsons episode "Viva Ned Flanders" is a reference to the song. In the episode, Ned Flanders & Homer Simpson go to Las Vegas.
• Holly Cole, from the album Night (2012)