October 15 [16:30 EDT] -- A week after Everclear covered John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" during a surprise show in Los Angeles, the 70s hit-maker died in a plane crash, causing Everclear frontman Art Alexakis to reflect on Denver's career.
"I love John Denver," Alexakis told MTV News. "I mean, I grew up with it. It's one of those closet things that a lot of people will tease you about if they go through your record collection, but when I was a kid, John Denver was very cool to me. I liked his melodies, and he wrote good songs." [198k Audio File]
Alexakis says that childhood affinity for Denver stuck with him through the years, and through his musical career as well.
"Before Everclear, this band Colorfinger recorded a version of 'Rocky Mountain High' that was pretty rockin' and pretty fun," Alexakis said. "It was a big encore for the band when we would play it and a big deal. Plus this band that I produced on my old label, a band called Lost Dogs, on their record they had a cover of John Denver's 'Country Roads,' and I played lead guitar on that on the record." [314k Audio File]
For Alexakis, Denver's staying power and enduring appeal coming from the universality of his songs, and the fact that they can be easily adopted by band's in almost any genre.
"It's fun because it's a song that you wouldn't expect a band like us to play," Alexakis explained. "I've said this before, I think a good song is a good song, and it can be done in any way, shape, or form and it's gonna read and it's gonna come through as a great song. [198k Audio File] I think he wrote some great songs."
