Mariah Carey Adds to '80s Covers Canon With Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is"

Foreigner: now with 100 percent more whistle pitches! While it's doubtful "I Want to Know What Love Is" will become the "Don't Stop Believing" of 2009, Mariah Carey takes a whack at one of our 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Because who hasn't felt heartache and pain ... and has a new album coming out next month that has so far gotten press primarily for a silly feud with Eminem.

In truth, though, this is well-traveled ground for Carey, who's done pretty nice covers of early '80s tracks (with the odd '70s pick tossed in) in the past: Journey's "Open Arms," Badfinger's "Without You," Def Leppard's "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" and Phil Collins' "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)." Watch them all, and vote for your favorite:.

"Open Arms"

"Without You"

"Bringin' On the Hearbreak"

"Against All Odds"

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

More Song Stories entries »

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