I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor

Cover version of the month #85
Baby Charles covers Artic Monkeys

As debut singles go, Artic Monkeys I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor was an absolute banger. Kids, adults, radio, MTV, indie dance clubs and the music press went absolutely nuts for this seemingly perfectly formed band that exploded out of Sheffield.

And they really did explode. Sharing their Beneath The Boardwalk demos online built a sizeable local following which filled the band with the confidence to release an EP Five Minutes With Artic Monkeys on their own Bang Bang label. The EP featured Fake Tales From San Francisco that also had a video of rehearsals and local gigs, capturing the band at a time before things went properly crazy.

'We're Artic Monkeys, this is I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor. Don't believe the hype.'

Alex Turner's introduction on the video for his bands debut single was apt. The band were being hyped beyond belief. The music weeklies sometimes get it right and they certainly did with Artic Monkeys.

Artic Monkeys immediately came across as a real gang , who were still in their teens. They had a cool frontman who happened to be a witty lyricist with a knack for hooks and youthful social observations and commentary. 

I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor is 100 mph punk pop to dance and pogo to, to play along on air guitar, to crank up the volume and to play again. Turner's lyrics have humour, teenage honesty and are delivered in a frenetic manner that makes me smile every time I hear the song.

Oh there ain't no love, no Montagues or Capulets

Just banging tunes and DJ sets

And dirty dance floors and dreams of naughtiness

Artic Monkeys are not a favourite band of mine, but I couldn't help but fall for this single. I still get a kick from the energy that leaps from it every time I hear it.

Baby Charles was a 10-piece Brighton based funk/soul outfit who released their self titled album back in 2008. It contains an outrageous cover of I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor. The bass is funky, horns and percussion are introduced, while singer Dionne Charles plays on Turner's melody, urgency and slight sauciness. This is a super sexy cover version. 

An additional 100-seconds are added on to the Artic Monkeys version. Their explosive intro is replaced by a long funk jazz workout and the band strip the song back to beats and percussion mid-song before building it back up again for a ferocious final 30-seconds and one final chorus. 

All previous cover version of the month blogs are listed below. To listen on Spotify, search for Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist, featuring all of the songs below, or CLICK HERE

Artic Monkeys official video

Baby Charles version

Previous covers of the month

1. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 

2. Going Back To My Roots

3. Nirvana play The Vaselines

4. Slip Inside This House

5. Top 10 covers by Teenage Fanclub

6. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

7. Time For Livin' 

8. Sound and Vision 

9. All Along The Watchtower

10. I Am The Walrus 

11. Guiding Star

12. You’ll Never Walk Alone

13. Hurt

14. This Guy's In Love With You

15. I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine

16. California Soul

18. Wonder wall 

19. Dancing In The Dark

20. Always On My Mind

21. Ceremony

22. Heroes

23. Different Drum

24. Wild Horses

25. Respect

26. Mr Tambourine Man

27. I Heard It Through The Grapevine

28. Superstar

29. Twist and Shout

30. Purple Rain

31. Baker Street

32. Not Fade Away

33. Stop Your Sobbing

34. I Don't Want To Grow Up

35. Serious Drugs

36. Dancing With Myself

37. How Does It Feel To Feel?

38. Love Buzz

39. ABBA-esque
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash

41. Discoland

42. Varshons 2 by The Lemonheads

43. The Langley Schools Music Project
44. Witchi Tai To
45. Our Lips Are Sealed
46. Sunshine Of Your Love
47. Here Comes The Sun
48. I Think We're Alone Now
49. Don't Let Me Down 
50. It's Oh So Quiet
51. Alcoholiday 
52. Summer Holiday
53. Who Do You Think You Are?
54. Head On
55. Nothing Compares 2 U

56. Hey Jude

57. Seven Days Too Long

58. L.O.V.E Love

59. Into Your Arms

60. Heart Of Glass

61. Take Me To The River

62. We Can Work It Out 

63. Talking In My Sleep

64. Lola

65. Lost In Music

66. My Little Red Book

67. Isn't It A Pity

68. Walk On By

69. Walk Away Renee

70. Tainted Love

71. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

72. Listen The Snow Is Falling

73. Mrs Robinson

74. He's Gonna Step On You Again

75. In My Life

76. Caravan Of Love

77. The Only Way Is Up

78. Dancin' Round & Round

79. With A Little Help From My Friends

80. Killing Me Softly

81. Ain't No Mountain High Enough

82. Drop

Alex Turner introduction to his band in the video to their debut single 

kjkjhhk

top making the eyes at me
I'll stop making the eyes at you
What it is that surprises me
Is that I don't really want you to

And your shoulders are frozen (cold as the night)
Oh, but you're an explosion (you're dynamite)
Your name isn't Rio, but I don't care for sand
And lighting the fuse might result in a bang, b-b-bang-oh

I bet that you look good on the dance floor
I don't know if you're looking for romance or
I don't know what you're looking for
I said, I bet that you look good on the dance floor
Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984
Well, from 1984

I wish you'd stop ignoring me
Because you're sending me to despair
Without a sound, yeah, you're calling me
And I don't think it's very fair

That your shoulders are frozen (cold as the night)
Oh, but you're an explosion (you're dynamite)
Your name isn't Rio, but I don't care for sand
And lighting the fuse might result in a bang, b-b-bang-oh

I bet that you look good on the dance floor
I don't know if you're looking for romance or
I don't know what you're looking for
I said, I bet that you look good on the dance floor
Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984
Well, from 1984

Oh, there ain't no love, no Montagues or Capulets
Just banging tunes and DJ sets and
Dirty dance floors and dreams of naughtiness

Well, I bet that you look good on the dance floor
I don't know if you're looking for romance or
I don't know what you're looking for
I said, I bet that you look good on the dance floor
Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984
Said, from 1984