Watch The Red Hot Chili Peppers Cover The Cars’ “Just What I Needed” In Singapore
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com
Last week, we lost Ric Ocasek, the former frontman of new wave greats the Cars. Ocasek died at the age of 75, leaving behind one hell of a legacy. And since Ocasek’s passing, his admirers have found different ways to pay tributes. Two nights ago, for instance, the Red Hot Chili Peppers played a show at Singapore’s Formula 1 Grand Prix. And like the Killers before them, the Chili Peppers paid homage to Ocasek by covering one of the Cars’ immortal 1978 classics.
At their show, the Chili Peppers took on the Cars’ debut single “Just What I Needed.” It doesn’t sound anything like a Chili Peppers song, and it doesn’t exactly sound natural coming from them, but it’s still a cool gesture. The Singapore crowd doesn’t sing along super-loud the way the Killers fans in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania did. You would expect Singapore racing fans to be into the Cars, right? Because they are into cars. Maybe not. Watch a fan-made video of that cover below.
We might not expect the Chili Peppers to be big Cars heads, but they are rock guys who were alive in the ’70s and ’80s, so of course they are. On Instagram last week, bassist Flea posted a tribute to Ocasek, calling him “an interesting, smart, kind, funny man who made incredible records” and mentioning that Ocasek also produced the Bad Brains album Rock For Light. Here’s Flea’s post:
UPDATE: Last night, the Red Hot Chili Peppers again covered the Cars’ “Just What I Needed.” This time, they did it while headlining Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Festival, at Doheny State Beach in California. And Vedder, who had already joined the Strokes onstage earlier in the weekend, helped out, singing along and pogoing next to Flea. Here’s a fan-made video:
