Listen to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' melancholy "Life On Mars" cover from Watchmen
Aux Features Watchmen
In the (horrible, awful, no good, extremely bad) time since David Bowie shed his mortal coil, we’ve been treated to countless covers of the rock icon’s most famous songs. But few artists have managed to capture the aura of Bowie like Trent Reznor, who occasionally collaborated and performed with the late musician. Back in 2016, the Nine Inch Nails frontman credited Bowie with helping him get sober, something that speaks to the close friendship between the two. That bond may also help to explain why Reznor’s covers of Bowie’s work are particularly meaningful and, well, good—like this cover of “Life On Mars,” composed by Reznor and Atticus Ross for the most recent episode of HBO’s Watchmen.
There’s a good chance you may not have heard the cover, which played over the end-credits of “An Almost Religious Awe.” And that’s understandable because the end of this week’s episode inspired many screeches and shouts of “WHAT,” possibly making it difficult to hear such a gentle, melancholy piano cover of the classic David Bowie tune. Thankfully, Reznor and Ross have made the cover officially available via YouTube. The track will be included in the third volume of their Watchmen score, available to purchase and/or stream on December 16.
12 Comments
Hack, cliched choice. awful show.
That was beautiful
Gonna plug Trent Reznors beautiful remix of David Bowies already fantastic ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away’ here as well:
I saw NIN perform this song last year and it was so incredibly beautiful.
That was good, but another HBO show did it even better:
Kinda pushes his(?) voice too hard in parts like vocal cords are gonna get damaged. For aesthetic reasons, not vocal ability –
I actually really like the Jessica Lange cover. Freak show is such an openly bizarre series, so an anachronistic cover by her fit really well for a season opening.
Well, I think there’s better still:
Have this play over the mute version of the Peloton commercial.
…or the music from that Simpsons China opening.
An episode that featured a powerhouse Bowie cover plus peak Hall & Oates, no less.
I’ll openly admit that the trailer for Watchmen was pretty awful. “Dr Manhattan is on mars!” *cue David Bowie’s Life On Mars over a trailer montage*But doing…that twist and then playing this surreal cover was genius. Goes to show you can absolutely never trust a trailer.