I was never crazy about the name but I have learned to love it.
There were MTV hits, appearances on CD compilations I bought and of course, they appeared in the infamous rock documentary Dig!
While my friends (and many others) watched it and fell in love with the ramshackle Brian Jonestown Massacre, I opted to cheer for the Warhols.
The band recorded two records that I consider essential - 2000s Tales from Urban Bohemia produced by Dave Sardy and its follow up 2003s Welcome to The Monkey House produced by Tony Visconti and Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes.
The band has stayed busy in the ensuing decades trying different sounds and themes. 2024s Rockmaker being the closest to a legitimate comeback record. The band with a harder sound made an album filled with stars- Debbie Harry, Slash, Black Francis, and The Shins’ James Mercer.
It’s a conundrum for any band that has put in decades of work and the Warhols haven’t quite been able to consistently find that magic, so doing an all covers album seems like the kind of thing that might get that mojo working again.
Everyone should be familiar with “Pin Ups” the 1973 David Bowie album where he recorded covers of his favorite songs of his teenage years. Recorded in the midst of some of his strongest albums, many fans seem to hate it. While I won’t spend that much time defending it, I do enjoy it in bits.
It also has become the defining album of recording “personal influential” cover songs, something artists would start doing with more regularity.
My favorite Pin Ups reference is Glenn Danzig’s personal reflection -2015s Skeletons in which he records Black Sabbath and Elvis Presley songs (among others) and the cover is an homage to Bowie with the then-60-year old Danzig and adult actress Kayden Kross in a goth tribute to the original cover.
So I knew a bit of what to expect from the 2025 Dandy Warhols album Pin Ups. Its track listing is a bit strange but the strongest parts can be found in the strangeness.
The Warhols surely have some synergy with the glammy hard rock band The Cult and so two of their tunes are covered here to great effect - She Sells Sanctuary and Rain. The glam comes through. As it does with The Cure’s “Primary” which maybe shouldn’t but does sound like a Dandy Warhols song.
Elsewhere it is the 70s sounds of America’s “Sister Golden Hair” and a double dose of Dylan -“Lay Lady Lay” and “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”.
No one would advise a band to try covering these songs but for some reason it seems to work.
Most of the time, things fall exactly as you would expect them like covering the New York Dolls’ “Jet Boy” and the Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck” - and ultimately are good because the original can’t be messed with.
There are a couple of missteps. The Beatles “Blackbird” somehow fades into Lo-fi while Marilyn Manson’s “Beautiful People” while not only feeling out of place, just doesn’t seem to quite gel.
Overall, this is a surprisingly fun listen.
A collection of great songs given an airy psychedelic air by the Dandy’s. Unlike their heroes Duran Duran (who gave us the much maligned covers album Thank You in 1995), here's a record I will revisit time and time again.
