Krokus just-released their album, Big Rocks, on January 27. The album is a tribute to the music that influenced the band. There are 14 tracks on the record. They also cover the likes of The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Queen. One of the 14 tracks is a new version of their own song, Back Street Rock N’ Roll, which was from their Metal Rendez-Vous’ album.
Krokus released their second single from the album this week. It’s their version of Neil Young’s, Rockin’ In The Free World, which is off his Freedom album. Neil Young used the song as a political anthem, mainly criticizing President George H. W. Bush, during his time in office. Considering the references in the song, I find it interesting that Krokus, who is from Switzerland, covered it. Krokus maintained the political theme in the video.
The video features a teenager riding a skateboard throughout the whole song. As you follow the boy on his journey through the city, you see scenes from history playing in the background, such as Hitler and Churchill giving speeches. He also can be seen giving money to the homeless. This is so you can see various political views. He eventually picks up a globe of the earth, that he finds in a store, and continues with it traveling in his hand. It’s basically the whole video until the end. I won’t reveal, because you need to watch it. It seemed very odd way to end the video to me. Maybe, they are planning a sequel, who knows? The band’s website says this about the video, “The video reflects the madness of this world- not less-not more”. They also stated the following: “Krokus likes to bring people together with their music and stand for freedom of opinion and speech”. I’m not sure they are following their country’s neutral position in the world with this video. But they do seem to have an opinion. You can watch the video below and judge that for yourself.
If you have been following me on the SRR for some time, you know I am not fond of bands doing cover or tribute albums as a release. I don’t mind a cover song or two, but a whole album, to me is just lazy. That aside, I like the way they made the song a bit heavier than Young’s version. They definitely made the song sound like it is something they would do. They stayed true to the original and owned it, that’s not always easy. In this case, I actually think the video takes away from the song. It doesn’t synch up well with the lyrics and can be distracting. Overall, the song itself is a good tribute to Young. I think he would be rather happy with the song. The video, not so much.
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