You’ll Look Sweet Upon the Seat of Kirk Hammett’s Bicycle Built for Two

Artist Mark Ryden (whose work you know even if you don’t know you know it) has put together a compilation entitled The Gay Nineties Old Tyme Music: Daisy Bell, on which a diverse array of celebrities each contribute their interpretations of the famous old-timey song “Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two).” Only 999 copies will be pressed, and they’ll be sold for $99 each… which is a lot, but the money will benefit Little Kids Rock, “a national nonprofit that transforms children’s lives by restoring and revitalizing music education in disadvantaged public schools,” so the money is being well-utilized. Famous people included on the collection include Nick Cave, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Tyler the Creator, Katy Perry… and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, some of whose guitars feature art by Ryden.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Hammett probably just took the song, sped it up really fast, and added a bunch of shredding and wah, right? Wrong! Funny enough, Hammett makes the song sound really slow and deep and drunk. I think maybe he was trying to pay homage to this famous scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it comes off like a silly parody of Bloody Panda or something. Still, you gotta give Kirk a hand for not just doing what everyone expects him to do. It’s innovative thinking like this that gave us St. Anger and Lulu, after all.

[via]