Skip to main content

A banjo duo playing ‘The Final Countdown’? Believe it (Video)

WASHINGTON — “The Final Countdown,” by Europe, came out almost 30 years ago, so your opinion of the Top 10 hit with the unstoppable keyboard riff is probably pretty well cemented. But a new version may change that.

Husband-and-wife banjoists Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn recently recorded a version for The A.V. Club that brings new dimension to the apocalyptic space-travel classic. You wouldn’t think the main riff would work without the grand, icy pomp of the very-‘80s keyboard sound Europe used, but you’d be wrong.

You also probably haven’t heard the rest of the song in at least 25 years, so that’s worth checking out as well. As are the wigs — The A.V. Club reports that Fleck kept his, and the two are playing “The Final Countdown” in their shows.

It’s all part of the A.V. Club’s excellent Undercover series, in which performers play seemingly incongruous and/or untouchable songs. It’s all worth a look.

h/t TIME

RZA came up with a new ice cream truck jingle because the old one was used in minstrel shows

The ice cream truck jingle of your childhood is about to get an upgrade — and RZA is behind it. The hip-hop icon of Wu-Tang fame has teamed up with the ice cream brand Good Humor to re-imagine the signature "Turkey in the Straw" jingle played by ice cream trucks all over the country. Because, as it turns out, the tune has a problematic past.
Read Next Story