Desperate Situation

Ten years after the senseless murder of Marvin Gaye in 1984 by his own father, Motown Records released an album of rare and unreleased tracks from the singer's catalog.  Included in this well-overdue release was the dark and funky song, "It's a Desperate Situation".  Another decade or so later, Peeping Tom would perform their version.

According to the band's biography on his label's web page, Mike Patton describes his feelings about Peeping Tom, a project that spent years in the works before finally releasing it's only album in 2006, as the following:

"I don't listen to the radio, but if I did, this is what I'd want it to sound like. This is my version of pop music. In a way, this is an exercise for me: taking all these things I've learned over the years and putting them into a pop format. I've worked with many people who have said to me, 'oh you have a pop record in you, eventually you'll find it,' and I always laughed at them. I guess I owe them an apology."

Collaborating with names such as beatboxer Rahzel, hip-hop producer and DJ Dan "the Automator" Nakamura, and Ipecac Recordings singer Imani Coppola (as well as many others), Peeping Tom took it's sound to mainstream.  They released a video for the song, "Mojo", that featured actor and friend Danny DeVito, and made their tv debut on Conan O'Brien (which I happened to catch by total chance, my jaw hitting the floor over both this new project and National TV coverage).

The eponymous album unfortunately doesn't include this track, but thankfully videos from live shows do.  In my opinion, this version is less dark than the original, and a lot more "get up and get funky"!