Ben Gibbard-Complicated (Avril cover!)

So this was probably all over the blogs at some point, but I just found it...and can't stop listening to it. You see, I like Avril. I might have mentioned this in the past, but I'm telling you, I definitely, really, non-ironically, like her. Punky tactics aside, she's just another pop girl trying to break the mold. And, you gotta admit, for the teen demographic, back in 2002 (which is also when this cover happened), she's pretty original and brought "punk" onto the lips of wannabe, preppy rebels everywhere. Whether that's a good thing or not is a whole other story. Not to mention the pop/rock classic structures, the bouncy stuck in your head for days choruses, the angsty, punk rock "Anything But Ordinary" type lyrics to stick to every slightly confused teenager's heart, the catchiness and general popness of her despite whatever she tries to be...

But I'm going off. This post is about Ben Gibbard, covering Avril (and you can also see plenty of coverage about Ben), and how delightful and entertaining and charming his little interjections of speech, musings on the goodness of the song, musings on how he doesn't understand its complicatedness, and how even the indie rock sweetheart can't make a pop song sound any less like a pop song, and how Ben should definitely try to channel that "awesome spirit" more often, because there's nothing quite like an indie boi covering a pop girl, thus bringing an original great pop song into the acceptance of hipsters everywhere (see: Ted Leo, Kelly Clarkson).