Season 11 of the Adult Swim hit show, Squidbilles has just recently wrapped up, with music fans getting a diverse amount of artists covering the show’s famous opening song. As has been the case in recent seasons, each episode of season 11 featured a different artist performing the song, with the genre wildly fluctuating from episode to episode. This trend has been the norm for a while as artists such as T-Pain, Band of Horses, Alabama Shakes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Todd Rundgren, Dwight Yoakam, Father John Misty, and Kurt Vile.
Below we give you a rundown of each artist that performed the theme song this season.
Steve Earle
The veteran country outlaw is still touring the country with his backing band, The Dukes, playing some of his most inspired music of his career. His version of the theme injects some gritty country-rock to the proceedings and seems to be one of the versions more in line with the original country style of the theme.
Bob Mould
The legendary guitarist of Husker Du, Mould gives the theme song a massive rock makeover, featuring his trademark raspy vocal delivery and shimmering guitar work. Mould has continued to tour the world and release new music, with his latest release being last year’s excellent Patch the Sky.
Against Me!
A relatively subdued version of the theme from one of punk’s most ferocious bands, the song features a solid vocal performance from Laura Jane Grace. The group has been touring restlessly in support of 2016’s Shape Shift With Me album and recently released special edition 7” for Record Store Day.
Matthew Kaminski
Atlanta baseball fans will recognize the name as Kaminski is the organist for the Braves, and his version of the theme song is wildly different as one would imagine. The airy tone of the organ complements the music better than one would expect.
Ty Segall
Ty Segall utilizes his trademark noise-rock approach on this version, with stomping guitar licks and grating vocals making for one of the heaviest versions of the theme. Segall has been prolific this year, releasing new album, a new EP, and a couple of new songs in addition to announcing another new album that will be dropping early next year.
Camper Van Beethoven
Taking a more ska approach to the theme, Camper Van Beethoven put their unique sonic signature on the song, injecting it with plenty of slick guitar licks and an excellent vocal line from David Lowery. The group has been keeping a relatively low profile since their massive lawsuit against Spotify a few years back.
Weird Al Yankovic
Featuring some tasty accordion licks, Weird Al turns the theme into a revved-up piece of polka which works surprisingly well. Yankovic has recently announced a series of tour dates in 2018 that will feature only his original material and none of the parodies of famous songs that have made him household name. He also announced the release of a massive box set containing all of his albums, including a never before released collection of rarities.
John Prine
The most traditional-sounding version on this list, Prine uses a simple strummed guitar and his trademark gravelly vocal style to belt out the song, reminiscent of the original version of the theme. Prine has kept a low profile, but he did make an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival earlier this year, which included an impressive duet with Roger Waters.
Stephen Malkmus
The Pavement guitarist gives an impressive reading of the theme, adding in some of his trademark melodic guitar licks to complement a powerful vocal line. Malkmus has kept a low profile in recent years, though he did score the soundtrack to the Netflix series Flaked last year
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