It's great that New Zealand's own dear Ms. Ella Maria Lani Yelich-O'Connor (aka Lorde) kicked some serious ass at the US Grammy Awards. She's made some of the best popular pop music (as opposed to unloved but entirely worthy pop music that's always shifted to the side until much later on...Big Star, etc.) in a very long while! And this rather long in the tooth writer was very impressed by her cover of the Replacements' song Swinging Party. Here's a live version of the song by the band I once (along with a lot of other geeky boys) worshipped from 1985, and Lorde's updated take.
