In its 20-year history, Like A Version has become one of the most recognised media segments across Australia.
Every Friday morning, music fans listen in anticipation of an artist's performance in the triple j studio.
Like A Version in 2023 is much larger in its scale and ambition than it was in 2004, but the foundation remains simple and the same: A performer comes in and plays an original song and a cover that go to air.
The cover is typically the one that gets the most attention though. And over the years, the chance to deliver one has drawn artists from all over the world, from the Arctic Monkeys to Childish Gambino, AURORA, Charli XCX and more, and they have received huge support for their performances on the segment.
It has also provided a platform for local artists to reach new heights in their careers, with popular covers helping Australian artists reach audiences around the world.
Learning to love the art of a good cover
It was Lissie Turner who created Like A Version under the name Mel Bampton back in 2004. And at the time, she had a bit of an aversion to the entire concept of artists playing covers.
"I had a real bugbear about covers, which is hilarious to think about now," Turner laughs.
"I thought that covers were this easy way out: If a band was coming into the scene, this was a really easy way for them to suddenly get fame in a very lazy fashion."
The concept for the segment was born off the back of another called Wrong Way To The Top. "As the name suggests, it was very much about really terrible AC/DC covers, of which there are thousands," Turner says. "And what ended up happening over time through Wrong Way To The Top is that I started to discover a lot of really fantastic covers."
Turner soon moved from triple j's Drive program to the morning show, named Mel In The Morning. Her opinion and feelings about covers had changed as Wrong Way To The Top had evolved, and she begun to realise the potential for strong covers to resonate with people. Armed with that feeling, she was keen to take the segment with her to the new radio slot and build it up.
"For me, it was very much born from this metamorphosis of letting go of this purist idea that covers were no good, [and] realising that you could actually see more deeply into an artist through the songs that they not only loved, but they loved to play."
Brent Griffin, a Sydney artist known better by his moniker SPOD, was the first musician to take on the segment in its new form. He covered Madonna's Like A Virgin, giving the show its new name. Turner was a fan of his work, but his performance in the studio was what put the segment in the spotlight.
"He was a really fun electronic artist, and we must have got talking over a few beers. He said, 'I'd love to play Madonna's Like A Virgin,' and thus the name was born."
2004 and 2005 saw a wealth of acclaimed national artists perform in the studio – Sydney rockers Grinspoon took on The Verve, funk group The Cat Empire tackled The Eagles, and folk singer Sarah Blasko covered Elton John.
Dozens of international artists joined in too, including singer-songwriter José González (Massive Attack), and US groups Violent Femmes (The Saints) and The Shins (The Magnetic Fields).
Over time, artists stretched the creative boundaries of the covers they performed, some of which still resonate with Turner due to how surprising the choices were to her at the time.
"Angus and Julia Stone did Chumbawamba’s Tubthumping and I did not see that coming," Turner says.
The brother-sister duo's performance flipped the original on its head, slowing the track down drastically and heading down an acoustic, folky route with plucky guitar chords, a steady beat and a hint of trumpet thrown in for good measure.
"It made songs that you thought might not be particularly cool, actually a little bit good," she says. "An artist that you really love covering something like that gives you free licence to love that song."
The segment also changed her and the audience's perspective of the songs covered — something Turner says is one of the biggest legacies of the early days of Like A Version.
"I have a lot of affection for The Herd's [version of] I Was Only 19," she says.
"It really educated me. Like A Version is an education platform around music, but also around story."
That cover — still considered by many to be one of the more defining and durable Like A Version performances of the segment's earlier years — saw the Sydney collective transform the iconic folk track about the Vietnam War into a hip hop anthem. Such was its popularity that the band re-recorded it, and it was voted into triple j's Hottest 100 of 2005, coming in at 18.
Seeing that impact was exciting for Turner given the studio constraints she and the team had to work with in those earlier years, and what they were able to do despite that (the team worked out of a small studio that made preparation all the more difficult).
"We only had eight tracks (audio inputs for instruments), which meant only eight things that can plug in," she says.
If you've got guitars, if you've got bass, if you've got keyboards, if you've got drums, too bad. Whoever you were, no matter what you did — whether you were an electronic artist, acoustic artist, a full rock band, anything — if you wanted to do Like A Version, you had to strip back to eight input tracks, which meant no drum kit."
Turner stepped away from the morning program and the segment after a couple of years, but she has watched "her baby" grow from afar and still finds it a little overwhelming to think how big her creation has become.
"I just feel glad that it got off the ground," she says.
"I really feel so happy that it got off the ground.
"And it's created so much incredible music for people to love and to enjoy, and for artists to look a little bit more deeply into the songs that really resonate with them and why."
New hosts and new homes
Over the few years after Turner's exit, a number of presenters became custodians of the segment, which floated around between a few different homes.
Zan Rowe took over from Turner as the host of triple j Mornings in 2006, and could already see the impact it was having on listeners.
"It was a segment that was only a couple of years in its infancy, but you could tell it was already growing in appeal," she says.
"It was such a great way for people to hear a song in a new way, but also maybe even discover something they didn't know about.
"This was another chance that artists could wear their hearts on their sleeves, and introduce their fans and a younger audience to bands or artists that they hadn't heard before or didn't know before."
2006 was as busy as the year prior in the Like A Version studios, with local heavyweights such as Eskimo Joe (covering Hey by Pixies) and Augie March (Still I Dream Of It by Brian Wilson) taking their turns.
International acts Death Cab For Cutie (Billy Bragg), Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (Woody Guthrie) and Ben Folds (The Postal Service) also performed.
The segment's popularity meant it moved over to the Drive program, where a bigger audience lived, under the care of Robbie Buck. It also became more accessible during a period when it was filmed for triple j's TV show JTV.
"I watched a couple of [episodes] and I'm like, there's no mystery here [with the segment]," Rowe chuckles.
"We really didn't think about who was in the background on film. The lighting is terrible, we're all wearing bootcut jeans — it's great."
By the time Buck, Marieke Hardy and The Doctor (Lindsay McDougall) took the show back over to the breakfast slot, Like A Version was well and truly thriving, but still very DIY.
"It made Fridays really easy because we had two 15-minute increments sorted," McDougall reminisces. "I remember Gossip coming in and the guitarist borrowing my guitar that was in the studio.
"That's how threadbare it was. People would turn up and say, 'Alright, what are we doing? Like, let's have a guitar, let's go.' They'd sit around a talking microphone, put the acoustic guitar up to the microphone and just go for it — that's how it would work."
Studio shake-ups, a production drive and the growth of pop
Over the next few years, artists continued to push the boundaries, with more pop songs making their way into the segment.
As Tom Ballard and Alex Dyson took over the Breakfast reins, production experimentation was becoming a more significant part of the creative process.
It was during these years, the early 2010s, that the team began experimenting more regularly with a larger studio space which had typically been reserved for special occasions or a JTV performance.
"We had the big grand piano in there which Bon Iver used and did a big, beautiful cover," Dyson says.
"Illy's Ausmusic Month mashup was in there, and that was really special too.
"But it was a little scary. The thing I had to adjust to was that you were just sitting in a chair with a mic on a string. You didn't have the comfort of your desk and the buttons and computer screen in front of you to look at.
"But you can never go wrong with giving an artist free rein on their creativity and having that bigger space. Gang Of Youths doing that massive cover of Blood by The Middle East still gives me shivers whenever I've watched that one. People are making it a real show."
Ballard, who presented alongside Dyson from 2010 to 2013, also remembers jumping between studio spaces often.
"We moved studios a lot," he says.
"Sometimes we were in the fancy studio in the ABC building, not just in the broadcast studio. So we went a little bit bigger.
"I remember the Silverchair-covering-Yellow-Submarine situation was a pretty big step up.
"I think it might have been the first time we were down there with the full backing band and a bit of a brass section and going all out.
"I think after a while that built a bit of a mental apparatus of what other people had done and the thought was, 'OK, can we go bigger? Can we do something really big and special for this?'"
A significant moment for the segment, according to McDougall, was when Sydney artist Montaigne visited the studio and performed Sia's Chandelier.
"I think Montaigne doing that was a bit of a Trojan horse for getting pop music onto triple j, which was so good," he says.
As a producer for the show from 2016, Nick Gerber also saw the transition play out in real time.
"When I took over production, we'd started inviting more electronic acts and hip hop acts in," Gerber says.
"There were more people using beats and electronic noises so we had to get very creative in expanding performances in the original studio's tiny space.
"When Violent Soho did it, we'd chased them for quite a while and they were nervous about it.
"I heard from their manager that they'd got the measurements of the space and its shape, and duct taped it on the ground so that they could practise making sure that everything fit in the space."
Greg Wales has overseen the sound engineering for Like A Version since the first CD was released back in 2006.
He says the shift in studios marked a significant moment in the appeal of the segment.
"It was mainly driven by the fact that the live music performance changed dramatically over the last decade, if not a little bit more than that," he says.
"The size of performances that people were bringing in just got bigger and bigger, you know. We kind of had to move, but it was a great thing to do.
"It gave the segment a new sound and it gave the video team more to work with too."
With the new studio came more opportunities to work with bands and artists to produce the highest-quality content possible.
"We have a world-class studio that heaps of musicians nerd out on," he says.
"We also have a lot of really old stuff that isn't available anymore, but can do modern things with plug-ins."
Using Like A Version as a platform for success
A stronger focus on the segment's visual production meant there was more potential than ever for artists' performances to make waves online.
For some musicians, their Like A Version cover was a gateway to legions of new fans, and some songs were so popular they became regular features on live touring set lists.
"Pop music is good, it's amazing," the DMA'S famously said before their 2016 cover of Cher's Believe was played, which was something of a catalyst for the segment. The performance, which took place in October that year, was an instant hit that people were scrambling to share with their friends.
The band's take on the iconic 90s pop track made history in the 2016 Hottest 100 less than three months later by becoming the first Like A Version to ever crack the countdown's top 10, landing at number six.
Similarly, US rapper Denzel Curry found a new audience when he covered Rage Against The Machine's Bulls On Parade, which video executive producer Tim Pass— a fan of the band — describes as a highlight in his years on the team.
"It was goosebumps, It was crazy," he says.
"I felt something in the room. And as soon as it went up online and people watched it, it was obvious that it wasn't just me. That was a real moment."
For Jess Hallay, who's been shooting, directing, and editing Like A Version since 2016, the excitement of meeting and being in the same room as a favourite or fun artist is still as strong as ever.
"I've definitely had artists come through that I have been super excited to see live in the flesh, like Childish Gambino. But it hasn't always been about the cover – the AURORA interview that we filmed was just hilarious."
It wasn't long before artists were using the bigger space to their advantage, with visual elements becoming a more significant component of the cover. For Gerber, Flume's 2022 cover of Bag Raiders stands out, as does Confidence Man's cover of DJ Sammy's Heaven.
"Flume's was a very different one that we've done. He said that he wanted to have a little bit of fun with it because he'd done a full performance one last time where he had Vince Staples, Vera Blue, and Kucka.
I think that since that point in time, he'd kind of changed in attitude, he'd become a bit more relaxed and a bit more confident with what he's into.
"On the day, it was a really collaborative thing between Flume and the video team, and even some of our socials team as well.
It was really kind of the first time where I was like, 'This is really different – the visuals are just as interesting and as important as the song.'"
"Confidence Man was different again because it was big on visuals. They said that they wanted to do a very dance-based Like A Version because that's what they do, so we were able to work with them on that."
What makes a good Like A Version?
Whatever era they were involved in, many of the segment's producers, engineers and producers hold similar beliefs about which Like A Version covers stand out most.
Performances that flip the script, or "break the rules" as Turner likes to put it, are the ones that have the most impact and staying power with people.
"I would have loved to have had the A.B. Original and Paul Kelly Like A Version (a cover of Dumb Things by Paul Kelly) happen in my time," Turner says.
"I love that it breaks the rules in the sense that the actual artist is also in there. And I think breaking convention has to be one of the things that triple j always does."
Tim Pass says the Denzel Curry cover of Bulls on Parade "was a great example of an artist pulling apart a song, looking at the arrangement and the instrumentation and making it their own".
"Then there's just the performance itself — to have the person bringing that level of energy and being a real presence in the room, it was really memorable," he says.
Nick Gerber says the main thing is the artists "need to be passionate about whatever they're covering".
"But we just need to make sure that it gets the biggest bang for them with the audience," he says.
"Gender swaps are good. So if you're a male artist, you could do a female artist or vice versa.
"Genre swaps are great too, so if someone's a guitarist or rock band, you could do something hip hop related.
"We're trying to get away from a band covering a song that's in a similar genre, or that wouldn't be a noticeable cover because it's all about the artist's take on a particular song."
For Greg Wales, who's overseen many hundreds of Like A Versions over the years, the best covers are the ones where the enjoyment of the artist translates to the audience.
"I think one of the gold standards of Like A Version has been recent, and that was Dune Rats doing The Angels," he says.
"They absolutely nailed the brief on that one. They had fun, they enjoyed the process immensely, you could tell.
"It was faithful to the original, but had that Dune Rats style. They did that genius move of getting the two guys from The Angels to actually come and play, which was such a lovely hat tip, and giving Ruby Fields some lines to sing as well.
"I think it had just had a really broad palette for people to come and enjoy.
"And they were comfortable, it suited them. And that's, I think, something that is really important for a band to nail."
The show goes on
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on Like A Version for the first time in its history.
Thankfully, this lasted only a couple of months, and the segment was able to pick up where it left off.
More than 850 covers have been produced by more than 600 artists in 20 years of Like A Version's existence.
"I'm really proud of the segment, I'm really happy to be involved with it. As an audio engineer, it's so much fun," Wales says.
"It's funny — sometimes you see comments where people say, 'I hope they do a studio version of this,' and you think yeah, they can, but it's not going to be the same.
"Apart from fidelity and audio quality, the thing that makes that performance what it is, is how present they are when they do it, and that's what people are responding to.
"I saw DMA'S opening up for Arctic Monkeys, and they played Believe. There were 25,000 people in that field, just screaming it out, having a blast singing that back at the band. That was really nice, you know."
You can vote in triple j's Hottest 100 of Like A Version from May 23 to July 10. Don't forget to listen to the countdown on July 15.
