SONG REVIEW: Dark Moon Lilith - "Only Happy When It Rains (Garbage Cover)"
Dark Moon Lilith channel the classic grunge sound in their cover of “Only Happy When It Rains”
Written by JD Walker
Picture this: it’s the mid 1990’s. The store shelves are filled with Surge, Dunkaroos, and Crystal Pepsi. The Chicago Bulls were dominating the league, led by the almighty Michael Jordan. You just got home after a long day of school to wind down the night with a PlayStation or GameCube and your favorite grunge rock CD. The 90’s were a nostalgic time for many, and Dark Moon Lilith’s cover of the popular hit “Only Happy When It Rains” by Garbage invokes the nostalgic feeling of those seemingly better times.
“Only Happy When It Rains” is without a doubt one of the most popular songs of the 1990’s, and for good reason: the song was met with instant universal acclaim and has proven to be Garbage’s magnum opus and resounding success. Dark Moon Lilith captures the glistening melancholy of the song perfectly, with Tara James’ crooning vocals being reminiscent of original Garbage vocalist Shirley Manson. The duo, composed of James and Asher Smith, pulled the enormously popular song off well and stayed true to the original vibe of the tune without much deviation or modernization. For a song as well known as “Only Happy When It Rains”, this works in the band’s favor perfectly.
The sound of “Only Happy When It Rains” is right up the alley of Dark Moon Lilith; the band are heavily inspired by the likes of My Chemical Romance and Green Day and take a large amount of influence from the grunge and industrial sound of the 90’s. The video for their take on the song is well in line with the nostalgic factor of the song itself, utilizing camera techniques and post production effects that look like something off of MTV (back when they actually played music).
Dark Moon Lilith have a particular sound that they’re going for and they execute it well. The band are heavily inspired by the emo, grunge, industrial, and punk sounds of yesteryear and play to the crowd that reminisces of the 90’s. Nostalgia is psychologically the one of the strongest appeals to emotion in marketing and Dark Moon Lilith leveraged that in their favor for their incredibly authentic rendition of “Only Happy When It Rains”.