Kind of perverse really, that the band least likely to have their adolescence dominated by the omnipresence of "Everybody Hurts" should be the one to tackle it on Stereogum's Automatic for the People tribute, Drive XV. Meat Puppets were the only one drawn from the group's college radio peer group, after all. It's tempting to think of their version as a bit of a piss take, as its hard to imagine the Puppets singing over those heart tugging strings without a creeping smirk. But really, the song is such an open hearted plea that anything but complete conviction is going to sound smart ass. In their brief posted comment, Curt Kirkwood claims the track as a tribute to Elvis, three decades after his passing. In this frame of mind, it's even sort of moving. This is exactly the sort of big, universal hit that a still truckin' Elvis would have appropriated for his Vegas show. It's totally the "Bridge Over Troubled Water" of its era. So when a hint of the King's twang creeps in towards the end, I prefer to think of it as kind of sad rather than ironic. Biography doesn't give everyone the chance to sing all the songs for which they were meant.