Olivia Rodrigo kicked off her highly anticipatedSourTour in Portland Tuesday evening — and news of the teen superstar’s surprise cover of Veruca Salt’s 1994 single “Seether” during the show set music Twitter ablaze, with reactions from fans of the trailblazing grunge outfit ranging from enthusiastic to bewildered.
Veruca Salt, however, is lending their full support to Rodrigo’s rendition of their breakthrough hit, sharing their reaction to the news on social media. “Xx to @oliviarodrigo for covering our bop amidst all of hers! We love it,” the band wrote in an Instagram post. “We’ve been belting out #brutal and #good4u in our cars nonstop for the past year, so this made our day.” The band declinedRolling Stone‘s request for further comment on the cover.
FLASHING LIGHTS WARNING
(livestream by @/gpbbarreto on instagram)
olivia rodrigo’s full cover of seether by veruca salt #SOURTOUR pic.twitter.com/yfRkx68H9S
— daisy (@maraspip) April 7, 2022
Rodrigo told the Portland crowd that she was introduced to Veruca Salt by her mother — a factoid that led more than a few Gen Xers online to jokingly confront their own mortality. “Realizing the fuzzy feeling I get in hearing Olivia Rodrigo covered Veruca Salt is probably similar to when my dad told me that Alanis Morissette reminded him of Janis Joplin,” one Twitter user wrote.
“Seether,” the lead single from Veruca Salt’s debut album American Thighs, propelled the Chicago-based band from underground scene queens to major label darlings when the track gained traction on college radio and MTV. Although the band, fronted by vocalists and guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, struggled to match the success of “Seether” in later years, the group is still regarded as a key player in the rise of late-90s female-fronted alternative rock.