Music Cover Story

The issue here is covers. For those of you who do not grasp my terminology, a cover is a song, originally performed by one artist, later done over by another. Famous covers include:

Phish's Gin And Juice (cover of Snoop Dogg)
Lenny Kravitz's American Woman (cover of The Guess Who)
Guns And Roses' Knocking On Heaven's Door (cover of Bob Dylan)
The Ataris' Boys of Summer (not sure the original artist)
Elwood's Sundown (cover of Gordon Lightfoot)

What do you think of covers as a whole, or specifically? What is your favourite, and which is the worst?

 

I like a lot of cover songs. My favorite would probably be Goldfinger's cover of 99 Red Balloons. Worst I heard was probably Nirvana's cover of Molly's Lips. Nothing compared to the original.

 

I rather liked Weezer's redo of the Pixies' Velouria. Penpal (jPunk) cover of the Pixies' Here Comes Your Man was good too.

I like covers really. If a favourite band does a cover, it shows you what bands they like (maybe) or where they get inspiration. On the other hand, if a favourite band is covered, you might find bands that were inspired by it.

Best situation is on a tribute album, with several bands doing covers of the tributee. Resectable Roosters, a tribute to the Roosters was nice. I heard of it caause the Pillows did one of the songs. By checking out who did some of the others I was able to discover other cool bands.

Other fun covers revolving around my Pixies obsession: Pixies' cover of the Beach Boys' Hang on to Your Ego, and their cover of the Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star, if for no other reason than that the Pillows also covered it. Whee
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nice thread title

 

A great cover album was We're A Happy Family, a tribute to The Ramones. There's just one song on it that sucks. Marilyn Manson singing The KKK Took My Baby Away. He managed to turn one of the coolest, most fun party-punk songs into a depressing dirge of some sort. He has a tendency to butcher just about everything he covers. Although I must admit that he didn't have much to work with on Sweet Dreams. Rancid did just about the best version of Sheena Is A Punk Rocker I've ever heard, and Rob Zombie did a pretty good Blitzkrieg Bop. The Red Hot Chili Peppers did a fun thing to Havana Affair, but it's kind of sad-sounding. The Offspring didn't do too bad with I Wanna Be Sedated, which is good because if they ruined that, they'd probably be shot by every Ramones fan in the world.
And then there's With A Little Help From My Friends, a Beatles classic. Covered famously by Joe Cocker, but also by Santana. And who knows who else.
Sometimes covers are good just because the original was crap, like the case with The Bloodhound Gang's Along Comes Mary. On the other hand, the cover can be utter filth, like Elwood's Sundown and the version of If You Could Read My Mind from Studio 54. Both travesties against Gordon Lightfoot's good name.

 

covers are normally good.

some, i have to say, arent too good, but i do love some of them. *flashes to andrea listening to boys of summer for 5 hours straight*

not saying thats the only cover i like! just the one im obsessed with currently, and they do a decent job on it. even my dad says so, and he hates music that isnt from the 1950s.

 

most covers are bad. mtv icon: metallica was a disgrace, it was blasfemy after blasfemy

couple of good covers:

sweet dreams, marilyn manson, eurthitmycs
tainted love, marilyn manson, soft cell

horrible, horrible cover:

eleanor rigby, godhead, the beatles

 

I usualy find if i liked the orginal, i like the cover. Lots of times the covers are better then orginals, almost all of RATM's Renagades is better then the orginals, NIN's Hurt is SOOO much better then the orginal version and Goldfinger's cover of 99 Red Balloons is almost as cool as Nena's orignal.

 

Renegades. Mmmmmm.

The Manson Tainted Love cover is HORRIBLE to anyone who enjoys the original.

I thought Hurt was written by Reznor

 

Not to forget the Covers Dj Sammy made...
"Heaven" - Bryan Adams
"California Dreaming" - Beach Boys (?)
"Boys of summer" - Don Healy

The Presidents of The USA - Video Killed the Radio Star (The Buggles)
The Cardigans - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Black Sabbath)
Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal (Micheal Jackson)
Dj Throwdown (?!?!) - Baby got Back (Sir-Mix-alot)

-Dance Covers/Remix-

Ruudman feat I.Witness - Heaven is a place on earth (Belinda Carlise)
Axxis Feat. Mady - Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics)
Novaspace - Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper)
King Of House - Billie Jean (Micheal Jackson)
AquaGen - Hard to say I'm Sorry (Chicago)
Interactive - Forever Young (Alphaville)
Jan Wayne - Total eclipse of the heart (Bonnie Tyler)
Code 69 - White Wedding (Billy Idol)
Dj Mind X feat. Men At Work - Down Under ( Men At Work )
Resource - I Just Did In Your Arms Tonight ( Alphaville? )
Second Sun - Seasons in the Sun ( Terry Jacks )
8 feat. Mr Mister - Broken Wings (2003 remix) (Mr Mister)
JXL - A little less Conversation (Elvis Presely)
Mad'house - HER ENTIRE ALBUM IS MADE OF MADONNA COVERS!

Almost forgot: Room 5 - Make Luv. A total remake of Oliver Cheatmans " Get Down Saturday night "

Speaking of Billie Jean, anyone remember the rock cover of the song? Can't remember the Band who did it though.

 

Go on Kazaa or some other program like that, type "punk" into the search field, and see how many covers come up. The trouble is, the artists are almost always labelled "punk covers" or some other band that obviously didn't do the song. Right now, I'm listening to a cover of Brown Eyed Girl that is supposedly Green Day, but can't be because the guitar doesn't suck.
Social Distortion's version of Ring Of Fire by Johnny Cash is great, though. And it actually IS Social D.