What group/artist did the best/worst cover song?

[Tom_Foolery]

For best, it has to be Joan Osborne's version of SON OF A PREACHER MAN.

[CO Liberal]

1. William Shatner's "Mr. Tambourine Man"

"MISTER TAMBOURINE MAN!!!!!"

"MISTER TAMBOURINE MAN!!!!!"

:-)

[bikebloke]

2. Sweet Home Alabama

by the Leningrad Cowboys with the Russian Red Army Choir.

A bigger sound, but I like it.

[dedhed]

3. Worst cover...

Limp Bizkit's (or was it just Fred Durst's) cover of The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes."

What the hell was up with that?!?

:wtf:

[mac56]

4. Best: "Money" or "Twist And Shout" by the Beatles.

Also, "Over The Rainbow" by Iz.

Worst: "I Love Rock'n'Roll" by Britney Spears. Yeeechhhhh.

[devilgrrl]

5. A few good ones...

David Bowie - Wild is the Wind
U2 - Dancing Barefoot
Nirvana - The Man Who Sold the World

Worst
Bananarama - Venus
Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now

[BOSSHOG]

6. Best - Brooks and Dunn, "My Maria"

[mac56]

8. Really?

I always thought it was a note-for-note Xerox copy of the original by B.W. Stevenson. Brought nothing new to the song at all.

[Skittles]

15. maybe that's why it was good?

:D

[mac56]

17. okay...but...

why not just listen to the original then? Call me naive, but I always thought good artists cover others' songs to try a new interpretation, add something to the mix.

Add on edit: Like what you like. Life's too short.

[Skittles]

34. yeah, like the Lemonheads' version of MRS. ROBINSON

it ROCKED !!!!!

[mac56]

36. a very good example

also 10,000 Maniacs' "Peace Train".

[Fenris]

40. They also did an excellent version of Morrissey's Everyday Is Like Sunday

[MinnFats]

7. Manfred Mann's Earth Band Covered two Springsteen songs...

...
"Spirit in the Night"

and

"Blinded by the Light"


that absolutely ruined both songs. Awful.
but for some inexplicable reason, both got lots of airplay, and you sometimes still hear them on the radio.
I hit the button every time I hear the first few notes because they're so bad.
None of the originality, energy or funky-loose spirit of the originals.

[MinnFats]

13. oops. forgot 'best.' it has to be 'All Along the Watchtower' by Jimi

Hendrix.

Fine Dylan song to begin with, but Jimi added all this incredible guitar work....listening to it you can see the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding across the dusty plains ...

AND the guitar solo has three -- count 'em, THREE -- distinct movements!

57. that one or Mick Harvey's cover of Initials BB

Hendrix basically gets my vote ordinarily, but I just heard Mick Harvey's tribute to Serge Gainsbourg & he gets honorable mention.

[Quahog]

37. Yup, these deserve a vote for worst n/t

[regularguy]

38. Yeah, what he/they did to those songs is a crime!

.

[Atlas Mugged]

9. Worst. Cover. Ever.

'Satisfaction' - Britney Spears

& Devo's cover is one of the best

:)

[Nailzberg]

71. I'll second that!

Devo rocks!!

[The Zanti Regent]

10. "Blowin in the Wind" by Eddie Albert

It's on the Golden Thoats #1 at Rhino Records...

[Commendatori]

11. Best: Queensryche's "Scarborough Fair,"

because if I'm going to listen to a cover I want to hear at least SOME oroginality in it. This one dropped my jaw, it was staggering.

Worst: Aerosmith covering their own music with Run-DMC in "Walk This Way."

[noonwitch]

59. Is "Scarborough Fair" on one of the Reich's CDs? Which one?

I'd heard that they covered it, but have never heard the recording.

[Commendatori]

70. No, it was a B-side to a single,

which I think was off the "Promised Land" CD (don't quote me on that), even though the tune itself was recorded years earlier.

[southpaw]

78. Amen on the Queensryche!

Scarborough Fair never had it so good!!!!

It was on the flip side of the "Silent Lucidity" cassingle. (From Empire)

Worst? Gotta be Faith Hill's country-fried sliming of "Piece of My Heart" When I heard that abomination, I was actually glad that Janis wasn't around to hear it.

[Loonman]

12. Pixies - "Head On"

Brilliance does not need to be covered.


Only Pixies song I don't like.



The best cover I've ever heard was "Supernaut" by 1,000 Homo DJs.

[Whitacre D_WI]

14. Are you mad?

I mean, I understand the GbV thing -- I don't agree (well, not always), but I UNDERSTAND.

But "Head On?"

The original is good, but the Pixies' version is outstanding! It picks me up when I'm feelin' down! It's impossible to be depressed while listening to that song.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

18. Much as I love the Mary Chain, I've gotta agree.

[Loonman]

21. It sounds like a piss-take

I just don't like it.

[Whitacre D_WI]

25. No!

:o

[Sticky]

16. Rod Stewart's cover

of Van Morrison's Have I Told You Lately That I Love You......he murders it!

Whoo Hoo!! .... 800 posts and it only took a year!!!!

:bounce: :party:

[Zomby Woof]

19. best and worst

Best:
Jimi Hendrix's cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower".
Lynyrd Skynyrd's cover of J.J. Cale's "Call Me The Breeze".
Gov't Mule's cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs".
Allman Brothers' cover of Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen".
Bob Dylan's cover of the traditional "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down".

Worst:
Adam Durst's cover of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi".
Ike and Tina Turner's cover of CCR's "Proud Mary".
Rod Stewart's cover of Robbie Robertson's "Broken Arrow".
Metallica's cover of Bob Seger's "Turn The Page"

[Fenris]

22. "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" gets my vote

One of the great cuts from "Live 1966".

[Zomby Woof]

28. true, but

That album is wonderful, but I was referring to the version Dylan did on his 1962 debut, which is chock full of great covers.

But hey, throw in the 19966 version and the "Last Waltz" version, and it's a nice triple-play. :-)

[Fenris]

31. A Dylan trifecta!

Excellent!

[theboss]

65. "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Man"

Though I think Rod Stewart's getting a bad rap here. He's typically a great cover artist.

I love his version of "Mama, You've Been on My Mind." And he always does Sam Cooke justice.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

20. My Bloody Valentine's 'We Have All The Time In The World'

[Fenris]

23. Is that best or worst?

;)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

27. I'll give that a little Morrisseyan ambiguity.

[Fenris]

29. Alright. But be prepared for hordes of female and male admirers.

They'll all want to marry you!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

33. Hey! As long as they're free with their cash, what do I care?

I'm a whore, baby!

[Fenris]

35. Spoken like the man himself!

[clidaw]

24. Satisfaction? Britney Spears??

I had better go through the rest of my life without hearing that. Cat People did an interesting version of that song. Not great, just interesting. A great cover that hasn't been mentioned yet is Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. If any of you saw Shrek, they used John Cale's version of that song for the film. Cale's is good (how can an ex-velvet do anything that isn't good?), but Buckley's version puts that one to shame. Absolutely brilliant.
The worst cover I've heard is Eric Clapton's unplugged version of Layla. I realize he wrote the song, so I guess he can do what he wants to with it. I can't figure out why he would want to butcher one of the best pieces of music in rock history. Duane Allman would not be proud.

[mac56]

30. Cale's version is also on the "Scrubs" soundtrack.

nm

[Dulcinea]

26. Pearl Jam's cover of that butt-awful song

about the kid whose girlfriend gets killed in a car accident.

Nauseating. :puke:

[mac56]

32. I love that version of "Last Kiss".

A perfect level of irony.

[Nailzberg]

73. Sorry, but you're wrong.

That song was the biggest push for the "No Boundaries: A Benefit For The Kosovar Refugees" album and did a lot of fundraising good. For that reason alone, I disagree with you.

Plus, it was awesome when they busted that out in concert '98 out of the blue.

[Bossy Monkey]

39. "We Can Work It Out" -- Stevie Wonder by a wide, wide margin

followed by of all people on god's green earth, Tom Scott & LA Express (featuring Patty Smyth) doing "Ode To Billy Joe."

[mac56]

41. Anyone familiar with Mary Lou Lord and Semisonic's version

of the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar"?

Scoff if you will, but it's so excellent.

[Quahog]

42. Emmylou Harris' version of "Wrecking Ball"

Damn hard to improve on a Neil Young song, but she managed it. That's a heartbreaker, it gets my vote for "best one I can think of at the moment."

[Zomby Woof]

45. good one!

Produced by Daniel Lanois, no less. :-)

[terrya]

43. Worst: Bing Crosby doing "Hey Jude"

Yes, der Bingle covered the Beatles song.

You can find it here:

http://www.fadetoblack.com/

Under the Rock and Roll Hall of Shame

[Screaming Lord Byron]

44. The Sundays did an excellent 'Wild Horses'

[Screaming Lord Byron]

46. The Pixies - 'Winterlong'

[Fenris]

47. Joy Division "Sister Ray"

[clidaw]

60. Sister Ray cover

Did they do a full version or cut it down? I actually heard a bar band do that song once. I was so excited to hear it that I can't even remember if it was any good. They did shorten it though.
Another good cover that comes to mind is 97 Bonnie and Clyde by Tori Amos. I've never heard the original Eminem version, but it can't be as creepy as this cover.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

48. This Mortal Coil 'Song to the Siren' and 'You and Your Sister'

[Quahog]

55. Yes! And 'Kangaroo'

This Mortal Coil was a great project, from back in the days when Ivo Watts-Russell had a vision.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

56. Yeah, I'd forgotten about Kangaroo. TMC was a great concept.

[Fenris]

49. Sex Pistols "Substitute"

[Fenris]

50. The Clash "I Fought The Law"

[Screaming Lord Byron]

51. plus 'Police and Thieves' and 'Police on my Back'

A criminal trifecta of covers!

[Fenris]

53. And "Pressure Drop"! Quadfecta!

58. Look Here

don't forget the Clash covered Mose Allison also.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

63. Of course. And The Pixies named a song after him.

67. A Mose Allison story

I remember seeing him about 12 years ago in a small bar in Lawrence Kansas. He played with a pick up band of bass and drums who were students at the University of Kansas. I went into the bar early and he was sitting by himself at the bar drinking. He looked just like every other 60 year old early evening drinker you see in bars. It gave me some real insight into the musician's life. Anyone walking into the bar who did not know who Mose Allison was would have thought this guy sitting at the bar was some has-been. There was nothing from his appearance to indicate just how significant he is.

Must be a lonely life.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

52. Oooga chucka oooga ooga ooga chucka

WORST!

Best cover:

Shawn Colvin: Killin' the Blues

[Avonrepus]

54. Rolf Harris - Stairway To Heaven

Never heard it but anyone unlucky enough to see the man's copies of classic work of arts or any of his other songs will, I'm sure agree, the song must be horrific.

[Tom_Foolery]

66. Do you mean Blue Swede's HOOKED ON A FEELING? n/t

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

68. yep..blech

[MissMillie]

69. Shawn Colvin did a whole album of AWESOME covers

one of my favorite CDs of all time.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

74. Yep it's called Covergirl and that song is on it

[elfwitch]

61. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

They only do covers. All of their stuff is BOSS!

[MissMillie]

62. Celine Dion's "I Drove All Night" followed closely by

Anything done by Michael Bolton.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

64. Jessica Simpson's 'Take My Breath Away'

[jimbo fett]

72. I'll second that. What a horrible cover!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

75. (shudder)

[Nailzberg]

76. Stereofuse "I Remember You" - Worst.Cover.Ever.

It was a note-for-note reproduction of the Material Issue song. A good cover should be take a new interpretation of the original.
And extra credit suck-points to Stereofuse for pretending it wasn't a cover, telling music magazines and MTV that "someone else wrote it for us," rather than admit it was a cover. The person that "wrote it for them" died before they even formed as a band. Grave-robbers!

[bif]

77. "Nature's Way" -This Mortal Coil-The Best

Or was it Dead Can Dance:? I never can remember which group did that haunting version of the song.

[southpaw]

79. Kentucky Headhunters

Walk Softly on this Heart of Mine!

Rocked!

I miss those guys.

[livetohike]

80. Best: All Along the Watchtower

Jimi Hendrix' cover of Bob Dylan.

[Beefheart]

81. Devo's "Satisfaction" or the Slits' "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"

for great covers.

Worst: Counting Crows' "Big Yellow Taxi"

[rucky]

82. Best (tie) - Cafe Tecuba/"jackass" (beck) & Cornershop/"Norwegian Wood"

first one en Espanol... second one in Punjabi

honorable mention goes to Voi Vod for "Astronomy Domine"(Floyd)

[geniph]

83. Tom_Foolery, you are my new bestest friend!

I loveLOVElove Joanie's version of that song! (It helps that my husband is the son of a preacher man!) I also dearly love her cover of What Becomes of the Brokenhearted. Also partial to Jimmy Buffett's cover of Southern Cross, and Arlo Guthrie's cover of City of New Orleans.

However, the all-time best cover is Aretha Franklin's cover of Otis Redding's song Respect. Perhaps you've heard it? ;-)

[Zomby Woof]

86. don't forget

Zevon's cover of Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door".

:hi: Geni and John! (grandson of a preacher man here)

[geniph]

87. Yup, that song is a beautiful cover

in part simply because the sheer poignancy of the circumstances make one weep.

I didn't even bother listing worst covers - there are so many - but I surely agree with the ones you listed, Laurin!

and :hi: to you and KadeCarrion and Desertrose!

[Twillig]

84. I always like Judas Priest's cover of Diamonds and Rust

They did it in their own particular idiom, like it or not.



Offhand, I'd say Aerosmith's cover of Come Together was pretty bad.

[southpaw]

85. Priest likewise rocked Green Manalishi

Another bad one... Hank Williams, Jr. - Keep Your Hands to Yourself

[Kat45]

88. Clapton's version of "Little Wing" - in the category of 'best'

[Whitacre D_WI]

89. MC5 "Ramblin' Rose" and Alternative TV "Why Don't You Do Me Right?"

By some dude and Frank Zappa, respectively.

Don't like "Ramblin' Rose?" try on the 5's version of "Fire of Love" (which Southern Culture on the Skids did last Friday in Cleveland, and it KICKED ASS!)