Favourite Song Covers

CounterPunch · Post by **CounterPunch** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:13 pm

So what are your favourite cover versions of songs?

I usually find covers of songs unbearable, such as the majority of pop songs that are covers and I have heard very few I actually like, these however do include -

Hurt (originally by Nine In Nails) By Johnny Cash
Whiskey in the Jar (originally by Thin Lizzy) by Metallica
Walk (originally by Pantera) by Avenged Sevenfold

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 12:06 am

Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler) by Hurra Torpedo
Mysterious Ways (U2) by KMFDM
Good Vibrations (Beach Boys) by Fleshhouse
New Dawn Fades (Joy Division) by Moby
Nothing Compares 2 U (Prince, or the artist formerly known thereas) by Sinead O'Connor
Sand (Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra) by Einsturzende Neubauten
Just a few off the top of my head.

Post by **Denyer** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 12:12 am

Mostly punk covers (Snuff - Likely Lads, Down by Law - 500 Miles, Caffeine - You Spin Me Round, etc.) Jack off Jill did a good cover of Love Song by the Cure.

The Crimea did several such as I Think We're Alone Now, You've Been a Long Time Coming, and Everywhere.

There's a "vampires in love" musical version of Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 3:17 pm

Science Fiction Double Feature - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

Actually... everything by the Gimmes.

[/more when I'm awake]

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 3:47 pm

"Smooth Operator" by Alien Ant Farm. Fun.
"The Model" by Electric Six. Sleazy.
"Johnny, Remember Me" by David Vanian & His Phantom Chords. Gothy.
"Nite Flights" by David Bowie. Reverential.
"This Wheel's on Fire" by Siouxsie & the Banshees. Majestic.
"Ball of Confusion" by Duran Duran. Crunchy.
"Help!" by The Damned (the prototype for just about every punk cover ever, and the muscial equivalent of a Fleetway comic)
"The Days of Pearly Spencer" by Marc Almond (just pips Soft Cell's "Tainted Love"... Yep, that was a cover - like all those Blondie songs everyone thinks aren't covers because they've never heard the original)
"You've Lost That Loving Feeling" by the Human League. Terrifying.
The Gary Jules (?) version of "Mad World". It wasn't until I re-heard the Tears for Fears version (the one that sounds like Wham! on crack) recently that I realised just what an amazing job had been done with the remake.
"Walk on By" by the Stranglers. Seedy.

Honourable mention for Guns 'N Roses version of "New Rose". No, obviously I'm joking, they ****ing ruined it, the t\/\/ats.

Zudo Bug · Post by **Zudo Bug** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:42 pm

These are not strictly song covers but Wierd Al Yankovic's parodies of other peoples songs are great. Ones like Fat (Bad), Eat It (Beat It), Like A Surgeon (Like A Virgin) and Amish Paradise (Gangsta's Paradise) are all funny. I just thought he deserved a mention on a Transformers forum because he did have one of his songs in the original movie.

LKW · Post by **LKW** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:49 pm

Well, if we're counting Weird Al - I'm actually more familiar with "Yoda" than "Lola"....

G'n'R have done a couple of good covers at one point, "Live and Let Die" and "Knockin' On Heaven's Door". Speaking of Dylan, Phil Collins' "The Times They Are A'Changin' " (from Dance Into the Light) is good. Yes - Cash's "Hurt"; "Personal Jesus" from the same album is also nice. I thought I prefered the original "American Woman" - until I actually heard it again, and then decided that I liked the Lenny Kravitz more. Madonna's take on "Fever" is an interesting reworking... Alanis Morissette had a pretty good "King of Pain"on her MTV Unplugged album. Probably forgetting more...

Post by **Denyer** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 11:00 pm

Originally posted by LKW
G'n'R have done a couple of good covers at one point,

Sympathy for the Devil's great.

Most of Nirvana's cover songs were better than the originals.

slartibartfast · Post by **slartibartfast** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:35 am

Originally posted by Brendocon
everything by the Gimmes.

with honors for 'i believe i can fly'

I'll also add richard cheese with 'closer', and Das palast orchester with 'sex bomb'

edit : but how could i forget the best cover tune in the entire world ever : 'yatta' by the green giants of hate ! (the original's up youtube somewhere probably)

LKW · Post by **LKW** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:03 pm

Originally posted by Denyer
Sympathy for the Devil's great.

Forgot about that one! Seconded.

LKW · Post by **LKW** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:45 pm

DUH!

Remembered what may have been the biggest one knocking from the back of my mind (while listening to Sgt. Pepper's, funnily enough, Denyer [see the What Is Your Favorite Music? thread if you don't know, and care, why that's funny]): "With a Little Help From My Friends" by Joe Cocker.

When your cover becomes the better-known version of a song, that's usually an indication of its significance. When it's such a well-known version, of a Beatles song - that might put it into the conversation for greatest cover song ever.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:04 pm

Okay, had some time to think... stuff that regularly gets included in my playlists, due to either being surprisingly good or getting bonus points for ingenuity:

Orgy's version of "Blue Monday"
"Sweet Child of Mine" by Flatpack
Klaxons' rendition of "Not Over Yet" (complete with incorrect title)
"Just" by Mark Ronson and Alex Greenwald
Muse doing "Feeling Good"

The Radio 1 Live Lounge album has a good selection of covers on, too.

Sixswitch · Post by **Sixswitch** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:30 pm

Hurt by Johnny Cash has to be right up there.

A lot of dance tunes sample other songs, but I don't think you can call them 'covers' because they only use a small portion of the original. These are dance tunes I really like, which either use the lyrics in their entirety, or are instrumental (so I can count 'em):

Poison by Groove Coverage (cover of Alice Cooper I think).
Moonlight Shadow by Special D
Truly Madly Deeply by Cascada
Proximus by Mauro Picotto
Adagio For Strings by Tiesto

-Ss

DrSpengler · Post by **DrSpengler** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:29 pm

The Ramones did an awesome cover of the old Spider-Man theme song, MUCH better than Aerosmith's attempt.

Most fo my favorite covers have already been mentioned, like GnR's cover of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and Alien Ant Farm's cover of "Smooth Criminal".

Possibly my favorite cover, though, is Quiet Riot's cover of "Cum on Feel the Noize". I mean, I really liked Slade's original version, but I just narrowly prefer Quiet Riot's cover.

slartibartfast · Post by **slartibartfast** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:00 pm

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/05/s ... to_he.html

I, the high guru of causality, command thee to be enlightened in all things rolf harris.

Jaynz · Post by **Jaynz** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:14 pm

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps", covered by a poop-load of famous rockers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Just an amazing and heart-fealt version.

You Tube Video

AngelOfDeath124 · Post by **AngelOfDeath124** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 12:39 am

I have a cover of Elenor Rigby(org. by the Beatles), but for the life of me I cannot recall who did it. It's really good though.

I like Manson's cover of Sweet Dreams(Are Made of These)[Eurythmics]...

Um, Disturbed's Land of Confusion(was this Phil Collins or Genesis?) and Shout 2000(Tears for Fears if I recall) are both good covers.

Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower(Dylan) is an amazing cover.

LKW · Post by **LKW** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:43 pm

"Land Of Confusion" is by Genesis, AngelOfDeath 124 - I remembered the Disturbed cover a while after my first post. Points both for being a pretty good song, and for actually covering Genesis.

Speaking of Marilyn Manson - I liked his lesser-known cover, of "Tainted Love".

And TF Vanguard - I caught that Hall of Fame performance on the VH-1 broadcast; it is very good. (I had no idea that Prince was such a talented guitarist.) It made enough of an impression to come up in one of my TF humor fanfics, "Battle of the Bands" ( http://tfarchive.com/community/showthre ... adid=36265 ) and was a great tribute to George Harrison.

edit: Oh - and good call on Hendrix's "Watchtower"! Another cover which has become perhaps the definitive version of a song.

AngelOfDeath124 · Post by **AngelOfDeath124** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:03 am

Thanks, LKW, for confirming who did Land of Confusion. I could never remember if it was one of Collins' solo songs or from Genesis.

And Hendrix's Watchtower is one of the very few songs he did that I like(which is sad, since I grew up listening to just about every bit of classic rock my dad has...)

DrSpengler · Post by **DrSpengler** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:44 am

Simply because I just now found it online, here's the music video for that Ramones cover of Spider-Man. I guess you have to like the Ramones to dig it, but I always loved the thing (and nearly all of the covers on the Saturday Morning Cartoons' Greatest Hits album).