Ok I was listening to “The Birthday Massacre” and heard their cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now” and wondered who hasn’t covered this song. Quick trip to Youtube and I found covers from punk to trance and even one on Cantonese. This one has links to many of them:
Annakiya - I Think We're Alone Now (sash mix) Got me to thinking what the most covered songs where, and not by tribute bands but someone who does there own version. I found this info so far:
Second Hand Songs The Independent Then started me thinking about the covers that I’ve ended up like more than the original even if I liked the original and thought it would be interesting to hear what covers other people liked as much or more than the originals.
Here’s a couple I thought of right away:
After The Fire - Der Kommissar Joan Jett & The Blackhearts- Little Drummer Boy So what covers have you liked.
Geez, there's actually quite a few of them. A few off the top of my cranium would be....
All Along the Watchtower/Jimi Hendrix
Mr Tambourine Man/The Birds
Crying/K D Lang
VooDoo Chile-Little Wing/SRV(just as good as Jimi imo)
Heart Full of Soul/Rush
...and I really like the Sundays version of
Wild Horses.
Good call on that cover by The Sundays.
Sinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" has to be one of the classic examples of a cover completely supplanting the original.
I'll have to browse my music and see what other covers I've enjoyed.
Astronomy by Blue Oyster Cult, covered by Metallica.
I forgot to mention
Sweet Jane/Cowboy Junkies. .
I can't remember the # of times "Knocking on Heavens Door" has been covered by so many great artists (Clapton, Knopfler, Springsteen, Marley, GNR, Zevon, Healey, Aerosmith, Bryan Ferry.........).
Ace of Base - "Cruel Summer"
Alien Ant Farm - "Smooth Criminal"
Ben Folds - "B*tches Ain't Sh*t"
Björk - "It's Oh So Quiet"
Cake - "I Will Survive"
Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews - "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
Emmy the Great - "Where Is My Mind?"
Fiona Apple - "Across the Universe"
Lightspeed Champion - "The Flesh Failures"
Maia Hirasawa - "The Worrying Kind"
Matt Sharp and Maya Rudolph - "Not Tonight"
Melora Creager - "American Girl"
Persephone's Bees - "Paper Plane"
Petra Haden - "Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand"
Regina Spektor - "My Dear Acquaintance (A Happy New Year)"
Rodrigo y Gabriela - "Stairway to Heaven"
Russian Red - "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
Sara Lov - "My Body Is a Cage"
Save Ferris - "Come On Eileen"
Sinéad O'Connor - "Sacrifice"
Squirrel Nut Zippers - "You're Drivin' Me Crazy"
Stan Marsh and Wendy Testaburger - It Happened In Sun Valley
They Might Be Giants - "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"
Those Dancing Days - "Toxic"
Tori Amos - "I Don't Like Mondays"
And others.
Placebo has a cover of Running up that hill by Kate Bush. Not better than Kate Bush's version (she is Kate bush after all!) but quite good
Great thread, Dean!
I think one of the joys of Jazz and Blues is hearing different interpretations of classic songs. It is good to see the same sensibility expressed in other genres.
Too many notes!
I'm going to leave Jazz and Blues pretty much out of this, otherwise I'd have to start listing a disproportionate number of artists and titles.
Same thing with (different thread?) Christmas/Holiday songs. The canon is not that large, and everyone probably has their own favorite versions.
Here's a start -
Everclear - Brown Eyed Girl
I like some of the Alison Krauss and Robert Plant versions better than the original Led Zep ones.
Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive is a transcendent homage to the music of Louis Jordan.
Mad World - Gary Jules
Wish You Where Here - Catherine Wheel
I like the Clash version of "I fought the law"
Heart did an excellent version of "Going to California", amongst a few of their Led Zep covers.
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down/Joan Baez.
The Sex Pistols do it their way:
My Way
Ok I was listening to “The Birthday Massacre” and heard their cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now” and wondered who hasn’t covered this song. Quick trip to Youtube and I found covers from punk to trance and even one on Cantonese. This one has links to many of them:
You missed one....
I think I'm a clone now!
Stu Hamm - Charlie Brown Theme Song
Stu Hamm - Moonlight Sonata
His bass solos are sick!
Without question - Try a Little Tenderness by Andrew Strong (The Commitments movie soundtrack) The song starts off slow and just builds and builds. I love it. Andrew was just 16 when he sang and starred in the movie.
Actually the entire soundtrack is outstanding. Mustang Sally. I Can't Stand the Rain. Midnight Hour.
Trailer
Yeah, those are great covers in that movie.
You missed one.... I think I'm a clone now!
Your right I did miss that. Very cool, thanks for posting it. You gotta love Weird Al.
Here's a start -
Everclear - Brown Eyed Girl
I like some of the Alison Krauss and Robert Plant versions better than the original Led Zep ones.
Very cool cover of “Brown Eyed Girl” I hadn’t heard it. Gave me pause a first because it was do different but then I realized I was really liking it. I agree about the Zeppelin stuff.
Another one of my favorites -
The Power Station - Get it On (Bang a Gong) Impossible not to speed if it comes on when I'm driving.
For you youngsters,
here is the 70's original.
Maybe not the best cover ever but every time e metal band covers a pop song and kicks it up a notch, I smile inside.
Disturbed covers Genesis - Land of Confusion Scorpions do The Who - I can't Explain This one is not an improvement by any means but worth a look in the "kick it up a notch" category.
Korn does Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall And if you suffered through that one, I'll make it up to you with a very interesting variant of a Beatles song. Very differnt but good in a dark sort of way.
A perfect Circle does Imagine And because i hated Tears for Fears almost as much as I hated Wham back in the day, I do literally have to "Shout" and smile when I hear Disturbed do this one.
Disturbed piledrives Tears for Fears with this version of Shout
Has any band NOT done Gloria?
Here's the
original.
Has any band NOT done Gloria?
She is popular
Blinded By The Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band (Bruce Springsteen)
After Midnight - Eric Clapton (JJ Cale)
American Woman - Lenny Kravitz (Guess Who)
Cocaine - Eric Clapton (JJ Cale)
Feelin' Alright - Joe Cocker (Traffic)
I Shot the Sheriff - Eric Clapton (Bob Marley)
Knockin' On Heavens Door - Guns N' Roses (Bob Dylan)
Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds - Elton John (Beatles)
Me And Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin (Kris Kristofferson)
Move It On Over - George Thorogood (Hank Williams Sr)
Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds (Bob Dylan)
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer - George Thorogood (John Lee Hooker)
Wild Night - John Mellencamp (Van Morrison)
Woodstock - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Joni Mitchell)
A boat load of blues covers (Up The Country/Canned Heat, Crossroads/Cream, I Just Want To Make Love To You/Foghat...etc.)
Also Van Halen did a couple of good covers ... 'Dancing In The Streets', 'You Really Got Me'.
Elton John did a cover of 'Pinball Wizard' which was pretty good. The Stones and the Beatles did a lot of covers early on in their careers like 'Poison Ivy' and 'Mr Postman' to name a couple. 'Stand by Me' has been done a few times but nobody's gonna beat the original by Ben E King, imo. Linda Ronstadt/Lotta Love(Neil Y) is a good one.
Here's a horrendous cover of a great song, it's a wonder
Pink Floyd never put a hit out on this clown.
I watched The Italian Job last night, and it ended with a really nice cover of Money by Velvet Revolver.
I need to watch that sometime. Pity it's not on Netflix Instant Queue.
Haha! One of the few benefits of still having an SD TV...
I watched The Italian Job last night, and it ended with a really nice cover of Money by Velvet Revolver.
I didn't know that was Velvet Revolver doing Money, I meant to look that up last time we watched the movie but I didn't for whatever reason ... great catch Mark, that was a great cover indeedy.
Nice work, guys! Good catch on the Velvet Revolver version, Mark. I forgot about that one, but REALLY liked it.
Shawn, great catch on The Commitments. I liked that movie a lot, and the version of "Take me to the River" is my favorite.
I forgot I liked the Proclaimers' cover of "King of the Road", not that I think it's better than the original.
Back to my revenge on the pop era. Actually this one is even better. Metal revenge on Disco !!!
Give this one a listen, no really, it actually might surprise you. Aside from Dweezles added guitar riff and a few added references to Ozzy and Balck Sabbath songs, it's still very much in disco format. Sound quality sucks but here ya go.
Ozzy Osbourne and Dweezle Zappa do.......are you ready......"Stayin Alive!!!"
Elton John did a cover of 'Pinball Wizard' which was pretty good. The Stones and the Beatles did a lot of covers early on in their careers like 'Poison Ivy' and 'Mr Postman' to name a couple. 'Stand by Me' has been done a few times but nobody's gonna beat the original by Ben E King, imo. Linda Ronstadt/Lotta Love(Neil Y) is a good one.
Here's a horrendous cover of a great song, it's a wonder
Pink Floyd never put a hit out on this clown.
Back when Elton John's version of
Pinball Wizard was first released I thought it was way better than the Who's version (I was about ten or twelve). Now I definitely like the original version better.
I also like Tori Amos' version of Led Zep's
Thank You and her version of George Michael's
Father Figure.
I didn't know that was Velvet Revolver doing Money, I meant to look that up last time we watched the movie but I didn't for whatever reason ... great catch Mark, that was a great cover indeedy.
It wasn't credited to Velvet Revolver per se, but to Scott Weiland, Slash, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum, and Dave Kushner.... which are the members of Velvet Revolver.
Actually, Weiland hasn't been with them for over a year now. Fans, including myself, await patiently for one of all the crazy rumors of who the new front man will be to finally turn into a reality.
Well, the movie isn't recent.
And......
It'll be David Lee Roth.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Actually, Diamond Dave sang lead on
this song for the Beatles.
He doesn't have the "Beatle Haircut" down yet, though.
Here's a good one I just heard on the XM radio this morning ... this is for all of the old-timers*.
Hot!*Jack, Ray, Wid, me ... anybody else?
...that could be a John Mellencamp song, with a little work.
Heard Pearl Jam's version of Last Kiss last night on the radio. Interesting cover of the original.
I can’t believe I forgot to post them before since I’ve always loved Shonen Knife and they do bunches of covers.
Top of the World I Wanna be Sedated
Don't those two items come in the reverse order?
Not if you're manic and psychotic and the medic8r gives you a shot in the hospital!
I missed this thread the first time around.
I like the Ataris' cover of Don Henley's "Boys of Summer". It is enough like the original to highlight that vibe, but then again it rocks in its own way.
After finding out about Meaghan Smith recently, found she also did a
Pixies Cover. (live rooftop version).
The Hindu Love Gods did some cool covers of "Raspberry Beret" and "Battleship Chains", plus all sort of blues covers. An underappreciated mashup of (R.E.M. - Michael Stipe + Warren Zevon), their CD is quality stuff.
Turn the Page - Metallica (Bob Seger)
Live and Let Die - Guns 'n Roses (McCartney/Wings)
Boys of Summer - Ataris (Don Henley)
Crazy Mary - Pearl Jam (Victoria Williams)
Cake's version of War Pigs was also kind of interesting, although at first I thought it was terrible.
Cum on Feel the Noize, Quiet Riot
Those recent Johnny Cash covers have been pretty moving, like "Hurt" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water".
Boys of Summer - Ataris (Don Henley)
Jinx!
Triumph - Rockey Mountain Way - Joe Walsh should be proud.
Van Halen - Pretty Woman - Tough to top Roy, but the guys may have done it here.
Van Halen - Dancing in the streets
Scorpions - I Can't Explain - I just like the song.
paul
Come Together-Aerosmith
Stop Your Sobbing-Pretenders
Pinball Wizard-Elton
Manic Depression-King's X
Hairway to Steven- Dred Zeppelin
I liked the Version of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" that was in the movie Across the Universe. I checked Amazon - it credits it to T.V. Carpio.
One more - since I never see any Country on here....well, maybe the Johnny Cash references....
"My Maria" by Brookes and Dunn
Mentioning "Across the Universe" reminds me that I like the song of the same name by Fiona Apple.
Johnny Cash's Hurt and Pearl Jam's Crazy Mary are two really good cover. I found one that I really like that was not mentioned in previous post:
Little Wing - Stevie Ray Vaughan (Jimi Hendrix)
Here's a good one I just heard on the XM radio this morning ... this is for all of the old-timers*.
Hot!*Jack, Ray, Wid, me ... anybody else?
Rick......I couldn't look at this today at work and now it has been deleted by the YouTube - What was it?
Enjoying "War Pigs" by Faith No More at the moment. Not sure if it is "better" than the original or Cake versions, but I like it and the production seems nice.
KD Lang's version of Roy Orbison's "Crying" as well as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" are both brilliant, imo.
I do like Metallica's version of Turn the Page, as well as their cover of Astronomy by Blue Oyster Cult. Of course, I like the original of that one quite a bit, too.
For some reason, I can't stand Beatles covers. The Beatles did such a good job on them first time around...
Certain groups fall into that category, I believe. Groups or singers with a signature sound, don't seem to cover too well...Led Zep, Beatles, Queen, ect. There's quite a few when you think about it.
Couple of Dylan covers, Mr Tambourine Man by the Byrds and All Along the Watchtower by Hendrix were good. On the flipside, I find U2's cover of All Along the Watchtower pretty bad.
Oh, of course. I enjoy just about any version of All Along the Watchtower. Haven't heard U2's, though. I particularly like DMB's cover of it. So sue me.
One cover I like of U2s(actually Edge) would be Van Diemen's Land, although I'm not sure if it's considered a cover, it's a traditional poem/song, I believe.
Ooh, one cover I hate is the one with "paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
Just stop doing it, people! How many freakin' versions of that song do we have to have? Particularly, how many freakin' times do I have to hear it?!
Oh, I'm with you on that Ken. Back when I worked in retail it seemed that song was always playing on the store Muzak system.
As for the Beatles songs, I particularly like Joe Cocker's version of "A Little Help from My Friends" mainly because of his re-imagining of the song. Completely made it his own and, arguably, better.
Joe Cocker's version is very good. I like the Sundays version of Wild Horses(Stones), as good or better than the original imo. Linda Ronstadt's version of It's Gonna take a Lot of Love was a good cover of the Neil Young song as was Joan Baez's version of the Band's Night they Drove Old Dixie Down.
Whaaaat, woodja dooooo, iffah sang, otta tuuhuuune...
WHHHHOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH
I like that version, too. I was listening to it in high school and my dad commented that Joe Cocker's voice sounded like an organ with broken pipes. He didn't mean it as a compliment, but I don't think he was wrong, either.
True! He sure has made it work for him, though!
I like the Sundays version of Wild Horses(Stones), as good or better than the original imo.
Speaking of which, they used it prominently in the "Prom" episode of season 3 of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I just watched. I'll have to put in a Sundays album sometime soon.
John Mayer's Crossroads on the new Battle Studies album is pretty good.
Whaaaat, woodja dooooo, iffah sang, otta tuuhuuune...
WHHHHOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH
I like that version, too. I was listening to it in high school and my dad commented that Joe Cocker's voice sounded like an organ with broken pipes. He didn't mean it as a compliment, but I don't think he was wrong, either.
Using the word "voice" liberally....
As for the Beatles songs, I particularly like Joe Cocker's version of "A Little Help from My Friends" mainly because of his re-imagining of the song. Completely made it his own and, arguably, better.
Same reason that I like the slow version of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand".
Elton John has done some good covers, Pinball Wizard and Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds. Almost forgot Aerosmith did a version of Come Together.
Great calls on the Crazy Mary cover by Pearl Jam. For the longest, I only had live versions of that song, which I loved. I finally downloaded PJ's studio version of it, and it is just fantastic.
No list of great covers can be complete without referencing Tesla's cover of Signs (originally by the Five Man Electrical Band).
Also, Foo Fighters cover of Little Nicki (Prince).
Blue Rodeo has a good cover of "To Love Somebody", listened to it this evening.
Y&T - Your Momma Don't Dance (Loggins and Messina)
Judas Priest - Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry)
Bonnie Raitt - Thing Called Love (John Hiatt)
Some random thoughts....
I'm not ususally a fan of covers, but there are some good ones out there.
SRV Voodoo Child, CSNY Woodstock
I was very surprised that I liked so many of the Beatles covers in Across the Universe.
I like the Across the Universe Beatle's song sung in a video in the bonus features of the movie Pleasantville.
I really liked Greg Kinnear singing "Summertime" at the end of Stuck on You.
I like several of Rasputina's covers, but today I'm liking their cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here."
Came across this Cowboy Junkies cover of
Powderfinger this morning.
Came across this page of
11 bluegrass covers of today's pop songs. I only listened to the Green Day one and the Killers one, but I liked them.
Lil' Ol' Band from Katy TX, King's X. Killer rendition of "Manic Depression."
Todd, covering himself on "Hello Its' Me." Aside from Neal Sedaka, can't think of any "covers" by orginal artists with second hit status.
Bruce, "Blinded by the Light."
I like Tori Amos' version of George Michael's Father Figure and her cover of Madonna's Like A Prayer is excellent as well. She also does a great job on Led Zep's Thank You.
She also covers R.E.M.'s Losing My Religion, Tom Waits' Time, Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence, among others. Strange Little Girls is all covers, actually.
Ok this probably won’t be the most popular cover on the boards but I got a kick out of it.
Sailor Moon Metal Opening