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Post by Mr. Atari on Aug 1, 2004 17:13:53 GMT -5
This is a spin-off of the movie remakes thread.
What song covers are better than the original versions?
What covers should never have been done?
I thought of this as I listened to Living Colour's version of "Sunshine of Your Love", which is really incredible.
Then I thought of Sheryl Crow's cover of "Sweet Child of Mine" and just about threw up.
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Post by Dave Walker on Aug 1, 2004 17:24:49 GMT -5
Metallica covering Bob Seger, and I'm a huge fan of both, but that was wrong. In addition, Limp Bizkit covering The Who - not good.
When I think of something I like better than the original, I'll let you know, not that anyone would care, LOL
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Post by Unsavory on Aug 1, 2004 18:03:51 GMT -5
I never heard the Led Zeppelin version, but I really like Tool's cover of No Quarter.
This is actually sort of a guilty pleasure, but I also like Marilyn Manson's Sweet Dreams MUCH better than the original.
I also downloaded a version of Eulogy that was supposedly A Perfect Circle covering Tool, but that could be a joke since it's the same singer, and the live "cover" sounds very similar to the original studio version. If it was a cover, I like the two about the same.
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Post by Vlad89 on Aug 1, 2004 21:24:28 GMT -5
Marilyn Manson's cover of "Tainted Love" is just horrible. And then there was some German techno band that covered Alice Cooper's "Poison". No, the song doesn't sound good in techno.
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Post by MonsterX on Aug 1, 2004 22:07:29 GMT -5
Wow, it’s pretty tough to think of a cover that outshines the original. The one that really stands out to me is the Hendrix version of “All along the watch tower.” His rendition isn’t just good; it’s awe inspiring. (Although really over played.)
Man, I can’t think of any good covers.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Aug 2, 2004 1:47:12 GMT -5
I'll ditto the Hendrix vote.
And Tori Amos did a cover EP a long time ago that had a great version of "Angi" (Stones) and "Thank You" (Led Zep). It also had a strange but interesting piano version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
And any of Johnny Cash's covers from the American Recordings albums are great listens. As for whether they're better than the originals, I doubt it.
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Aug 2, 2004 2:21:41 GMT -5
And any of Johnny Cash's covers from the American Recordings albums are great listens. As for whether they're better than the originals, I doubt it. That's true. I like them but some were not well chosen. Like Personal Jesus. Just didn't sound right.
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yousonuva
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Post by yousonuva on Aug 2, 2004 2:27:18 GMT -5
I'm going recent here and I think that band that covered BOYS OF SUMMER was very good. I'm not sure it was better than the original, but it was definately more energetic...for me anyway.
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Aug 2, 2004 2:50:24 GMT -5
I've always thought that "Surfin' Bird" was better than the song it was based on, "The Bird Is The Word."
For those of you who don't know, "The Bird Is The Word" plays near the end of The Crawling Hand.
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Post by GizmonicInstitute on Aug 2, 2004 3:06:38 GMT -5
For those of you who don't know, "The Bird Is The Word" plays near the end of The Crawling Hand. Ah damn, now I've got that stuck in my head for the rest of the day...
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Post by NerdGroupie on Aug 2, 2004 6:08:00 GMT -5
And then there was some German techno band that covered Alice Cooper's "Poison". No, the song doesn't sound good in techno. When I heard that, I died a little inside. Just awful. As for the best cover, I think Pearl Jam Last Kiss. I just love it. Also HIM did a great job on Don't Fear the Reaper. Worst BY FAR is American Pie by Madonna. You just don't mess with that. The funniest ones I have heard were Type O Negative doing Hit Me Baby One More Time and Six Feet Under doing TNT. One soundtrack that has some kick ass covers, in my opinion, in Detroit Rock City. I especially liked Drain STH's 20th Century Boy.
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Post by snoozer328 on Aug 2, 2004 12:57:52 GMT -5
One really cool cover is the Gipsy Kings' "Hotel California". It was featured in the classic movie The Big Lebowski.
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Post by Emperor Cupcake on Aug 2, 2004 15:16:23 GMT -5
I don't know if I can think of many covers that were BETTER than the originals, but I can think of some damn good ones. I especially love Reel Big Fish's cover of Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf." They did it as a kind of punk-swing hybrid, and it's energetic and funny and rockin' and just priceless. And I was a big Durannie back in the day.
My man, Nick Cave, did a whole album of covers in 1986 (called "Kicking Against the Pricks"), and I would argue that some of the covers on there are better than the originals, particularly "By The Time I Get to Phoenix," "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart," "Black Betty," and "Sleeping Annaleah." Oh, and his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Avalanche" is frightening and sublime, and yes, better than the original. I loved Johnny Cash's cover of Cave's "The Mercy Seat," but I wouldn't say it was better. It was just different, sad and resigned where Nick's was raw and evil.
Oh, and punk band The Suicide Machines did a GREAT cover of "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden."
I'm sure there are lots I'm forgetting, but those are the ones that occurred to me first.
And by the way, speaking of "Tainted Love," I believe Soft Cell's definitive version was also a cover, though I'll be damned if I can remember who did the original.
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colemanfrancisfan
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Post by colemanfrancisfan on Aug 2, 2004 15:19:41 GMT -5
I think Nirvana did some great covers of David Bowie and the Meat Puppets on their Unplugged album. A very bad cover, and a worse cover up was Vanilla Ice doing Under Pressure from Queen and Bowie. Just awful!
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Post by Bart Fargo on Aug 2, 2004 17:58:04 GMT -5
I've always thought that "Surfin' Bird" was better than the song it was based on, "The Bird Is The Word." For those of you who don't know, "The Bird Is The Word" plays near the end of The Crawling Hand. Ever hear the Ramones version of "Surfin' Bird?" It's a little better than the original Trashmen version. Speaking of the Ramones, their cover of Tom Waits' "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" is better than the original. They Might Be Giants' version of "New York City" is much better than the original Cub version. The Cub singer sounds like she's half asleep when she sings. The Jam did a cover of Heatwave that sounds a lot better than the original. They sped it up a bit and made the guitar part more promanent. Lee Ranaldo covered Wire's "Fragile," and made it sound better. Liz Phair w/Material Issue did a cover of The Tra La La Song (The Banana Splits theme) and made it sound a lot better. The Butthole Surfers cover of the Underdog theme is a LOT better than the original. UB40's "Red Red Wine" is somewhat better than the original. Manfred Mann's version of "Blinded by the Light" is much better than the Springsteen original. As for covers that butcher the original... well, there are so many I couldn't name half of the ones I've heard in one post. I'll keep it as brief as possible. Morrisey's version of "That's Entertainment" turns a somewhat happy tune into a depressive rant. Transformer's cover of Wire's "Outdoor Miner" stinks. So does Chris Connely's butchering of "A Mutual Friend." I'm not a big fan of Madonna, but Kelly Osborne's version of "Pappa Don't Preach" royally trashed it. Bowling for Soup did a cover of A Flock of Seagull's "I Ran" and made it pretty bad. Imagine their one hit, "The Girl All the Bad Guys Want"'s music with the lyrics to I Ran over it. Gwen Stefani ruined Talk Talk's "It's my Life" for me. Corn Mo's version of They Might Be Giants' "Particle Man" stinks. Ones I didn't even bother learning the band's name: Some band covered Concrete Blonde's "Bloodletting (The Vampire song)" and took the goth out of it. BIG mistake. Another band covered the Old 97's "Time Bomb." They slowed it down and the singer just could not sing. Worst of all was somoene's version of "Stop" that I heard by some band. Believe it or not, they made a Spice Girls song even more torturous to listen to. Oddest one ever was Frente!'s version of "Bizarre Love Triangle." They took a techno song and made it acoustic.
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