Worst Cover Songs Ever!

[glowgirl004]

Since we're having so much fun ranting about music that sucks, what about good songs that were slaughtered by other artists?

I'll start:

-The Who's Behind Blue Eyes, covered by Limp Bizkit
-Cheap Trick's I Want You to Want Me, covered by Lindsay Lohan
-Berlin's Take My Breath Away, covered by Jessica Simpson
-AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long, covered by Celine Dion
-Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On, covered by various artists (it was a benefit single)
-Joan Jett's I Love Rock & Roll, covered by Britney Spears

[Satchmo]

Ol' 55- The Eagles
Tom Traubert's Blues/Downtown Train- Rod Stewart
Anywhere I Lay My Head (the entire *****ing CD)- Scarlet Johanssen


And now for the non- Tom Waits songs:

Any given cover of Imagine
Any cover of a Beatles song. Ever.

[pyrozombie]

I think Bon Jovi did a cover of a Jimi Hendrix song,i'll be honest, i wanted them to drown in an ice pond after i heard that.

(Note: It's 4:30 and I can't think of what he covered, but he warped it with his own lyrics. Any help would be greatly appreciated.)

[glowgirl004]

Aug 21, 2009 0:35:07 GMT -5 Satchmo said:

Any given cover of Imagine
Any cover of a Beatles song. Ever.

I'll agree with you on the Imagine thing. Every version I've heard that wasn't done by John Lennon sucked.

I don't like most Beatles covers, as they usually pale in comparison to the original. I do have three exceptions that were pretty good:
I Should Have Known Better - She & Him
Day Tripper - Cheap Trick
Come Together - Aerosmith (If they had covered any other Beatles song, it would have sucked)

And you reminded me of another bad cover! William Shatner doing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds! Or, hell, for that matter...William Shatner covering anything.

[stevehadcrackers]

Oh my God, I hear this intensely creepy and dismal REM cover of a great Beatles song-- is it Eight Days A Week? I try to block it out-- at work every damn day. I like REM and I like The Beatles, but damn I want to strangle Michael Stipe when this comes on.

Phil Collins' syrup-y cover of True Colors and Celine Dion's cover of I Drove All Night (but Roy Orbison does an amazing version) both butcher Cyndi Lauper's originals. And someone did a really cutesy cover of Time After Time a few years back too. Why does Cyndi Lauper seem prone to artists doing terrible covers of her amazing music?

Dixie Chicks-- Landslide
Marilyn Manson-- Tainted Love (but I liked his cover of Sweet Dreams are Made of This; go figure)
There's also a terrible cover of Crowded House's Don't Dream It's Over floating around out there. It's really cutesy, which undoes the whole meaning of the song.
Kelly Osbourne-- Papa Don't Preach
Mae West-- Hard To Handle (well, this is so bad it's good)

And what are you talking about, William Shatner is obviously the greatest cover artist of all time. Listen to him sing Rocket Man and try not to weep at its beauty.

[Fred Burroughs]

Thank you for mentioning the Dixie Chicks horrible cover of Landslide. I was going to mention that one but forgot it.

[Chuck]

Children, you have NO idea. Ever heard William Shatner do McArthur Park? If that doesn't give you cramps, try Julie London doing Yummy Yummy Yummy and Quinn The Eskimo.

There was a series called The Ultra Lounge that Capitol put out that was 50s and 60s cocktail music. They released two volumes of Love On The Rocks, which was the "funny cocktail lounge" classics.

Mel Torme doing Happy Together. Peggy Lee doing Everyday People and A Hard Day's NIght. The Lettermen doing Hello, I Love You. Guy Lombardo doing Mrs. Robinson.

I just checked. Shatner's not on this, so we're safe.

[commprof]

James Taylor's insipid cover of the early 1960s Jimmy Jones classic "Handy Man" and Phil Collins' vapid cover of the Mindbenders' "Groovy Kind of Love." Two 1960s greats turned into light rock drivel. Blech.

I actually like Shatner's covers. They're so awful they're fabulous!

[The Mad Plumber]

[glowgirl004]

Poor Cheap Trick - not only did Lindsay Lohan destroy I Want You to Want Me, there's another softly-sung, girly version of it out there I remember hearing awhile back.

For some reason, I don't find Rocket Man as bad as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds when Shatner does it. And there was this clip from MTV in the early 90s where he sings I Want to Sex You Up and it's funny. But it's his rendition of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds that makes me nauseous heh.

At the UK Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony a couple of years back, Alanis Morrisette did a cover of Subterranean Homesick Blues that was just awful.

I'm also not a fan of Van Halen's take on You Really Got Me. I think it's the guitar solo at the beginning. Whenever I hear it on the radio, I get impatient and change stations.

[Fred Burroughs]

Are you speaking of the Eruption/You Really Got Me medley they usually do? Eruption is freakin awesome.

[crowschmo]

Any redo by Rod Stewart. Ugh! I really hate Have You Ever Seen the Rain. DON'T do CCR! They have a unique sound, and Rod can't pull off that song. Whenever that comes on the radio I think, "Play the REAL version, for God's sake!!!" Why even play an insipid piece of crap when you have a GOOD version out there?

Twistin' the Night Away is another thing he does that sucks.

[Mr. Atari]

Madonna's version of "American Pie" wins this thread. Any version of "American Pie", for that matter. Or any Madonna song, for that matter. Two terrible things that created a new level of terrible together.

Sheryl Crow's "Sweet Child of Mine" is an abomination. Guns 'n Roses is another band that should never, never, never be covered.

Counting Crows' "Big Yellow Taxi" was embarrassing for all involved. Especially for them. BYT is one of those songs that gets covered over and over and it needs to stop. It wasn't even a good song to begin with.

[glowgirl004]

Aug 22, 2009 0:56:06 GMT -5 Fred Burroughs said:

Are you speaking of the Eruption/You Really Got Me medley they usually do? Eruption is freakin awesome.

It's two songs? Well, that makes sense. Ok, the guitar solo part is pretty sweet, but I still don't care much for the Kinks cover

Oh lord, I forgot about Madonna ruining American Pie. It was awful, and on top of that, she left out like three verses!

The Counting Crows' version of Big Yellow Taxi somehow twisted the song into being this anthem for saving the environment. Isn't it about a significant other leaving? Lame.

Others:
-Sonny and Cher's The Beat Goes On, covered by Britney Spears (and, like Madonna, she left most of the original verses out)
-The Rolling Stones' Ruby Tuesday, covered by Marianne Faithfull (I love her version of As Tears Go By, but not this one)
-John Lennon's Imagine, covered by Avril Lavigne (WHYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!)

Christina Aguilera apparently did a cover of John Lennon's Mother, but I can't find it anywhere. What in the world would possess her to cover something so personal like that?

[crowschmo]

Not that U2 is great anyway, but there's a cover of "In the Name of Love" by Nouvelle Vague or something like that.

Ugh!!! Horrid!!!