Bad Covers

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Basically what are some songs that you really like that have been ruined by artists that shouldn't have touched them in the first place? Any sort of "proof" would be preferred, whether it be a youtube link, a megaupload download, whatever. It's alot easier to discuss it if we can hear how bad it is.

 

What inspired this thread was this cover of Comfortably Numb by Queensryche and Dream Theater: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M5rBwZjgBw...ted&search=

 

Just go and see for yourself. Right from the start you can tell these clowns don't know what the fuck they're doing. That first guy that sings sounds like he's trying to do a bad impression, rather than trying to do his own spin on it. The drums alone kill the vibe for me, it sounds like a professional musician recording session, overproduced to the gills, if you know what I mean. The bad synth adds to the cheesiness, and the guitars are played severely insincerely, if that makes sense. Ugh, just terrible. To me this song is all about creeping up on you, cautiously yet surely. It's a silent killer, rather than this extremely loud abomination. It's subtle and gives you a rush at the right time. Agree with me or not, I'm not going to tell you what to look for when you're listening to music, but if this cover that I provided is your perfect rendition of "Comfortably Numb" then I'm going to have a hard time taking your opinion seriously.

 

I should point out that I don't think a cover necessarily has to try to sound like the original, in fact it's preferred if they take something that exists and change it to the point that it's their own. Kind of like how two directors can take the same screenplay and make two completely different yet equally powerful movies. However, sometimes the direction they take is beyond bad. This is one of those times.

[Cheech Tremendous]

99% of all covers suck.

[AboveAverage484]

99% of all covers suck.

 

Elvis disagrees with you.

[Dandy]

Van Morrison does, too.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

99% of all covers suck.

Do you have statistical evidence to back this up? I doubt that the appropriate figure of sucky covers is 99%.

[Dandy]

Definitely over 50%, but that is due to sucky bands that so nothing but covers. No way is it 99%, though.

 

 

One thing you have to think about is all of the covers that most people think are the original version. That should be an entire thread by itself.

[BUTT]

Madonna's "American Pie" is among the worst things I've ever heard, and the original version certainly isn't a favorite of mine.

[Sly]

That girl who did a cover of "Boys Of Summer" was pretty bad, IMO.

[Ravenbomb]

do we count the "Skinny white guy with his acoustic guitar stumbling through Jeff Buckley songs on YouTube" type covers?

 

 

 

EDIT: Also, Avril Lavigne covering "Fuel" by Metallica

[luke-o]

Didn't we have this discussion like a few months ago?

 

Anyways, Fall Out Boy's cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division. Pure trash.

 

As for good covers, Bloodhound Gang's cover of It's Tricky by Run DMC.

[AntiLeaf33]

Also, Avril Lavigne covering "Fuel" by Metallica

 

Actually, I didn't find that cover as bad as I thought it was going to be. I guess I set my self up for a horrible cover, and all I heard was a mediocre to bad cover.

 

Her "cover" of Chop Suey by SOAD I accidentally downloaded years ago, however, was fucking horrible.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

The most egregious example I can think of would be Godhead's take on "Eleanor Rigby."

[Coffin Surfer]

There's a whole double album of bad John Lennon covers out right now. Sadly, Greenday's absurdly sappy, bitterless version of "Working Class Hero" is one of the better highlights.

 

Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, The Swans, Diamanda Galas, and yes Elvis to name a few off the top of my head all have an extended resume of great cover songs. Jazz is also always good for unique twists on standards and covers.

[Dandy]

Big Joe Williams and some other early black blues singers got most if not all of their best work covered by white artists so the songs could go mainstream. Examples like that are just a fraction of the songs that people think are original, yet they are actually cover songs. "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen is a good example. IT is by far the most popular version of the song, but it is not the original.

[Slayer]

I have quite a few in mind for this list, but one that's gained my attention lately (though it was made two years ago, but I'm never up on these things) is Alanis Morrissette's cover of Seal's "Crazy"

[Henry Spencer]

Metallica's cover of Loverman is amoung the worst musical crimes against humanity.

[Red Baron]

I enjoyed that song.

 

Limp Bizkit cover of Behind Blue Eyes is atrocious.

[Henry Spencer]

I enjoyed that song.

 

I can safely assume you've never heard the original then, right?

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Covers are often fun, though, as I've said elsewhere on this board, all-covers albums are usually a bad idea. Here again are, in my estimation, the exceptions:

 

The Dirtbombs - Ultraglide in Black

Dump - That Skinny Motherfucker with the High Voice

Bryan Ferry - These Foolish Things

 

Since "Loverman" was mentioned, I'll say (and not for the first time) that Kicking Against the Pricks was largely forgettable.

[Mecha Mummy]

There's a whole double album of bad John Lennon covers out right now. Sadly, Greenday's absurdly sappy, bitterless version of "Working Class Hero" is one of the better highlights.

 

In the same vein, I remember hearing A Perfect Circle's bleak, dreary cover of "Imagine" on the radio years ago and wanting to punch something. I can't actually think of a single cover of a solo-era John Lennon song that hasn't annoyed the crap out of me, come to think of it.

[Gary Floyd]

I'm simply repeating myself here, but Kicking Against the Pricks is an awesome covers album.

 

Also, we've had a thread about this before. Don't mean to be rude, just thought you should know.

 

By the way, is Dylanesque any good?

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Roxy Music did a beautiful version of "Jealous Guy" that's only disliked by people with bad taste.

[godthedog]

wouldn't it take a total dumbshit to fuck up "jealous guy" anyway? just keep the piano part and sing the melody, that's it.

[Murmuring Beast]

As much as I love Bryan Ferry, I don't like that cover.

[Youth N Asia]

Joss Stone made that unlistenable version of "Fell In Love With A Girl."

[Smartly Pretty]

Every cover that wasn't institutionalized in that one tony hawk game (though even that wasn't great)

[Youth N Asia]

I actually like the Alkaline Trio and Hawthorne Heights covers from that album. But yeah, Senses Fail doing Institutionalized was the best

[Red Baron]

I enjoyed that song.

 

I can safely assume you've never heard the original then, right?

 

No I haven't. I haven't even listen to the Metallica cover in a few years either.

[Darthtiki]

Story of the Year covered Enter Sandman at a concert I went to and it was awful

[Corey_Lazarus]

This thread really begins and ends with Six Feet Under doing Back in Black. Yes. The ENTIRE album. They called it Graveyard Classics II. It's not even laughably bad like the bulk of the covers on the first Graveyard Classics, with standouts (be they horrible - which is a given, considering it's SFU - or remotely solid) like Savatage's "Holocaust," AC/DC's "TNT," and The Scorpions' "Blackout" (no mention of Hendrix's "Purple Haze" is done purposefully). It's just flat-out horrible. Regardless of what you think of AC/DC since God knows most people dislike them now (it's funny, because the bulk of my friends hate them, but will listen to similar fare from the same era that has even less musical relevance then or now), a z-grade death metal band covering a classic album like Back in Black and then not even releasing it under its proper name is a crime in and of itself.