The Best/Worst Song Covers Thread

[Sgt Floyd]

Just just for the lulz...or because I'm a masochist, I listened to what I could tolerate of Punk Goes Classic Rock 2 (because I've actually heard of some of these bands)...

1. We Will Rock You- MCR: Tolerable...except for the chorus. Were they trying to make it sound live? Was it live? I don't understand this.

2. Living On A Prayer - No Bragging Rights: Eh...it sounds choppy. Like the guy didn't know when to hold the notes. Not the worst though.

3. Whole Lotta Love- Adam Lambert: I just really hate Led Zeppelin so no matter how good a cover is, I'm not gonna like it.

4. Don't Stop Believing - Flight 409: I'm mixed. I'm not a huge huge fan of the song, or Journey. Putting that aside, for what it is...its not totally awful. I've heard worse. The music is too muted though.

5. Died in Your Arms-My Future Lies: I really really hate this song with a seething hatred. That said, I think this is my favorite song on the CD. Congrats, band I never heard of, you did something right.

6. Sweet Child Of Mine- SandmarX: Possibly the upload quality, but ew...the music is really muddy sounding. Vocals...not bad. He kinda sounds like Axl.

7. Carry on Wayward Son - H*** Within: Why? Why? This is one of my all time favorite Classic Rock songs and...the screaming ruined it. It was ok during the verses, but the chorus loses me.

8. I'll Be there For You-James Durbin: I don't really like this song to begin with. The cover is kinda meh. The chorus is pretty nice, verses not so much.

9. I want to Break Free- Dewa 19: Dear god my ears...who are these people anyway?

10. 18 and Life- (doesn't say who did it): WWWHHHHHYYYY? It's so off key and off melody and just...why? That's music torture.

11. House of the Rising Sun - Muse: No

12. Enter Sandman- Y Axis: Ok, these guys have guts to be covering Metallica's most well known song. It's...not good...but...not ear bleedingly bad? I guess? Maybe? What's with the weird not singing the entire chorus thing though? Did they not bother to learn the words? I don't understand.

13. Sweet Home Alabama- The Summer: Dear lord no. What is this mud? Like...it sounds like mud. Who mixed this?

14. War Pigs- Faith No More: Tolerable

15. One- Periphery: Again, gotta give them credit for taking on a Metallica song. But I don't like the song, I don't like the cover

16. Cryin'-Ice Nine Kills: No.

17. The Final Countdown-Affiance: Don't like the vocals.

And as a bonus...

Got Your Money covered by Say Anything is absolutely hilarious. Listening to it, you would think it was done as a joke.

 

[AquaGGR]

There's lots of covers where they aren't good or bad because they sound exactly the same as the originals. Like My Chemical Romance's cover of "Song 2" by Blur, or Sparks the Rescue's cover of "Mountain Song" by Jane's Addiction.

I think the Aquabats's cover of "Doll Parts" by Hole is better because of how hilarious it is. It has an extremely underproduced garage-like sound, and has random dialogue in between the vocals.

 

[Drtooth]

4. Don't Stop Believing - Flight 409: I'm mixed. I'm not a huge huge fan of the song, or Journey. Putting that aside, for what it is...its not totally awful. I've heard worse. The music is too muted though.

I honestly think Glee killed...nay... murdered in cold blood that song. The song is dead to me. I don't care if we get the world's best cover by the world's best band. They did brutal things to that song by making it popular with the wrong crowd. And Family Guy did it better. All I'm saying.

On that subject, I'm not a fan of the Chipmunks version that had to Bowlderize the lyrics, especially since their cover of Time Warp was completely and utterly unaltered.

"In another dimension, with voyeuristic intentions" on a kid's album. When they covered "School's Out for Summer," they had to kiddify "School's been blown to pieces" to "School's Ancient History." A lyric that Mr. Bumpy could sing perfectly well on another kid's show.

And they had the sexual references in Time Warp completely unaltered. Good job, Sevilles.

 

[charlietheowl]

3. Whole Lotta Love- Adam Lambert: I just really hate Led Zeppelin so no matter how good a cover is, I'm not gonna like it.

What do you dislike about Led Zeppelin? Just curious.

 

[AquaGGR]

There was this pretty cool Oingo Boingo tribute album called "Dead Bands Party", and it had bands like Zebrahead, The Aquabats, RX Bandits, and Suburban Legends on it. I should get around to listening to all the songs so I can review it.

 

[mr3urious]

I honestly think Glee killed...nay... murdered in cold blood that song. The song is dead to me. I don't care if we get the world's best cover by the world's best band. They did brutal things to that song by making it popular with the wrong crowd. And Family Guy did it better. All I'm saying.

Though I'd say Mabel kinda rescued it. Now I can't stop thinking of that song without getting reminded of her karaoke performance of the Jimmy Hart version of it!

 

[cjd874]

Best covers:

• "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles (originally by the Top Notes)
• "You Really Got Me" by Van Halen (orig. the Kinks)
• "All Along the Watchtower" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience (orig. Bob Dylan)
• "I Shot the Sheriff" by Eric Clapton (orig. Bob Marley)
• "Black Magic Woman" by Santana (orig. Fleetwood Mac/Peter Green)
• "Rock and Roll" by Stevie Nicks (orig. Led Zeppelin)
• "Blinded by the Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band (orig. written & possibly performed by Bruce Springsteen?)
• "With a Little Help from my Friends" by Joe Cocker (orig. the Beatles, and parodied shamelessly by the late John Belushi on Saturday Night Live in the 1970s)
• "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by Elton John (orig. the Beatles)
• so as you can see, I'm a huge classic rock fan

Worst Covers:
Can't think of many right now, but I am not a fan of Metallica's "Stone Cold Crazy," originally written and performed by Queen. Few people can really record good Queen covers, and even music industry giants like Metallica fall short.

 

[charlietheowl]

• "Blinded by the Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band (orig. written & possibly performed by Bruce Springsteen?)

The song was originally put out in 1973 by Bruce Springsteen on his debut album. It's interesting to hear how different it sounds from what Manfred Mann did to it later on, Bruce's version is sort of like mid sixties Bob Dylan.

 

[Drtooth]

Though I'd say Mabel kinda rescued it. Now I can't stop thinking of that song without getting reminded of her karaoke performance of the Jimmy Hart version of it!

Parodies don't really count, do they? If so, I'd put a LOT of Weird Al on the list.

Yeah. Weird Al should TOTALLY do a Polka version of that. He'd definitely rescue it.

But still..> Everything on Glee is either alright or terrible and out of context. Their Rocky Horror episode sucked.

 

[cjd874]

The song was originally put out in 1973 by Bruce Springsteen on his debut album. It's interesting to hear how different it sounds from what Manfred Mann did to it later on, Bruce's version is sort of like mid sixties Bob Dylan.

This is like a cross between Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and Paul Simon's "Me & Julio by the Schoolyard," with Bruce's magic touch added to the mix. It has that raspy, whining vocal of "Rolling Stone" and the tempo of "Julio." This is a very unique version, it's amazing how it was utterly eclipsed by the popularity of Manfred Mann's version.