Many people have an irrational, almost pathological hatred for cover versions. It doesn’t matter how brilliant it is, people will invariably say, ‘oh, it’s not as good as the original’. It doesn’t matter if the original version was played by a half-deaf old guy on an out-of-tune ukulele, and the cover version is played by, say, The Rolling Stones (actually, in this case there probably wouldn’t be that much difference). Anyway, you get the point. People hate cover versions.
However, it hasn’t always been this way. Back in the 1950s and 60s, most of the songs in the top 40 were cover versions. Back then nobody really cared about writing songs. I mean, why go to all the effort to write one when you can simply steal a perfectly good song a black person has already written?
Anyway, I completely disagree with these ignorant plebs who value nostalgia over good taste, and I think there are many cover versions that shit all over the originals. Here are some of my favourites.
BEST COVER VERSIONS:
Gary Jules – Mad World (orig. Tears for fears)
Youth Group – Forever Young (orig. by German band Alphaville)
Nirvana – The man who sold the world (orig. by David Bowie)
William Shatner – Common people (orig. Pulp)
Sarah Blasko – Goodbye yellow brick road (by Elton John)
Jimi Hendrix – All along the watchtower (orig. by Bob Dylan)
Soft Cell – Tainted love (orig. by Gloria Jones)
The Clash – I fought the law (orig. by The Crickets-post-Buddy Holly)
Sinead O’Conner – Nothing compares to you (orig. by Prince)
And what I consider the best cover version EVER:
Johnny Cash – Hurt (orig. by Nine Inch Nails)
If you have any favourites, please post them in the comments section...
6 comments:
What no Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah?
I enjoy a cover version, I really used to enjoy the "Like A Version" segment on Triple J (which is where the Sarah Blasko version of Yellow Brick Road originated from memory) when I still listened. I loved José Gonzalez's version of Teardrop and the Cat Empire singing Hotel California in French was also another highlight out of "Like A Version".
I love "metal" versions of most songs and have collected a few along the way. Granted, most of them are from "tribute" albums but Machine Head's cover of Battery is good. Some other mentions are Fear Factory covering U2's I Will Follow and Marilyn Manson covering Tainted Love. Also worth a mention but not necessarily being metal are:
Cake - I Will Survive
Hamish Cohen - With Or Without You
Rodrigo y Gabriela - One
I will also add that I collect bad covers. The worst one I have are: Atreyu - You Give Love A Bad Name
Scooter - I Was Made For Loving You
Yeah, I had a few others, including Cake's I will survive but I was trying to think of songs that were actually better than the original version, not just different - but then what is Tainted love doing in there? Shouldn't be in there. The original is awesome.
Oh man, I just listened to Atreyu - You give love a bad name.
Words cannot express just how traumatic it is. I think that song needs counseling now.
I also love Sarah Blasko's version of Cold Chisel's Flame trees. I think it's way superior to Barnsey's rendition.
But I'm sure there are people who would lynch me for saying that (thus proving my point, I guess?)
This may come out of left field, but check out `Heartbeats' by Jose Gonzalez
Re: Heartbeats, I think this proves that an awesome song is great when it's done a variety of ways, because the original is also great.
I like Eric Clapton's version of I Shot the Sheriff
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