Ok, I got the idea for this from all the covers discussions over the wimpy love song thread, but what songs do you enjoy the covers of more than the original?
A few of mine (in no order)
Type O Negative - "Summer Breeze" Jared Louche and The Aliens - "In Every Dream Home (A Heartache)" System of a Down - "Theme From Legend of Zelda" and "Shame on a Nigga" Lords of Acid - "Lady Marmalade" (SOOOOOO much better than the shitty pink/christine aguillera one) Weezer - "Uptown Girl" Deftones - "The Chauffer" Ramones - "Spider-man" Liz Phair - "Turning Japanese"
and of course...
anything by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes or Dread Zeppelin. (My in the dark friends always wonder why I start singing in an Elvis accent when they play Led Zeppelin)
"Words to memorize. Words hypnotize. Words make my mouth exercise. Words all fail the magic prize. Nothing I can say when I'm in your thighs."
I love the Ramones' version of Spiderman with all my heart. Having said that:
"Little Wing" -- Sting covering Jimi Hendrix. Taking an awesome original and making it sublime.
"Only the Lonely" -- Chris Isaak covering Roy Orbison. Listen to this a few dozen times the next time you get dumped, and you'll get through it ok.
"I Can See Clearly Now" -- Neil Finn covering whoever recorded that song first. Everytime I listen to this song, I would sacrifice my left nut to be lying on a sandy beach watching the sea and drinking a really big drink with a little umbrella in it. The ultimate summer song.
"Hang on to Your Ego" -- Frank Black covering the Beach Boys. Frank Black is my god.
"Plateau", "Oh Me", and "Lake of Fire" -- Nirvana covering the Meat Puppets. "Oh my lord do I hate Nirvana?" ... you obviously haven't heard their Unplugged album.
Let me put you in the picture, let me show you what I mean; The Messiah is my sister, ain't no king man, she's my queen.
Johnny Cash's cover of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" Tommy Lee's cover of David Bowie's "Fame" Ja Rule's cover of 2Pac's "Pain" The Zappa Brothers' cover of Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time" Deena Noroian's cover of Linkin Park's "One Step Closer" Dynamite Hack's cover of Eazy E's "Boyz in tha Hood" Bloodhound Gang's cover of Run DMC's "It's Tricky" Goo Goo Doll's cover of ?????'s "Jenny(867-5309)" Goo Goo Doll's cover of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "American Girl" Fenix TX's cover of Duran Duran's "Ordinary World" Then the entire Hayseed Dixie album
"You can save the planet, I'll save your seat"- Uncle Kracker, Better Days
Most of these I'm not if sure if they're better than the original, but they certainly can stand beside it.
Tori Amos - "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", "Lovesong", "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Yeah, I'm a Tori mark. But in these cases I think I'm looking clearly enough to judge the songs on their merits. The first two we hit in the last thread, but "Smells" really does bring out the sadness in the song in such a different way than the classic Nirvana version.
Jeff Buckley - "Hallelujah" Agreed with previous posters. Just an achingly beautiful song. I had heard it a little before, but really gave it an extended listen after I saw a video of 9/11 stuff set to the song, which just truly made it heart-rending.
Smashing Pumpkins - "Landslide" It's the Pumpkins before Billy went totally insane. It can't be anything but good!
Gary Jules - "Mad World" For anyone who has seen the movie Donnie Darko, this is the song playing over the end montage. It's an old Tears For Fears song, which he brings from an 80's pop sound, into a spare piano piece. A chilling, haunting, incredible song. If you've never heard it before, go buy the Donnie Darko dvd (movie recommendation!) and watch the music video of the song contained therein.
Anyone remember the joy of seeing him bash the Undertaker's motorcycle with his sledgemhammer and doing no damage and being all like, "Mjolnir will not break thine cycle? I say thee NAY!" and dumping it off the stage. - Enojado Viento says the funniest thing I've ever read on Wienerville.
The whole of the Depeche Mode tribute album ("For The Masses") is some good. Smashing Pumpkins do an awesome version of "Never Let Me Down Again", and I believe Failure does "Enjoy The Silence". You need all of that, yes you do.
"Your solitude is welcome, welcome... Your attitude is welcome, welcome!"
1000 homo djs (Trent Reznor and Al Jourgenssen) - "Supernaut"
The version on the Black Sabbath tribute has Al doing vox, but the better version floating around has Trent doing them. If you're an industrial/metal fan it's comparible to if Jagger and Lennon teamed up to cover a Chuck Berry tune.
And as for awful cover songs, Metallica "Turn the Page". James Hetfield and HHH should be timed to see who adds a longer "-uh" to the end of every freaking word they say.
"Words to memorize. Words hypnotize. Words make my mouth exercise. Words all fail the magic prize. Nothing I can say when I'm in your thighs."
Here's a second to JF'nX's call on the Depeche Mode tribute album. The cover of Somebody by Veruca Salt holds a pretty damn big place in my heart, so I may be biased there, but it's a pretty good (and heavy) song. Apollo Four Fourty's "I Feel You" takes away some of the dirt and grime form the original, yet manages to not somehow ruin it. Hooverphonic made "Shake The Disease" a song I now like to listen to.
Haz really topped off the whole worse cover song debate... but yeah, Crow's cover of Sweet Child really eats ass with a spoon. When she tried to make Zeppelin's "Dy'er Maker" sound like she was masturbating the whole time, it was equally painful. Her cover of "The Joker" (see: Pompatus Of Love soundtrack) is quite the badass tune, though.
Astro, my fellow Femmesman, try to find The Indigo Girls cover of Blister In The Sun. You'll either love it or hate it. I've only heard the Femmes do one cover, I think- Do You Really Want To Hurt Me. Anybody heard other Violent Femmes covers, or them covering anything?
Spf- Covering "Landslide" was one of the few smart things the Pumpkins ever did. Oh, and that time they were on The Simpsons. As for Tori covers, nothing beats Springsteen's "I'm On Fire" in my book.
To throw a few new answers out there:
-Sarah McLachlan- "Song For A Winter's Night" (Gordon Lightfoot) -Accafellas- hell, EVERYTHING. Look for "Crash" (DMB) -Dave Matthews Band- "The Maker" (Daniel Lanois) -Apocalyptica- "Nothing Else Matters", "Enter Sandman", and especially "One" are just The Fucking Shit. -Barenaked Ladies- "Shake Your Rump" (Beastie Boys) -Ben Harper- "Indifference" (Pearl Jam) -Fun Lovin' Criminals- "Microphone Fiend" (Eric B & Rakim) -Hed PE- "Crosstown Traffic" (Hendrix) -G. Love & Special Sauce- "Blackbird" (Beatles) -Gob- "Paint It Black" (Rolling Stones) -Great Big Sea- "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" (REM) -REM- One (U2) -Metallica- "Tuesday's Gone" (Skynard) -Reel Big Fish- "Come On Eileen", "Hungry Like The Wolf", "Take On Me" (Dexy's, Duran, A-Ha)
and of course...
-Blind Melon- "Three Is A Magic Number" (the only thing they did that I cared about) -Better Than Ezra- "Conjunction Junction" -Skee-Lo- The Tale Of Mr. Morton
Uber, I love the Tori version of "I'm on fire" as well. It is muy swank.
The Indigo Girls mention also reminded me of their cover of "Midnight Train to Georgia" which is just all sorts of fun.
And the DMB/Lanois connection brings up 2 more I like. I dig the DMB version "Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away", which they played live sometimes, and busted out on the Willie Nelson tribute show. Also, The Tea Party version of "The Messenger", a Daniel Lanois song just rocks my world.
Anyone remember the joy of seeing him bash the Undertaker's motorcycle with his sledgemhammer and doing no damage and being all like, "Mjolnir will not break thine cycle? I say thee NAY!" and dumping it off the stage. - Enojado Viento says the funniest thing I've ever read on Wienerville.
Well, Our Lady Peace did a cover of Neil Young's Needle and the Damage Done that lights my fire, that along with their cover of Massive Attack's Tear Drop, which they only ever play live. Ah...OLP...
Bart: Hey, immigrants! Beat it! Country's full! Sailor: OK people, you heard the lady. Back into the hold. We'll try Canada. [the immigrants moan] -- "The City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson"
"That's what the Internet is for, slandering others anonymously" Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back
Femmes did do a cover of "Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah" for the Saturday Morning comp... along with a nifty cover of the Fat Albert theme by Dig, and Wax doing "Happy Happy Joy Joy"... ah, Ren & Stimpy... memmmmor-eeeeeees...
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