Jump to content

there oughta be a law...


Recommended Posts

i hate crappy remakes of great songs. i think there should be a "remake review board" to prevent things like Uncle Cracker's abyssmal cover of Dobie Gray's "Drift Away." i mentioned this to my wife as we were suffereing through the new version, and she opined that no cover is better than the original. i named a few off the top of my head: "blinded by the light" was way better from manfred mann's earth band than the original from Bruce Springstein, of course Jimi Hendrix's "All along the watchtower" kicked Bob Dylan's version's butt, John Mellencamp improved "Wild Night" for Van Morrison, Van Halen's "Pretty Woman" was way better than Roy Orbison's. The list goes on. What are some of your favorite, and most despised, remakes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a big fan of cover songs in general. I think the idea is to have a contemporary group or artist cover a song from a previous generation in order for its words to resonate with an entirely new audience. It's very debatable and very subjective as to which cover songs fare better than others upon listening to the original. I think it depends which one affected the listener first...For instance, The Smashing Pumpkins' version of Landslide was the version I actually heard first believe it or not, and as much as I love Fleetwood Mac, the SP version resonates more with me.

 

Some of my favorite cover music is....

 

Alana Davis-32 Flavors (Ani Difranco)

 

Hole-Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood Mac)

 

Natalie Merchant-Space Oddity (David Bowie)

 

Fiona Apple-Across The Universe (The Beatles)

 

Guns N' Roses-Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney)

 

Tori Amos-Imagine (John Lennon)

Livin' On A Prayer (Bon Jovi)

97' Bonnie & Clyde (Eminem)

Wild Horses (Rolling Stones)

 

If I can think of some covers I hate I'll mention them at a later time. Although Uncle Kracker's 'Drift Away' was not particularly good I must say. I suppose if he had played it once in a while at a concert it would've had much more of a positive impact but from the huge amount of radio play, it just came off as a ploy to make money.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For bad covers, see Girls Aloud...

 

 

Good ones...

Hurt by Johnny Cash (original by Nine Inch Nails)

Easy by Faith No More (original Lionel Richie)

Black Hole Sun by The Moog Cookbook (original Soundgarden)

Wonderwall by The Mike Flowers Pops (original Oasis)

Where did you Sleep Last Night by Nirvana (original Leadbelly)

and I think Setting Sun by The Chemical Brothers can be seen as a cover of Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles :)

 

Ones I haven't figured out whether good or bad

Brazil by Arcade Fire (original Ary Barroso)

Feeling Good by Muse (original Nina Simone)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Knix' date='Feb 19 2006, 10:49 AM' post='33106']

Metallica's "Turn the Page" was a fine compilment to the original Bob Seger song.

 

You're right, Knix. And they also did "Whiskey in the Jar" which may never have been released professionally by anyone else, but was an old (Irish, Scottish?) ditty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines Privacy Policy.