Blasphemy! (Covers that surpass the originals)

[Baseley09]

Those Placebo & Gary Jules versions are utter puke you guys are now on ignore

Totally agree on Dear Prudence though.

I prefer Britney's version of My Prerogative to Bobby Browns.

[Nif]

Joe Jackson Original


Anthrax cover


Always loved the Anthrax version but listening to both now after 15 odd years I'm starting to have doubts.

[Decider-VT]

Tuxedomoon's original is good though, just different. I like the more detached, icy post-punkness of it:

I always liked Martin Gore's version. EMI seem to have gutted Youtube so I'll have to provide a link to it here instead.

[prinnysquad]

Those Placebo & Gary Jules versions are utter puke you guys are now on ignore

Just as well I included a disclaimer then

[Nu-Eclipse]

Song: "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes"

Modest Mouse original


surpassed (imho) by Sun Kil Moon's alternative/folk cover



I'm sure that I'm in the minority on that one, though...

[Mr_Skinny]

Common People - Shatner > Pulp

[SmokeMeAKipper]

[Mr_Sands]

Shiina Ringo's version of Yer Blues is sensational.

[QualityChimp]

This amusing thread needs updating!

I give you Ben Folds covering Dr. Dre's "B*tches Ain't Sh*t". Absolutely brilliant cover that turns a nasty gangsta rap track into a poignant, reflective piano piece.

As a secret track on their 'Goose Fair' album, China Drum did an amazing version of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights".

It might not be quite as good as the original, but Electric Eel Shock's take on Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" is still rocking, but does something a little different with it. If you ever get chance to see these guys live, do it. They're one of the best live bands I've seen!

Finally, I used to have a compilation album that had this lovely cover of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" by Frente tucked away at the end. Angie Hart has a beautiful voice and adds a real tenderness to this track.

[Skull Commander]

China Drum's Wuthering Heights is the best cover ever as far as I am concerned. It's an absolute belter.

I think this St Etienne cover of a Neil Young song is far superior to the turgid borefest of the original.

[Brad]

Any Bob Dylan song by anyone other than Bob Dylan.

[PaTaito]

Couple that instantly spring to mind are:

1. Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music cover of Jelous Guy.
2. Nine Inch Nails version of Dead Souls.

Dont agree with the JC version of hurt being superior to the original. While it was emotionally stirring in a massive way, especially as june had just past, and johnny followed shortly after.... it simply doesnt touch trents vocals....which for me make the song. It was equally amazing in a different kind of way, but better...no, wether the humble trent reznor agrees or not.

Also think the Kate Bush running up that hill is untouchable.

Any Bob Dylan song by anyone other than Bob Dylan.

Post of the day.

[Stoppy2000]

I'm quite partial to the Kiss version of the stones '2000 Man'. But I do love Kiss....

[prinnysquad]

Cover songs send my head into a spin. There are a few reasons for this.

Firstly, I think that cover versions, no matter how good, perhaps lack that little bit of extra spark that the original had. The original was written by someone to whom those words were 100% relevant, and thus injects them with something indefinably personal, that something extra. A cover version can be brilliant, but as the words are those of another, I often have the sense that they mean that little bit less, or are that little bit more abstract, and the vocal performance reflects this. It's like me reading out loud the diary of someone else. I can invest the reading with as much relevance, meaning and emotion as possible, but those words aren't mine, and don't 100% reflect what I want to say. Of course, I may be totally wrong with this - it's just a sense I get sometimes with covers. Plus, this argument presumes that all lyrics actually mean something personal to the writer, which isn't true. So shut up, prommysqwab.

The second thing that makes my head hurt is the music. After all my ranting about lyrics you would think I listen to the words first and foremost, right? Wrong. I seem to have some weird aural defect whereby the music of a song can 'get to me' far more than the words. I hear the sounds of instruments and they can stimulate a greater emotional response than words. It can be a guitar note, a violin note, whatever. I'm sure I read once that Hendrix tried to find the key notes that can have such an effect. I also 'hear' the singing instead of listen to the words (at first). The voice essentially acts as another instrument. Often, I've been listening to a track with someone else and they've said, "Good lyrics, yeah?" I then realise that I haven't listened to a single word, instead I've been blending in the vocals as part of the sonic arrangement. Consequently, when covers have radically different singers to the original, and/or a different sound to the song, it grates on me for a bit, because I'm so used to the original as a cohesive whole.

Conversely, I also strongly believe that the best covers are ones that try to do something different. The ones that change the style of the song. This clashes totally and utterly with the second point, ergo, headaches.

For the record, Wuthering Heights and Bizarre Love Triangle are brilliant originals, and though I respect that those cover artists have tried to do something different with them, my second point overrules that, and I just want to listen to the originals. Sorry, QC. I can't help my bell-end approach to hearing music, though.

[QualityChimp]

Although I understand where you are coming from and agree that cover songs are usually inferior to the original, there are some flaws in your argument.

I agree that when All Saints covered the Chili Peppers' "Under The Bridge", I doubt they understood the feelings of loneliness and regret at taking drugs as a source of solace that Anthony Kiedis felt and inspired him to write those lyrics.

Conversely, I doubt Britney Spears had a single thing to do with "Hit Me Baby One More Time", musically or lyrically, it was Max Martin who wrote it. He's also worked with N-SYNC, Backstreet Boys, Pink, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson and Usher, so he knows how to write a tune that ticks the Popular Music boxes.

Naturally, the rocker side of me rejected the track because of the marketing and hype that went with it, but when Travis covered it as a stripped-down acoustic version on Mark & Lard's show, it showed me that it's actually a well-written and very catchy song and actually appreciate it more. Neither Travis nor Britney wrote the track, so your argument that the original is superior because of that reason doesn't apply.

Kate Bush wrote "Wuthering Heights" when she was 18 in a couple of hours after seeing the last ten minutes of the film adaptation. It's her song, granted, but it's about somebody else's characters and story, so again I think "The original was written by someone to whom those words were 100% relevant" doesn't apply because how can an 18-year-old writing about a fictional ghost in an 1847 novel ever be 100% relevant?

However, at the end of the day, usually a cover version is just a bit of fun and it's interesting to see what other people can do with them. Once in a while that version can be better than the original.