Worst covers...

Sinfonia

Well we've had the best covers thread, now let's gripe about songs that got killed!
(Let's leave out pop acts like Girls Aloud/Ronan Keating/Westlife etc. we all know they're awful)




Stairway to Heaven - Rolf Harris (Led Zeppelin)(has to be mentioned, probably the worst cover in the world)
What's Going On - A Perfect Circle (Marvin Gaye)
Behind Blue Eyes - Limp Bizkit (Who)
Comfortably Numb - Scissor Sisters (Pink Floyd)
Big Yellow Taxi - Counting Crows (Joni Mitchell)
In Limbo - SA-RA (Radiohead)
Common People - William Shatner (Pulp)
No Cars Go - Arcade Fire (Arcade Fire)

to start with...

Blowfish

SumGuy wrote:

Stairway to Heaven - Rolf Harris (Led Zeppelin)(has to be mentioned, probably the worst cover in the world)

Dolly Partons version rivals it.

Creamy Goodness

No Cars Go - Arcade Fire (Arcade Fire)

huh what?

street spirit - the darkness (radiohead).

S.M.B.

SumGuy wrote:

Comfortably Numb - Scissor Sisters (Pink Floyd)

Not too much of a Scissors Sisters fan myself but still wouldn't call this a bad cover at all. I could understand why someone might dislike the version but this does not make it a bad cover/song.

SumGuy wrote:

No Cars Go - Arcade Fire (Arcade Fire)

I also don't know what everyone's problem is with the updated version of NCG? On first listen I thought it was an inferior version but now I find the original version lacking the higher level of production.

And probably the worst covers are those which just involve bands replicating and adding nothing extra to an original song. I'd much rather an adventurous cover (like Scissors Sisters attempt) that a boring old simple cover like Oasis' Come on Feel the Noise or some ****e like that.

bluto63

Tainted Love - Marilyn Manson (don't know who first wrote it, so I'll just say Softcell)

Terrible imo

beans

bluto63 wrote:

Tainted Love - Marilyn Manson (don't know who first wrote it, so I'll just say Softcell)

Terrible imo

Gloria Jones

In the spirit of the thread, I suppose that Dylan's version of 'Creep' was pretty poor.

darkmaster2

Korn`s cover of Creep (radiohead) is rubbish altogether. No need for it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vusqrv2v_30

beans

Actually, I'm currently listening to Joe Pesci singing 'Got to get you into my life'. It's a hoot! Also gives any of the above a run for their money in the worst-cover-ever title race.

treefingers

sun kil moon - tiny cities made of ashes (modest mouse). that whole album actually is pretty poor, but that one song in particular really sapped everything that was good from the original...

JC 2K3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAMyQdBWhUw

Schlemm

The worst thing is when you hear those crappy dance versions of good songs, or when top 40 bands/singers do heinous covers, for example, Girls Aloud covering Walk This Way and Hillary Duff covering My Generation, etc. And then some teeny punk band covered Boys of Summer:eek: . Perhaps the worst thing about those kind of cover versions is that the ppl who like them often don't know who did the original.:D There's a few dodgy Radiohead cover versions on the go too.

mr_angry

SumGuy wrote:

What's Going On - A Perfect Circle (Marvin Gaye)
Comfortably Numb - Scissor Sisters (Pink Floyd)

Have to disagree with those two choices. Both are re-interpretations of the songs in question, which is what I think makes a great cover version, rather than just hammering out poor imitations of the original. Yeah, maybe if you love the originals in question, you might find them annoying, but I think both are pretty good from an objective point of view, and from a subjective point of view, I think the Perfect Circle one is awesome!

"To Love Somebody" by Billy Corgan... now that is what I would really call a terrible cover version!

smackbunnybaby

JC 2K3 wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAMyQdBWhUw

oh dear God.....

catch--22

SumGuy wrote:

Common People - William Shatner (Pulp)

No, no, no! I LOVE that cover! I find its a very honest version!

My addition to worst cover would be Sheryl Crows version of Sweet Child 'O Mine (G'NR)

Schlemm

Actually, on 2nd thoughts I quite like that William Shatner version of Common People!

marshmallow

Ronan Keating - Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)
McFly - Mr Brightside (The Killers)

Sinfonia

JC 2K3 wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAMyQdBWhUw

couldn't watch beyond 30 seconds, sweet jesus

catch--22 wrote:

My addition to worst cover would be Sheryl Crows version of Sweet Child 'O Mine (G'NR)

yeah thats terrible, think she's got a few bad covers if memory serves correctly

S.M.B. wrote:

I also don't know what everyone's problem is with the updated version of NCG?

I just prefer the original, i've never really been mad about bands updating their own songs, didn't like Radiohead's 2nd Morning Bell for example.

mr_angry wrote:

Have to disagree with those two choices. Both are re-interpretations of the songs in question, which is what I think makes a great cover version

I do agree that re-interpretation is better than pure imitation, but for it to be a great cover version, the new one has to be good by it's own merits imo.
I'm a fan of APC, and I thought eMOTIVe was a really weak album, I think they can do better than they did, and What's Going On is such a classic that I think it's a very daunting task to make something good and new out of it.

Taking absolute classics for cover versions is never a good idea imo, I mean nobody will ever make a Stairway as good as Led Zep, nobody will ever make a Bohemian Rhapsody as good as Queen, no matter how different they make it, but loads of people have taken weaker songs and made them much much better.

schlemm wrote:

The worst thing is when you hear those crappy dance versions of good songs, or when top 40 bands/singers do heinous covers, for example, Girls Aloud covering Walk This Way and Hillary Duff covering My Generation, etc.

ahem

SumGuy wrote:

(Let's leave out pop acts like Girls Aloud/Ronan Keating/Westlife etc. we all know they're awful)

Mushy

http://www.youtube.com/watch_fullscreen?video_id=CVaKOaEttl4&l=415&t=OEgsToPDskJlbsd1XCQTpOOAo7MVHB4T&sk=TRGv7Of6wxddJk3HhBYTjgU&fs=1&title=05 - Panic! - Tonight, Tonight & There's a good reason

Sorry, its just awful! Tonight Tonight-Panic At the Disco(Smshing Pumpkins)

bluto63

Schlemm wrote:

And then some teeny punk band covered Boys of Summer:eek:

I liked the Ataris version....

funktastic

JC 2K3 wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAMyQdBWhUw

Ah they're only kids. I've met worse musicians who are in their 20's

estariol

....Billy Corgan/Smashing Pumpkins covering - Stay (faraway so close) by U2
And I'll second the sun kil moon - modest mose cover album

Miguel_Sanchez

Afghan Whigs covering 'When Doves Cry'. Terrible.

pig on the wing

Mushy wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_fullscreen?video_id=CVaKOaEttl4&l=415&t=OEgsToPDskJlbsd1XCQTpOOAo7MVHB4T&sk=TRGv7Of6wxddJk3HhBYTjgU&fs=1&title=05 - Panic! - Tonight, Tonight

Sorry, its just awful! Tonight Tonight-Panic At the Disco(Smshing Pumpkins)

beat me to it! when i saw this thread title i immediately thought of that. which is sort of ironic since i liked it first time i saw it :eek: :eek: :eek:

as for limp bizkit's behind blue eyes, i enjoyed it. even after i heard the original i still liked durst's version

AbusesToilets

Posted here before(by me also,no life :rolleyes: ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXNqQjdML-U
just appalling

Sinfonia

Jesus how could I forget!

Gnarls Barkley's absolutely woeful cover of the great Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone"

Violent Femmes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZXhlwYOyLw

Gnarls Barkley:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkaUFB-EASI

Orizio

See I liked both the SA-RA and Gnarls Barkley covers.Not touching he originals sure, but words like 'woeful' and 'worst' seem unnecessary.

Sinfonia

Orizio wrote:

See I liked both the SA-RA and Gnarls Barkley covers.Not touching he originals sure, but words like 'woeful' and 'worst' seem unnecessary.

Well this is obviously just my opinion, which is all I have. We're all equally entitled to our own.
With the Gnarls Barkley cover, they took a song I really like, and made a really weak version of it. It annoys me when people hear it and say 'That's a crap song', because it's a great song, it's just been covered badly. A lot of people don't know the original which is a shame.

I think all musical discussion of this nature implies the phrase "in my opinion". The words 'woeful' and 'worst' seemed necessary to me.
If I say "I don't like it", that's a clearer statement I suppose, but I think opinion is implied if I say "That's a load of sh!te".

Crucifix

Aww, I love Shatner's Common People, and the darkness' Street Spirit.
Scissor Sister's Comfortably Numb drives me crazy though.

jacool

Dunno if they are defined as 'pop' but when The Flying Pickets covered "Under The Bridge" I covered my ears and cringed. Not a RHCP fan at all but love that one song, and there it was, up against the wall, murdered !!

Sunny_Dublin

Not sure if this is a bad cover or a great re-interpretation of a bad song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCfPhoK7Hs4

video is nonsense tho, don't bother watching it...

Sinfonia

jacool wrote:

Dunno if they are defined as 'pop' but when The Flying Pickets covered "Under The Bridge" I covered my ears and cringed. Not a RHCP fan at all but love that one song, and there it was, up against the wall, murdered !!

All Saints are guilty of that one too - really vanilla cover version, no heart in it at all

pig on the wing

evanescence's zero sucked cock as much as anything ever sucked cock...

the sex scene in gnarls barkley's gone daddy gone is a parody of fight club, right?

AbusesToilets

I think this is just one more item to add onto the list Celine Dion's Abominations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONt47Z0KZg

Lunar Junkie

treefingers wrote:

sun kil moon - tiny cities made of ashes (modest mouse). that whole album actually is pretty poor, but that one song in particular really sapped everything that was good from the original...

I actually like that album, though I've never been into Modest Mouse so having no attachment to the original versions probably makes it a lot easier to enjoy the reworkings. Mark Kozelek essentially rewrote the songs anyway, the vocal melodies and chord sequences are mostly totally different.

csk

JC 2K3 wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAMyQdBWhUw

Dear God I want my thirty seconds back:p

I'd say Guns n'Roses cover of that Paul McCartney song but then I do have a great dislike of all things axl related

Sinfonia

AbusesToilets wrote:

I think this is just one more item to add onto the list Celine Dion's Abominations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONt47Z0KZg

funking hell

catch--22

Damn it! Why did I watch that ^ I knew it was going to be bad....and now I'm all upset!

Piste

I really liked the Scissor Sister's cover of comfortable numb, I heard it before the Pink Floyd original though (yeah yeah I'm a bad person). I also heard the Rasputna cover of wish you were here before the original and that's really nicely done with cellos.

JC 2K3

Piste wrote:

I really liked the Scissor Sister's cover of comfortable numb, I heard it before the Pink Floyd original though (yeah yeah I'm a bad person).

You are a bad, bad person. But I agree, it was a good cover. It wasn't your standard predictable dance remix, nor was it your standard band covering a classic and doing a terrible job because they're poorer musicians. They did something creative and really different with it.

Of course most hostile and closed-minded classic rock heads(usually aged about 15) went crazy claiming that they'd ruined an amazing song and that they had no right to cover a band as godly as Pink Floyd.

Ironically enough, the members of Pink Floyd have said they really liked it.

Piste

Can I redeem myself slightly by saying I was 12 when it came out?

Then shoot myself down again and tell you it was three years till I heard the original.

Creamy Goodness

only hearing that scissor sister cover now, apart from that guys (or is it a girl) voice it's actually quite a good cover. it's a pity all covers don't get the same put into them.

Piste

It's a guy on that track though Anamatronic does sing on other stuff.

nyarlothothep

electric six, Radio GaGa and the video was lame

Sky2

The white stripes cover of Tegan+Sara's "Walking with a ghost"
Tegan and Sara
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4THv5SYfBo
White stripes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYyoU8kKPQ

Zapp Brannigan

Havent read the whole thread but if no-one's mentioned Bob Dylan's cover of 'Creep' then forshame!!

Time Magazine

Lol at the guitar solo in the Nirvana cover . Sounds like an acoustic version .

Goodluck2me

Mike Flowers cover of Wonderwall by Oasis.
Ronan Keating ruining Tracy Chapmans baby can i hold you tonight, and Alison Krauss`s "you say it best when you say Nothing at all".

Just watched both Comfortably numb videos and i prefer Scissor sisters...actually i just hate the SS less.

komodosp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZO69LpaSzw

If it wasn't so dreary it would be funny!

Sinfonia

Weird reading posts I made four and a half years ago that I don't remember! :eek:

FWIW, I've changed my mind on that Scissor Sisters cover to some extent.
I don't love it, but I'd take it out of that list for sure.

Tubsandtiles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKXVScNSR5s

I know the video quality is crap but even the good quality vidoes are crap too. Jamie from the Arctic Monkeys went on record saying they ruined the song

smokedeels

Japandroid's cover of Mclusky's "To Hell with Good Intentions" turns an angry "my c0ck is bigger than yours" anthem into a fluffy aimless ball of meh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIj7kuF43I0

Japandroids are a good band but that cover is pants.