In my opinion, Disturbed's cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" replaces Smash Mouth's cover of "I'm a believer" and Pearl Jam's cover or "Last Kiss" as the worst cover ever. However, many people really like Disturbed's version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4
What are your thoughts? Any favorite covers?
A few that I like:
Fugees - Killing me softly
GnR - Knocking on heavens door & Live and Let Die
Gary Jules - Mad World
UB40 - Red Red Wine
I hate almost any cover of Unchained Melody.
Coach K on Kyle Singler - "What position does he play? ... He plays winner."
"Duke is never the underdog" - Quinn Cook
I think you usually like whatever version you hear first.
We could probably have thread solely for Dylan covers that would keep us busy for a while. I like Clapton's cover version of Knocking on Heaven's door better than GNR but I just don't really like GNR.
I never took much notice of the "I Will" by the Beatles until I heard Allison Kraus' cover. Townes Van Zandt has been covered almost as much as Dylan but more obscurely except for Willie and Merle's cover of Poncho and Lefty. I usually like TVZ covers better than the original Townes recording.
we talking about the BEST covers?
Elvis Costello - What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding
Roxy Music - Jealous Guy
Run DMC - Walk This Way
Sam Smith - Won't Back Down
to name a few...
"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
I've always thought that Huey Lewis did a great cover on the JJ Jackson hit, "But it's Alright".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDztE7e9Skg
That Sound of Silence cover was terrible. I love that song - one of my favorite - written by one of the great poets of the 20th Century - Paul Simon.
Here is a cover by Celtic Thunder that I find pretty good.
Seeing him on June 30th in Forest Hills (his "home court" so to speak). At the old tennis stadium that has been converted into a music venue.
As to covers, one of my favorites is Everything but the Girl's cover of Cyndy Lauper's "Time after Time." (EBTG has a few other excellent covers - like "Tougher than the Rest" by Bruce.) They're pretty much my favorite group -and love their work as single performers post EBTG.
I like to hear cover songs at concerts as I think it's pretty neat to hear a band play their interpretation of a cool song live. Otherwise, it kind of comes across as self indulgent to put it on an album but that's just me.
"The future ain't what it used to be."
"I swear Roy must redeem extra timeouts at McDonald's the day after the game for free hamburgers." --Posted on InsideCarolina, 2/18/2015
Off-hand a few random covers covers I like better than the original version:
"What's so Funny 'Bout Peace Love and Understanding" Elvis > Nick Lowe
"Wuthering Heights" Pat Benatar > Kate Bush
"A Good Year for the Roses" Elvis > Possum
" Great Atomic Power" Southern Culture on the Skids > The Louvin Bros
"No Depression" Uncle Tupelo > The Carter Family
"Leveland" and "Wish You were Here" Robert Earle Keen > James McMurtry
"Amarillo Highway" REK > Terry Allen
"You Never Even Called Me by my Name" DAC > Steve Goodman and John Prine
"If You don't Know Me by now" "Simply Red > Harold Melvin
Hurt - Johnny Cash
I'm surprised by how much hate Disturbed's cover is getting. My brother and I both love it, but that just might be a result of our music tastes. I like music more on the rock side. S&G are just too..."soft" for me. Don't get me wrong, Disturbed's usual stuff scares me. I just need a little more "umph" if a song isn't gonna put me to sleep.
Here are a few other somewhat known rock covers of old songs most of you would probably hate:
Five Finger Death Punch's "Bad Company" (More digestible than most of their stuff)
Seether's "Careless Whisper" (way, way different feel from the original)
Shinedown's "Simple Man" (you can't possibly beat Skynyrd, but this is a good try)
I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but one of my favorite "rock" covers is possibly Fall Out Boy's "Beat It". MJ was the king of Pop. FOB made it rock.
In terms of "worst covers", not sure anything could beat GNR's "Sympathy for the Devil". Holy cow. Mick sounded perfect as the devil; Axl is just the actual devil.
Someone brought up Smash Mouth..."I'm a Believer" was the first I heard of that song and I liked it (still do). They did a cover of "Why Can't We Be Friends" that is completely blah. It has no heart at all. I'm still conflicted about their "Do It Again". The original is a little long and monotonous, but the overly pop version might not be the best way to go. They also covered "Getting Better" which is nothing to write home about. All that's to say is "I'm a Believer" wouldn't even rank up there with Smash Mouth's own worst covers, much less worst of all time.
If I wanted to get snarky, I can talk about Ray Parker Jr's Cover of Huey Lewis or RHCP's cover of Tom Petty
In terms of "best", someone already mentioned Jimi's "All Along the Watchtower", which Dylan himself admitted was a better version.
Are there any other covers where the original artist basically gave the thumbs up that "yeah, that's a better version"?
Yay offseason off-topic threads!
Tent 1 Three-peat (2012-2014)
I agree mostly but that kinda makes it hard on Musicians who don't write songs. Elvis, Joan Baez, George Jones, Emmy Lou Harris and numerous others would not have had a career otherwise. I know there are always unrecorded songs by industry song writers but still. On the other hand, nowadays they just put the musician in the same room as the song writer and call it a co-write.
Romeo and Juliet - Indigo Girls = Dire Straights
Wall Flower - Buddy and Julie Miller = Dylan
Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night - Shawn Colvin = Tom Waits
Keep Your Distance - Buddy and Julie Miller = Richard Thompson
Come Together - Aerosmith = The Beatles
I will Always Lover You - Whitney = Dolly
Mr. State Trooper - Steve Earle = The Boss
Stolen Car - Patty Griffin = The Boss
Hard to Handle - Black Crows = Otis Redding
I like Everclear's cover of Brown-Eyed Girl.
Al Green's cover of "My Girl"
http://www.whosampled.com/cover/2130...tions-My-Girl/
You're welcome.
Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'