h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Surely Metallica's version of Nothing Else Matters *is* the original

info on Tainted Love http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tainted_Love
(I also thought Soft Cell was the original, h2g2 teaches me something again

Is it still true that Yesterday is the most covered song of all time.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the worst cover I've ever heard is the deservedly much maligned version of Under the Bridge by All Saints.

It seems to be increasingly popular now to have Cover versions of films. There's a never ending set of remakes these days... Posiedon, The Omen, Superman, Bourne Identity, Ocean's Eleven...

Orcus you're absolutely right. I'd heard the Lucie Silvas version first, and made the erroneous assumption based on its country feel that the Metallica version must be a cover.

Just goes to show ,huh.

Personally, I loathe the White Stripes' "Jolene". Blatant disregard for the lyrics for a start. "Just don't know what to do" isn't quite so awful, but its musical appeal is lost on me somehow.

There is an album I must get hold of, called "Even better than the real thing", which is full of some interesting covers.

Best cover I've got is a fight between Sinead O'Conner singing Nirvana'a track No Apologies and U2 covering All Along The Watchtower. Both awesome interpretations of the originals. Worst has got to be either Simple Minds singing van the mans Gloria or Dexys Midnight Runners terrible reworking of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Both deserve eternal damnation for the sheer travesties they commited.

Talking of wierd cover versions I'm sure I heard on the radio the other day an acoustic version of one of Kylie Minogue's SAW track Hand on Your Heart.
Amazingly it was not too bad, and *definitely* better than the original (for me).

it may have been by Jack Johnson but I'm not sure...

post 18

On the subject of weird cover versions, Arctic Monkeys' version of Girls Aloud's 'Love Machine' is actually rather

Can I throw Hayseed Dixie into the mix at this point?

B

Certainly can! Ever heard of Boss Hoss, a German band who do something similar?

Are dance versions of classical music cover versions?

From what I can gather the band are called "Black Sabbath Tribute" Each song starts with a well known rock intro eg Enter Sandman and effortlessly mixes it with a "heavier" version of one the songs on Abbas Greastet Hits (in this case, Take a Chance on me)

3 covers which justify the practice:

Frank Sinatra - My Way
Anjelique Kudjo - Voodoo Chile
Bill Bailey - Cockney Eye of the Tiger



And another thing: is Eric Clapton's acoustic version of Layla technically a cover?

Excellent covers I reckon..

Tainted Love, and I think he did the heavy version of Sweet Dreams ( orignally by Eurythmics) - Marylin Manson
Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
Adam Ant's Antmusic - Robbie Williams
Aha's Take On Me - Reel Big Fish
Take A Little Piece (Of My Heart) - Janis Joplin (that cover was recently copied almost exactly by some stock r&b singer.. poorly)
I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - White Stripes

I abhored Mike Flower's version of Wonderwall when it came out, but now I quite like it!

What is the point of cover versions?

Falls into 5 categories, so far as I can see:

(i) Cynical commercial realism: anyone who covers "Unchained Melody", for starters.
(ii) Homage: people who've been inspired by a song and/or artist, and want to pay respect to their influences. Sometimes this goes horribly wrong - TBSGTNIT's "Thank You" is an object lesson in this. Sometimes it goes horribly right: The Specials being asked why they did a cover of "that SLF song"...
(iii) re-interpretation: A good song is a good song, regardless of the original instrumentation, and should be open to new formats (hi-speed techno simply wasn't an option in the Sixties ); the way in which old songs can be re-interpreted for a new audience, or even for their original one, shows the strength of the song.
(iv) Just because. Nearly every band I like has done a cover version somewhere along the line (XTC are the exception)...I even remember a live Tears For Fears set where they did a Gary Numan song (I forget which...one of his earlier ones). Queen have done both God Save The Queen and Here Comes The Bride...and possibly a Presley number.* Powderfinger have done 666: The Number Of The Beast.
(v) Marilyn Manson: covers good songs because all of his own ones are crap. Apparently.

There are some deeply good cover versions out there which are, to my mind, better than the originals. Items (i) and (ii) often end up causing crap versions of the originals, although (ii) is at least done with its heart in the right place.

RF

* If anyone knows what this is...

Can't sleep, so my brain is churning out other classic covers:

CCS - Whole Lotta Love, aka the Top of the Pops theme tune.
Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe

>.Sometimes this goes horribly wrong - TBSGTNIT's "Thank You" is an object lesson in this. Sometimes it goes horribly right: The Specials being asked why they did a cover of "that SLF song"..<<

Can you expand on the abbreviations there because I don't know who TBSGTNIT nor SLF?

who they are rather.

I believe the former is Duran Duran (or The Band So Good They Named It Twice).

SLF might be Stiff Little Fingers, at a guess, but I don't know which song is being referred to.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Tight Fit, excellent cover version

Stiff Little Fingers' cover of "Doesn't Make It Alright". It was written by The Specials, but almost immediately nabbed by SLF, who had far more popularity with the song...to the extent that people thought it was by SLF, and The Specials were doing the cover version.

RF