Worst cover songs

[rayoflightboy]

I thought Dancing in the moonlight by Top Loader was bad.
Along comes the cover version.
My God it's awful.

For your listening pleasure

@AWiseWomanOnceSaidFuckThisShit

Alien Ant Farm covering Smooth Criminal, presumably they needed Michael Jackson's permission at the time. Why the fuck he allowed it I'll never know!

If you think that’s a bad MJ cover (which it is) check out Smooth Criminal by Fall Out Boy

Whitney Houston's I will always love you is so overdone compared to the original Dolly Parton version.
Oh gosh and Lily Allen murdering Somewhere only we know.

Don't think you can stop someone covering your song. Didn't mind Alien Ant Farm's cover.

Did like Al Capone on Bad 25 from MJ though.

Which female butchered Sweet Child O' Mine?

Well it is an awful song anyway.

This is a woman covering Sweet Child Of Mine, but I really like it!

Beat it by Senor Coconut.

I hate any breathy John Lewis Xmas advert type stuff. All Saints doing Under the Bridge was dreadful.
An excellent cover version however is Hounds of Love by The Futureheads.

Kaiser Chiefs covering Nothing Breaks Like a Heart - very few songs make me go but this one is all kinds of wrong.

Ronan Keating singing Fairytale of New York. Absolutely fucking abysmal.

Ronan Keating also covered Iris and Make You Feel My Love. Both were absolutely dreadful.

Breathy, wispy covers are one of my pet peeves! Although this singer was by no means the worst for it, the one that covered Go Your Own Way was awful because it completely took away the conflicting emotions that Lindsay Buckingham had managed to show in the original.

Ronan Keating also covered Iris and Make You Feel My Love. Both were absolutely dreadful.

I think we can all agree Ronan is just dreadful full stop.

Did somebody ask for reggae versions of Led Zeppelin songs sung by an Elvis impersonator?

Agree with the pp re Florence and the fucking machine; Nick Grimshaw played it a few days ago and then simpered how she'd never made a bad song I had my hands in the sink at the time and couldn't reach the radio so could only scream 😫 The irony was not lost in me

Lost ON me

David Bowie and Mick Jagger Dancing in the Streets it’s awful

Yep. & the Videoclip too. I was watching through my fingers and cringing for both of them. Despite being a big Bowie fan. I don't know what possessed them to go there.

Another Ronan K one, he absolutely massacred 'I Hope You Dance', which is a gorgeous country and western ballad, originally performed beautifully by Leann Womack. RK managed managed to suck every single ounce of feeling, emotion and meaning from it, plus made the shittest video ever to go with it. Wanker.

I came on to say Leona's version of Run but see I've been beaten to it. I can't listen to it though, it makes me throw things.

I also prefer the Zutons version of Valerie, although very few people seem to agree with me IRL.

I didn't know someone had covered Manic Monday recently. Must avoid hearing that one at all costs.

William Shatner's Lucy in the sky with diamonds. I think it was a joke.

Does anyone remember Kenny Everett's world worst record show? There were some corkers on that

Take That's cover of Could It Be Magic. As an unworldly young teen I heard deep passion and longing in Barry Manilow's interpretation when I first heard it. Take That's version is just a chirpy singalong.

I do prefer the Zutons' Valerie to any other. And I agree with pps that Lily Allen, who I like when singing her own songs, wasn't up to covering Keane's Somewhere Only We Know. Though I don't know who would have been.

Steps cover of 'Tragedy' by the Bee Gees. Ghastly.

@Bittercup

Lulu's cover of The Man Who Sold the World makes me want to perforate my own eardrums.

Here is a thread I can get involved in. @Bittercup, a prime example of a hatchet job!

@Ceebeegee

Sound of Silence cover by Disturbed. Whenever I hear it, it's almost like physical pain to my ears.

Yep. It sucks.

@RockCrushesLizard

Alexandra Burke doing Hallelujah. The whole reason the Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley versions are so great is that they are quiet, understated and powerful.

So she turns it into a belter with a full gospel choir...

Yes!

@EasilyDelighted

A New England by Kirsty McColl. Toe-curlingly awful.

Agreed!