I’m torn, there are undoubtedly awful, cringe inducing covers out there but there are also some absolutely amazing ones better than the original.
Personally I hate when anyone TRIES to cover George Michael songs - it’s never been anything but a disaster so far! Looking at you Robbie Williams!
But...
George Michael - well pretty much anything! But especially ‘First time ever I saw your face’ and ‘As’
Joe cocker ‘a little help from my friends’
Placebo’s cover of ‘running up that hill’
Johnny cash ‘hurt’
Jeff Buckley ‘hallelujah’
Soft cell ‘tainted love’
Marilyn Manson “sweet dreams (are made of this)’
The animals ‘house of the rising sun’
Ike and Tina Turner ‘proud Mary’ (although I do still LOVE the ccr original too)
Jose Gonzales ‘heartbeats’ (people may be going “never heard of this one” at this point but Bones fans I guarantee you know it! Also cyndi Lauper does a stunning version of “at last” which is not to criticise Etta James’s fantastic version but cyndi’s is amazing)
Otis redding ‘try a little tenderness’
Aretha Franklin ‘respect’
Marvin Gaye ‘I heard it through the grapevine’
See? LOADS of great cover versions over the years
“Robbie Williams has killed merry Christmas everybody by slade. He took a great song then beat it to death with smug” he’s a barely adequate singer who needs to accept the limits of his “talent” he murdered ‘freedom ‘90’ and so clearly in his interpretation and even comments he made in interviews didn’t “get” the song at all
For years now I've had a theory that there should be listed songs, like there are listed buildings. No one is allowed to mess about with them without permission (I'm vague on this detail - who decides? A panel of experts for every musical genre, so you have the Death Metal panel and the Motown panel, etc?) - so for example you can't re-record London's Calling by The Clash unless the Punk Panel OKs it. And they probably won't OK it because they'll be hard as nails and it will make planning permission applications for your Grade 2 listed cottage look like a walk in the park I fucking LOVE this idea! Can I sit on the 80’s pure pop panel? Much underrated genre
“I have liked ‘original’ songs before only to find out they are cover versions!” I did this a lot as a teen before my musical knowledge was more rounded, I’d be singing away a la the current version and mum or dad would join in a la original and I’d be like “how do you know the words to this CLEARLY modern song?!”
When dad hushed me and played his vinyl original of Dionne Warwick singing “I say a little prayer” after I stupidly and arrogantly banged on about this great new bomb the bass
song I was rightly humbled... then when it finished he blew my mind by telling me the singer was Whitney Houston’s cousin!
As a ‘vocalist’ myself (strictly amateur famous in my own lunchtime) I understand the ego behind doing your own version of a song - doesn’t necessarily mean it should be inflicted on others!
Anyone else remember that strange phenomenon in the 70’s and 80’s before streaming when we had to BUY music where there were “various artist” tapes with the top hits of that year...but they were really cheap because they were being performed by not famous singers? Top of the pops brought out a series of cassettes like this - dreadful things! They were cheap stocking fillers my siblings and I got
I must admit I did use them for the knock off Walkman I had though because I didn’t care if it got wrecked when it was “jogged” when I was using it for actual walking - I’m sure other 80’s mners will know my pain re having a knock off rather than an actual Walkman that couldn’t cope with actual movement
“I love the original recording of Hurt, but Johnny Cash takes it, and pours a lifetime of regret into it like I don't think anyone else could.” Totally agree. And it’s use in person of interest in the aftermath of a main characters death when the main character is unleashing a lifetimes worth of ‘hurt’ - rage, regret, sorrow, love, loneliness, despair... it’s utterly heartbreaking
“When you put yourself into that music” definitely - it’s far more moving when you can genuinely believe that the singer relates to the lyrics
Ugh yes don’t get me started on fast car! I played dd the original after I overheard the cover on her radio - and thankfully she also agreed the original was far better and she was playing it to her friends. As the daughter and granddaughter of alcoholics that song feels deeply personal to me (I know it isn’t) and I won’t entertain the cover being played around me.
And yes to the “not quite a direct copy” cover versions being utterly pointless
Ashamed to admit i loved Paul young back in the day but he did almost all cover versions and not great ones either - love of the common people is I think the first one my parents rolled their eyes and made me listen to the original!
@Theroigne jealous guys a horrible song when you look at the history can’t bear to hear it
@coocooocoo there are LOADS of legal knots when it comes to spandau songs I think they’ve all sued each other like at least 5 times!
When you look at stuff like that and all the bands that have broken up due to “creative differences” etc I think I chose very well in being a fan of wham! And George Michael as they genuinely always liked and respected each other treated each other well and never to my knowledge seriously fell out (they had bickers about certain musical arrangements but nothing major).
That seems so rare in the music world.