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Covers in Music - Sometimes things sound better in someone else's hands!
Henroid
Mexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
Mexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
Covers! Sometimes a band or artist takes a piece of music written by someone else and makes it their own, or pays homage to it, or whatever other motivation there is to make them happen. This is something I kinda dig in music, just to hear songs playing out differently. Sometimes it's subtle, staying in the same genre, and sometimes it's a huge departure where everything about the song is different.
Because I like discovering this sorta thing or being shown (listened?) I decided to make a thread. Why not? I'm sure someone will show me something awesome. Let me start off with a few things here in the OP.
An example of a cover that stays very close to the original, just a little livened up:
Holy Soldier, Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ3JVSA7Iw8An example of a cover that changes it up a little more than that:
Justin Murphy, Losing My Religion (R.E.M.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvivJ58c1LUAn example of a cover that completely fucks up a song:
Guns n' Roses, Knocking on Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tmc8rJgxUIOh, since I went ahead and linked one I don't like let me note now that if we're gonna be critical of songs, try to give reasons. Luckily, I have some to start with!
I feel like Guns n' Roses' cover of Knocking on Heaven's Door is a huge departure from the original in a bad way. They made it more spiritual, while missing the point of the song being more soulful. Also, for some reason there's a goddamn phone call recording injected into it. What the hell.
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A buddy of mine is a huge Cash fan, and when I told him it was originally Trent Reznor's / Nine Inch Nails he was amazed. It's Cash's song, now.
It's a great cover though. It's one I struggle to say I like better than the original because I actually like the original a lot as it is. Minus its end when the music abruptly blares.
And Lacuna Coil did a brilliant cover of Losing My Religion (REM):
And finally, an excellent cover of Send Me An Angel (Real Life) by Zeromancer:
Personal fave, though?
Local H, "Toxic" (originally Britney Spears):
Made me look at that song, and general teenage pop songs, in a new light.
Now, here's some ones that are total reimagining of the originals:
Tori Amos - Raining Blood. When this was sent to Kerry King, he didn't even recoginse his own song.
Nadja - Needle In The Hay
and of course, Richard Cheese covering Cannibal Corpse's Rancid Amputation.
Elliot Smith, "Thirteen" (originally Big Star):
That's a live version, the studio one is great too obviously.
A cover of that song that I'm familiar with is by Thrice.
Oh man that's pretty amazing, well done. Different but stays very close to the feel of the original surprisingly. WELL DONE.
i love wussified covers of pop songs, personally
Mountain Goats covering Jawbreaker
and The Swell Season covering Neutral Milk Hotel
Which is exactly what Reznor himself has said. It's clear that Reznor put his soul into the song, but Cash just puts the power of a life hard lived into it.
I love all three versions.
Doesn't Sonic Jihad have one or two other covers on it? I know it also has a cover of How Soon is Now? but I am sure there's another.
I agree their version of Lovesong is great.
Given the long tradition of gothic industrial cover albums there's a whole range of covers of The Cure songs.
Converge's version of Disintergration is a very different take.
I can't count the number of versions of Lullaby I've heard.
I really like God Module's version of A Night Like This, but it's also sort of amusingly aimed at the dance floor.
(run DMC's walk this way.)
Not quite a cover (new instrumentation, original vocals). Definitely gives it a neat new spin.
I NO LONGER FEEL ALONE
I just seem to remember it being universally shat upon when it came out, for some reason. Whereas I fell in love with it from the moment I heard it in the Dragon Tattoo trailer.
Because it wasn't Led Zeppelin.
True, true. Personally never been much of a Zeppelin fan, so it makes sense that I wouldn't cringe at such a cover.
I really get annoyed when people dismiss covers because of some misguided worship of the original artist.
Two (three?) great tastes that taste great together. A Perfect Circle covering The Cure and Ozzy at the same time.
Guns n Roses- Sympathy For The Devil
Does this count?
until a few years ago, neither did i, but that's what makes it the ultimate cover*. Hendrix didn't just cover it, he took ownership of it and no one that's covered it since has even come close.
*the already mentioned Johnny Cash cover of Hurt being equal or at least an incredibly close 2nd.
"She's Lost Control" was always one of my favorite Joy Division songs, and I love this cover by Circles of Ouroborus :
Yes. That William Shatner. And his version is the better one (by far).
I think the main difference between "Watchtower" and "Hurt" is that "Hurt" was around for quite some time before the cover (and was on an album that sold quite well)...so it had time to become a NIN song. Whereas IIRC "Watchtower" was covered by Hendrix like a year after the original Dylan recording. So Hendrix's version was able to completely eclipse Dylan's.
Even though I've long since tired of Nirvana (especially after moving to the Seattle area), I still love this cover. I definitely put it in the "better than the original" bin, too, though I'd understand if a Bowie fan disagrees. I loved both the Unplugged version, and a couple live (harder) versions I've heard. Though a visit to the wikipedia page brought me this nugget, which made me smile:
Tosser indeed. I was in my early teens when that came out, and I still knew better. IIRC he even says right in the recording that it's a fucking Bowie song!
But I remember back in highschool sitting in the cafeteria for some sort of assembly, and some Led Zeppelin starts playing for the performance. Two chicks in front of me turn to each other and go, "What, someone stole Puff Daddy's song!" without irony.
I hate sampling so much.
HOWEVER, here's my own contribution.
First, one of the greatest covers of all time: Billy "Fucking" Idol's take on "Mony Mony".
And, for kicks, the hands down absolute worst cover of all time...
Fall Out Boy "tackles" Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Congrats Fall Out Boy, the guy who actually killed himself comes off as less of an emo dickbag than y'all do.
Sampling an entire goddamn song is the height of bullshit, but chopping up a recording and using a kick hit here or a hi hat there, or even a whole melody sometimes can be an incredibly cool thing. I submit as evidence the entirety of The Chronic.
e: while we're talking about sampling, here's the most sampled track in history, by far. Listen to those fuckin' drums.
hitting hot metal with hammers
I'm a massive fan of both Bowie and Nirvana (well, massive Bowie, solid Nirvana)... and the Nirvana version is better. However, much like Reznor/Cash, the original is still a very, very good rendition.
I had no idea that Real Life did the original. I know it by the Thrice cover (I didn't know it was from this cover album; I just found it online at the time.)
EDIT: That Zeromancer cover is pretty awesome. Thanks!
Set the wayback machine for 2001, Sherman.
Speaking of APC: When the Levee Breaks
Outstanding.
Love that Toxic cover. I also really dig the original, but that is awesome.
Downthread, I also love Shatner's Common People.