FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Richard_From_CHI on November 03, 2006, 09:26:08 AM
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I am looking for bad cover versions of songs, I am well versed in the William Shatner/Richard Cheese style stuff but want any suggestions people have for worst covers ever.
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Joel Grey - White Room
97% of all tribute records
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There are a lot of bad covers of "Crazy" floating around.
~EmD
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Counting Crowes cover of "Paved Paradise Put Up A Parking Lot". My sperm count lowers every time I hear it.
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The worst has to be Evan Dando's "The Ballad of El Goodo", covered by some band called Big Starr.
(Horse --> Beat --> Dead)
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Michael Bublé - Wonderful Tonight
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdw3B4aNF3U[/youtube]
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The band Perfect Circle( a Tool spin-off, I think) did an appalling version of Imagine by John Lennon. If I ever end up in a hate pit that song will be blasting from the intercom.
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The worst has to be Evan Dando's "The Ballad of El Goodo", covered by some band called Big Starr.
(Horse --> Beat --> Dead)
awww I like that version.
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Celine Dion and Anastacia doing You Shook Me All Night Long for her Vegas show.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONt47Z0KZg[/youtube]
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How about Alien Ant Farm-Smooth Criminal
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The Guns N' Roses version of "Sympathy for the Devil" has got to be high in the running.
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Michael Bublé - Wonderful Tonight
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdw3B4aNF3U[/youtube]
This could also work in a "Worst cover versions of worst songs" thread.
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I'm gonna go out on a limb here and claim that I might have a winner: Anthrax's cover of "London," by The Smiths.
I can't find a video of it, so here's an almost as bad version of them doing "Got the Time" by Joe Jackson...
[youtube]9wHijgQ1UVw[/youtube]
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That reminds me of another that I hope none of you have the misfortune of experiencing:
W.A.S.P.'s version of "When the Levee Breaks."
Ugh.
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With all this talk of Guns n' Roses, I must add Sheryl Crow's version of "Sweet Child O' Mine". UGh.
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0MXXs_H7Do[/youtube]
It pays off in 'breakdown' form at around 4:53, just hang in there
"what are you doin' up there, LUCY?"
then, treat yourself to 5:54 to get a better sense of what Natalie Cole is "talkin' bout" (not OPALS but...)
***also posted in BEST cover songs thread, because, as they say in that Simpsons episode, I don't even know anymore.
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With all this talk of Guns n' Roses, I must add Sheryl Crow's version of "Sweet Child O' Mine". UGh.
If we're adding "those" cover songs, Madonna's American Pie has to be noted. Not a huge fan of the original but boy is that bad...and I like Madonna a lot. That era was pretty awful though and that was the icing on the cake.
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I love Kate Bush, but her "Candle in the Wind" is nearly unlistenable.
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also posted in BEST cover songs thread, because, as they say in that Simpsons episode, I don't even know anymore.
I think your first impulse was correct.
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The Bjork cover of "Sweet Child O' Mine" is pretty terrible. OK, I just made that up.
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then, treat yourself to 5:54 to get a better sense of what Natalie Cole is "talkin' bout" (not OPALS but...)
She looks slightly ashamed as she walks off stage.
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I really like Portastatic but when I heard their cover of St. Elmo's Fire, I just thought, why? In my opinion, no one should ever cover anything off of Another Green World, Taking Tiger Mountain, or Here Come The Warm Jets.
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I really like Portastatic but when I heard their cover of St. Elmo's Fire, I just thought, why? In my opinion, no one should ever cover anything off of Another Green World, Taking Tiger Mountain, or Here Come The Warm Jets.
I preferred their version of the John Parr song of the same title.
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haha
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Ugly Kid Joe covering "Cats in the Cradle" is pretty, well, you probably know even if you have never heard it.
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Madonna's cover of Santa Baby is one of the worst things ever.
Santa Baby is a decent Christmas song tailor-made for Eartha Kitt and her delivery sells it and makes it great.
Madonna completely misunderstands the entire tone of the song and what it's about and turns it into this retarded puerile Betty Boop thing that makes it just as, if not more, dumb than every other Christmas song ever made. It is the opposite of fun and the opposite of sexy, and I hate it.
I've also just heard tale of a William Shatner version of Common People which has been described to me as a travesty. Suffice it to say that I haven't heard this version, but I'm assuming that Shatner doesn't really get whatever humour is actually already in this masterpiece of a song, and is just pooping on something good in total ignorance. Sure, he's in on the "William Shatner is a shit singer" joke, but he's not in on the "William Shatner as a shit singer is a shit joke" truth.
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Sure, he's in on the "William Shatner is a shit singer" joke, but he's not in on the "William Shatner as a shit singer is a shit joke" truth.
yeah, like Pat Boone doing Smoke On The Water. I have to admit though, when I first heard Shatner's Rocket Man, I did think it was sort of funny - maybe because it was so unexpected.
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I really like the Shatner version of Common People. Like, a lot. Ben Folds did the arrangement, production, and a lot of the playing, and Joe Jackson delivers his lines with a passion I haven't heard out of him in years. Shatner may not have gotten the humor, but somebody at the session did, and didn't let him go until he got it right.
You can hear it in episode 405 of Coverville http://www.coverville.com/ (http://www.coverville.com/)
Other arrangements to hear it might also be arranged, maybe.
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I do, too, Dave. Since I'm fairly impatient with Shatner's singing normally (his self-conscious self-deprecating self-congratulatory self-parody schtick only works for so long), I was surprised to like this as much as I do. And, just so you know, JJ, I think there can be no doubt that Shatner gets the humor and is not pooping on anything.
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I have to admit though, when I first heard Shatner's Rocket Man, I did think it was sort of funny - maybe because it was so unexpected.
Have you heard that This American Life, where Jon Langford put a band together from the Want Ads, and they covered Rocket Man? It's pretty amazing (both the story and the version)...
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In agreement with Sarah and Dave about the Shatner version of Common People.
Don Ho doing Shock the Monkey is one of my favorite bad covers. It can be found on the truly strange comp "When Pigs Fly". It's not really funny as much as plain weird, with successful, respected (at least within their genre) artists covering songs completely inappropriate to their style. Like Billy Preston doing Girls on Film. Jackie Chan duets with Ani DiFranco on Unforgettable, which is actually sort of... forgettable.
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I think I just like the original Common People too much to even dare listen to the Shatner version. I know that he gets the joke, but, as Morrissey once said "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore".
I stand by my Santa Baby convictions.
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'm not a big fan of any of REM's VU covers on Dead Letter Office. I like early REM a lot but I really dislike those covers.
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I really like Portastatic but when I heard their cover of St. Elmo's Fire, I just thought, why? In my opinion, no one should ever cover anything off of Another Green World, Taking Tiger Mountain, or Here Come The Warm Jets.
Have you ever heard Palomar's version of I'll Come Running? It's funny, but in a good way.
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I have to admit though, when I first heard Shatner's Rocket Man, I did think it was sort of funny - maybe because it was so unexpected.
Have you heard that This American Life, where Jon Langford put a band together from the Want Ads, and they covered Rocket Man? It's pretty amazing (both the story and the version)...
I haven't heard that TAL, TL, but it sounds interesting.
A friend of mine popped in a video tape of the Shatner doing Rocket Man years ago. I had no idea what I was about to see. It was great. Merits a link:
[youtube]NN3MGN899yE[/youtube]
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I really like Portastatic but when I heard their cover of St. Elmo's Fire, I just thought, why? In my opinion, no one should ever cover anything off of Another Green World, Taking Tiger Mountain, or Here Come The Warm Jets.
Have you ever heard Palomar's version of I'll Come Running? It's funny, but in a good way.
No, I havent, but it sounds good. I feel bad about mentioning Portastatic, now, a band I truly like. Especially since they're in the company of William Shatner and Natalie Cole.