# And the absolute worst cover ever done to any hit song by professional entertainers is... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2010, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364 "2010-09-02T08:54:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/121 "2014-01-02T06:52:53Z")
All of these are pretty horrible, but I think I have to nominate Toad the Wet Sprocket’s cover of Kiss’ [Rock and Roll All Night](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWehJZaxqI0). I’ll concede that it’s not the worst actual cover song ever, but slowing that song down sucks all the energy right out of it. I don’t think anyone’s ever going to accuse Kiss of being the world’s greatest lyricists, and it’s the tempo that sets the mood in the Kiss version. TtWS’s slowing it down forces you to pay attention to the lyrics, and there’s no real substance in that song. ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/122 "2014-01-02T18:31:42Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I was not aware that Rush had ever done a cover song, except for the B-side of their first single. It’s a remake of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away”. Actually they did a whole album worth of them a few years back. Most of them were pretty decent. ---
**Author:** ![Lungfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@Lungfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lungfish)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/123 "2014-01-02T19:02:35Z")
Bruce Willis singing [Under The Boardwalk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqnZg2kDPs) has haunted me since 1987. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/124 "2014-01-02T19:40:27Z")
You know, if the video in the OP was performed by Will Ferrel and Cheri Oteri it’d be great. In an entirely diffferent way. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/125 "2014-01-02T20:15:31Z")
Cake doing Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I will survive’ and Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ are equally horrific. Cake is attrocious anyway but they really really ruin what are already goods. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/126 "2014-01-02T20:54:26Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Celine Dion doing “You Shook Me All Night Long”. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULmC8JTTVy0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULmC8JTTVy0) > > What do I win? You win a night with Celine Dion. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/127 "2014-01-02T21:08:17Z")
How about this one from Der Bingle? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D8LpaQekmY) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/128 "2014-01-02T21:14:15Z")
> [@Stormcrow](#): > > Actually they did a whole album worth of them a few years back. Most of them were pretty decent. I have it, good covers of [Crossroads](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q27ETQhG2SM) and [For What Its Worth](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ZLCAxbKD8). ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/129 "2014-01-02T21:36:35Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Celine Dion doing “You Shook Me All Night Long”. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULmC8JTTVy0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULmC8JTTVy0) > > What do I win? You win… [_You Shook Me All Night Long_ by **Hayseed Dixie**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjAu3Yyn09A). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/130 "2014-01-02T22:05:19Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > After Freddie Mercury died, there was a television special with dozens of performers covering Queen songs. Most were pretty good, but they kept promising a super special secret guest… who turned out to be Liza Minnelli (far less “special” than half the performers before her)… and she did the most execrable rendition of “We are the Champions” I’ve ever heard. Screechy, off tempo, loungey… hideous. That was a telecast of a tribute concert at Wembley Stadium. To rock and roll fans, Liza Minelli’s appearance was nothing special, but you have to remember that Freddie Mercury himself ADORED Liza. She was one of his show biz idols (as she has been to countless gay men) and role models. Most people who attended or watched that concert were rock fans first and foremost- to them, them, Axl Rose, Metallica, Def Leppard, Elton John, Robert Plant, Tony Iommi and Seal were much bigger attractions than Liza. But Freddie himself would probably have been thrilled to have Liza sing that song in his honor, which is why the band invited her. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/131 "2014-01-03T01:11:02Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Cake doing Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I will survive’ and Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ are equally horrific. Cake is attrocious anyway but they really really ruin what are already goods. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bkb-1ryitXU/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGFkgVChlMA8=&rs=AOn4CLDxUTPUI4_JTD-Uv-Q2oQdAk33EKw "Cake - I Will Survive (Official Video) HQ") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkb-1ryitXU) I think Cake’s cover is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/132 "2014-01-03T03:48:33Z")
“One Tin Soldier” Killdozer [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4fwecSVzeY0/hqdefault.jpg "Killdozer - One tin soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fwecSVzeY0) ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/133 "2014-01-03T04:44:10Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > “One Tin Soldier” Killdozer > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fwecSVzeY0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fwecSVzeY0) Yeah but that’s Killdozer, and they love ironic covers. I mean how seriously can you take a band that [does a sludge rock cover of EMF’s Unbelieveable?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4ZpLEpSwIw) (NSFW due to single profanity) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364/134 "2014-01-03T04:50:56Z")
25 or so years back, we were eating in a restaurant that had old record albums on the walls as decor and tended to play music from the 1940s. Frank Sinatra, singing a showtune. Beautifully, competently, melodically… except He was singing Old Man River. Not as painfully bad-sounding as some (e.g. Shat-anything) but the combination of the song, and the singer, was truly mind-boggling. On the funnier side: the elevator-music version of Born In The USA. The Same. Six. Notes. Repeated. And Repeated. And Repeated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-absolute-worst-cover-ever-done-to-any-hit-song-by-professional-entertainers-is/552364.md?page=6)