# Crossovers that are just WRONG **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122 "2006-08-17T18:47:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/21 "2006-08-18T18:40:11Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] Michael Bolton singing opera. It is truly horrible. I just wanted to scream…“Stop torturing those poor arias! What did they ever do to you to deserve this?” I’ve wanted to get that off my chest for a while now, thanks for the opportunity **EC**. [/QUOTE] Michael Bolton singing anything. It is truly horrible. I just want to scream…“Stop torturing us! What did we ever do to you to deserve this?” ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/22 "2006-08-18T18:57:50Z")
Someplace, deep in the bottom of my brain, is a horrible memory of Rudy Vallee doing a rock version of “The Wiffenpoof Song” on _Here’s Lucie_. It must be a manufactured memory, right? It couldn’t have happened? ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/23 "2006-08-18T19:38:37Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] My favorite “shouldn’t have crossed over” album is Pat Boone’s [In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000005KOE). It’s even worse than you might expect. [/QUOTE] I keep a copy onhand to torment friends. I’ve had it for several years now and never known anyone to be able to get through it all in one sitting. I’ve tried, god knows, and failed. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/24 "2006-08-18T19:56:15Z")
[QUOTE=Clothahump] Michael Bolton singing anything. It is truly horrible. I just want to scream…“Stop torturing us! What did we ever do to you to deserve this?” [/QUOTE] This is true. Though his..I suppose you’d call it..rendition of Nessun Dorma is what made me truly wish he would never utter another note again. I had to run and put on Pavarotti instantly just to keep my ears from bleeding. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/25 "2006-08-18T20:56:04Z")
**RealityChuck** I’ve heard those songs thanks to the good old days of Napster. Of the dozen I downloaded, the only one I kept was Joel Grey’s “White Room”. I kept that as an example of how even a tough-rocking, hard-driving rock and roll anthem can be turned into a pathetic, anemic, lifeless echo of the original. (Even at that, I’m being complimentary). This rendition should serve as a warning to those who make “crossovers that are just wrong.” (as the OP said). ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/26 "2006-08-18T22:03:55Z")
Paul Anka doing Van Halens “Jump.” I don’t know if I hate it, but I about piss myself laughing so hard everytime I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/27 "2006-08-18T22:15:02Z")
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded several “tribute” albums with symphonic-sounding, schmaltzified versions of songs by Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd. Auggh. This kind of thing makes my flesh crawl. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/28 "2006-08-18T22:43:09Z")
[QUOTE=Nightsong] Star Trek and X-Men. (Yes, it does [exist](http://tinyurl.com/mq8ml). I’m still debating if I want to try and read it or not, even though the reviews seem to be pretty good. [/QUOTE] Get it. Read it. It’s sooo mind-numbingly bad I simply could not turn away. People asked me why I was reading it. They didn’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/29 "2006-08-19T00:17:23Z")
[QUOTE=Loopydude] David Lee Roth’s [Van Bluegrass](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX9qcggRo18) (warning, YouTube video) may very well go down as one of the worst ever. Ever hear Sammy Davis Jr. doing the theme from _Shaft_? \ [/QUOTE] Thing is, most of Van Halen’s songs are covers. All of the big ones. And some of them _are_ bluegrass to start with. ---
**Author:** ![muzzynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@muzzynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muzzynyc)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/30 "2006-08-19T15:48:56Z")
I’m going to have to disagree and say that I thought Bill Murray pulled off a nice Polonius. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/31 "2006-08-20T02:26:54Z")
Keith Moon did a cringworthy Shatner-esque turn doing “When I’m 64” for the soundtrack to “All This and World war II.” For a singer, he’s a great corpse. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/32 "2006-08-20T02:46:04Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded several “tribute” albums with symphonic-sounding, schmaltzified versions of songs by Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd. Auggh. This kind of thing makes my flesh crawl. [/QUOTE] Also, the Rolling Stones. I bought two copies of that one. One for myself, and one for my uncle, with whom I trade awful CDs every Christmas. Every now and then, one of us will throw in an album we love, just to throw the other guy off. “This is really good. Should I be liking this? It’s from Uncle Steve. I think it’s supposed to suck. But it’s really good!” Last year, I sent him Shatner’s latest album, _Has Been_, which is a double-bluff, because it’s a Shatner album that’s actually pretty decent. He gave me _The Gorey End_, by The Tiger Lillies, a collection of unpublished poems by Edward Gorey, shrieked in a most disturbing falsetto with accompanying accordian and double bass. I’ve actually grown to like _The Gorey End_. Largely out of spite. ---
**Author:** ![Pigs\_in\_Space](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@Pigs\_in\_Space](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pigs_in_Space)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/33 "2006-08-20T05:26:05Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Yes, Shatner’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is justly reviled, but it is hardly the worst song on the album, and not even Shatner’s worst here. [/QUOTE] Ever seen (yes, it’s on video) his version of Rocketman? It is … indescribable. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/34 "2006-08-20T05:26:08Z")
I see mention of an awful lot of disco crrossovers here. I have to add [The Ethel Merman Disco Album](http://www.franklarosa.com/vinyl/Exhibit.jsp?AlbumID=78) . Click if you must. I will plug my ears. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/35 "2006-08-21T15:45:58Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] Thing is, most of Van Halen’s songs are covers. All of the big ones. And some of them _are_ bluegrass to start with. [/QUOTE] What? :dubious: Van Halen did do quite a few covers; I’d venture a NSWAG that there are 15 cover tunes among the tracks on VH’s albums. But that’s a far, far cry from “most of Van Halen’s songs.” And while several of them were among VH’s hits (“You Really Got Me” and “Oh Pretty Woman” come to mind), “all of the big ones?” And which VH cover was bluegrass to start with? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/36 "2006-08-21T16:18:18Z")
[Snakes on a Sudoku](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1402743432/ref=sr_11_1/102-8015381-6150550?ie=UTF8). (what do I win?) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/37 "2006-08-21T16:47:01Z")
Panama, a load and a half by the Kinks… Shoot, I’m going to need to research this. Ice Cream Man, You’re No Good, Where have all the Good Times Gone, Dancin in the Street, Happy Trails… I could _swear_ Panama and Jump were covers. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/38 "2006-09-08T22:06:03Z")
I thought I’d bump this thread due to a musical atrocity I recently came across…David Byrne (of the Talking Heads) singing [opera](http://www.amazon.com/Grown-Backwards-David-Byrne/dp/B0001D3KNK/sr=1-29/qid=1157751086/ref=sr_1_29/102-4928147-8976157?ie=UTF8&s=music). Well, trying to at any rate. Check out track 3, if you dare. I’ll admit at the offset that I’m not a fan of David Byrne or the Talking Heads, but I don’t _hate_ their music. I just don’t find it terribly appealing. For the type of music they regularly perform, his voice is adequate, if not especially good. But this…the fifteen or so seconds you hear on the website don’t do justice to the full hideousness embodied in this grotesque abomination. It doesn’t help that the piece he’s massacring, _Au fond du temple saint_, is one of the most beautiful pieces of music in the operatic repertoire. It just about kills me to say this…but I’d rather listen to Michael Bolton. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/39 "2006-09-08T23:12:40Z")
It’s fictional, probably fortunately, but the main character in the novel _Doc Sidhe_ by Aaron Allston ends up in an alternate world where they play the blues, on bagpipes. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122/40 "2006-09-09T00:07:01Z")
Crossover slash fiction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossovers-that-are-just-wrong/369122.md?page=3)