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?”
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?
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Thing is, most of Van Halen’s songs are covers. All of the big ones. And some of them are bluegrass to start with.
I’m going to have to disagree and say that I thought Bill Murray pulled off a nice Polonius.
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.
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.
Ever seen (yes, it’s on video) his version of Rocketman? It is … indescribable.
I see mention of an awful lot of disco crrossovers here. I have to add The Ethel Merman Disco Album .
Click if you must. I will plug my ears.
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?
(what do I win?)
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.
I thought I’d bump this thread due to a musical atrocity I recently came across…David Byrne (of the Talking Heads) singing opera. 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.
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.
Crossover slash fiction.