Yep, Superman on Life’s Rich Pageant; can’t remember who it was written by though.
And they did a superb version of First We Take Manhattan on the Leonard Cohen tribute album I’m Your Fan.
According to AMG they’ve covered songs by 15 different composers apart from band members, including David Bowie, Iggy Pop and (gulp) Roger Miller - I’d forgotten that dreadful King of the Road they did once, I can only assume as a joke.
I think they did Little Red Rooster also.
Their first LP featured covers of the James Brown songs “Please Please Please” and “I Don’t Mind”, and the B-side of My Generation was a cover of “Shout and Shimmy”. In addition, they covered “Heatwave”, by Martha and the Vandellas, on their second LP, and “Eyesight to the Blind” on Tommy was a Sonny Boy Williamson cover. They also performed a number of covers in concert, including “Summertime Blues”, “Twist and Shout”, “Smokestack Lightning” and “Barbara Ann”.
Pushing “major” bands, but Heart?
ELO?
I once heard that Shine on you Crazy Diamond Pt. 2 was a cover of some Louis Armstrong song or something…
Jake Holmes, off of “The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes”.
I just skimmed your post initially, so I was going to mention their, um, unique version of King of the Road. A good half of the songs on Dead Letter Office appear to be covers.
However, my copy of Life’s Rich Pageant just says “All songs Berry Buck Mills Stipe” with no separate writing credit for Superman, which would indicate that it isn’t a cover.
This is hard!
The Moody Blues did mostly covers before 1967 and none again until 2002 for a Christmas album (covering John Lennon tips the scales).
Foreigner - no studio covers, Not Fade Away and Love Maker were recorded live.
Styx, out. Journey, out.
Bad Company - Mick Ralph recorded Ready For Love with Mott The Hoople first.
Eagles - Only “Please Come Home For Christmas” I think…
Alan Parsons Project - I think their clean!
“Roll Over Beethoven”
Ironically enough, Heart covers Led Zeppelin all the time in concert. Not sure if they ever released recordings though.
I just want to say that I’ve been avoiding this thread all night because I thought the title was: Major bands who have never recorded a song!
I kept thinking: How the hell would we know?!
I’d say most rappers/rap groups (despite what Puff Daddy would lead you to believe) have never recorded a cover song.
Also, I don’t know how major they would be considered, but I don’t think Bad Religion has ever done a cover, mainly because everybody else is too busy covering them.
Ilsa_Lund wrote:
Ting-a-ling (originally by the Clovers, I believe)
Brown Eyed Handsome Man (Chuck Berry)
Rip it Up (Little Richard)
Blue Monday (Fats Domino)
Blue Suede Shoes (Cark Perkins)
Shake, Rattle and Roll (Big Joe Turner)
Ain’t Got No Home (Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry)
Bo Diddley (Bo Diddley)
That’s My Desire (The Flamingoes did it in 1953, but I believe there was a Louis Armstrong version earlier than that)
Jole Blon (Traditional)
Slippin’ and Slidin’ (Little Richard)
Love is Strange (Mickey and Sylvia)
Smokey Joe’s Cafe (The Robins)
Not all of these are with the Crickets, mind you, but even as much as Buddy Holly is best known for his original material, he did his share of covers.
“King Of The Road.” Peter Buck says that Roger Miller should be able to sue them for what they did to the song.
And “Superman” is definitely a cover - one that Stipe heard some time ago (a '60s Mod band, perhaps?) and wanted to record.
Also, did AC/DC ever record a cover? I’m pretty sure they’ve never done a ballad, at least.
I was trying to think of an REM cover…I can’t believe I didn’t think of this. I love that song.
And the Rolling Stones did You Gotta Move. I love that song too.
Err…The Velvet Underground?
They did a nice cover of Tom Waits’ “Ol’ 55” on On the Border
Beautiful South?AFAIK I have all their albums and the only cover is one of Nilsson’s Everybody’s Talking…
The Who also recorded and released a single with “Under my Thumb” and “The Last Time” by the Stones to protest one of the times the Stones were busted for drugs.
“The Last Time” is on 30 Years of Maximum R&B…don’t know where to find the other tune though.
Wire never recorded any covers that ended up on any of their albums or singles, although Colin Newman did put one on Not To. Which reminds me, REM covered Wire’s “Strange” on Document.
Also New Order if you’re not counting live stuff.
They’re a pretty important band in my opinion. In their AllMusic Guide “Performed Songs by” entry, only Bad Religion members are listed.