Starland Vocal Band’s cover of La Bamba anyone?
Please tell me you’re kidding.
As long as someone mentioned karaoke, I’d like to just note that this is one of those songs that I have NEVER heard done any way but absolutely horribly at any karaoke venue I’ve ever been to, by anybody, even people who are spectacular at karaoke.
Would this be the wrong place to mention a cover that was way better than the original? My Way By Sid?
Michael Bolton’s cover of When A Man Loves A Woman is so horrific it needs to be mentioned again. It should be legal in each of the fifty states and all the territories for anyone encountering Mr. Bolton to slap him for this unnecessary remake.
Why qualify it? 
If the point of doing a remake is to do it in a style different than the original, you’d be hard pressed to beat the likes of Big Daddy (they cover “current” hits in the style of 50s & 60s songs) or Hayseed Dixie (they do bluegrass versions of hard rock and heavy metal tunes e.g. “Ace of Spades”).
Another song that was remade that should not have been was Loco-Motion , by Little Eva . What the Hell did Grand Funk Railroad and Kylie Minogue think they accomplished with their wretched wastes of studio time?
I believe that Grand Funk did it because producer Todd Rundgren didn’t hear a hit on the record they were in the middle of making and wanted something surefire.
I’m another one. Doing something original and interesting with a cover is far preferrable.
Doing something original and interesting with a cover is necessary. If you can come up with a great way to rearrange someone else’s song, wonderful. But wracking your brain to come up with a way to do a song so differently that it hardly resembles the original, just for the sake of being different - that’s as pointless as doing a slavish imitation.
As for Todd Rundgren, why did he do “Good Vibrations” that’s virtually indistinguishable from The Beach Boys’ record? Because he can. And brother, that is some kinda feat.
Just to muck up the water a little how about those covers that benefitted the original artist?
Bob Dylan would still be performing in small Greenwich Village clubs if it wasn’t for Joan Baez who did his songs in a voice that was pleasant to most peoples ears.
Where would Kris Kristofferson be (who BTW is one of the best songwriters I know and also one of the worst singers) if it weren’t for Janis Joplin having recorded “Me and Bobby McGee”
And to apply the same logic (though he was already a star), how about those cover versions of Bruce Springsteen songs. The Pointer Sisters “Fire” and Manfred Mann’s “Blinded By the Light” both surpassed the originals.
Any others?
There’s this goofy white guy called Uncle Kracker who did a cover of the Doobie Bros’ Carry Me Away. Added nothing.
[li]Eric Clapton’s “I Shot the Sheriff” (1974) which is the lamest version of Marley’s song ever done[/li]
IMO Barbra Steisand’s “Guava Jelly” was much worse 
But the worst ever cover version period, for my money, HAS to be Don Henley’s mangling of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows”. The standard “what was he thinking” does not apply here - only an intense personal dislike for Cohen could have motivated this hatchet job.
mm
I assume you mean “Drift Away” by Dobie Gray.
In my opinion, you shouldn’t cover a song unless you can 1)better it or 2)make it sound like it’s something you wrote. It’s a shame that fewer than 10% of covers meet this criteria.
Terry Clarke covered Linda Ronstadt covering Warren Zevon’s Poor, Poor Pitiful Me and it was note-for-note, and even the arrangement (cowbell intro and all) was the same. Why?
Another East Coast Canadian band I can’t recall covered Marianne Faithful’s version of… Um… Searching mouldy and failing memorybank. Yes, The Ballad of Lucy Jordan. Exact same arrangement. Why?
Preach it! I’ve said many times that the man could write songs, but he sure couldn’t sing 'em!
And as for BAD covers, how about Alabama’s version of Sweet Home Alabama? Ugh. Or Conway Twitty’s remake of Slow Hand?
I think a cover song should bear a strong resemblance to the original, while reflecting the individual style of the singer. An example of this is Aaron Neville’s cover of George Jones’ song, The Grand Tour. I thought this was a fantastic version. It was recognizable as the sad country song it originally was, but had Aaron Neville’s distinct soulful style breathing new life into it. It was different, but I could still sing along!
Regarding Aurelian’s original lament, how about Olivia’s remake of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” (did someone say desperate?).
Or how about this list of additional infamous dubious covers that include only Top 40 hits for song titles starting “A” to “D” (Dubious cover artist listed first followed by song title followed by original artist):
[ul]
[li]Celine Dion’s - “All By Myself” (Eric Carmen)[/li][li]Ray Steven’s - “Along Came Jones” (Coasters)[/li][li]Pet Shop Boys - “Always on My Mind” (Willie Nelson)[/li][li]Juice Newton - “Angel of the Morning” (Merilee Rush)[/li][li]Donny Osmond (my man again) - “Are You Lonesome Tonight” (Elvis)[/li][li]Beach Boys (yes them!) - Barbara Ann (Regents)[/li][li]Andy Kim - “Be My Baby” (Ronettes)[/li][li]Elvis Presley - “Blue Suede Shoes” (Carl Perkins)[/li][li]Manhatten Transfer - “Boy From New York City” (Ad Libs)[/li][li]Partridge Family - “Breakin’ Up Is Hard To Do” (Neil Sedaka)[/li][li]David Lee Roth - “California Girls” (Beach Boys)[/li][li]David Cassidy - “Cherish” (Association)*[/li][li]Pia Zadora - “Clapping Song” (Shirley Ellis)[/li][li]Donny Osmond - “C’mon Marianne” (4 Seasons)[/li][li]Aerosmith - “Come Together” (Beatles) Better or not?[/li][li]Don McLean - “Crying” (Roy Orbison)[/li][li]Tony Orlando & Dawn - “Cupid” (Sam Cooke)[/li][li]Mick Jagger/David Bowie - “Dancing In the Street” (Martha & the Vandella’s)[/li][li]Anne Murray - “Daydream Believer” - (Monkees)[/li][li]Donny & Marie Osmond - “Deep Purple” (Nino Temple & April Steven who covered Billy Ward’s version)[/li][li]Carly Simon/James Taylor - “Devoted To You” (Everly Brothers)[/li][li]Shaun Cassidy - “Do You Believe In Magic” (Lovin’ Spoonful)[/li][li]Cheap Trick - “Don’t Be Cruel” (Elvis)[/li][li]Glen Campbell - “Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)” (Roy Orbison)[/li][/ul]
- Probably only time that I have ever defended Association as they were one of those groups during the the late 60’s early 70’s that you just couldn’t help humming their songs but were loathe to admit that you actually liked them.
Ahhh…the mystery of the cover. Some bands can pull it off without trying (Guster), others try too hard and crash and burn (Pearl Jam.) I think some of the best covers are live covers, not ones the bands spent hours in the studio racking their brains over, just the ones that a week before they thought it would be neat to sing “Total Eclipse of the Heart” at their concert.
Yes I think you’re right though many of the covers I listed are, I believe, motivated by greed!