We’ve seen a lot of other threads about covers here, so here’s one more.
What are the strangest covers? Not the worst, or the most demanded, but just the most bizarre. I can think of a couple off the top of my head: Devo’s cover of “Head Like A Hole” by Nine Inch Nails, and Collide’s cover of “Whip It” by Devo.
Those two should set the tone for this discussion.
You’d be hard pressed I reckon to top “Rolf Harriss’s” cover of “Stairway To Heaven” - complete with his infamous wobble board for the lead break…
I was in the feotal position for weeks after hearing that…
I was playing David Lindley’s cover of Werewolves of London, on the “Very Greasy” CD at work, and a friend walked up. He screwed up his face and asked, “What IS that? Who’s doing that to Werewolves of London?”
–Nott “Such good bango. Such good twango.”
Actually, Dolly Parton’s version of “Stairway to Heaven” is the strangest I’ve heard…
Now, let me run to my record collection and find some more…
Of course, there’s also Pat Boone’s cover of Stairway, and anything off that album. I’m not linking to it, though–if you want to hear it, you can find it yourself.
Planet Hemp doing a cover of Led Zeppelin’s The Ocean.
(Strange the first time I heard it because I wasn’t expecting it all; it’s the sixth or seventh song on the cd.)
In the early 70s Tiny Tim did a cover of the 1940s hit “As Time Goes By” that was pretty strange.
Anything by William Shatner on that album of his is by definition strange.
The actor George Segal did a cover of the 1920s song, “Motion Picture Ball” that was very weird.
The Cardigans’ covers of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Iron Man are both brilliant. Strange, but brilliant.
“I am iron man.”
Tori Amos’s rendition of Heart of Gold is wonderfully odd.
David Bowie does a rather avant-garde cover of the Who’s Pictures Of Lily, featuring power chords, a stylophone solo, and that sinister Bowie voice that can make anything sound frightening.
Warren Zevon’s “Raspberry Beret” has a weird vibe to it…
Tori Amos doing Smells Like Teen Spirit and MXPX covering Bryan Adams’ Summer of '69 were the two that instantly sprang to mind… also Johnny Cash did a brilliant but eerie version of Nick Cave’s The Mercy Seat which IMO is actually better than the original at setting that oppressive prison mood…
I have to admit, I also did a double-take when I first heard Faith re-done by Limp Bizkit.
Anything by hayseed dixie. A hillbilly tribute to AC/DC.
I just checked cdnow to see if they had sound clips (they do) and apparently their first album (all AC/DC covers) was popular enough that they have a second one out: “A Hillbilly tribute to mountain love”. Their cover of “Walk this Way” is particularly painful/amusing/frightening.
Shang Shang Typhoon did an oddly cool Okinawan Folk/pop cover of Let it Be.
Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme’s cover of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” is actually quite interesting done in lounge style.
Here’s a snippet from a review of “Lounge-A-Palooza”:
"Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé’s lushly orchestrated four-and-a-half-minute take on Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” exceeds one’s wildest expectations. They probably don’t understand lyrics like “call my name through the cream” any more than the rest of us do, but they belt 'em out as though it were their last shot at a follow-up to “Go Away Little Girl.” Which it probably is.
What makes Steve and Eydie’s performance great is that they clearly respect the original version of the song…"
It’s odd, but somehow captivating.
On the first Residents album, Meet the Residents, the first track is called “Boots.” It’s a heavily reverbed, goofy, out-of-tune voice repeating the chorus to “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” over some very odd music. It is credited to Lee Hazelwood, so the band at least considered it a cover.
In an odd “video cover,” the Breeders’ video for “Safari” is a shot-for-shot duplication of Black Sabbath’s promo clip for “Paranoid.”
Actually, Megadeth did a cover of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” as well. That was strange.
Luther Wright and the Wrongs covered the entirety of Pink Floyd’s The Wall in their “countrified hillbilly, hurtin’ music” style. It’s surprising good in places.
Dread Zeppelin do some truly sick things to Zepp songs.
milo
I’ve always found the Batttery cover of Gangsta’s Paradise to be quite nice, albeit very odd.
The scary category is a tie between Numb’s cover of (Salt’N’Pepa’s) Push It and the Xorcist version of (Prince’s) 1999.
How about AC* 's cover of Stayin’ Alive?
Stayin alive, stayin alive, Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!