# This awful cover of Heart Shaped Box--Who is Responsible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2007, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-awful-cover-of-heart-shaped-box-who-is-responsible/415909 "2007-08-17T07:10:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-awful-cover-of-heart-shaped-box-who-is-responsible/415909/1 "2007-08-17T07:10:43Z")
My wife and I just heard a cover of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box” on the radio. It was an awful cover. We are appalled. We want to know who is responsible for this. Who sang it? I assume it came out fairly recently, but I don’t know that for a fact. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-awful-cover-of-heart-shaped-box-who-is-responsible/415909/2 "2007-08-17T07:14:47Z")
Well I did some looking… Wikipedia [says](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart-Shaped_Box#Covers) it’s been covered several times, but doesn’t give any dates. The version I heard was very straightforward–the instrumental and vocal music was pretty much note-for-note (with a few exceptions) the same as the original, though all of it was much cleaner sounding than the original. Less fuzzy. The singer was horribly, horribly flat the whole time. Of course, it is not unusual for a singer to go a little flat in this kind of music. This even happens in the original “Heart Shaped Box,” I think. It can be part of a musical style. But in this cover version, it was like the singer was constantly about three fourths of a half step lower than he was supposed to be. It was really grating. Ringing any bells with anyone? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-awful-cover-of-heart-shaped-box-who-is-responsible/415909/3 "2007-08-17T07:19:22Z")
Maybe it was from one of the Guitar Hero games. It has a terrible cover of Heart Shaped Box. Marc ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-awful-cover-of-heart-shaped-box-who-is-responsible/415909/4 "2007-08-17T07:35:51Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] The singer was horribly, horribly flat the whole time. Of course, it is not unusual for a singer to go a little flat in this kind of music. This even happens in the original “Heart Shaped Box,” I think. It can be part of a musical style. But in this cover version, it was like the singer was constantly about three fourths of a half step lower than he was supposed to be. [/QUOTE] Dunno… that sounds like a pretty accurate description of Kurt Cobain to me. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-awful-cover-of-heart-shaped-box-who-is-responsible/415909/5 "2007-08-17T07:55:38Z")
Hey! Wait! This IS a new complaint! ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-awful-cover-of-heart-shaped-box-who-is-responsible/415909/6 "2007-08-17T08:28:39Z")
Well, you said the singer was male, so that knocks out Evanescence. I think their cover is the one that gets played the most. If I had to guess, I’d say the odds are about 10 to 1 that you heard Seether’s cover. They’re popular enough to be played on the radio, have a male singer, and would seem to be the most likely candidates for a shitty cover. There’s a youtube clip of them doing it [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xeru1NWG8Ps) Looking at the track listings of the bands with male singers that have covered the song, I’m not seeing it listed. Was it a live version or a studio version? Within the past couple of years Courtney has, I believe, sold the catalog to a group that has allowed a lot of Nirvana music to appear in commercials and films, and I’d assume more cover versions of songs, too. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-awful-cover-of-heart-shaped-box-who-is-responsible/415909/7 "2007-08-17T09:13:17Z")
**The Used** is a pretty big bands these days as well, more pop/punk than rock though. Couldn’t find a video on the net though. I generally like covers, even bad ones when played at shows, they seem to make a concert more fun. But there are very few covers I enjoy listening to on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-awful-cover-of-heart-shaped-box-who-is-responsible/415909/8 "2007-08-17T13:26:48Z")
I generally only like covers that do something different with the music. Dylan’s and Hendrix’s versions of “All Along the Watchtower” for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-awful-cover-of-heart-shaped-box-who-is-responsible/415909/9 "2007-08-17T16:12:59Z")
[QUOTE=MGibson] Maybe it was from one of the Guitar Hero games. It has a terrible cover of Heart Shaped Box. Marc [/QUOTE] You beat me to it. We refer to the GH cover as the Country & Western version of Heart Shaped Box. Nails on chalkboard.