The_Raven wrote:
You sure that wasn’t Jose Feliciano’s cover of “Light My Fire?” I don’t think James Taylor ever did a cover of that particular tune, did he?
Pat Boone’s “In a Metal Mood” is a hoot!
For those of you who haven’t heard (of) it - Pat Boone took heavy metal/hard rock classics (“Smoke on the Water”, “Enter Sandman” etc.)& covered them big-band-style.
I can actually understand the words to “Panama” now!
See link below (I hope) for sound clips…
http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=540089428/pagename=/RP/CDN/FIND/album.html/artistid=BOONE*PAT/itemid=389826
By far the winner has to be Kathy Lee Gifford’s funerial arrangement of Van Morrison’s Moondance:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004SCDN/qid=997304385/sr=2-2/107-3805490-2427766
(Govt. warning: could result in massive aural hemorrhaging!)
I’d be inclined to vote for the horrible covers of
Brown Eyed Girl
What I Like About You and
Melt With You
as covered by that band you used to go see in college. You know the one.
One that’s bugged me forever: I have never forgiven the producers of Pretty in Pink for using a cover band called The Danny Hutton Hitters (“I see many, many weddings in your future”) for Nik Kershaw’s haunting "Wouldn’t it be Good."
A nomination for Most Inappropriate Disco Cover - by Orono, of the Cranberries’ “Zombie”. Yes, I too would like to dance to a song about a bloody civil war:
After that I find it a bit difficult to get exercised about “American Pie.”
Ok, I think the Pat Boone album wins, hands down! I’m a metal fan, all the way from Zeppelin to the cheesy hair bands of the 80s, and this just made me want to HURL! As a matter of fact, oddly enough, when I clicked on the Windows Media link to hear sound clips, while the clips were downloading the titles all showed the same name: “hurl.” Agreed.
How about Marilyn Manson’s cover of “Like A Virgin”? I’m not a huge Madonna fan, but there was something bone-chilling about Marilyn Manson doing a Madonna cover.
Limp Bizkit’s version of George Michael’s “Faith” has to be one of the worst songs I’ve ever had the displeasure of being exposed to.
I’m sure I’ll be flogged mercilessly for this, but the soundtrack to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was one of the first albums I fell in love with. In my defense, I was six years old at the time. But that defense is pointless since I openly admit to owning the VHS of the movie, and the soundtrack on CD.
Another bad cover is “Don’t Fear the Reaper” by the Mutton Birds (who?) This was featured at the end of the movie “The Frighteners.”
As a side note, a good cover I’ve heard recently is Godsmack’s version of “Sweet Leaf.” But that’s another thread. 
What if the cover was better than the original? Alison Krauss’s cover of Maybe was a lot better than Chris (Garth Brooks) Gaines’ version. As for the worst covers? Smash Mouth’s rendition of the Monkees classic “I’m A Believer.” The cover that the Christian surf-rock trio Cadet did was much better. (I saw them live at Festival con Dios, but I can’t find their CD! I, to use a wrestling term, “marked out” when they played it live.)
-Brianjedi
You want bad covers? Rhino’s “Golden Throats” CDs got ‘em. Shatner’s aforementioned “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, “Mr. Tambourine Man”. Also Bing Crosby’s “Hey Jude”, Nimoy’s “Proud Mary”, Andy Griffith’s “House of the Rising Sun”, and Jim Nabors’ “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”.
It may not be the worst cover ever, but the Guns ‘n’ Roses version of “Sympathy for the Devil” (closing song in the Interview With a Vampire movie) was pretty darn bad.
Cautemhoc played the trump card with the Sergeant Pepper soundtrack. We’re just playing for second place now.
so:
Just about every bar band in the world can do a decent rendition of You Really Got Me … except Van Halen.
Megadeth’s version of Anarchy In The UK is terrible - they completely screw up the words.
I second the nomination of Faith Hill’s recording of Piece Of My Heart - I heard it in a restaurant the other day but didn’t know who it was.
Shatner’s “Lucy in the Sky”, “Mr. Tambourine Man”, “Rocket Man” (Elton John), and “It Was a Very Good Year” (Frankie) are GREAT covers! Always good for a laugh.
Bad cover:
Duran Duran - 911 is a Joke (Public Enemy)
Eternal Flame - Atomic Kitten.
She sings it all wrong! It’s poo poo poo and it makes me want to cry, but in a bad way. I love the original (the Bangles?).
Now come on, Shatner and Nimoy are shooting fish in a barrel. WAY too easy of a target.
Am I the only one who thinks Marilyn Manson’s cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” is LESS creepy than the original?
I’m not particularly inclined toward merciless floggings, but check this out. A woman after okielady’s own heart. I’m willing to admit that, even though it was an abjectly horrifying travesty of all things good and decent, the Sgt. Pepper movie brought joy to a few tiny hearts who were too young to know any better.
I went to school with those guys. Used to play in a band with Torg, the guitarist, in junior high. They were mostly into metal and really bad alternative rock (Faith No More, etc.). Their bad cover didn’t surprise me.
Speaking of Beatles covers, the Thompson Twins did a horrible rendition of “Revolution”. And I know I’m not gonna get much backup on this, but I detested Elton John’s version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. Also, pretty much every tribute album I’ve heard has sucked big time (except the Richard Thompson tribute).
I don’t care for the Van Halen cover, but when it comes to sheer badness it hasn’t got a pin on the version of “You Really Got Me” that appeared in a GAP Kids commercial a couple of years ago. It was like “You Really Got Me” on Valium, between two slices of white bread, with a side order of blancmange.
While not quite as bad as the Sgt. Pepper movie soundtrack, I think the Tommy soundtrack deserves a nod. Did anyone really need to hear Ann-Margret sing the Who? Or Jack Nicholson? Or Oliver Reed?
I can’t believe nobody has mentioned Devo’s Satisfaction. I’m sure it’s slightly above the Britney Spears version, which I haven’t heard, thank god, but not much.
Anyone, and I mean anyone, doing “Knocking on heavens door” (including the original)
One that I love, btw, is Steve and Edie Gourmet (sp?) doing Black Hole Sun. I was blown away
“Let’s Go All the Way” (originally by Sly Foxx) was recently covered by Insane Clown Posse. Absolutely horrible, though I suppose the original was no masterpiece.
I actually like Smashmouth’s version. Sure, the original is better, but I think smashmouth did a good job with it. They actually did two different covers, with one being better than the other.
Jman
Did he do this for a joke, or was he serious?