Mount Rushmore - WORST Cover Songs Ever

[Toddzilla]

I just had the terrible misfortune of hearing The Mighty Awful Bosstones cover of "Rudie Can't Fail" and still cannot believe how truly awful it was.

Not wanting to pass up the opportunity for a good Mt.R thread, I thought I'd throw it out there and ask what songs FOFC thinks belongs.

[cartman]

Mr. Tambourine Man - William Shatner
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Marilyn Manson
Sweet Child O Mine - Sheryl Crow
Love Will Tear Us Apart- Fall Out Boy

[Julio Riddols]

Mick Jagger and David Bowie - Dancing in the Street
ICP - Lets Go All the Way
Glee - All the songs they ever did, but mostly Don't Stop Believing
Limp Bizkit - Faith

[Drake]

This had better make everyone's list:

[Drake]

Originally Posted by cartman

Sweet Child O Mine - Sheryl Crow

And this. This one song turned me into a complete Sheryl Crow hater.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Drake

This had better make everyone's list:

I feel like this is somehow the flip side of Shonen Knife covering The Ramones.

Just plain wrong:

Any Pat Boone cover of a black artist

Not my favorite:

UKJ - Cat's in the Cradle
Foo Fighters - Baker Street

"Bad" covers which I like and will fight you over:

Pseudo Echo - Funkytown
Bruce Willis - Youngblood, Respect Yourself
Tiffany
Anything by Sir Tom Jones

[thesloppy]

Baby I Love Your Way - Will To Power
Freebird - Will To Power
Dancin' In The Street - Bowie & Jagger
Hey Jude - Maynard Ferguson

[cuervo72]

Oh! Also up for burning anything from a modern* artist who thinks that we need a country version of some rock or pop hit. No, we don't.


* "modern" does not include Linda Ronstadt, who was delightful and could sing anything she'd like.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Oh! Also up for burning anything from a modern* artist who thinks that we need a country version of some rock or pop hit. No, we don't.

Seems like there's an endless catalog of mediocre gloomy covers of previously cheery '80s pop songs, used for effect in equally mediocre television & movies.

[cuervo72]

Oh, those too. Absolutely.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Baby I Love Your Way - Will To Power
Freebird - Will To Power
Dancin' In The Street - Bowie & Jagger
Hey Jude - Maynard Ferguson

[BYU 14]

Anything ever done by William Shatner

[larrymcg421]

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, William Shatner
I Love Rock n Roll, Britney Spears
Dancin in the Street, Bowie and Jagger
My Generation, Hillary Duff

[Ryche]

Jessica Simpson - Boots are made for walking.
Limp Bizket - Faith
Celine Dion - You shook me all night long
Guns n Roses - Sympathy for the devil

[CrescentMoonie]

Guns n Roses - Live and Let Die
Reel Big Fish - Take On Me (I like most ska covers, but this is horrible)
Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Miley Cyrus & Ariana Grande - Don't Dream It's Over

[CU Tiger]

Free bird by Winona Judd

[QuikSand]

There's so much laughably awful content out there, it's tough to nail down four.

What I think will get washed out here will be stuff that isn't truly dreadful, but is more insidiously bad just for being... totally boring. The Lemonheads did a remake of Mrs. Robinson, and while it's not actually terrible in a nails-on-chalkboard say, I might submit it's even worse because this was a reasonably comerically successful band deciding to do this song in pursuit of a pop hit revival of some sort. But what did they do to it? Basically nothing of any value whatsoever.

If we're going to cherish Run DMC for the brilliance of their Walk This Way cover, then I think we need to similarly curse The Lemonheads and scores more who re-do a song and add nothing at all to it.

[Julio Riddols]

Menahan Street Band's cover of Stay Away by Nirvana comes to mind as a cover that might even improve on the original.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

There's so much laughably awful content out there, it's tough to nail down four.

What I think will get washed out here will be stuff that isn't truly dreadful, but is more insidiously bad just for being... totally boring. The Lemonheads did a remake of Mrs. Robinson, and while it's not actually terrible in a nails-on-chalkboard say, I might submit it's even worse because this was a reasonably comerically successful band deciding to do this song in pursuit of a pop hit revival of some sort. But what did they do to it? Basically nothing of any value whatsoever.

If we're going to cherish Run DMC for the brilliance of their Walk This Way cover, then I think we need to similarly curse The Lemonheads and scores more who re-do a song and add nothing at all to it.

see: The Ataris, Boys of Summer

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

see: The Ataris, Boys of Summer

That's a Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac mister

[stevew]

Can I complain about Johnny Cash's "Hurt". While originally powerful, it's now super fucked out as a "this trailer is meant to convey powerful emotions in a movie" song. I don't ever wish to hear it again.

[Umbrella]

Celine Dion - You Shook Me All Night Long
Madonna - American Pie
Sheryl Crow - Sweet Child O' Mine
Marylin Manson - Sweet Dream Are Made Of This

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Umbrella

Celine Dion - You Shook Me All Night Long
Madonna - American Pie
Sheryl Crow - Sweet Child O' Mine

Please tell me those first two don't actually exist. ESPECIALLY the first one.

Marylin Manson - Sweet Dream Are Made Of This

Total disagree on that one. Transformative, a case where someone didn't improve on the original necessarily but did a great job of creating something different. Not a Mt Rushmore great cover, but a net win IMO.

[Umbrella]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Please tell me those first two don't actually exist. ESPECIALLY the first one.



Total disagree on that one. Transformative, a case where someone didn't improve on the original necessarily but did a great job of creating something different. Not a Mt Rushmore great cover, but a net win IMO.

Yep. You should listen to them. They are as bad as you think.

Different tastes on the Marylin Manson one. There are some covers on this thread that I didn't think were too bad. I'll agree that his version was completely different. I just hated it.

Also, just about any of the Shatner songs could go on there, but I thought that was the easy way out.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Umbrella

Also, just about any of the Shatner songs could go on there, but I thought that was the easy way out.

Absolutely. They can get a comedy exemption but that's about it.

[cuervo72]

Common People was good. Granted, he didn't really sing on it.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Total disagree on that one. Transformative, a case where someone didn't improve on the original necessarily but did a great job of creating something different. Not a Mt Rushmore great cover, but a net win IMO.

Completely agree. I saw a bunch of people nominating this and was like, huh? I think it's a fantastic cover. I may put it on a Mt. Rushmore of great covers, to be honest.

[stevew]

I pretty much hate Manson but that cover is actually quite excellent.

[sabotai]

Celine Dion - You Shook Me All Night Long
Jessica Simpson - These Boots are Made for Walkin'
U2 - Fortunate Son
Miley Cyrus - Smells Like Teen Spirit

[dzilla77]

There are so many bad covers, this should be a Who's Who instead of a Mount Rushmore.

[tucking fypo]

Shatner should have his own Mt Rushmore of horrid, bristling music. So...

William Shatner - pick'em
Duran Duran - 911 Is A Joke
Madonna - American Pie
Justin Bieber - Lose Yourself

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by tucking fypo

Duran Duran - 911 Is A Joke

Just listened to it and it's almost got a folksy 311 sound to it if that makes any sense.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Hey Jude - Maynard Ferguson

The thing that bothers me the most about this is the drummer using that weird sideways grip on the drumstick in his left hand like he's a studio musician on a Buddy Holly record.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

The thing that bothers me the most about this is the drummer using that weird sideways grip on the drumstick in his left hand like he's a studio musician on a Buddy Holly record.

Heh, THAT'S what bothered you most about that song/video?

Boring facts from a shitty novice drummer: that grip is referred to as "traditional" because it was the only way to play drums with sticks for many years, back when the drums were strapped to your hip, and drummers were an oddly integral part of your army (they actually still have drum cores for some/all? of the military branches):



You literally can't play that crooked drum with a straight off-hand grip, you had to use that crazy chopstick style grip. When technology moved to drum stands & kits, or (straighter harnesses) folks eventually evolved to match grip styles, but that traditional grip which seems showy and extravagant was actually what drummers evolved from, rather than to, and so it's always remained in the culture, particularly in jazz where force isn't as necessary as in rock drumming. Drum legend Buddy Rich is the primo example of a 'modern' traditional grip player that gets tossed out to combat criticism.

All that said, I agree: 'traditional' grip IS stupid.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Oh! Also up for burning anything from a modern* artist who thinks that we need a country version of some rock or pop hit. No, we don't.


* "modern" does not include Linda Ronstadt, who was delightful and could sing anything she'd like.

It depends. A good cover that owns the original song and does a genre shift, can chases it can be amazing. I will put up, as two examples, Johnny Cash's Hurt and Rammstein's Stripped.


Depeche Mode Stripped, Original Version:



Rammstein:



In case you aren't familiar with those two versions.

Oh, and this popular Brazilian folk singer just nails an acoustic version of New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle:



Fast forward to 2:20 or so if you want to skip the first folk song. She just nails the song.

So I think an artist that re-concepts an original song in a different genre can make it breathe new life. And if you don't think Cash did that with Hurt as a country song, I don't know what you are doing with music (joking obviously).

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Common People was good. Granted, he didn't really sing on it.

I legitimately prefer that version to the original. I think it actually covers the spirit of the song better than the band that actually wrote it.

[stevew]

Sheryl Crow's D'yer Maker cover is horri

[Suicane75]

Every Sheryl Crow cover reminds me of a barely adequate bar band trying to get down the original as best they can.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Oh! Also up for burning anything from a modern* artist who thinks that we need a country version of some rock or pop hit. No, we don't.


* "modern" does not include Linda Ronstadt, who was delightful and could sing anything she'd like.

To be fair, there were more than a few pop hits in the 90s that started life in the country genre.

I Swear and I Can Love You Like That come to mind; originally performed by John Michael Montgomery, they were later covered by All-4-One and hit top 5 on the pop charts. There were others.

I wonder how many of the "country version of some rock or pop hit" offenders on your list are actually cases where the flow went the other way, but the cover got more visibility than the original?

[kcchief19]

I Love Rock 'n' Roll - Britney Spears
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Britney Spears
My Prerogative - Britney Spears
The Beat Goes On - Britney Spears

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

To be fair, there were more than a few pop hits in the 90s that started life in the country genre.

I Swear and I Can Love You Like That come to mind; originally performed by John Michael Montgomery, they were later covered by All-4-One and hit top 5 on the pop charts. There were others.

Yep. Same record label (Atlantic) for both acts, hence the easy double dip.

[cuervo72]

Bah, 90s. Like I paid any attention to that.

Probably more recently released stuff. Like, I'll hear something in an ad or something in passing and think "ugh."

(I mean, there are articles like "11 best Carrie Underwood covers of 80s songs" or Garth Brooks covering Gladys Knight or Stevie Wonder...Superstition? WTH?)

[Abe Sargent]

I feel like covers used to be more accepted than they are now. You would have a cover of a song hit the Top 40 and be really popular and respected just a few years after the original, sometime earlier than that!


Take, "You Keep Me Hanging On"

Written in 1966
Recorded by the Supremes in 1966 - released as Top 40 track and hit #1
Recorded in 1967 by Vanilla Fudge, released as a hit, hit top ten one year later


I like both versions.

Lots of other famous covers. Take Blood, Sweat and Tears, which won a Grammy in 69, and many of their certifiable hits were covers like And When I Die.

How about the song Mack the Knife? It hit the Top 40 about five or six times in the 50s by different artist s until Bobby Darin had a #1 hit in 59.


This was more accepted at one point in time. Covers were fine and dandy.

[CrescentMoonie]

Elvis made part of his career off of covering songs that other people recorded.

[thesloppy]

Back in the '60s it was totally fine to fill out your album with 2-3 Beatles covers.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Back in the '60s it was totally fine to fill out your album with 2-3 Beatles covers.

and quite literally only weeks after they were released and still on the charts

[stevew]

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

I feel like covers used to be more accepted than they are now.

For better or worse, rock certainly seems to be embracing covers once again.

In the past year or so, charting songs have included:
Godsmack "Come Together"
Halestorm "Still Of The Night"
Hellyeah "I Don't Care Anymore"
Three Days Grace "You Don't Get Me High Anymore"
Disturbed "Sound Of Silence"

And airplay for
Bobaflex "Hey You"
Anthrax "Carry On"
Shallow Side "Renegade"
Saint Asonia "I Don't Care Anymore"

It was also a cover of Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" that helped launch I Prevail and Leo Moracchioli has built a cult following doing nothing but covers.

[CrescentMoonie]

Not only are covers accepted now, but Scott Bradlee is making a good career off of it with his Postmodern Jukebox. They legitimately do world tours at this point.

[stevew]

The Ryan Adam's cover CD of 1989 is actually quite good. Not really a rock album but there's some awesome moments. Even if you hate Tay Tay, which I'm sure most here do.