Movies, Music, TV, Books, Pop Culture

by **jfiling** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:17 pm

Maybe this will go nowhere, maybe not. Friday I was coming home from work and heard the Gym Class Heroes do a butchered remake, when I remembered how cool the original Supertramp version was. Anyone else have recent hit songs that were bastardized versions of great original efforts? I could come up with a million, but I'm going to start with just this one.

And damn I wish I could figure out the embed video tag.

by **waborat** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:24 pm

Okay, I'll play:

Sheryl Crow- Sweet Child O Mine

Macy Gray- Walk This Way

Fred Durst- Behind Blue Eyes

Faith Hill- Piece Of My Heart

Hall & Oates- You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

Mariah Carey- Bringin' On The Heartbreak

Michael Bolton- When A Man Loves A Woman

by **jfiling** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:28 pm

waborat wrote:Okay, I'll play:

Sheryl Crow- Sweet Child O Mine

Macy Gray- Walk This Way

Fred Durst- Behind Blue Eyes

Faith Hill- Piece Of My Heart

Hall & Oates- You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

Mariah Carey- Bringin' On The Heartbreak

Michael Bolton- When A Man Loves A Woman

Yeah, you hit the motherload of crappy remakes there. The Hall & Oates version wasn't so bad, but still, that's a nice list of crap.

by **mswerb** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:49 pm

I don't know the artist that made a piss poor attempt at "Hang On Sloopy", but that was one that stuck out.
How I could just kill a man - Rage Against the Machine

by **General** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:02 pm

Michael Bolton should have a laryngectomy.

by **jack_tors** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:17 pm

So many songs to choose from, so little time. I usually loathe remakes and here are a few of what I consider to be the biggest offenders:

American Pie- Madonna

Feel Like Making Love- Kid Rock

Message In A Bottle- Machine Head (If you havent heard it, worth the listen as it that bad)

Smells Like Teen Spirit- Tori Amos

Pretty Woman- Van Halen

by **SteelersStillSuck** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:41 pm

jack_tors wrote:Pretty Woman- Van Halen

Disagree with the Van Halen one, though Diver Down was the worst album they made with Dave, the whole point of the cover was to make a campy video out of it, not so much pay homage to the orignal.

by **General** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:48 pm

Southside Johnny----"Walk Away Renee". Could almost be a movie, a bad one, but a movie.

by **waborat** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:51 pm

SteelersStillSuck wrote:
jack_tors wrote:Pretty Woman- Van Halen

Disagree with the Van Halen one, though Diver Down was the worst album they made with Dave, the whole point of the cover was to make a campy video out of it, not so much pay homage to the orignal.

Actually both Pretty Woman & Dancing In The Streets were Dave's idea to put on the album as the rest of the band didn't want them on it...by far their worst covers that were recorded...Mikey told us that the video was THE most embarrassing thing he ever did with the band that the public got to see :lol:

by **waborat** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:52 pm

General wrote:Southside Johnny----"Walk Away Renee". Could almost be a movie, a bad one, but a movie.

I won't tell my wife what you said about that song General, because she loves it...I'll just spank her ass instead

by **jack_tors** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:00 pm

SteelersStillSuck wrote:
jack_tors wrote:Pretty Woman- Van Halen

Disagree with the Van Halen one, though Diver Down was the worst album they made with Dave, the whole point of the cover was to make a campy video out of it, not so much pay homage to the orignal.

I respect that, perhaps I dont like the cover because I am a big Roy Orbison fan and really have never gotten into Van Halen. Eddie is one hell of a guitar player but they never did it for me.

by **dmiles** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 11:31 pm

We have at least 3 of the modern rock type stations here, one leans more metal one plays classic alternative quite a bit.

One thing I've heard 2-3 times this week that I've taken a liking to is Johnny Cash doing Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus. Pretty cool stuff. Of course a true Depressed Mode fan might call it a butcher.

by **Mr. MacPhisto** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 12:27 am

Uncle Kracker - Drift Away
The Ataris - The Boys of Summer
Nazareth - Love Hurts
Guns N Roses - Knockin' on Heaven's Door

by **jfiling** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 12:37 pm

Mr. MacPhisto wrote:Uncle Kracker - Drift Away
The Ataris - The Boys of Summer
Nazareth - Love Hurts
Guns N Roses - Knockin' on Heaven's Door

I agree with three of those, but I think Nazareth's version is a bit better than Gram Parsons' original, as good as it was. Kinda like how Jimi's "All Along The Watchtower" trumps Dylan's.

by **Mr. MacPhisto** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 12:59 pm

jfiling wrote:
I agree with three of those, but I think Nazareth's version is a bit better than Gram Parsons' original, as good as it was. Kinda like how Jimi's "All Along The Watchtower" trumps Dylan's.

Nazareth's version isn't terrible, but it sounds far whinier to me.

Also wouldn't agree on Jim's "Watchtower". I like his version a lot, but there's something I really like in the original on John Wesley Harding. It might be the context of it against the Biblical imagery throughout the rest of the album, something that is missing with Hendrix. I can agree if we're just comparing the song, but I think the song makes much more sense on John Wesley Harding and works best there.

Like I said elsewhere, I'm an album guy.

by **BDFD** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 2:28 pm

I just accidentally bumped into Type O Negative's remake of Highway Star by Deep Purple. Gak.

by **SteelersStillSuck** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:51 pm

So bad its good:

"Bennnie and the Jets"-Biz Markie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iFYJYwtjpc

by **jfiling** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:52 pm

Mr. MacPhisto wrote:Also wouldn't agree on Jim's "Watchtower". I like his version a lot, but there's something I really like in the original on John Wesley Harding. It might be the context of it against the Biblical imagery throughout the rest of the album, something that is missing with Hendrix. I can agree if we're just comparing the song, but I think the song makes much more sense on John Wesley Harding and works best there.

Like I said elsewhere, I'm an album guy.

That is a completely understandable approach. I haven't listened to John Wesley Harding, so I can't relate to AATW as part of a greater work. All I can do is listen to each version and say that Jimi damn near made that song his own.

by **Erie Warrior** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 4:48 pm

Cowboy Junkies- Sweet Jane

Lou Reed is sweet, C Junkies, not so much.

And the coloured girls say Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo....

by **General** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:32 am

waborat wrote:
General wrote:Southside Johnny----"Walk Away Renee". Could almost be a movie, a bad one, but a movie.

I won't tell my wife what you said about that song General, because she loves it...I'll just spank her ass instead

Here, here!!!!

But I do like the Southside version.

by **yogi** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 5:39 pm

There's a commercial playing alot here in NYC with some girl strangling David Bowie's "Space Oddity" song. Was that just a commercial take or did some bimbo really try and cover that song.

Brutal. Just Brutal.

by **SteelersStillSuck** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:43 pm

yogi wrote:There's a commercial playing alot here in NYC with some girl strangling David Bowie's "Space Oddity" song. Was that just a commercial take or did some bimbo really try and cover that song.

Brutal. Just Brutal.

Hate that cover. I am sick of commercials using songs to advertise some stupid car. Sad part is, the artists don't have much of a choice, I heard its pretty much like this: "Well..you can either let us use your song of you guys singing it and get paid, OR we'll get another group to cover it, and they 'll get the money, because your record company owns the rights". Exactly what happned to Van Hagar with "right now"

by **Triple-S** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:17 pm

Bumping this up as I heard one of the funniest things flipping through the radio a few weeks ago.

I swear to god, its' based right off that one south park ep. where Eric Cartman's theory of re-writing secular love/pop songs and inserting the word jesus in it to make it a hit song.

Some Christian group apparently decided to cover Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind of Wonderful" and insert "Jesus" and "Savior" in for "baby", etc. It was extremely cringe worthy and creepy sounding.

by **FUDU** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:23 pm

by **Larvell Blanks** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:02 pm

Top this hot mess....

and then there is this

by **Spin** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:21 pm

Mine is Disturbed attempting to cover "Land of Confusion".

On the other hand Johnny Cash's cover of NIN's "Hurt" blew the original all to hell.

by **jfiling** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:24 pm

Spin wrote:On the other hand Johnny Cash's cover of NIN's "Hurt" blew the original all to hell.

Tough call there. I think that's the rare remake (see above re: All Along The Watchtower) that brought something new and made the remake worthwhile, without diminishing the original at all. Cash brought the pain; Reznor brought the rawness. Shit, now that I've typed that, I see where you're coming from, but I still love both versions equally.

by **TribeNut** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 3:12 pm

Several of the songs noted, like the original song that prompted the post, are not covers but songs that sampled the orginal. To me that doesn't qualify as a 'bad cover'; a bad idea, yes, but not a bad cover. If that is the case, then we would just list every P-Diddy song ever made and the thread would be over.

That Celine Dion/Anastacia cover tops the list as of right now, nothing worse than that. The Biz Markie cover was too tongue-in-cheek to be offended by. Plus, if you say you hated it, you are admitting you like Elton John.

Now this cover makes me want to puncture my ear drums:

I'm on the fence on this one; not a big Beatles fan, so I like it, but I guess if you are then you probably would hate it:

by **TribeNut** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 3:23 pm

Bad. bad cover of Marilyn Manson's 'Beautiful People'. The sound is the same, but Soulfly's Max Cavalera's spoken-word delivery ruins a wonderfully creepy song.
Youtube link

by **FUDU** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 3:46 pm

Good point Tribenut. However when you use so much of an original song as Pdoofus does what's the freakin difference? He isn't even trying to fool anybody.

But people call a guy like him a musician, and a talented one at that, hilarious. Hire people to move switches and turn dials on a $48,000 keyboard as opposed to actually playing the instrument in the video while singing the song.

The most authentic part of Pdiddy is his "stremf".

[*]These people are about as deep as bird baths[/*] ~ David Crosby, on today's musical artists.

by **jfiling** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 4:54 pm

TribeNut wrote:Several of the songs noted, like the original song that prompted the post, are not covers but songs that sampled the orginal. To me that doesn't qualify as a 'bad cover'; a bad idea, yes, but not a bad cover. If that is the case, then we would just list every P-Diddy song ever made and the thread would be over.

Actually, I never mentioned covers at all in the original post. I was just reminiscing about the cool "Breakfast in America" which was puked on by some group of nobody wannabe rappers. To me, that's as bad if not worse than doing a bad cover, because you're ripping the heart out of a song just for a hook to your stupid rap/teenybop dance/whatever one-hit wonder garbage.

by **Triple-S** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:02 pm

jfiling wrote:
TribeNut wrote:Several of the songs noted, like the original song that prompted the post, are not covers but songs that sampled the orginal. To me that doesn't qualify as a 'bad cover'; a bad idea, yes, but not a bad cover. If that is the case, then we would just list every P-Diddy song ever made and the thread would be over.

Actually, I never mentioned covers at all in the original post. I was just reminiscing about the cool "Breakfast in America" which was puked on by some group of nobody wannabe rappers. To me, that's as bad if not worse than doing a bad cover, because you're ripping the heart out of a song just for a hook to your stupid rap/teenybop dance/whatever one-hit wonder garbage.

That was indeed puke-worthy.

Even worse was hearing my friends sing "Take a look at my girlfriend" and not realizing how amazing the orignal was. Dig Supertramp.

Diddy pisses me off sometimes (well a lot), the guy piggy backed off of Biggie's success so bad for the first part of his career. Now that he's gone (god rest his soul), he's just some lame corporate douche now.

by **RattleHead** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 7:39 pm

Korn: Another Brick in the Wall
Dave Matthews Band: All Along the Watchtower
Guns & Roses: Live and Let Die

Also agree with jack_tors, love Machine Head, but their cover of Message in a Bottle blows.

Doing some quick looking, I found Shakira covers of Dude (Looks Like a Lady) and Back in Black. Also Celine Dion covering Shook Me All Night Long. Just effin' horrible.

by **aoxo1** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:50 am

Of course, it's almost unfair to compare any remake of a Dylan song. FWIW I agree with Mac about "All along the watchtower", although at least Jimi had a great take on it and preferred his version first, Dylan's is superior.

And it's definitely unfair to compare a cover with something from Dylan's RTR tour. Freaking awesome tour/live album.

by **aoxo1** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:03 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnG6043ojqM&feature=related[/youtube]

Another one. Albeit not really a modern hit.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:49 am

Do not FUCK with the classics. Pt 1.

Awful

Great

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:52 am

Pt 2.

Awful

Great

by **Larvell Blanks** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:25 am

Does this album count?

there are a couple good covers (Billy Preston-Get Back) but for the most part, meh

by **aoxo1** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:55 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdybbBXDlOc&feature=related[/youtube]

by **aoxo1** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:57 am

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:Do not FUCK with the classics. Pt 1.
Black Betty videos

Best thing that ever happened to Ram Jam was Johnny Depp starring in Blow.

by **e0y2e3** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:03 am

Both versions on imagine piss me off.

I thing Maynard is the absolute bomb, but when he gets hyper political I want to punch him in the face.

by **aoxo1** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:07 am

e0y2e3 wrote:Both versions on imagine piss me off.

I thing Maynard is the absolute bomb, but when he gets hyper political I want to punch him in the face.

Yeah, I knew that was coming.

Should have added, "Even if you are one who hates Imagine, this other version is 100x worse."

by **e0y2e3** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:08 am

aoxo1 wrote:
e0y2e3 wrote:Both versions on imagine piss me off.

I thing Maynard is the absolute bomb, but when he gets hyper political I want to punch him in the face.

Yeah, I knew that was coming.

Should have added, "Even if you are one who hates Imagine, this other version is 100x worse."

Cannot watch the video at work, but is that the video with the terrible cartoon graphics that Maynard sent out on DVD?

If so, ugh.

by **Spin** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:29 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:Pt 2.

Awful

Great

+1

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:16 pm

aoxo1 wrote:
Cerebral_DownTime wrote:Do not FUCK with the classics. Pt 1.
Black Betty videos

Best thing that ever happened to Ram Jam was Johnny Depp starring in Blow.

I bet there are maybe 10 people on these boards that can name another Ram Jam song without looking. I'm not one of those ten.

And yes the scene with Johnny Depp walking in that airport while it's playing is great.

by **Guest** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 3:35 pm

BDFD wrote:I just accidentally bumped into Type O Negative's remake of Highway Star by Deep Purple. Gak.

Yeah, but Type O Negative did a great cover of "Summer Breeze".

by **Triple-S** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 4:35 pm

Hiko wrote:
BDFD wrote:I just accidentally bumped into Type O Negative's remake of Highway Star by Deep Purple. Gak.

Yeah, but Type O Negative did a great cover of "Summer Breeze".

And Cinnamon Girl.

by **Watt** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 5:27 am

by **aoxo1** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 1:28 am

I love the Dandies, but this cover of Blackbird they released following MJ's death is pretty hideous: http://www.dandywarhols.com/blackbird-released/

I'll take this opportunity, for those of you who might not listen to them, to post a kickass track from their last album as well

Check out the people in the bottom right truck at ~2:20

by **Toxicadam** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:05 am

A bad one that comes to mind is Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman". Soulless and boring. Not that the original song was that great anyways.

Great remakes:

Fiona Apple doing:
Beatles "Across the Universe"
Elvis Costello's " I Want You" (highly recommend you check it out on youtube)

Jason Mraz does a remake of "Summer Breeze" which is very good, too.

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