Covers: Better or Worse?
 

Of all the covers that you know, which would you consider better than the original, and which would you consider worse?

I myself don't know many. For better, I would say the Cruxshadows version of "Ballrooms on Mars" (orig. by T-Rex) and the Marilyn Manson version of "Down in the Park" (orig. by Gary Numan). Hell, even the Foo Fighters version of "Down in the Park" is better!

Most other covers by Manson ("Sweet Dreams" and "Tainted Love" to name a pair) don't even compare to the originals.

"One" as done by both Three Dog Night and Filter were both great versions, so I can't say one it better than the other.

I'm sure there are others that I'm aware of, but I can't think of any right now.

Hmm... it's hard to think of any off the top of my head. Voltaire did a nice cover of Bjork's "Bachelorette," but i like both of them.

The Beseech cover of "Gimme Gimme Gimme" by ABBA is infinitely preferable to the original. ABBA kinda blows.

Encaitare, I love the song on your signature. I got to see ThouShaltNot perform at a Dracula's ball. They're lovely.

Siouxsie's cover of 'Wheel's on Fire' is more awesome than the original.

Heck, that whole covers album is pretty brilliant.

I don't consider them better or worse than the original but I love looking for covers of Slice of Life and Feeling Good.

I'm not sure if anyone addressed this, but Bauhaus' cover of "Ziggy Stardust" is pretty good.

I prefer "Venus in Furs" as done by Siouxsie a t Banshees to the original...

Bauhaus' cover of "Third Uncle" by Brian Eno sounds much better than his original. I'm not shadowing Eno, but Bauhaus is like Dracula, each thing they drain the life out of they make even more advanced...and I don't mean that as a bad thing :D

You lucky thing, you! That song is brilliant... I'd love to be able to play it on the piano but sadly I don't have the skills.

I prefer Christian Death's cover of "Venus in Furs".

Off the top of my head, Gerard McMann's "Cry Little Sister" (at least i THINK it was him) was way better than BlutEngel's cover... and hmm... "Gimme Shelter" by RollingStones and covered by Sisters of Mercy had its appeals in both versions, and "Paint It Black" is a good one too, both as original and as a cover (by some, at least).

That's one I haven't heard yet... I've got to aquire that when I get home.

Zug Izland --some obscure rock band-- covered that song too, and it actually sounds great. They changed the lyrics around a little, but I think it's even better than the original.

Did the Sisters of Mercy ever do "Cry Little Sister?" They're listed as doing it on LimeWire, but it sounds NOTHING like them and it isn't ever credited to them, cover or not.

I usually HATE covers, especially for my worship-worthy passion, the Cure, but I do really like Bellatronica's cover of "The Walk." It's such a crazy song, only an electronica band can really get away with doing it well in the first place.

But if anyone says 311's "Love Song" was good, I will curse you.

Yeah i saw that o.o had a moment of doubt whether it would be worth it to give it a listen. Well, hopefully tomorrow then if i manage to remember :D

"Love Song" by Kiethevez sounded quite okay i think... and another version, recorded live, lyrics and melody altered a bit, supposedly by Tool (not 100% sure if it was them though).

Some covers can be very good , but others are over done to the point of pathetic. Like the Love Song by the Cure. It seems these days you aren't a mainstream band unless you cover that song. I hate 311's cover. My dad's girlfriend likes it but then again she is severely retarded.

Callenish Circle's cover of Pull the Plug (originaly by death) was pretty good.

Marilyn Manson's cover of Tainted love, and Personal Jesus weren't bad.

black tape for a blue girls cover of Knock three times was excellent. One of the best covers I've ever heard.

Best:
Pearl Jam - Fuckin ' Up
Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground
Rage Against The Machine - Ghost Of Tom Joad
Slayer - Guilty Of Being White
Slayer - Born To Be Wild
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Napalm Death - Nazi Punks Fuck Off
Trail Of Dead - Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory
Rob Zombie - Biltzkrieg Bop

Worst:
Dillinger Escape Plan - Jesus Christ Pose
Buckcherry - On The Road Again
Black Dahlia Murder - Paint It Black
The Clash - Girl, You Really Got Me Now
Disturbed - Land Of Confusion
Dixie Chicks - Landslide


Those were the first that came to mind.

Really? I thought that was completely ridiculous.

Why didn't you like it? Loving a girl who was actually dead, but the person did or did not know it. Sounds like love beyond death kinda thing. Cliche'd but none the less cool. Plus, I think it was the addition of more or less, the addition of Brett Helm that made me like it. I just think he is a good singer.

I just thought everything about it was overly done and tacky...the lyrics make my skin crawl.

Ehhh, too each his or her own, I suppose.

Personally, I really like the My Ruin version of Tainted Love, it has a nice tint to it, if you excuse my flowery language.
I think Within Temptation improved Running Up That Hill, but the original is good too

Am I the only one who like Skinny Puppy's cover of Tainted Love?

I loved their cover of "Why Don't You Do Right?"! I think almost all of their covers are amazing. I especially loved their cover of "Tourniquet" by Manson.

How many bands have done versions of "Tainted Love"? I still think that SOFT CELLS cover of it was the best.

10 "good" covers

THE DAMNED -- "White Rabbit"
ECHO AND THE BUNNEYMEN -- "People Are Strange"
GUN CLUB -- "Preachin The Blues"
THEATRE OF ICE -- I Can See For Miles"
JOHNNY CASH -- "Hurt"
TUXEDOMOON -- "Night and Day"
45 GRAVE -- "Schools Out"
VISAGE -- "In the Year 2525"
SNAKEFINGER -- "The Model"
LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH -- "A Question of Temperature"

Deathline International does a good one as well.

Cradle Of Filth's coer of No Time To Cry. Now, I haven't heard the original, but much as I like Cradle, there is no way they can improve over anything the Sisters of Mercy Did.

I also think that Mansons covers of Sweet Dreams was quite good, although I also love the original.

One more I can think of right now, Children of Bodoms cover of Iron Maidens Aces High. My lord, it is awful - Alexi turns in some of the worst vocals I've heard him do, they've got rid of the excellent original Bassline and also added totally un-neccessary keyboards.

Ooo, one last thing. I haven't heard it, but Darkthrone covered Love in a Void by Siouxsie & the Banshees.........Was a band ever more unsuited to a song?

I do a damn good cover of "Crystal Ship" by The Doors. And a noise cover of "Creep" by Radiohead.

Oh yeah, I rule...

Hayseed Dixie ~ "Ace Of Spades."

Wow, there's so many covers out there, but so many of them are so bad. Here's some ones that are interesting, at least:

Dessau - Revenge
(This is, essentially, Ministry covering Ministry)

Faces of Sarah - Hit Me Baby One More Time
(Take a normally horrible band and a horrible song, and you get a fun cover, hmmm...)

Information Society - Are Friends Electric?
(After producing Gary Newman albums in the late 90's, InSoc's remaining member takes on an ambitious cover, and pulls it off admirably)

Two Witches - King Volcano
(Two Witches wished the were Bauhaus so long, that they actually made an impressive cover of them)

Sleep Chamber - The Light Pours Out of Me
(Another terrible band, but an AWESOME proto-goth song by Magazine - they do manage to not ruin it and it's listenable)

What the shit? Marilyn Manson did a cover of "Down in the Park"? He totally killed that song.

I like Manson's covers of "Highway to Hell" and "Sweet Dreams".

I probably shouldn't mention this, but the Alkaline Trio's cover of "Lucretia, My Reflection" was interesting. It can't touch the original, and it doesn't have the same effect, but I still thought it was pretty good.

One of my favorite covers recently is the cover of some Cannibal Corpse song by this lounge singer. That was pretty priceless.

YES!! Oh gawd, when I heard that I wanted to kill myself. They took something beautiful and turned into a festering spooky kid tune for ugly little children who wouldn't know worthy music if it bit them in the ass.

Oh, I see you like Cradle of Filth. Nevermind then. :D

I liked Anberlin's cover of The Cure's "Love Song."

But other than that, I prefer originals.

[quote=Kraven de Sade]Most other covers by Manson ("Sweet Dreams" and "Tainted Love" to name a pair) don't even compare to the originals.


You forgot to mention his cover of "Personal Jesus".

Overall, it depends on how creative a cover is. The amount of work that would go into making a decent cover usually means, to me, that it would be completely distinguished from the original, so as to take the original song, and make it into an entirely new one. That is why the term "re-make" exists.

Example of an artist who does covers well: Laibach.

Marilyn Manson has done more covers than a seven year old sweat shop worker who makes bed sheets for a living. He's a fuckin' chud.

Muaaahhaahaaa.

That made me laugh. It is true though, and people give him more credit than he deserves too. -_-

The numb nut did and EXACT replica of "Personal Jesus"!!! There's NO difference! When I do covers, I mix it up, make it a different genre or whatever. I did a cover of "Thunder strike" made entirely with a speak and spell and the sound of dripping taps. If some junkie in Ireland can do something that different, what's stopping this guy, with all his money, doing it? He's a no talent hack, and he should just pack it in.

[quote=Tha Duckman]The numb nut did and EXACT replica of "Personal Jesus"!!!

Which is why I used that example. And it seems to me that the only thing stopping him from trying to actually make a musical contribution in his covers (i.e remaking song) is the fear that he might not actually make money off of it.

He's a douche! Money shouldn't BE a focal point of music! It should be just something that hopefully happens after a while. Over the years, I've made dick off my music. I give it out for free. Very little of my music I sell. I hate people who do it just for the money. It's when that happens that the market gets saturated with complete crap like Steps and all that bollocks.

I like it u-lut.

The Psychedelic Furs do a kickass cover of "How Soon is Now?" The only thing that puts me off about it is that it's the theme song to "Charmed". But it's not their fault.

"Do You Think I'm Sexy?" The Revolting Cocks

"Here Comes The Rain" The Cruxshadows

"Running up That Hill" Faith and The Muse

No thank you, sir. Check please!!

"Enjoy The Silence" Lacuna Coil
Just take any song I like and make a heavy metal version. That’s the way to ruin a song for me.

"Dark Entries" Ministry

"New York, New York" Nina Hagen

"Ziggy Stardust" Nina Hagen

Basically everything she does is pure rubbish.

I am painfully, painfully uncool.

^_^

Another horrible, and totally un-necessary cover

I actually quite like Marilyn Manson's covers.

I used to be quite a big fan of his but i've lost alot of respect for him in the past year or two. The man doesn't know what the hell he thinks anymore, I wish he would quit music. He should have quit at Holywood, after that his music lost substance and now he's just a pathetic clown who is doing shit he said he'd never do. It does anger me.

ANYWAY!

A good cover is Graveworm's cover of Losing My Religion, despite the fact the low growls on it are slightly ridiculous. Ignoring that though, the song does translate very well into metal and it takes alot to impress me when it comes down to metal.
I also really enjoy Orgy - Blue Monday and The Cruxshadows - It's a Sin.

I swear though, if one more person covers unchained melody, I will scream.

As much as I hate Razed in Black and the Smashing Pumpkins, I love RiB's cover of "Cherub Rock."

Also, Laibach and KMFDM have never disappointed me with a cover.

Die Krupps does an album of Metallica covers. What really stands out from it is their cover of "Enter Sandman," which just blows me away.

Any credit is more credit than he deserves. I can't believe he'd actually be mentioned in a music thread here.

He actually used to make good music, I think so anyway. The less commercial songs had alot of strange layers of sound and I like sounds like that.
Not just that though...it was awkward and you couldn't really place him anywhere because the way his music sounded was quite odd.

Now he's just the same as any other generic rock band and he should shut up and go and just drink himself to death somewhere.

Well, the early albums I kind of shrug about, because I know a lot of people who like them that have excellent taste. Once he started dropping the g word all over the place though, I think it took us all by surprise and all of a sudden we went from misunderstood to hated pretty much overnight.

Even now, we get kids coming in looking like Hot Topic and requesting him. I have no idea how someone so otherwise vanilla and obviously not-goth would have such a major impact on us all.

You know the saying about how a pebble dropped in a pond will make waves that hit every shore? Replace the pebble with a turd.