Worst song remakes

Even as a big New Order fan, I would disagree. The song lends itself nicely to a loud angry version. I actually prefer the Orgy version to the original.

And in light of the competition, surely bringing nothing new to the table is a light misdemeanor compared to some of the other atrocities in this thread. :)

Winner.

I would give Marilyn Manson’s take on “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” an honorable mention.

What about Tainted Love? I thought that was a good cover.

Coil did it better.

The Soft Cell version is decent.

Good point, though we can agree to disagree on the particular. I think we need some metric for how we judge bad covers. Covers seem to fail into a few categories (feel free to add to the list):

  1. Tries to sound exactly like the original
  2. Sounds like the original, but with a New Take On An Old Classic ™
  3. Uses the same lyrics, but otherwise is a different song

So as examples we have:

  1. Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes. It’s an angry song already, so he adds absolutely nothing.
  2. The aforementioned Orgy cover, that horrible Seether version of an already terrible song. Nu Metal + 80s = Profit!
  3. All Along The Watchtower. You’d be hard pressed to tell that the Hendrix’ version is the same song as Dylan’s if you didn’t already know.

(As a fun exercise for the reader, I snuck a good cover into that list. See if you can spot it!)

Obviously these categories lend themselves to different measures of failure. A song in category 3 can fail or succeed on its own merits, since it’s essentially a completely new song. A category 1 has to be really, really, really good to justify its existence, otherwise there’s no reason not to just put on the original. And for 2, I guess it would depend on how much you like the genre the new band plays. For example, even the best song in the world (Love Minus Zero/No Limit, FYI) as done by BrokenCYDE, would still sound like a dying lizard clawing out of John Goodman’s ass.

It also depends on whether or not you generally like the band doing the cover. In the case of Seether’s remake of “Careless Whisper”, the problem for me is that I can’t stand their lead singer’s voice. But as I mentioned earlier, I also think the sappy lyrics don’t lend themselves to any modern treatment. I can’t imagine any band doing a good cover of that song, really.

As for Orgy’s “Blue Monday” cover, I don’t mind it so much. I’m not a huge fan of theirs, but I think they did a good job of adding their own style to it without crapping on the feel of the original. But again, I doubt people who hate Orgy would like it at all.

Makes sense. I much prefer Rammstein’s cover of “Stripped” over the Depeche Mode original. As for a bad cover, though I like some of the band’s work, I think Disturbed’s cover of Tears for Fears’ “Shout” is pretty awful. Both of these songs fall pretty comfortably into category 2.

Speaking of Disturbed, I actually like their cover of Genesis’ “Land of Confusion”. Besides his annoying growls, Draiman does a pretty good Peter Gabriel. But yeah, their cover of “Shout” is rather terrible.

By far the only good excuse for a cover.

Also:

Foo Fighters - Baker Street

I know it’s less ironic and edgy, but why not make a list thread of good covers instead? The ratio of good to bad ones outside of jazz has got to approach zero, anyway - give yourself a challenge.

I think we have that thread already.

This is just wrong. Butchers the song. Creepy video doesn’t help either.

Cake - I Will Survive

I like Cake and all but you can’t take what is fundamentally a dance song and shit all over its rhythm with your goofy Shatneresque lyrical delivery. I mean, you CAN. But you SHOULDN’T.

Ugh. I forgot about that one, probably on purpose.

I would submit that you are no New Order fan at all, if that is your position. I say good day to you, sir. I say good day.

Also, it should be illegal to cover any Tom Waits song post Swordfishtrombones. Rod Stewart should be thrown in jail for that cover.

I always liked that Cake cover because it’s so hilariously wrong for a band like Cake to cover a feminist disco anthem. Plus, the nice change of the lyric - “I should have changed my fucking lock” - always makes me laugh.

As far as bad covers go, I always hate it when metal bands cover punk songs.* God knows I love Slayer, but their cover of Minor Threat’s “Guilty Of Being White” wildly misses the point. (Perhaps on purpose.) Was it Megadeth that covered “Anarchy In The U.K.”? That’s a fucking travesty.

  • An exception can be made for Saint Vitus’ sludgetastic version of Black Flag’s “Thirsty & Miserable”.

Not at all - I quite appreciate what they did there, not in the least because of the crab they let scuttle all over the bass guitar. I’ve always found Cake’s covers to be quite adequate - they might have the only version of Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town that I can tolerate. Probably not, but still, closer than anybody else has ever managed.

Man, I love Cake’s version of I Will Survive. Whenever the real one comes on the radio, my wife sings along normally and I do the Cake version, at least until she hits me for crimes of syncopation.

I thought that Korn’s cover of “Another Brick In The Wall” was atrocious.

But their cover of “Word Up” was so much fun!

I’ve never admitted to liking that song and I’m not about to start now!

Elton John’s cover of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.