Graeme Thomson’s choices for the worst Covers Of All Time, from last month’s Observer Music Monthly:
1) Duran Duran -“911 Is A Joke”
2) Ronan Keating -“Fairytale Of New York” (“He changed the line: ‘You cheap, lousy faggot’ to ‘you’re cheap and you’re haggard’ because he ‘wouldn’t want to offend anyone’. He failed.”)
3) Frank Sinatra – “Something”
4) UB40 & Robert Palmer – “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”
5) David Bowie – “God Only Knows”
6) M People – “Itchychoo Park”
7) Johnny Cash – “Danny Boy”
8) Atomic Kitten – “The Tide Is High”
9) Candy Flip – “Strawberry Fields Forever”
10) Kevin Rowland – “The Greatest Love Of All”
Incredibly, none of the following made Thompson’s list :
Whitney Houston – “I Will Always Love You”
Paul Young – “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
Moby – “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver”
DC Talk – “All Apologies”
Puff Daddy – “Come With Me” aka “Kashmir”
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – “Born To Run”
David Bowie & Mick Jagger – “Dancing In The Streets”
Megadeth – “Anarchy In The UK”
(Dave Mustaine’s best friend)
more nominations, please.
“Lady Marmalade,” in full skank-o-vision, with Xtina, Pink, Mya, Lil Kim, and some other ho
Big Yellow Taxi – Counting Crows
first two that come to mind:
“american pie” -madonna. the original was 8 minutes of crap, at least madge cut down the running time.
“turn the page” -metallica. song that didn’t need to be covered by a band that doesn’t need to exist.
wasn’t sinatra quoted as saying that “something” was his favorite lennon-mccartney song?
Live and Let Die – Guns & Roses – bad very very bad
alien ant farm – smooth criminal
Wyclef Jean & Kenny Rogers, “The Gambler.”
Liz Phair – “Turning Japanese”
I’d say Dolly Parton’s cover of “Shine,’ by Collective Soul, except I just remembered that that’s the worst song of all time. Wha’s worst about her cover of it is that it’s just good enough to make me remember, viscerally, how much that song once terrorized me. If a label had it out for me and wanted to give me junior-high nightmares, it should get its megastars to reinterpret 7 Mary 3, Candlebox, Live, 311, Bush, the Toadies, the Verve Pipe, God Lives Underwater, and so forth. Oh, and STP. Ideas like this one don’t come around every day–jump!
what, Sam, no covers of songs from Blind Melon’s 2nd album?
Everyone is entitled to their opinons on this, I guess I was just looking for more examples of classics being totally butchered As opposed to butchers doing their thing with songs that may or may not be memorable.
That William Shatner version of Pulp’s “Common People” is pretty amazing, though I don’t think I need to hear it a 2nd time.
Have you ever heard DC Talk’s cover of all apologies. Would you happen to have it?