The first version I heard of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was the Nicki French version.
― musically, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:13 (sixteen years ago) link
And of course the first version of "Hip To Be Square" I heard was the Sesame Street cover.
― musically, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Japan's 'All Tomorrow's Parties', of COURSE.
The Velvet Underground couldn't improve on that.
― Matthew H, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Faith No More "Let's Lynch The Landlord"
― nickalicious, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:23 (sixteen years ago) link
Granted the original wasn't that famous either.
― nickalicious, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:24 (sixteen years ago) link
> Lydia Lunch's "Some Velvet Morning".
Starpower's "Some Velvet Morning" Sonic Youth's "Rowche Rumble"
― koogs, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Carnivore's cover of "Manic Depression"
Voivod's "Astronomy Domine"
second a lot of the Faith No More covers: "Let's Lynch the Landlord", "Easy", "Midnight Cowboy" (except I'm sure more people listened to FNM's Midnight Cowboy than the OST)
another fun thread along these lines might be: Less famous songs you knew that sampled famous songs before you knew them .. what a tongue-twister though.
― rockapads, Thursday, 15 November 2007 18:59 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh yeah, I'll sign up on the Ramones "Needles & Pins" ...
Hm, the Ramones'? For my, ahem, general age group it must have been Smokie's version of same that registered first.
― t**t, Thursday, 15 November 2007 19:08 (sixteen years ago) link
-- musically, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:13 (4 hours ago) Link
-- musically, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:14 (4 hours ago) Link
These. And the first version of "Sweet Dreams" I heard was Marilyn Manson's.
― The Reverend, Thursday, 15 November 2007 21:40 (sixteen years ago) link
Low - "I Started a Joke". Still haven't heard the Bee Gees original but this version is beautiful.
― Simon H., Thursday, 15 November 2007 23:24 (sixteen years ago) link
The Clash - Pressure Drop
― Chelvis, Friday, 16 November 2007 06:46 (sixteen years ago) link
The Beatles' "Anna (Go to Him)" I heard before the Arthur Alexander version. Ditto "Boys" (the Shirelles).
― Matos W.K., Friday, 16 November 2007 07:04 (sixteen years ago) link
Lydia Lunch's "Some Velvet Morning"...Starpower's "Some Velvet Morning"
Slowdive's "Some Velvet Morning" Primal Scream's "Some Velvet Morning"
― Pillbox, Friday, 16 November 2007 08:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Jim White - "King of the Road" (Roger Miller)
I'm pretty sure I heard the Proclaimers' version of this first.
― ailsa, Friday, 16 November 2007 11:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh, c'mon, Matos--you'd have had to be xgau's age to have heard those Beatles covers (plus others, natch) in their original versions first, no? Well, either that or just really damn lucky. (Or a Beatles hater, I suppose.)
― JN$OT, Friday, 16 November 2007 11:13 (sixteen years ago) link
Another one for me is Poi Dog Pondering's cover of "Love Vigilantes", which I still love both for the song and because it's what turned me on to New Order (along with the first Electronic album around then).
― Euler, Friday, 16 November 2007 21:28 (sixteen years ago) link
I heard the JChurch version of Nick Lowe's "marie provost" first. I hadn't thought about that song for years, but was reminded of it due to a mention in the book "Gerald's Game". i dusted off the 7", then searched out some info on JChurch and it turns out Lance Hahn died in October. Sad.
― chad, Saturday, 17 November 2007 06:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Ramones - Needles & Pins (Searchers)
Same here. I was aware it was a cover, I just happened to hear the cover first.
― esophagus, Saturday, 17 November 2007 06:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Heard Joe Cocker's version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" before the Beatles version when I watched The Wonder Years as a kid. Bet that one goes for a lot of people.
― musically, Saturday, 12 September 2009 01:49 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm pretty sure when that horrible band Orgy came out with their cover of Blue Monday I had never heard the New Order original. Ah, middle school.
― send a hilarious message or make a "wild" statement (Whitey on the Moon), Saturday, 12 September 2009 02:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Back in the 80s, I had only ever heard Can through the covers - JAMC's Mushroom Head, Loop's Mother Sky. Think I might have heard Kendra Smith's cover of She Brings The Rain before the original, as well, quite possibly.
― girls just wanna have mixtapes (Masonic Boom), Saturday, 12 September 2009 13:17 (fourteen years ago) link
Lights - Save Me A Place(checked out the original on Tusk afterwards, i think i prefer Lights' version)
― Ludo, Saturday, 12 September 2009 13:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Racer X - Moonage Daydream. The liner notes didn't even state this was a cover. When I started to check out other music after my metal period was over, I was quite surprised by Bowie's original rendition.
― Sebastian (Royal Mermaid Mover), Saturday, 12 September 2009 14:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Will second the Blue Monday by Orgy. Still kinda prefer theirs, whatever taste points that loses me.
Dynamite Hack's novelty cover of Boys In The Hood. Alien Ant Farm's novelty cover of Smooth Criminal, although that was pretty famous I guess. From the same period, whoever sampled/interpolated "Sundown, I think it's a sin..." or whatever.
Oh, all the Metallica nods remind me of their "Turn the Page" which qualifies for me here.
Foo Fighters doing "Down in the Park" by Gary Numan.
Erase Errata doing "Boris the Spider" by The Who live. Was YEARS before I figured out wtf that spider song was.
Smashing Pumpkins "Landslide," which a friend and I somehow interpreted as a weird, acoustic version of "Drown."
Almost certain I heard "Octopus's Garden" by Raffi or some other kid-friendly artist as a tot.
And of course, mountains of things parodied by Weird Al, in fact, virtually everything parodied by Weird Al before the late nineties or so, I knew originally via Al. I was a nerdy kid.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Some of the stuff on this thread is kind of iffy to me though. No way is REM's "Superman" less famous than the original! And Van Halen's "You Really Got Me" is probably approaching higher recognition than the Kinks' version.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:16 (fourteen years ago) link
Agreed. I was going to mention Mazzy Star's "Blue Flower" cover, but that's clearly better known than the original.
― dlp9001, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Slowdive - Some Velvet MorningMercury Rev - If You Want Me to StayMotley Crue - Smokin' in the Boys Room & Anarchy in the UK
― Pullman/Paxton Revolving Bills (Pillbox), Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:26 (fourteen years ago) link
"Will second the Blue Monday by Orgy. Still kinda prefer theirs, whatever taste points that loses me."
hmmm, like a billion?
― scott seward, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - "Ferry Cross The Mersey"
― Squash weather (Eazy), Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:28 (fourteen years ago) link
speaking of the kinks, i'm pretty sure i heard pretenders cover of stop your sobbing first. and speaking of the pretenders, it's possible that i heard everything but the girl's cover of kid before the original. cuz even though my brother had the pretenders debut when it came out i don't think i ever listened to the whole thing till years later.
― scott seward, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:29 (fourteen years ago) link
When I was a little kid I only knew Anne Murray's "You Won't See Me," "Daydream Believer" and "Danny's Song." Haven't heard any of these since I was at least 8 years old.
― billstevejim, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:36 (fourteen years ago) link
I think Orgy and New Order's "Blue Monday"s are just about equally famous.
― billstevejim, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Smashing Pumpkins "Landslide,"
― billstevejim, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Now that I think about it, as late-80s pop & thrash metal was my first musical obsession, I'm sure a lot of classic rock & punk staples were first heard via dudes in tights w/ poodle hair. A few others that spring to mind: "Radar Love" by White Lion; "Gudbuy t'Jane" by Britney Fox; "Purple Haze" by Winger
― Pullman/Paxton Revolving Bills (Pillbox), Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:40 (fourteen years ago) link
I was going to mention Mazzy Star's "Blue Flower" cover, but that's clearly better known than the original
Yeah, but Pale Saints cover version FTW!
― girls just wanna have mixtapes (Masonic Boom), Saturday, 12 September 2009 17:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Hmmm, along those lines though, I think Bongwater's "The Drum" might qualify as less famous than Slapp Happy's. Tough call. Anyway, heard the Bongwater version first, and still kind of prefer it.
― dlp9001, Saturday, 12 September 2009 18:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Mazzy Star > Pale Saints in terms of "Blue Flower" IMO, but the "here comes the fuzz pedal" section of the PS version never fails to give me the spine chills. Both versions totally rule, btw. Still haven't heard the original.. Maybe this should be polled?
― Pullman/Paxton Revolving Bills (Pillbox), Saturday, 12 September 2009 18:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Other trax I thought of: "People are Strange" by Echo &TB; "Hot Rod Lincoln" by All; "Tower of Song" by Jesus & Mary Chain; "Rawhide" by Dead Kennedys
― Pullman/Paxton Revolving Bills (Pillbox), Saturday, 12 September 2009 18:49 (fourteen years ago) link
It's funny: Mazzy Star make one tiny chord change to the song that vastly improves it over the Slapp version, even though I'm generally a huge Slapp Happy fanboy.
― dlp9001, Saturday, 12 September 2009 18:51 (fourteen years ago) link
most Velvet Underground songs I first heard through others (so uncool was/am I):
Mitch Ryder - "Rock and Roll"Big Star - "Femme Fatale"The Feelies - "What Goes On"
― henry s, Sunday, 13 September 2009 00:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Heaven & Earth's cover of "Sixty Years Old" convinced me to seek out Elton John's original, and from there I began to take seriously an artist I'd blacklisted ever since I watched the relevant bit of Princess Di's funeral on tv.
― sleighdog mcdonald (unregistered), Sunday, 13 September 2009 00:53 (fourteen years ago) link
joy divisions cover of 'sister ray' haha
― zappi, Sunday, 13 September 2009 01:21 (fourteen years ago) link
In the eighties at the Kennel Club in Philadelphia, I often heard Pretty Poison's cover of the Tuxedomoon song "No Tears," having never heard the original at that point. I wish I could find it now in mp3 form, I think it was on a flexi disc and I haven't heard it since. It's great.
― Fruitless and Pansy Free (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Sunday, 13 September 2009 01:56 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm still convinced The Sea and Cake's 'Sound and Vision' is better than the original Bowie song (which I didn't hear until much later). Barely anyone agreed with me, I made a poll on this.
― CaptainLorax, Sunday, 13 September 2009 03:31 (fourteen years ago) link
oh.. Red Red Meat's 'I'm not in Love' is better than the 10cc version. Also heard the Red Red Meat version first. Talk about a kick ass guitar solo in the middle
― CaptainLorax, Sunday, 13 September 2009 03:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Both "Proud Mary" and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" I chiefly knew via the versions on this LP I owned as a six-year old
http://paintinglady.com/music/images/TheBells_StayAwhile.jpg
Also: "Bang a Gong (Get it On)" (Witch Queen), "Like a Rolling Stone" (Jimi Hendrix)
― Random trolling, brutal snubs, darted zings & decisive bans (Myonga Vön Bontee), Sunday, 13 September 2009 09:49 (fourteen years ago) link
everything on the rainy day albumida's version of 'everybody knows this is nowhere'
― surfin on my face (electricsound), Sunday, 13 September 2009 09:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Beach Boys - "I was made to love her" before Stevie Wonder's original
― CaptainLorax, Sunday, 13 September 2009 15:50 (fourteen years ago) link
I've still never heard CCR's "Don't Look Now" -- only ever heard the Minutemen cover.
― Hugh Manatee (WmC), Sunday, 13 September 2009 16:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Pretty sure I heard Bauhaus' version of "Ziggy Stardust" before Bowie's, and a lot of times I still prefer it to the original.
― Sean Carruthers, Sunday, 13 September 2009 16:54 (fourteen years ago) link