Worst & Best cover songs?

I'll be back later with the my worst selection.

what about the idea of cover versions as singles? bad idea/good idea?

I'll just go with the first ones that come to mind though.

Worst: Veruca Salt's version of Depeche Mode - 'Somebody'. Yuck. Also, despite the fact that I do like some of her songs, I found that Sheryl Crow's cover of 'Sweet child o' mine' was flat out intolerable. One from the 'what were they thinking' dept.; Willie Nelson and Sinead O'Connor doing 'Don't give up', originally by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. Willie sounds drunk, and she sounds pissed off. Just thought of two more - Limp Bizkit singing 'Faith' and Orgy's 'Blue Monday'. Yuck.

Best: Ween's live version of Van Halen, 'Hot for teacher'. I just love how they go so 'whole hog' with it. And then there's RevCo vs. Rod Stewart 'Do ya think'. I thought Fiona Apple's treatment of 'Across the Universe' worked really well. Tuuli covering Motley Crue 'Girls girls girls', irony free. I want to name some more but the bad ones came more easily...

and bigmouth strikes again, covered by treepeople seems to work as well.

Worst: your average indie rock cover is repugnant. I can't remember any, proof that most have been so bad I've had to put them out of my mind.

I'm having a hard time thinking of good covers. Dexy's Midnight Runners' version of Seven Days Too Long isn't bad, I suppose, but then it was a great song to begin with.

Worst: Anybody who does "Hey Joe".

Oh, and seeing as the original question mentioned 'Eight Miles High' - somebody has to say 'Mr Tambourine Man'! 'Turn Turn Turn'! And come to think of it, JH's* 'All Along The Watchtower'.

U2 covered 'All Along The Watchtower' too. They played it pretty ineptly. Then they learned to play it properly. Does anyone remember this?

[* = Juliana Hatfield]

2. A track already mentioned today is one of my many contenders for worst-ever cover: the Divine Comedy's assault and battery job on 'Love Is Lighter Than Air'.

3. On the good covers side I think I'd have to put the Shapiros' take on Beat Happening's 'Cry For A Shadow'. I was once told that all copies of the original were destroyed after that one.

Worst Covers: waiting for my man by Bowie; All the T Rex discography (by Bowie); Early Bowie songs (by older Bowie)

Best (that I can think of at the moment), "At Last I Am Free, Robert Wyatt, "Do You Know The Way To San Jose", The Avalanches, "Sally Free And Easy", Flying Saucer Attack; "Occapella" and "Vine Street", Van Dyke Parks; "Get Carter", Stereolab.

BEST COVER SONG: KILLING ME SOFTLY (Roberta Flack) by THE FUGEES. Took a song that was rather slow and dreary and breathed new life into it.

Worst:
'Creep' ~ Mark Owen
'Here's Where the Story Ends' ~ [can't remember who]

"proud mary" - ike and tina turner (orig. credence clearwater revival)

its credited as a Costello composition but i'll take your word for the Wyatt one being the original. But can you really consider the Costello one to be a cover? Is Prince's version of Nothing Compares 2 U a cover? i dunno.

'Cattle and Cane' ~ The Wedding Present (which I actually prefer to the original, which will get me into trouble I know)

more perplexed than anything else. Gedge is a terrible singer so why he thought he should ruin so many of other peoples songs is beyond me. okay i guess he did a good version of Falling.

some other good covers:
Alastair Galbraith - Getting Older
Dead C - Light my Fire
Gastr del Sol - Dry Bones in the Valley
Sonic Youth - I wanna be your dog
Minus Two - High Tension House
Six Volts - Black Dog
Axemen - Pulsing
Jesus & Mary Chain - Mushroom Head
Puddle - Lacsydaisical
Cat Power - Fate of the Human Carbine

Worst cover songs:
the entire Jandek tribute CD
Roy Montgomery - Its Cold Outside
Push Push - I Love my Leather Jacket
PumpkinHead - Adults and Children
Frank Black - Hang on to Your Ego
Muttonbirds - Nature

Also, stop butchering my favourite Neil Young songs! Just because you can't write good songs of your own, it doesn't mean you're allowed to screw up someone elses'

Best:
Fuzzy's cover of Van Halen's "Feel Your Love". Nothing beats chicks singing like they have the libido of Diamond Dave.

I love Pearl Jam/Eddie cover versions. Particularly his take on X's Poor Girl.

-
soft cell 'tainted love'
brit spears 'i love rock n roll' complete with dj scratching behind it. wtf.

these are off the top of my head. i am sure there are tons that will pop in my head over the next hours

worst: that tori amos cover of smells like teen spirit

The best cover version I know of is Tracy Grammer's version of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man." It's on an EP called "The Verdant Mile."

Chris Isaak's version of Solitary Man is good too, so is Johnny Cash's. That's a song that usually works. I like a lot of versions of "Highway 61" (PJ Harvey, Johnny Winter).

Two songs that never cover well: "Knocking on Heaven's Door" and "Fever". Both seem like easy covers, lots of drama built right in. But what comes out is always overwrought and missing the cool reserve of the originals.

Looking over the thread, yeah, there's a lot of bad versions of Helter Skelter, another one that seems like an easy freak-out. U2 is not good at covers, nor do their songs cover well.

#1.all along the watchtower
honorable mentions not seen listed:
Linda's "Tumblin' Dice"
Stones - i wanna be your man
Aerosmith - i'm down
the clash - brand new cadillac
elvis - i can't stand up for falling down
ramones - do you wanna dance, california sun, surfin' bird

Good ones:
Portastatic "St. Elmo's Fire" (Brian Eno)
Galaxie 500 "Moonshot" (Buffy Sainte Marie)
Man or Astroman? "Destination Venus" (Rezillos)
Unrest "21st Century Schizoid Man" (King Crimson)
Camper van Beethoven "Picture of Matchstick Men" (Status Quo)
Bauhaus "Ziggy Stardust" (David Bowie)
Talking Heads "Take Me To the River" (Al Green)

I hate every version of the song "Speeding Motorcycle", including the original.

Also good the Afghan Whigs covering TLC's "Creep" and the Dismemberment Plan covering "Crush" by Jennifer Paige.

"Don't Let Out Youth Go to Waste" - Galaxie 500 (VU)

Galaxie 500 "Moonshot" (Buffy Sainte Marie)

Following up on both of these, I'd just like to say that Galaxie 500's cover of Young Marble Giants' "Final Day" is excellent as well.

gotta second Braid's Bohemian Rhapsody. goo goo dolls version of down on the corner sucked too (though generally i've liked their covers).

for live performances, red hot chili peppers butchered 'i want you back', mostly cuz of kiedis though

oh, and for good covers...

jeff buckley--hallelujah
goo goo dolls--i could never take the place of your man
cradle of filth--hell awaits
stevie wonder--we can work it out
sinead o'connor--nothing compares to you

Best: The flamingos - "I Only Have Eyes for You" (in the "cover songs that you had no idea were cover songs" department)

Worst: Thurston Moore - "Here Today"

Worst: might be a bunch of Pickwick Records dudes called Tribe covering Yoko Ono's "Why" on an album that's trying to rip off young Beatles fans.

Best: for a few years now, for me it's been Band of Susans cover of Wire's "Ahead," which I probably play at least once a week.

I agree that Galaxie 500 did some great covers (in terms of both choice and execution of the songs). Their versions of Red Crayola's "Victory Garden" and Joy Division/New Order's "Ceremony" are fantastic.

I've also always had a soft spot for Big Black's "The Model" and Rapeman's "Just Got Paid".

This, on the other hand might be one of the worst covers ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMs6Knr1F6U

wow that IS bad...

excellent: the Associates' cover of "Love Hangover", Royal Trux's cover of "Money for Nothing". Unsurprisingly, GBV does a great cover of "Baba O'Riley". The Sonics' "Louie Louie". Al Green's "I Wanna Hold Your Hand".

bad: Tiga's cover of "Burning Down the House" is pretty terrible, even if you're not a knee-jerk Tiga hater.

Take That's Another Brick In The Wall with Jason Orange on vocals. I only saw that on a tape of one of their live concerts when I was in grade school, and I desperately want an mp3 of it. Damn!
― Alexis, Sunday, 16 February 2003 19:13 (6 years ago)

Featuring some lovely solo face all round.

Best- Alison Krause's Baby, Now That I've Found You (original the foundations)
Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower (original was dylan)
Animals' House of the Rising Sun (technically every version of this song is a cover)
Nirvana's Man Who Sold the World
Anyone who takes a Dylan song and removes his voice.

Worst- Limp Bizkit's Behind Blue Eyes
Megadeth's No More Mr. Nice Guy (I don't know why I hate this, but I do.)
Anyone covering My Generation.

technically every version of this song is a cover
Well, the concept of a cover is essentially a rockist concept - it doesn't really hold in jazz and classic pop traditions. It only becomes a tenable concept once the recording achieves total primacy over the song itself.

Best:
Sweet Charles - Strangers in the Night
Al Green - I Can't Get Next to You
the Pretenders - I Go to Sleep
Alex Chilton - Can't Seem to Make You Mine
Wilson Pickett - Hey Jude
James Brown - Hot(I Need to Be Loved Loved Loved) cover/rewrite/shameless rip-off of Fame that I'd usually rather listen to than the original
the Rolling Stones - I Don't Know Why
Al Green - Unchained Melody
Michael Jackson - Rockin' Robin
Sly & the Family Stone - Que Sera Sera

Worst:
Celine Dion - You Shook Me All Night Long
Mick Jagger/David Bowie - Dancing in the Streets

best:
Willi De Ville - hey joe
La Cinco Latinos - la virgen de la macarena
Andreas Scholl - the three ravens
The Crank-Tones - lover's curse
Motörhead - train kept a' rollin'
Agent Orange - pipeline
Jon & The Nightriders - baja
Petty Booka - i wanna be your girlfriend (i wanna be your boyfriend)
Helen Shapiro - fever
Gigantjes - yaki taki oohhwah (right around the corner)
Les 5 4 3 2 1 - bond street

worst:
Edith Piaf - jezebel
Sixpence None The Richer - riu riu chiu
Chill Out Tribute to Queen - bohemian rhapsody
John Paul Jones - baja

@JesseJane: I must take issue with the "My Generation" thing. I really liked Patti Smith's version because it was more concerned with capturing the energy of the tune than being faithful to it (or not).

SOme I particularly like (some of which are already mentioned):

Devo - Satisfaction
HUsker Du - 8 MIles High, Love Is All Around
Television - SAtisfaction, KNockin' On Heaven's Door
Cramps - Surfin' Bird, Lonesome Town, Domino, Green Fuz, SHortenin' Bread
Sex Pistols - No Fun
Ramones - Do You Wanna Dance, Time Has Come Today, California Sun
Dictators - California Sun
Spacemen 3 - Transparent Radiation
Fuzztones - Radar Eyes
Plan 9 - 5 Yrs. Ahead of My Time, Looking at You
Lyres - Cinderella
Flying Lizards - Money, Summertime Blues
Feelies - What Goes On
Dum Dum Girls - Let It Be Me
Half Japanese - 10th Ave. Freeze-out, Tangled Up In Blue
Beasts of Bourbon - Psycho
Boris & Merzbow - I Am the Walrus

I never liked Joy Division's Sister Ray. Felt like they just tossed it off.

Oh yeah: Jonathan Richman - The Rose, Back In the USA

The thread originator nailed it.

Husker Du's "8 Miles High" .

I could support this claim with some pointless words...

another worst:

Blood & Chocolate - the killing moon

Best:
I see people mention Devo's "Satisfaction" a lot, so I have to point to Polysics' "My Sharona" cover, which is kind of the same idea, just crazy and cool
Happy Mondays - "Step On" (a John Kongos cover, kind of)
Ween - "Hot For Teacher"...it's been mentioned before here, but I have to mention it again, it captures the ridiculousness of the tune better than Van Halen ever did, but it still gets really down and dirty, just great great stuff

Worst:
On youtube there's a video of Crazy Town doing Refused's "New Noise", it kind of feels like a 5-minute "brown note"

best of worst:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlTWpDav0FM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O4puKyRiiY

Judas Priest - Johnny B Goode.
Priest, dudez, I love you but that song is the worst thing ever.

i found William Hung's rendition pretty solid, if not true to the original. nice 'best of worst'!
too bad the vid stops at the solo.

The original isn't so bad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ2RvSHK_B8

The cover is fucking incredible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUBcqs0Z9QA&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59aKzRbxFV8

Reviving ILM's least contentious thread about covers, these are all from the rolling fuck this shit worst songs of 2015 thread :

Elle King's "My Neck My Back", from 2012 https://youtu.be/VZgg9SIWfI0

Ed Sheeran does "Dirrty: The Polite Version"! https://youtu.be/Pf_ldxntwJg

William Singe does "Trap Queen: The Heartfelt Version"! https://youtu.be/s10gMglvYXo

Disturbed do "The Loud Sound of Silence" https://youtu.be/u9Dg-g7t2l4

Also Aretha's controversial "Rolling in the Deep" and Sam Smith's Hotline Bling, woohoo. Adding one that I enjoyed, Mo Kolours's "Golden Brown", but it's not so much bad as "wtf?".

Off the topic of best/worst (hopefully)... how would you cover an artist like Grimes? The Kiwi band Shunkan did "Flesh without Blood" in a stripped-down acoustic version, which does put a different spin on it, but seems inappropriate when the original was made in such a meticulous detail-obsessed way. Although they could complement it with a club banger version of "Life in the Vivid Dream".

chromatics - ceremony/into the black
cardigans - iron man/sabbath bloody sabbath

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTsW30Ur0sg

^ obv one of the best

Some of the worst obv.

I came across these two stinkers in the wild, both from acts that should really know better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5u-yoaxaMY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RVWSSSLZN8

^ ugh...at a certain time that Diana Ross rendition was unavoidable.

Bardcore - creep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeFiIjMIlRw

Thalia Zedek's "Dance Me to the End of Love" (L Cohen)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6jF0aK5b90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBBQcCf-gn4

The Main Ingredient - summer breeze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AXlaMJVOQw

Sigourney Weaver - back in the USSR
(undecided)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUWhlqItgus

worst:

Eydie Gorme - the look of love [Bacharach / David]

(obscenely loud vocals)