The GHZ Forum

It' not like I went looking for odd covers of songs recently but two have jumped out at me and demanded my attention.

First the Kaiser Chiefs version of "I heard It Through the Grapevine" which was recorded for a charity album.

Next is an odd swing version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Paul Anka who I'd never heard of before until seeing an ad for his new album on TV.

Odd as different coloured socks the both of them.

For a better Nirvana cover try Tori Amos' version of the same song. I found that by accident while searching for the above version.

Anyone else have any good covers that need hearing? No "Punk covers pop" songs please because most of those suck. I'm looking at The Ataris "Boys of Summer" as it runs away.

Tori Amos sucks, Kurt Cobain and co. does not.
In my opinion a song should never be covered as the new artist may have no idea what the song is about.

A bit like All Saints "Under The Bridge", totally crap.

In my opinion no one should ever record any songs they wrote themselves, either, because they may have written a bad song.

Strange Covers I Happen To Have:
Ben Gibbard (lead singer of Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service) singing "I Want It That Way", "Complicated", and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
Billy Boyd (one of the Hobbits) singing "Hit Me Baby One More Time"
Weezer, "Hit Me Baby One More Time"
Ben Folds, "Bitches Ain't Shit"
The BossHoss (a very, VERY twangy country band), "All The Things She Said"

I have Tori covering a bunch of songs, but I can't be arsed to find them all.

Delphine wrote:Weezer, "Hit Me Baby One More Time"

For some reason, I want to hear this.

<a href="http://www.dontfeedthewriter.com/11t/te ... .mp3">Here y'are.</a> Right click save, please.

Delphine wrote:<a href="http://www.dontfeedthewriter.com/11t/te ... .mp3">Here y'are.</a> Right click save, please.

Danke.

I have a Bluegrass band doing Crawling in My Skin, if anyone wants it.

The vast majority of covers pale in comparison to their sources, but what's much, much worse is when the original artist gets zero credit. Too many people think that Britney Spears came up with "I Love Rock N' Roll," Celine Dion wrote "I Drove All Night," etc.

The Gipsy Kings' cover of "Hotel California" is good, though.

Cold Doing "Major Tom"

Er..."Barbie Girl" by Rammstein? I have to thank Spazz for that.

Then there is "Dancing in the Street" sung by Mick Jagger and David Bowie. It's not so much as the song being odd but the music video itself is hilarious.

Kishi wrote:The Gipsy Kings' cover of "Hotel California" is good, though.

Indeed it is! And you must be thinking about The Big Lebowski.

One of the best cover songs I've ever heard is Kneel to the Cross from Sol Invictus, covered by Agalloch. But I'm not sure if anyone around here has heard of those bands?

I think one of the oddest covers I ever heard was William Shatner's cover of Common People!

FYI, that's not Weezer performing "...Baby One More Time." That's Fountains of Wayne.

Reel Big Fish covering "Take On Me" and "Hungry Like The Wolf", and also anything by Hayseed Dixie because they're awesome.

Agreed. Reel Big Fish also do an amazing version of Morrisey's "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful."

Generally speaking, I think covers turn out well when they don't have much to do with what the song was really about. It can be really neat to hear a band or artist reinterpret a song you already know, putting a different spin on it. Like when Johnny Cash covered NIN. Some of my personal favourites are Ben Folds' lounge version of the Flaming Lips' "She Don't Use Jelly," the Scissor Sisters' discotech version of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb," and just because it rocks so hard... Goldfinger's version of "99 Red Balloons."

Amazing Grant wrote:FYI, that's not Weezer performing "...Baby One More Time." That's Fountains of Wayne.

Seriously? The person who gave it to me said it was Weezer. This person is now lame. :|

I've never really listened to covers that much, but I did like Bitches Ain't Shit from Ben Folds and Under Pressure from Small Brown Bike.

My obvious choice is the Children of Bodom cover of Oops! I Did It Again.
http://rapidshare.de/files/3677644/did_ ... n.mp3.html
(Click the link, follow instructions.)

Very interesting, my old man has a cd of an Elvis impersonator doing covers of songs from the likes of Nirvana and Thin Lizzy.

j-man wrote:also anything by Hayseed Dixie because they're awesome.

Second'd

Omni Hunter wrote:Very interesting, my old man has a cd of an Elvis impersonator doing covers of songs from the likes of Nirvana and Thin Lizzy.

Richard Cheese, perhaps? Although, he's more of a lounge singer than an Elvis impersonator.

Esrever wrote:Agreed. Reel Big Fish also do an amazing version of Morrisey's "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful."

I saw them play it live on Saturday LOLWIN

Another cover that I love is Muse's version of "Can't take my eyes off you", soulful but awesomely rocking.

And now I expect a -3 respect points from Baba...

I don't give -3 for liking Muse.

I used to have an MP3 of John Mayer doing Paranoid Android, but alas, I have misplaced it.