I could do a whole thread on punk rock covers. I used to be a radio DJ when I was a younger man and had a punk rock radio show. There are plenty of obscure little covers out there.
Re: Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt," Trent Reznor said (emphasis mine): "Rick Rubin has been a friend for a long time, and he called me asking how I felt about Johnny covering "Hurt." I was flattered, but frankly, the idea sounded a bit gimmicky to me. I really didn't put much thought into it, as I was working on something at the time and was distracted. A few weeks later, a CD shows up with the track. Again, I'm in the middle of something and put it on and give it a cursory listen. It sounded... weird to me. That song in particular was straight from my soul, and it felt very strange hearing the highly identifiable voice of Johnny Cash singing it. It was a good version, and I certainly wasn't cringing or anything, but it felt like I was watching my girlfriend fuck somebody else. Or something like that. Anyway, a few weeks later, a videotape shows up with Mark Romanek's video on it. It's morning; I'm in the studio in New Orleans working on lack De La Rocha's record with him; I pop the video in, and... wow. Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore. "
One of my favorites is Maroon 5's cover of "Pure Imagination" of Willy Wonka fame. It's a really good take on the original that has some (IMO) "Pink Floyd" inspired backing guitar.
Casey Crescenzo (of The Dear Hunter, formerly of The Receiving End of Sirens) has recorded a couple of great covers. Here's his take on The Beach Boys "God Only Knows"
And his take on Bjork's "Unison"
His take on elbows' "Grounds for Divorce"
And Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls"
Granted, I'm biased because I've been a huge fan of Casey since I pirated a TREOS album by chance in 2005 and found out they were doing a show in Atlanta shortly thereafter. (Don't worry, I bought at least 3 copies of that album on CD, 1 on vinyl, and every album since! Also I've been to almost every show he's done in Atlanta.)
Then there's this Daniel "Homeless" Mustard version of Radiohead's "Creep." Daniel was homeless when this video was filmed. He later recorded 2 albums.
For the funnier covers, despite the objectionable lyrics I've always been a big fan of Ben Folds cover of Dr Dre's "Bitches Aint Shit" Explicit
and
Dan Henig's cover of Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz "Get Low" EXPLICIT
I could do a whole thread on punk rock covers. I used to be a radio DJ when I was a younger man and had a punk rock radio show. There are plenty of obscure little covers out there.
I kinda low key hate them, but Adam Levine is a shredder and he did an amazing job covering "Purple Rain" for Howard Stern's Birthday.
I'm not a huge fan of M5 either.
How could I forget 2 members of Bon Iver covering Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" on two piano's in an old church?!?! This whole recording is fantastic, but I've linked with a timecode to the cover. If timecode doesn't work, scrub to 8m12s.
Or
Ben Rector's cover of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"
Or
Noah Gundersen's cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
This has 92 million Youtube views so I don't think that it's going to count as under the radar, but if you haven't heard it yet it's a must-hear. Jeff Lynn, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Prince and George Harrison's son Dhani doing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" in a tribute to George.
I could do a whole thread on punk rock covers. I used to be a radio DJ when I was a younger man and had a punk rock radio show. There are plenty of obscure little covers out there.
My friend Darrin does something called Punk Rock Karaoke, usually with Stan Lee (The Dickies), Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks & Bad Religion) & Randy Bradbury (Pennywise). They bring on a rotating door of singers come on to do a cover.
Edit: it's not letting me link to the channel, so here's a recent video with Milo Aukerman singing...you can link to the other songs that they've done through this.
whoa! you're friends with Darrin Pfeiffer? that's so fuckin rad!
He's from Buffalo but used to live in Toronto. He moved to LA a few years ago and haven't seen him since, but we keep in touch through through Facebook.
whoa! you're friends with Darrin Pfeiffer? that's so fuckin rad!
He's from Buffalo but used to live in Toronto. He moved to LA a few years ago and haven't seen him since, but we keep in touch through through Facebook.
Now that the holidays are getting close. I like the John Mellencamp version of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause, from The Very Special Christmas benefit album 1988.
I don’t know if that is a cover or a standard but whatever it’s a fun one.
My all time favorite cover is Stevie Wonder doing We Can Work it Out by the Beatles. Better than the original in my book and I love the original. Cosign to the earlier post of Frank Black's Hang Onto Your Ego. Elliott Smith's version of Thirteen by Big Star I don't know if there are anyone else is into the AV Undercover series that the AV Club does, but there were a ton of great covers in there. I think they pulled their stuff off of youtube, but a couple of my favorites if they ever resurface were Shearon Van Ettenwater (Shearwater + Sharon Van Etten) doing Stop Draggin My Heart Around. I'm so bummed that they scrubbed all of that stuff. Finally, I really dig this Wye Oak version of Runnin Up That Hill by Kate Bush. It's apples and oranges with the original, but I like the groove that they play it in and I love Jenn Wasner's voice.
Right. Elliott Smith just kills that one! Totally pins down the spirit. I love that tune so much!
Hell yeah, Stevie! That's one of those "can't help but start flailing around joyously" (you can't call what I do dancing) tunes. Blew my mind the first time I heard it.
One of my favorites songs of all time is Tried So Hard, The version I first heard and like the most is by The Flying Burrito Brothers. it is credited to Gene Clark who was in the Byrds with members of the FBB most notably Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman. The song has also been covered by Fairport Convention and Yo Lo Tengo also great versions. I did do a little research on this but only looked for the versions i had heard.
One more, My first live Flying Burrito Bros album had a version of Undo The Right. A classic country song that has been done by many artist Johnny Bush had a hit with but it was penned by a up and coming song writer Willie Nelson who also wrote Crazy made famous by Patsy Cline. Anyway whoever sings it it is always a classic.
Sorry I totally forgot the greatest song of all time I collect covers of this song. It's All Over Now Baby Blue written by Bob Dylan. Covered by everyone! No but it's been done alot, Grateful Dead, Bad Religion, Echo and the Bunnymen, 13th Floor Elevators many others but the one I like the best is Van Morrison and Them. ok ill go away now.
^ my fav Baby Blue is by The Byrds on The Byrds Play Dylan (have it on vinyl) followed closely by the Van Morrison, Them version (have it on a Basquiat Soundtrack CD somewhere.)
Got another one I forgot about that recently came on my Spotify New Release Radar, but 2 weeks ago Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Willie Nelson released a cover of Under Pressure. It’s....really damn good.
One of my favorites songs of all time is Tried So Hard, The version I first heard and like the most is by The Flying Burrito Brothers. it is credited to Gene Clark who was in the Byrds with members of the FBB most notably Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman. The song has also been covered by Fairport Convention and Yo Lo Tengo also great versions. I did do a little research on this but only looked for the versions i had heard.
What’s your favorite Love Hurts? Mine is easily Gram Parsons & Emmmylou Harris. That version slays me, then digs a hole and buries me. Just another song so many have covered but those 2 own that song. That’s their song now.
@cdrive Ok did not know Love Hurts was a cover. I guess Everly Brothers was the Original? I first heard it thru Nazareth the hard rock band then the Parsons/Emmylou version also Emmylou doing it solo. Obviously I would have to go with Parsons/Harris, I think of the love between the two and it just fits. on that note if you want to be dug out of the hole and then get thrown off a cliff. Harris singing From Boulder To Birmingham. Just sayin if you hadn't heard it. it is i guess about Parsons. Also in the movie Almost Famous there is a scene where Chris Robinson (Black Crows and the leads husband)as Parsons is singing a song that is or is like Love Hurts on a bed with a girl that looks like Harris at the hotel on Sunset Blvd. keeping in line with the covers theme.
Comments
"Rick Rubin has been a friend for a long time, and he called me asking how I felt about Johnny covering "Hurt." I was flattered, but frankly, the idea sounded a bit gimmicky to me. I really didn't put much thought into it, as I was working on something at the time and was distracted. A few weeks later, a CD shows up with the track. Again, I'm in the middle of something and put it on and give it a cursory listen. It sounded... weird to me. That song in particular was straight from my soul, and it felt very strange hearing the highly identifiable voice of Johnny Cash singing it. It was a good version, and I certainly wasn't cringing or anything, but it felt like I was watching my girlfriend fuck somebody else. Or something like that. Anyway, a few weeks later, a videotape shows up with Mark Romanek's video on it. It's morning; I'm in the studio in New Orleans working on lack De La Rocha's record with him; I pop the video in, and... wow. Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore. "
One of my favorites is Maroon 5's cover of "Pure Imagination" of Willy Wonka fame. It's a really good take on the original that has some (IMO) "Pink Floyd" inspired backing guitar.
Casey Crescenzo (of The Dear Hunter, formerly of The Receiving End of Sirens) has recorded a couple of great covers. Here's his take on The Beach Boys "God Only Knows"
And his take on Bjork's "Unison"
His take on elbows' "Grounds for Divorce"
And Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls"
Granted, I'm biased because I've been a huge fan of Casey since I pirated a TREOS album by chance in 2005 and found out they were doing a show in Atlanta shortly thereafter. (Don't worry, I bought at least 3 copies of that album on CD, 1 on vinyl, and every album since! Also I've been to almost every show he's done in Atlanta.)
Then there's this Daniel "Homeless" Mustard version of Radiohead's "Creep." Daniel was homeless when this video was filmed. He later recorded 2 albums.
For the funnier covers, despite the objectionable lyrics I've always been a big fan of Ben Folds cover of Dr Dre's "Bitches Aint Shit" Explicit
and
Dan Henig's cover of Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz "Get Low" EXPLICIT
How could I forget 2 members of Bon Iver covering Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" on two piano's in an old church?!?! This whole recording is fantastic, but I've linked with a timecode to the cover. If timecode doesn't work, scrub to 8m12s.
Or
Ben Rector's cover of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"
Or
Noah Gundersen's cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Edit: it's not letting me link to the channel, so here's a recent video with Milo Aukerman singing...you can link to the other songs that they've done through this.
My all time favorite cover is Stevie Wonder doing We Can Work it Out by the Beatles. Better than the original in my book and I love the original.
Cosign to the earlier post of Frank Black's Hang Onto Your Ego.
Elliott Smith's version of Thirteen by Big Star
I don't know if there are anyone else is into the AV Undercover series that the AV Club does, but there were a ton of great covers in there. I think they pulled their stuff off of youtube, but a couple of my favorites if they ever resurface were Shearon Van Ettenwater (Shearwater + Sharon Van Etten) doing Stop Draggin My Heart Around. I'm so bummed that they scrubbed all of that stuff.
Finally, I really dig this Wye Oak version of Runnin Up That Hill by Kate Bush. It's apples and oranges with the original, but I like the groove that they play it in and I love Jenn Wasner's voice.
Hell yeah, Stevie! That's one of those "can't help but start flailing around joyously" (you can't call what I do dancing) tunes. Blew my mind the first time I heard it.
Obviously I would have to go with Parsons/Harris, I think of the love between the two and it just fits.
on that note if you want to be dug out of the hole and then get thrown off a cliff. Harris singing From Boulder To Birmingham. Just sayin if you hadn't heard it. it is i guess about Parsons.
Also in the movie Almost Famous there is a scene where Chris Robinson (Black Crows and the leads husband)as Parsons is singing a song that is or is like Love Hurts on a bed with a girl that looks like Harris at the hotel on Sunset Blvd.
keeping in line with the covers theme.
Anyway feel free to add more or tell me to shut up.
It also reminds me of that great Yo La Tengo cover of Little Honda.