This week we decided to include a theme to Song Of The Day Fridays and we're going to be featuring cover songs. Good ones that honour or improve upon the original, and bad ones that disrespect and try capitalize on the original's success. A Side (good cover). B Side (bad cover). Get us started Rob
Rob
A Side: "Take On Me" - Reel Big Fish
Reel Big Fish captured the essence of the original. A great cover needs to stay true to the origins of what made the song in the first place. I believe they accomplished this by keeping the hook and melody while adding their own style to enhance an already good tune! The horns mixed with their up tempo rendition really spoke volumes as to how much they mashed their own sound without taking away from what made this song appealing in the original version
B Side: "Behind Blue Eyes" - Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit tried a balladesque tune to show there is more to them than
loud, heavy rap/rock which drove them to stardom, they failed! From the moment
Fred Durst tried to actually sing this song was doomed. While they did keep it
close to the original (minus good vocals), they lost all credibility with the
computer generated spoken word version of how to spell the obvious portion of
the band’s name. In closing this attempt at The Who feels as if they put it together
in an hour. Why? To show people they are more than a heavy rap/rock group who
were never really known for their musical credibility, although that was
further from they're reach by this point in the bands tenure.
Mr. T
A Side: "Bad Company" - Five Finger Death Punch
I am usually by no means a "heavy" metal guy, but I became an instant fan of Five Finger Death Punch when I heard their cover of Bad Company's Bad Company. In my opinion they captured the modern meaning of the song by changing the tuning into drop "d". A heavier, more hard core, modern solider is what they appeal to as wells as incorporating themselves by changing the lyric "6-gun sound is our claim to fame" to "Our Death Punch sound is our claim to fame".
Overall an excellent cover
B Side: "All Summer Long" - Kid Rock
Although not a cover, this was a lame attempt to write something original from someone else's songs.
Some of the more uneducated music enthusiasts will say "whoa dude, this isn't a cover, Its an original". To you I say wake up and your stupid! This song doesn't know what it wants to be. The opening verse is a copy of Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London and it then proceeds to morph into one of the most overplayed songs ever Sweet Home Alabama. What is it with that song anyway. Don't get me wrong its a good song with a big-ol middle finger back at Neil Young for writing Southern Man, a song about the racism and miss-treatment of blacks in the American south, but why must it be played at every wedding and drunk fest at the local bar. I digress. What else can you expect from a guy who was born and grew up in Detroit but presents himself as successful Florida redneck trailer trash. That's where he belongs. Besides, what has he done sense? Most certainly has not contributed anything meaningful to music.
G-Man
A-Side: "The Boys Are Back In Town" - Happy Mondays
I wasn't even really sure what I was hearing when I first encountered this song. The opening riff caught my attention only because it reminded of Metallica's "I Disappear". The lyrics were vaguely familiar and I could tell they were singing "The Boys Are Back In Town" during the chorus. Happy Mondays spun this old Irish favourite so much that it took some major detective work to confirm that it was a reworking of the classic Thin Lizzy jam. If you're gonna cover a good song put your own flavour on it. Happy Mondays did that.
B-Side: "My Generation" - Hilary Duff
Someone said that this song is a cheat to include because we shouldn't be listening to Hilary Duff anyway, but the sins contained in this version are so egregious that it has to be included. One of my biggest pet peeves when a band covers a song is changing the lyrics. Whether it's changing the gender of the song's subject or merely adding or omitting a word to make it more accessible. It's bullshit. The song was written and released a certain way, keep it that way. Here in Duff's "My Generation" a cover of The Who's signature song she changes "Hope I die before I get old" into "Hope i don't die before I get old". Thats the whole point of the song! The live fast, die young attitude of the 60's. She effectively rips out the song's heart and soul with that one word and continues to urinate over it's legacy throughout the rest of this clumsily rehashed pop-dud. Listen to it once, because those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it
Honourable Mentions (B-Sides):
"Music" - Word Of Mouth
"Boys Of Summer" - The Ataris
"Such Great Heights" - Confide
"American Pie" - Madonna
"Sweet Child Of Me" - Shery Crow
"Gimme Shelter" - Puddle Of Mudd
