Worst Cover Songs: Maim That Tune : "Beat It" by "Fall Out Boy"

Almost as horrible as the Sex Pistols doing the Sex Pistols

 

Korn covering "Another Brick in The Wall, Pt. 2" made famous by Pink Floyd.

 

Prolly said already but Avril doing Metallica almost made me puke from my ears.

 

George Michael's cover of Seal's "Killer." ugh.

 

When Whitney Houston sang "Greatest Love of All," she was covering it as well. It's not her song. It was written as a dedication to Muhammad Ali, and I believe it was written, and recorded for a documentary about him. Forgot who sang it originally.

 

Mariah Carey's 2001 remake of Robert Palmer's 1985 hit 'I Didn't Mean to Turn You On'.
Mariah's producers made it sound more like a song that was written by 80s R&B group Cameo rather than by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
A twisting of the lyrics and the way she sings it takes the sexiness out of the song.

 

Quite long before Britney Spears covered the Stone's "Satisfaction," Samantha Fox, back around 1985, covered it as well. And yes, just as bad....
I wonder, is the notion that most cover songs are poorly done TRUE, or just in our heads? There are some good ones... but so many bad ones, that it seems most cover songs are ill-thought of plans...
I like Ziggy Marley quite a bit, but man, his cover of The Cars' "Drive" is pretty bad... at best, it's pedestrian, at worst, it feels like he phoned in the performance.
Maybe we should also start a Best Cover Songs thread, or is there already such a thread?

 

Yeah there is a Best Covers Thread but it's more fun to bash the bad covers.

 

Dolly Parton singing Lennon's Imagine is one of the worst things I've seen this week--it has scarred me for life.

I'm not fond of Ben Harper doing Strawberry Fields Forever and Sean Lennon is terrible with his version of Julia.

There is a repeating theme here--I tend not to like it when bands cover songs which are exclusively Lennon. I don't mind Beatle covers but Lennon covers don't usually work. The only one I know which I like is Aerosmith's Come Together.

-Seldon

 

I know an album full of awful covers...
it's the Stone Free CD, tribute to Jimi Hendrix. wow.... and to think I bought that piece of junk. It quickly went back to the used bin, or perhaps I returned it for store credit...
I wonder, though, are there so many bad covers out there because they're really that bad, or is it because the originals are so good/or we're so used to them and love them that way??

 

limp bizkit needs to leave covers alone. he should actually just leave.
and I kind of like Alanis Morrisette's version of "crazy". Seal's version was way better but for alanis it was good-ish.
"Mrs. Robinson" covered by god knows who, i've forgotten the name with good reason.
Tori Amos did about a million. "Losing My religion" originally by REM and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" orignally by Nirvana were the most heartwrenching to listen to.
-mia-

 

I think you're talking about The Lemonheads. Terrible cover. They literally forgot to rhyme at one point.

Jesus loves you more than you will know . . .
Dee dee dee.

 

Mrs. Robinson covered by Weezer isn't bad for what it is.
It anything special but it isn't terrible either.

-Seldon

 

"The Boys of Summer" by Don Henley. The covers (and there are several) all suck.

 

Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers did a cover of The Impressions' "People Get Ready," which was pretty bad. Not awful... well, at least not until they get to the awful idea of putting in some pop dancehall style....

 

"Hair of the Dog" by Guns 'N Roses

 

Have you heard the version by A Pecrfect Circle? absolutely amazing!

But back on topic, i've always been a Marilyn Manson fan but I cant stand his version of 'Tainted Love'. My Ruin did a far superior cover version but everyone seems to love MM's version.

 

It's more the choice of songs that is bad. The biggest mistake i think is to cover a bands most famous song. Dont cover Smells Like Teen Spirit, do Been A Son instead(btw the Manic Street Preachers did a great cover of this).

 

Lindsay Lohan's covers of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" and Stevie Nicks' "The Edge of Seventeen".

Unspeakable.

 

Michael Buble's cover of "Moondance"

A classic song tranformed into hipster cheese.

 

Michael Buble's cover of (insert song title here)

 

I am absolutely in full agreement with you, darth_da! A Perfect Circle's version of Imagine is amazing, and so is the Manic Street Preachers' version of Been A Son...
I think that what gives APC's version of Lennon's song such an edge is the fact that they do the song very reverently and respectfully, but at the same time they give a kind of darker feel to the melody that helps keep the tune fresh! It allows you to see the song from a different angle...in a different light...

 

QFT

 

Diana Ross' spoken word version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" tops them all for me.

 

David Bowie: "God Only Knows"

Utter mismatch between artist & song.