I heard a few covers of songs in the last few days that triggered my desire to make my list of Top 10 All Time Great Cover Songs.
Being in a band, I have 2 different mindsets on covers.
Mindset 1. Pick an obscure song, make it your own. That way, there's that one person listening that goes "Wait a minute.... Is that.... No... They're covering (insert obscure song title here)!"
Mindset 2. Pick a hit. BUT, and this is a big "but", make it your own! I heard the Aerosmith cover of the Beatles' "Come Together". It sounds EXACTLY like the original. What's the fuckin' point of that??
Anyway, here's my list. It's not in any order. It's just the order that they popped into my head. And it's probably gonna have a distinct "punk" slant.
I wanna hear yours, too. Not necessarily 10 of them, but ones I may have missed. I know I'm gonna come up with more when I'm done.
1. Devo- "I Can't Get No (Satisfaction)" (Rolling Stones)
2. The Dickies- "Knights In White Satin" (Moody Blues)
3. 7 Seconds- "99 Red Balloons" (Nena)
4. Rolling Stones- "Just My Imagination" (Temptations)
5. Sex Pistols- "Substitute" (The Who)
6. Ramones- "Time Has Come Today" (Chambers Brothers)
7. The Clash- "Police and Theives" (Junior Murvin)
8. Motorhead- "Louie Louie" (The Kingsmen)
9. Plasmatics "Dream Lover" (Bobby Darin)
10. New York Dolls "Stranded in the Jungle" (The Cadets)
There you go.
Thanks for reading.
Bye.
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7 comments:
Nice selections, especially Devo. I'd also add Otis Redding's version of Satisfaction to that. Here are a few of my faves:
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan)
Humble Pie - Hallelujah I Love Her So (Ray Charles)
CCR/Marvin Gaye - Heard It Though the Grapevine - (Gladys Night & the Pips)
The Who - Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochran)
Frank Sinatra - Something (The Beatles)
Ella Fitzgerald - Sunshine of Your Love (Cream)
Ooo! Good choices!
Just heard a good one this morning that I forgot about. One of my alltime faves, although I don't know if you'd technically call it a cover: Gigantor by The Dickies. :)
Yeah, that's a great one, too! I tried to only pick one from each band. The Clash has "I Fought The Law", Sex Pistols have "Steppin' Stone", etc. But the Dickies have a TON of great covers!
I agree. I'd definitely say The Dickies rank at the top of the alltime list of bands for doing brilliant covers. They probably have the most of any band I can think of.
Great list, but you boofed on 'Louie Louie'... the Kingsmen version is a cover! This was originally a pretty straight 50s R'n'B song by Richard Berry (who also wrote 'Have Love Will Travel').
Seattle stompers The Wailers learned the Berry version, but fucked it up (missed a beat) and turned it into the version we know today. Local teen losers the Kingsmen tried to rip off the Wailers version and fucked it up even more, turning in the performance that became a gigantic hit.
Haha! Well, there's my history lesson for the day! I stand corrected. Thanks, Tim!
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