The Best and Worst Covers in Music.

[Asuka]

So, yeah, this opened my eyes in all sorts of ways:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfV1JEB9wkE

 

[tobacky_vapor]

My main focus is metal, I the best and worst covers ironically are from black metal (which I rarely listen to)

Best

Spoiler

Emperor's cover of Bathory's original a fine day to die

[youtube]qW4Basxpte4[/youtube]

Worst cover

Spoiler

Cradle of filth's cover of venom's original black metal song

[youtube]VfpU5NgHnCQ[/youtube]

 

[Guardian G.I.]

For comparison, here's the original song by Kraftwerk.

 

[Smokedaddy]

Any band doing a cover should find a way to make the song their own, and still pay a little homage to the original. I hate it when someone plays the original note-for-note, or as close as they can come, and then blather about how creative they are.
[youtube]3Mb-AWqfBD4[/youtube]

Dread Zeppelin was active when I was in L.A. and they were good fun -- the kind of thing you take out-of-towners to see on their first weekend to jangle their sensibilities. Dread Zeppelin's covers were the only ones given a high-five by Page and Plant. If I wasn't feeling lazy, I'd dig up a fine video or two (bad ones abound, beware) to put everyone in the necessary festive spirit for Wednesday. There's nothing special about the next one, but on general principle most Wednesdays would benefit from an infusion of festive spirit.

Also, any Broadway show tune as done by Miles Davis. Once in the distant past, my roomdog was irritated by my selection of music for the evening -- "My Favorite Things?! That's a show tune!!" A few minutes of Miles and Trane later, he STFU. We forgave him -- ego te absolvo and all that -- and put on Inchworm.

To be posted later somewhere, if I feel like it (that's code for "probably never getting posted, ever"):

• A performance (ok a rehearsal) of Whole Lotta Love with the Black Crowes on rhythm and Jimmy Page hisself playing lead. "What?", I hear you ask, "So who played the trippy solo part in the middle?" Who, indeed.
  
• Failing to audition for Zappa. (Miles Davis gave me the finger by dying, so I had to settle for my #2 target.)
  
• Do any of you punks know who Stanley Jordan is? Go Google, I'll wait. Place: Hollywood (CA) House of Blues. Date: My birthday a million years ago. Event: twisting knobs (arranged by my roomdog as a b-day present).

When soloing, Coltrane didn't know how to stop. He usually wound up going for several minutes before giving up, or Miles cuing the band back in. He was so full of ideas he couldn't say everything he wanted to say, and it frustrated him. When he complained to Miles about not knowing how to end a solo, Miles told him, "Try taking the saxophone out of your mouth."

 

[Vodka's My BFF]

I know that this is a little different than what everyone else is posting, but I believe that this cover is brilliant. It's a cover of "Royals" by Lorde from Pentatonix. I absolutely love the harmonies and energy they've put into this performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9XQ2MdNgKY

 

[PvtRichardCranium]

[youtube]9tqhnBhCue8[/youtube]
[youtube]Bm3Xr00QkLM[/youtube]
[youtube]zpzG6FKC2xI[/youtube]
Don't think. Just let the metal consume you.

 

[_blank_]

This could fall under either best or worst, depending on how seriously you take yourself:

 

[JeffMangum]

The soundtrack is a little underrated due to the movie being terrible, but I think this track stands out.

[youtube]GMGE_dvzcz4[/youtube]

 

[AbbaZabba]

Personally, I really enjoy Rammstein's cover of Depeche Mode's Stripped, but especially the Volkerball performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S56V13vumY

 

[bradsternum]

Under worst, I'm going to add Justin Bieber's "Let It Be" cover. Fuck that guy.

 

[Payday]

Under good I'd say these are some of them:

[youtube]frQVTtoIGOo[/youtube]

[youtube]QHpU0ZfXZ_g[/youtube]

 

[ZepFloyd94]

One of my favorites.

 

[Dark Mirror Hole]

Holy shit, I am currently in LOVE with Bossa Nova covers of popular songs.

This cover of Rihanna's Disturbia actually improves on the original imo.
The original is okay but autotuned to hell; this one may be less dark but is more smooth and sexy.

 

[EI 903]

Judas Priest did a spectacular job covering both Fleetwood Mac and Joan Baez, and making the songs their own.

As far as terrible covers go, Devo covering NIN stands out in my mind. Ugh.

 

[Ronald Gaygun]

Big Black covering Kraftwerk of all things. Probably one of my favorite covers of all time. I think the fact that Big Black used a drum machine instead of an actual drummer, in not only this but all their songs, really helps it.

 

[bradsternum]

Fucking hideous. I hate Sons of Anarchy so much, but I hate it even more now that they've destroyed this song.

 

[Le Bateleur]

This is a great cover, but I should probably explain why. It always bothers me when obviously talented vocalists sing (and oversing) Your Song. The whole gimmick of the song is that the person singing it isn't really good at anything - including singing - but they're doing the best they can to show someone how much they love them.

When you've got a stage school graduate with a three-octave range belting it out, it becomes an insufferable humblebrag.

In the hands of a more...limited singer, like Mike Skinner from The Streets, it's actually quite touching.

Spoiler: Ahh

Sticking with the theme of the interplay between lyrics and artist, one of the very worst covers...

Spoiler: Aghhhh

 

[Waifu]

So bad that I squirm in discomfort:

 

[Null]

I quite like this.

(Edit; Better version.)

 

[Night Terror]

atrocious