To cover or not to cover.....

[72chevelleOhio]

Well search function told me "go get f****d", so I don't know how recent its been done..... So...

What do you think about all these covers coming out now days? (past 10 or so years)

Some "Artists" should have left well enough alone????
Some Artists made them better?????
Some made a new song and just to get the sale, "linked" to the old song?

I have quite a few bands I like, some I thought did okay. However, I think a lot of them have no talent, so they sing someone else's hit and then have nothing else.....sad.
......or in some cases, they get just plain lazy and cover some songs just to get an album out....

Does it make you like an Artist less if they cover someone else's song?

I think if they "made" themselves with a cover, (or it helped make them) then its okay if they do it again. If they never covered a song before then suddenly come out with one......

Maybe its just an unexplainable pet peeve of mine...
/music rant

[redimp2000]

Covers don't bother me as much as "sampling" does. one of my biggest pet peeves is rappers who can't come up with their own rythyms to rap over (otherwise known as pointless rambling about how "gansta" they are), so they sample a famous song and destroy it (case in point, the rap that Puff Daddy/P-Diddy/Shawn Colmes did for the movie Godzilla a few years back using Led Zeppelins "Kashmir" as the background).

A few samplings are done with permission from the original artist (i.e. Kid Rock sampling Metallica for "American Badass", Run D.M.C. sampling Aerosmith) and are usually well done. Most are direct rip-offs and destroy the original (IMO).

As far as for covers, it depends on how well they're done. Some bands lately (Rush, Def Leppard) did cover albums as a tribute to where they came from. But I also believe that a lot of bands do covers just to fill out space on albums that they can't come up with anything themselves.

I have some MP3's of bands doing covers that most people never here (cuts from live concerts), such as Primus playing Pink Floyds "Have a cigar", Dream Theater doing Pink Floyds "Comfortably Numb"' and Dream Theater doing a medley of Rush songs. All very cool, but only done live. I have no problem with that because they're not trying to make money off of them, only playing some of their influencing music for their fans at a concert.

['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by redimp2000

I have no problem with that because they're not trying to make money off of them, only playing some of their influencing music for their fans at a concert.

A band that quickly comes to mind that describes this is Heart. You never know what song they'll cover at a concert, ( all though you can usually count on a Zeppelin tune.)
Speaking of Zeppelin, I like Godsmack's cover of "Good Times, Bad Times".

[2.2 Straight six]

Some covers are good, but they are few and far between.

These days, "artists" tend to destroy good songs by covering them.

[Damien]

^Agreed. CoAvers have a lot more potential of being good. Kayne West wouldn't have a career I don't think if he couldn't sample considering his latest singles.


Recent cover I loved before American Idol wannabe q#@!! M$@#$@#F@#@$ whatever his name is covered everything under the sun was Chris Cornell's Billie Jean. Things like these that make them different are awesome if done right.

I do hate every single punk band covering a good 80's song and destroying it. Another good cover I like is Thrice's Eleanor Rigby. A cover that sound almost like the original was Boys of Summer, originally by Don Henley covered by the Ataris. Wasn't bad, sounded the same with a bit more rock sound, if you will. Just all depends.

Um...who is it...it's on a commercial. Hinder's cover of Born to be Wild is just awful. Now Muse's covers tend to be quite awesome like "Cant Take my Eyes off of You" and "House of the Rising Sun"

[2.2 Straight six]

Kanye West's "Touch The Sky" uses music from the song "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield. West's edited music is better than the original, even though i think he only changed the speed of it.

[Hudson]

I'm fine with covers, as long as the artist brings something to the table. Making a note-for-note cover doesn't do anything for the song (except possibly bring attention to the original) or the artist.

A few years back when Natalie Imbriglia came out with her big hit "Torn," I mentioned how the song was an exact cover of the Ednaswap original. Oddly enough, Ednaswap later covered their own song and made it worse.

Fun covers like HSAS's "Whiter Shade of Pale" or John Mellankamp's "Under the Boardwalk" or Jimi Hendrix' "All Along the Watchtower" are enjoyable on their own.

But how about covers of songs you never heard about, like Heart's "Alone". Is it any different than someone writing a song for that artist?

[redimp2000]

Garth Brook's song "Shameless" is actually a cover, which most people don't know and rednecks won't admit to. It was written by Billy Joel and first appeared on his "Storm Front" album in the mid - to - late 80's.

[-Davo]

in flames cover of everything counts is awesome

disturbed did a good deal on genesis's land of confusion

[Damien]

Originally Posted by 2.2 Straight six

Kanye West's "Touch The Sky" uses music from the song "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield. West's edited music is better than the original, even though i think he only changed the speed of it.

Yeah...ok then. Whatever crap is the latest is horrible. I can't believe Daft Punk let him do that and then Gold Digger!?! Oh gosh!!!

['97ventureowner]

Some of the worst "cover jobs" were done by Pat Boone,(remember when he covered artists like Led Zeppelin, and Ozzy about 10-12 years ago?) And Richard Cheese, who covers a lot of different songs of different genres but plays them like it was a Las Vegas lounge act. Case in point, his cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Ft2msosjA

[vinnym86]

beer. love. cesspool. death... these are what people call "words". each word has a definition, however, each also beckons an emotion which varies among the individual who hears the word.

with me so far?

John Lennon decided one day to write words. He felt a certain way, and made a poem. He sang this song called "Imagine". The song is not just words anymore, its music.

One day, somebody didn't hear that song... they read the words. They felt that those words meant something. They made a song from those words called "Imagine". The song sounded VERY different from the song John Lennon made, but, it had the same words! This man who did this was in a band called A Perfect Circle.

[72chevelleOhio]

Originally Posted by '97ventureowner

Richard Cheese, who covers a lot of different songs of different genres but plays them like it was a Las Vegas lounge act. Case in point, his cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Ft2msosjA

I tolerated a few of his songs for about the first 20 seconds to hear what it was like...
I thought the Slipknot cover of People = Sh*t was kinda funny, but not worth another listen.
The Korn cover of Freak on a Leash.......that IMO, even with current prices, deserves a bath in gasoline and dried off with a match.

[72chevelleOhio]

Originally Posted by Damien

Yeah...ok then. Whatever crap is the latest is horrible. I can't believe Daft Punk let him do that and then Gold Digger!?! Oh gosh!!!

Really??!?!?
I liked his version of Stronger... the first 600 times I heard it....