Ever come across a song that was covered by an artist or band that was so far out of the element of the
original song. I'm not talking about Rap samplings, I'm talking about heavy metal songs covered by Country
singers or Crooners and vice versa. Here are a few I've found.

You Shook Me All Night Long: (AC/DC)

                              Celine Dion.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONt47Z0KZg

                              Shania Twain.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHtuGMHWAf0&feature=related

Smells Like Teen Spirit: (Nirvana)

                              Paul Anka.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsS811o21-k

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: (Black Sabbath)

                              The Cardigans.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE9X_Yui1L8

Ironman: (Black Sabbath)

                              The Cardigans.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzgZJEpLuw0&feature=related

Jingle Bells: (Traditional)

                              Austrian Death Machine.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkXdXP596Lo

ozzy doing "staying alive"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_D4QhevNPw

:o

the weirdest part is, it's pretty cool.

ozzy doing "staying alive"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_D4QhevNPw

:o

the weirdest part is, it's pretty cool.


That was good  ;D but I must say, had I heard Ozzy cover a disco song back in the day I would've hurled all my
Sabbath albums against the wall.

Children of Bodom doing Britney Spear's "Oops I Did It Again"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1sguF2D1UA

Freakin awesome.

Great thread idea, Kevin.

signature banned as well

Children of Bodom doing Britney Spear's "Oops I Did It Again"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1sguF2D1UA

Freakin awesome.

Great thread idea, Kevin.

signature banned as well


This is what I'm talking about. Never would I think Children Of Bodom, a band I like a lot, would ever cover a Britney Spears song
and do a very good job of it.  ;D


Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin)

                        Stanley Jordan (Instrumental)...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjXN3OLgoqs

Welsh rockers Manic Street Preachers did a wicked cover of Rihanna's 'Umbrella'.  It didn't topple the success of Rihanna's original, but it did chart in the UK

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

Here's Jack Ingram's countrified cover of Hinder's "Lips of an Angel":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Nbj90ZMQM

Johnny Cash doing NIN's "Hurt":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go


This is what I'm talking about. Never would I think Children Of Bodom, a band I like a lot, would ever cover a Britney Spears song
and do a very good job of it.  ;D


Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin)

                         Stanley Jordan (Instrumental)...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjXN3OLgoqs


Yeah, that's one of the best covers ever imo. COB rock.

SJ has some serious chops, but I could barely tell that was STH.

signature banned as well

99 Red Balloons: ( Nena)
               
                    Goldfinger....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxhLYuLNIic&feature=related

99 Luftballons: (Nena)

                    Nena........ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRZ1RPf_d_E&feature=related  (2002 version, much worse.)

War Pigs: (Black Sabbath)

                Hayseed Dixie..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_fODduUkk4&feature=related

PS. as well as many other covers by this band!


Hips Don't Lie: (Shakira)

                The Fray..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s5R2c23XYs&feature=related

I recall an album from the mid 1990's with alternative songs given a swing/big band makeover and also the infamous Pat Boone metal cover album. ::)

I was just thinking of the Pat Boone album too, woops.  That was wrong on so many levels. ;D

It's been mentioned.

You've Got Another Thing Comin': (Judas Priest)

                                  Pat Boone...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8zi4oFdUek&feature=PlayList&p=6248B7149B39935F&playnext=1&index=30

Which reminds me.

Diamonds And Rust: (Joan Baez)

                                  Judas Priest...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OHJP1BSVgM


My Heart Will Go On: (Celine Dion)

                                  New Found Glory...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chsxdx6pbEw

That New Found Glory cover is absolutely awful!  8-P

That New Found Glory cover is absolutely awful!  8-P


Which makes it the same as the original.  ;)

L.A.'s bunch of funsters doing things to the Moody Blues...  :D

(This charted in Britain as well!  :))

Which makes it the same as the original.  ;)


Truche!

Here's Jack Ingram's countrified cover of Hinder's "Lips of an Angel":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Nbj90ZMQM


But a country cover-version of "Lips of an Angel" isn't all that unusual or out of its element. I kind of think the original has a bit of a country feel, to begin with.

This isn't an "I can't believe that song was covered by".  This is an "I can't believe that song was covered at all."

But in 1990, MC B & Daisy Dee covered Technotronic's dancefloor hit This Beat Is Technotronic.

To make it even stranger, five years later...


(Technotronic's 1995) third album, Recall was released 4 years later and fitted in the Eurodance parameters of the era. It featured the return of Ya Kid K on vocals and the inclusion of Daisy Rollocks AKA Daisy Dee (emphasis added) and C. Davis AKA Black Diamond.


...the only other explanation is that Technotronic covered itself in 1995 and sent Ms. Rollocks back in time to 1990 with the recording.  (I have nightmarish visions of samplers playing back loops of "Are you John ConnorMC Eric?" against a house backbeat, and now you do, too.)

Ever come across a song that was covered by an artist or band that was so far out of the element of the
original song. I'm not talking about Rap samplings, I'm talking about heavy metal songs covered by Country
singers or Crooners and vice versa. Here are a few I've found.

You Shook Me All Night Long: (AC/DC)

                              Celine Dion.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONt47Z0KZg

                              Shania Twain.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHtuGMHWAf0&feature=related



Just watched both clips and my soul has been injured beyond repair.  I was voting for Cerline's version - she staid truer to the lyrics - and then she started grinding.  To be honest, I couldn't even watch the whole clips.  I was at a wedding a few years ago and the Shania version was started by the DJ and people threw beer cans at him until he stopped it.  Yes I live in Red Neck country.  no I am not a Red Neck!  ;D

  I was at a wedding a few years ago and the Shania version was started by the DJ and people threw beer cans at him until he stopped it. 


So Tatjana's 1993 cover of ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin' would have been out of the question?

Interestingly, you can't find any evidence that it ever existed unless you mistakenly google for "Gimme All Your Loving", spelled with a "g", not an apostrophe as in the ZZ Top original.  But what has been heard cannot be unheard, and once more, I spread the misery! Tatjana's pop-techno cover of ZZ Top makes Kim Wilde's eurodance cover of Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild look postiviely classy by comparison. 

Go on, everybody google the Kim Wilde track ("Born to be Wilde").  I dare you!

So Tatjana's 1993 cover of ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin' would have been out of the question?

Interestingly, you can't find any evidence that it ever existed unless you mistakenly google for "Gimme All Your Loving", spelled with a "g", not an apostrophe as in the ZZ Top original.  But what has been heard cannot be unheard, and once more, I spread the misery! Tatjana's pop-techno cover of ZZ Top makes Kim Wilde's eurodance cover of Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild look postiviely classy by comparison. 

Go on, everybody google the Kim Wilde track ("Born to be Wilde").  I dare you!


You're right What has been heard cannot be unheard,  ew.

Lounge music, in itself, is a musical style capable of inducing chuckles, so try imagining lounge music cover versions of famous songs! That's exactly what the Mike Flowers Pops created in 1995 and 1996, when they came to prominence with lounge covers of "Wonderwall" by Oasis, "Light My Fire" by the Doors, and "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" from the musical Evita:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy1ueZf1WMQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=947CVXtXNsk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHqWqd7d5Js

So Tatjana's 1993 cover of ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin' would have been out of the question?

Interestingly, you can't find any evidence that it ever existed unless you mistakenly google for "Gimme All Your Loving", spelled with a "g", not an apostrophe as in the ZZ Top original. 


Hey, I'm Dutch and even I didn't know this.
Mind you, hardly any of Ms Simic's musical explorations are worth listening...  :P

It's hard to believe she had a #5 hit over here with a cover of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (a duet with Gerard Joling).


But what has been heard cannot be unheard, and once more, I spread the misery! Tatjana's pop-techno cover of ZZ Top makes Kim Wilde's eurodance cover of Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild look postiviely classy by comparison. 

Go on, everybody google the Kim Wilde track ("Born to be Wilde").  I dare you!


Think I'll pass. ;)

Gulp!  :o

(Yep! It made a chart showing in Britain once again!  :D)

Michael Jackson songs being covered by hard-edged alternative rockers will probably strike most people as a tad eccentric.

I'm sure we all remember Alien Ant Farm's version of "Smooth Criminal" from 2001:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxeNZOLNh4c

And in 2007, Chris Cornell(former singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave) came out with his version of "Billie Jean":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NUtbT8ecLA

The British band The Wedding Present were formed in 1985 and are generally known for pop-rock in a style rooted in the 80s post-punk scene:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wedding_Present

One of the band's former members happened to have Ukrainian roots, and he got the group to make a record of traditional Ukrainian folk music, something far removed from the band's usual style. This member eventually ended up leaving the band and starting his own group called The Ukrainians to record Ukrainian folk music on a permanent basis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ukrainians

This is something that I'm sure is going to make you laugh; in 1992, The Ukrainians released a cover of "Big Mouth Strikes Again" by the Smiths, in a Ukrainian folk style, sung in Ukrainian!  ;D The song's title translated into Ukrainian is "Batyar." Here's the song on Youtube as the background to a sequence of photo clips that someone made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L_X8NC8AvA

Michael Jackson songs being covered by hard-edged alternative rockers will probably strike most people as a tad eccentric.

And in 2007, Chris Cornell(former singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave) came out with his version of "Billie Jean":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NUtbT8ecLA


I liked it!  I like the song tho, and I am a sucker for a hot guy belting out a song.  I found on You tube another version of same, liked it better...  Am going to IPOD it!

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=c2MgwAJrfXo&feature=related

Gulp!  :o

(Yep! It made a chart showing in Britain once again!  :D)


That actually charted? :o
Man, and I thought 'Nellie the Elephant' by the Toy Dolls was bad ;D

Lounge music, in itself, is a musical style capable of inducing chuckles, so try imaging lounge music cover versions of famous songs! That's exactly what the Mike Flowers Pops created in 1995 and 1996, when they came to prominence with lounge covers of "Wonderwall" by Oasis, "Light My Fire" by the Doors, and "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" from the musical Evita:


And the inimitable Richard Cheese, who took the whole Pat Boone / Mike Flowers Pops / lounge thing to its logical absurdity.  The titles of the guy's albums say it all.

I still have his lounge covers of Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up (Best. Band. Intro. Evar), and White Zombie's More Human than Human ("Yeah!  Yeah!  Uh-huh!  Yes!  Oui!  Si!  I-agree!") tagged to ensure that they can appear at inappropriate moments during long stretches of techno/electro or industrial/rock on shuffle mode.

OK, I think we're all pretty familiar with Marylin Manson's cover of "Personal Jesus", but there are other bands touching Depeche Mode stuff as well..


Ever thought Master And Servant could sound like that mellow?  ::)

OK, I think we're all pretty familiar with Marylin Manson's cover of "Personal Jesus", but there are other bands touching Depeche Mode stuff as well..


Ever thought Master And Servant could sound like that mellow?  ::)


I'm not sure I like that or not.  DM's original however cannot ever be toppled

In 1993, the industrial group the Revolting Cocks did a cover of "Da' Ya' Think I'm Sexy" by Rod Stewart, which was pretty weird:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kNZcxq7KB0
(Warning: Some people might find this video offensive)

The Revolting Cocks were originally formed as a side-project for Ministry singer Al Jourgensen and others.

Britney Spears "I Love Rock &  Roll"

Especially that she had no clue about Joan Jett  ::)

Britney Spears "I Love Rock &  Roll"

Especially that she had no clue about Joan Jett  ::)


Or love - or Rock & Roll

I found this one, I kind of wish I hadn't.  :P


Mandy (Barry Manilow)

          Boxcar Racer..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvdVwehERAc

I found this one, I kind of wish I hadn't.   :P


Mandy (Barry Manilow)

          Boxcar Racer..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvdVwehERAc


I too wish you hadn't, although it did bring back memories of my brothers teenage garage band attempting to play something my Grandma liked in order to not be shut down during her visits.

Chipmunk punk album

Chipmunk punk album


Oh yeah, the Chipmunks did a cover of "My Sharona" in 1980:  ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwuz7amTeW4

Britney Spears "I Love Rock &  Roll"

Especially that she had no clue about Joan Jett 


Fixed that for you.

The mash-up / two-tracker (to which I can't find a link, but it'll be on the P2P networks.  Does anyone know what DJ did this?) was brain-meltingly fun.  Britney's execrable cover in one channel, Joan Jett's original in the other channel, beatmatched.  Very simple concept and execution, but the result is so wrong it was right.

To make up for that, I'll add a cover that I consider of "So right it's right", I'll go with Joan Jett's 1990 cover of AC/DC's Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap).  She only had to change one line, and while I can think of a million lines better than "your night-time friend", I'm willing to let that slide. 

This should be in Jason's thread but Joan Jett's version was a cover also. the song I Love Rock N Roll was originally made
by the British band Arrows in 1975. Joan Jett's version sounds close to the original.

Arrows..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AT_Pbtyid0

This should be in Jason's thread but Joan Jett's version was a cover also. 


Very cool. 

And in the meantime, at about the same time you posted it, a generic blond model introduced the NBC pregame show by dancing in front of a CGI background while lip-syncing to an advertising jingle about NBC and the Super Bowl.  To which the tune was I Hate Myself For Loving You.  Wouldn't call it a cover; I wouldn't dignify it by calling it a parody.  But it sure was weird to hear the Jett tune without any guitars.

N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton" covered by Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon.  It's beautiful. :D

N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton" covered by Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon.  It's beautiful. :D


Holy crap.  She's also covered (at the very bottom of the page)...

Straight Outta Compton (NWA)
Nobody's Fool (Cinderella)
One More Night (Phil Collins)
18 and Life (Skid Row)

And the MP3s are even on her website!  This is what pure concentrated win sounds like.  Never thought I'd use "beautiful" to describe those tracks, but... yeah.  Beautiful.

I found this one, I kind of wish I hadn't.   :P


Mandy (Barry Manilow)

          Boxcar Racer..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvdVwehERAc


Well, the Barry Manilow version wasn't an original either, to be accurate. Credits should go to Scott English.

Too bad I can't find a video for the next one. This may have been a hit only in The Netherlands (one of those inexplicable things...).

Barry Biggs & Ruddy Thomas did a cover of the Marmalade song "Reflections Of My Life". Here's a little sample.



You may know Barry Biggs from songs like "Sideshow" and "Love Come Down", so yeah...it's reggae.

N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton" covered by Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon.  It's beautiful. :D


Wowee, Zowee, that's about as far removed from the original as a cover can get!  :o

And considering just the lyrics, themselves, to "Straight Out of Compton," hearing a woman sing a mellow, acoustic version of it makes your jaw drop!

In 1996, Kermit the Frog did his version of "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen:  ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mNyZVbSv5g

And the inimitable Richard Cheese, who took the whole Pat Boone / Mike Flowers Pops / lounge thing to its logical absurdity.  The titles of the guy's albums say it all.

I still have his lounge covers of Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up (Best. Band. Intro. Evar), and White Zombie's More Human than Human ("Yeah!  Yeah!  Uh-huh!  Yes!  Oui!  Si!  I-agree!") tagged to ensure that they can appear at inappropriate moments during long stretches of techno/electro or industrial/rock on shuffle mode.


Totally wild! Richard Cheese's web site has a medley of clips of some of his songs playing in the background. Hearing lounge versions of "War Ensemble" by Slayer and "Gin and Juice" by Snoop Doggy Dogg just blows the mind!  ;D

Would have loved to have seen The Carpenters or Anne Murray do "Whole lotta love" by Led Zeppelin, or AC/DC doing a cover version of the Carpenters "Sing a song".

Didn't William Shatner cover a bunch of songs once?

Didn't William Shatner cover a bunch of songs once?


Yes, sadly

Whiskey In The Jar (Traditional Irish Folk Song)

The Dubliners (traditional)..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eOIU9ekSMk

Thin Lizzy.....  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIdQFuLbh8k&feature=related

Metallica.....  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEC6D0ppYNU

I can't believe some outfit calling itself Hot R.S. / HouseOfTheRisingSun) not only covered Stevie Wonder's Livin' for the City in 1978, but that they did it well.

Now I gotta find out what they did to the Kinks' You Really Got Me.

The Carpenters and their version of Klaatu's 'Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft'

A - It's quite odd that an American group would cover a song by a Canadian group that FAILED to gain major recognition in the States
B - That given the Carpenters style of music, they would cover a song by a Progressive Rock artist

For the record, The Carpenters version was more successful than the Klaatu original in both the US and Canada

Would have loved to have seen The Carpenters or Anne Murray do "Whole lotta love" by Led Zeppelin, or AC/DC doing a cover version of the Carpenters "Sing a song".

Didn't William Shatner cover a bunch of songs once?



Yes, he did,  and I posted this on another thread somewhere, but it's just fun to freak people out:
http://www.google.com/musica?aid=gSGe2xzr7kK&ei=_TnlSZ32CKCQmAfcrrDOAQ&sa=X&oi=music&ct=result

What's worse than THAT, you ask?  THIS:  http://www.google.com/musicl?lid=yrNh_1Qp2wH&aid=UXxdGOCTigJ  ;D

To me, the worst I have ever heard is Mariah Carey's cover of Def Leppard's "Bringin On The Heartbreak".  The oddest thing about it to me, besides the fact that it was even done is that the band backed her up for doing it!  I'd think they'd have been outraged, but they were appreciative and almost went as far as to say they liked it.  Well, I don't think Joe Elliott REALLY liked it-he was just being nice!  My ears bled and I had violent convulsions for a week after hearing HALF of it....

http://www.mcarchives.com/discography/spec.asp?id=bringinontheheartbreak