Remember the 1991 hit Touch Me (All Night Long) by Cathy Dennis?  It was first recorded by Wish and Fonda Rae in 1984

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Here's a group called West End Girls with a 1991 version of the 1969 Jackson 5 classic I Want You Back
Trivia:  The blonde member of West End Girls is the daughter of Bill Henderson, lead singer of the band Chilliwack

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Here is the 1993 hit Go West by Pet Shop Boys.  It was first recorded by The Village People in 1979.  It is the most successful cover version of a Village People song.  If I'm honest though, I can't say as I know of any other covers of Village People songs

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I don't know if this one was a success outside of Canada, but it's really quite good.  From 1997, it's a cover of the 1983 Air Supply song Making Love Out of Nothing At All by a singer called M-Appeal.  She took a ballad and made it danceable and it worked!

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Here's a club classic from 1994 called Desire by Capital Sound.  This was first a hit for a singer named Roni Griffith in 1981

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Remember the 1991 hit Touch Me (All Night Long) by Cathy Dennis?  It was first recorded by Wish and Fonda Rae in 1984



Amazing; I had not realized it was actually a cover!

Anyways...I can think of several songs that I know were covers in the 1990s.

For example, UB40 had a hit in 1990 with a cover of the Temptations' 1964 classic "The Way You Do The Things You Do."
Three years later, said band scored another big hit with their cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love."

For example, UB40 had a hit in 1990 with a cover of the Temptations' 1964 classic "The Way You Do The Things You Do."
Three years later, said band scored another big hit with their cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love."


This is true.  In fact, almost every song UB40 are known for in North America is a cover song.  Also in 1990, they had a BIG hit with a cover of the 1973 Al Green hit Here I Am (Come and Take Me)

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Speaking of UB40, back when this song came out, I thought that's who it was for quite sometime until I learned it was not.  Here is Baby, I Love your Way by a group called Big Mountain.  Love Peter Frampton, but this version I think is better.  Best version overall though IMO was the 1988 version by Will to Power

But damn, this dude sounds like Ali Campbell from UB40

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^ Yeah I remember that. When I first heard the Big Mountain cover, I thought that the lead singer sounded a lot like Ali Campbell too. (That, and the fact that they were also a reggae band. But I think Big Mountain ended up being a one hit wonder.)

This is true.  In fact, almost every song UB40 are known for in North America is a cover song.  Also in 1990, they had a BIG hit with a cover of the 1973 Al Green hit Here I Am (Come and Take Me)


I remember that too. Although I had not realized at first that Al Green had originally performed it. (But I'm well aware of that fact now.) :)

The new-wave band General Public (famous for their 1985 hit "Tenderness"), consisting of Dave Wakeling and the late Ranking Roger, covered the Staple Singers' classic "I'll Take You There" in 1994.

In 1991 Aaron Neville covered the Main Ingredient's "Everybody Plays The Fool" and scored a big hit with it in the latter part of that year.

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In 1991, the Norwegian group a-ha reached #13 in the UK and #34 in Canada with a really great version of the 1962 Everly Brothers song Crying in the Rain

a-ha vs The Everly Brothers (1962)

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Neo-,psychedelic band Kula Shaker had a UK hit in 1997 with a cover of "Hush" by Billy Joe Royal (1967).

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Neo-,psychedelic band Kula Shaker had a UK hit in 1997 with a cover of "Hush" by Billy Joe Royal (1967).




I saw Kula Shaker live in 1997. I liked them!

Bananarama - Long Train Running (1991)
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The Doobie Brothers - Long Train Running (1973)
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Hootie and the Blowfish - I Go Blind (1996)
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54•40 - I Go Blind (1986)
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A couple of years ago, 54•40 went on Dragon's Den (Canada's version of Shark Tank) to sell themselves and offered up royalties from the Hootie cover

The nineties were the golden age of collaborative tribute albums. Among them were Schoolhouse Rock Rocks, If I Were a Carpenter and Rutles Highway Revisited. This one, Saturday Morning Cartoons' Greatest Hits, from 1995, had the Violent Femmes cover Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah! by Jet Screamer on the Jetsons.

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They somehow got Drew Barrymore to be in the promotional video.

Hootie and the Blowfish - I Go Blind (1996)

54•40 - I Go Blind (1986)

A couple of years ago, 54•40 went on Dragon's Den (Canada's version of Shark Tank) to sell themselves and offered up royalties from the Hootie cover


That is amazing - I did not realise that the Hootie song was a cover! (But then again I for one am not familiar with the band 54-40; they must not be too well-known in the States.) I just naturally assumed "I Go Blind" was a HATB song while it was on the charts 25 years ago.

That is amazing - I did not realise that the Hootie song was a cover! (But then again I for one am not familiar with the band 54-40; they must not be too well-known in the States.) I just naturally assumed "I Go Blind" was a HATB song while it was on the charts 25 years ago.


You are not alone in that.  54-40, a legendary band in Canada, have had no real success outside of Canada, so many assume that I Go Blind is a Hootie original.  Interestingly enough, the 54-40 version was not a chart hit, but it's been a radio staple long before and still long after Hootie's version

Nirvana - Lake of Fire (1995)
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was a cover of

Meat Puppets - Lake of Fire (1984)
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