Friday, September 23, 2005

DON'T COVER ME

I was driving home from work tonight and on my Sirius radio heard Manfred Mann's cover of Bruce's Blinded by the Light. I have to say it's one of the worst cover versions of a song in the history of recording. I mean, were these dudes sitting around one day listening to Bruce's version and decided to shit all over it by adding 40 layers of cheezy keyboards and sophomoric guitar riffs. We might as well throw in some dopey sound effects, too.


Anyway, it got me thinking about some of the worst covers. Granted, these are all off the top of my head, so If I missed one, sorry

The worst.
1. Blinded by the Light - Manfred Mann (see above)
2. For You - Manfred Mann (also see above, but insert this Bruce tune off Greeting)
3. Anything Rod Stewart has done in the last 20 years. Not sure if you noticed, or cared, but since about 1984 the cat has totally mailed it in, covering anything from Van Morrison to Motown. I guess since one of his last original hits was "Some guys have all the luck" this isn't really a bad thing.



4. I'm sure Creed has covered someone and I sure it sucks
5. Billy Idol's Mony Mony. This isn't his fault. I actually used to love this tune, but it's gotten to the point than anytime you hear it, some drunk chicks have to yell "Hey, Get Laid, Get F-cked" and it's really annoying. Especially since those chicks have no intention of doing either. Anyway, great tune, but I can't stand hearing it anymore.

In a couple of days, I'll hit you with my favorite covers.

6 comments:

Harold Hecuba said...

That post was money!!!!!!!

Billy Idol used to be so good when he was great.

Here's my canidate:

Bruce Springsteen is great and all, but what the F*** was he thinking when he covered that Pointer Sisters song "Drivin In My Car"? He's a white dude, not three black chicks. Stick to what you know, man! If I was his manager and he said to me "Hey, manager, that Pointer sisters song sounds great, I wanna do a cover of it." I'da taken the bong away from him and said...

"WHAT ARE YOU, HIGH?"

(little plug for my blog, BTW ;)!!

Keep up the great work.

Joependleton said...

Dude, I gotta hit you with a WHAT, ARE YOU HIGH?

Bruce wrote that tune "Fire" originally for rockabilly king Robert Gordon, and the Pointer Sisters decided to do it, too, not the other way around.

What's funny about Bruce, is the only big hit he's had that he didn't write is Jersey Girl. I mean if you went through the dude's entire catalog and said pick out one song he must've written, it's Jersey Girl. But nope, Tom Waits penned that classic.

Harold Hecuba said...

I humbily stand corrected. Seeing as your an expert, can I ask you this? Did Van Halen steal "Jump" from the Pointer Sisters or the other way around? I got five dollars riding on it. I won't tell you which side I am on in this debate so you won't be swayed.

Joependleton said...

They are two different songs. Not sure where the Pointer Sister got their version, but VH wrote theirs. Hope you won.

Harold Hecuba said...

Thanks for the in-fo...

My position is nobody won the bet since there not the same song. But Kyle says I lost cuz the bet was my idea and I called him a f****ing jerk for saying I was wrong. Now I gotta find five dollars somewhere. Oh well -- say la vee.

EKIG

Pete said...

While I agree the Manfred Mann cover of "Blinded By the Light" is gutter trash, I will nominate Mrs. Armstrong's cover of "Sweet Child O' Mine" as the most vominous cover in the history of music