Directors Favorite cover versions of songs? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Lee]

I just realized while I was listening to one of my burned mix CDs that a good chunk of them were covers of other bands' originals. Soooo....I was curious what other people thought were the best (or most interesting) covers they've heard. (And this shouldn't include covers only done during a live concert you've been to -- it'd be nice to be able to track down the actual track if it sounds interesting.)

My current fave 5 (in no particular order):

1. "1970" by Mission of Burma (original by Iggy and the Stooges). Absolutely brilliant reworking of this tune by my favorite Boston post-punk band.

2. "Supernaut" by 1000 Homo DJs (a short-lived Ministry/Trent Reznor collaboration -- the original song by Black Sabbath). There are two versions out there, one of which seems to substitute in Al Jourgensen's vocals for Trent's (apparently some label squabbling forced the change); I prefer the one with Trent's vocals left in.

3. "Get Back" by Laibach (original by the Beatles). Weird, and somewhat disturbing Balkan-ized take on this tune by those wacky Slovenian neo-fascists....

4. "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" by Stevie Ray Vaughan (original by Jimi Hendrix). Many casual listeners may have gotten introduced to this one a bit late (i.e. the recent Nissan commercial) -- a blistering tribute from one late, great guitar legend to another.

5. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Radio Edit version)" by Negativland (original by U2). One of the two versions on the infamous single yanked from the shelves after Island Records screamed bloody murder -- it's priceless just to hear seemingly always even-keeled, unflappable Casey Kasem chewing out his staff and swearing like a sailor on the "American Top 40" outtakes in this version.

 

[george kaplan]

Hmm, off the top of my head:

Nobody's Fault But Mine - Led Zeppelin (originally Blind Willie Johnson)

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Al Green (originally Hank Williams, Sr.)

I Want To Hold Your Hand - Larry Young (originally The Beatles)

Take Me To the River - Talking Heads (originally Al Green)

Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out - Derek & the Dominos (originally Bessie Smith)

 

[Heinz W]

I've always been partial to the Hendrix version of Bob Dylans' "All Along the Watchtower" and Van Halens' cover of the Kinks "You Really Got Me".

 

[Mike Hutman]

I love the Dynamite Hack cover of Boyz in the Hood (originally done by Eazy-E) They made it into a slow song kind of.

 

[John Stone]

Mark beat me to it, but I've got to include Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) as well. Other that come to mind are:
Racer X - Godzilla
Van Halen - You Really Got Me
Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
Hendrix - Red House
Heh, I just noticed that Heinz has also posted two of my choices as well! I guess we wouldn't have any trouble agreeing on music at a party!

 

[Dome Vongvises]

"All Along the Watchtower" performed by Jimi Hendrix (Bob Dylan)
"You Really Got Me" performed by Van Halen (The Kinks)
"Crossroads" performed by Cream (Robert Johnson)
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" performed by Dwight Yoakam (Queen)
"Can't Help Falling in Love" performed by UB40 (Elvis)
"Knocking on Heaven's Door' performed by Eric Clapton (Bob Dylan)
"Cocaine" performed by Eric Clapton (J.J. Cale)
"I Shot the Sheriff" performed by Eric Clapton (Bob Marley)
"Take It Easy" performed by Travis Tritt (The Eagles)
"American Woman" performed by Lenny Kravitz (The Guess Who)
"Honky Tonk Woman" performed live by Aerosmith (The Rolling Stones)
"NIB" peformed by Ozzy + Primus (Black Sabbath, although not really a cover)
"Voodoo Chile" performed by Stevie Ray Vaughn (Jimi Hendrix)
just to name a few

 

[Patrick McCart]

Boheimian Polka - Weird Al Yankovic (Originally Queen)

 

[george kaplan]

just thought of some more

Ain't That A Shame - Cheap Trick (originally Fats Domino)

Spider Man - Ramones (originally a cartoon theme song)

Open Up Your Heart & Let the Sun Shine In - Frente (originally Pebbles & Bamm Bamm)

Waiting for a Train - Boz Scaggs (originally Jimmie Rodgers)

 

[Brett Hancock]

All Along The Watchtower-Jimi Hendrix

99 Red Balloons-7 Seconds

Just What I Needed-Jugheads Revenge

Green Album(yes the whole album is covers)-Skankin Pickle

God Save The Queen-Over My Dead Body

 

[Jefe Noche]

Pretty Woman-Van Halen (Roy Orbison)

The Man Who Sold the World-Nirvana (David Bowie)

 

[DanaA]

Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower

Van Morrison - It's All Over Now Baby Blue

Otis Redding - Satisfaction (the live from Monterrey version)

The Beatles - Baby It's You

Fairport Convention - Percy's Song (Dylan)

Rod Stewart - (I Know)I'm Losing You

Jeff Beck - Morning Dew

Grateful Dead - Turn on your Love Light

John Lennon - Stand by Me

Van Morrison - Bring It On Home To Me

 

[John Besse]

I was at the Dream Theater concert in New York last month and they covered the whole Metallica - Master of Puppets album straight through. That took me by surprise and I'd have to give that the best cover.

As an album track I always liked Guns N Roses version of the Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil.

 

[Heinz W]

Another good Hendrix cover by Stevie Ray is "Little Wing".

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

The only ones I can think of at the moment:

"Magnet and Steel" by Matthew Sweet (Walter Egan)

"You Really Got Me" by Van Halen (Kinks)

"Friends/Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" by Tripping Daisy (Saturday Morning Theme Song)

"The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)" by Liz Phair (Banana Splits)

"I Want You To Want Me" by Letters To Cleo (Cheap Trick)

"Come on Eileen" by Save Ferris (Dexy's Midnight Runners)

"Mad World" by Gary Jules (Tears for Fears)

 

[Alex Spindler]

Damn, what Matt said.

 

[Sean Conklin]

I love Iron Maiden's rendition of Jethro Tulls Cross-eyed Mary

 

[Trevor H]

Black Label Society's covers of:
Heart Of Gold (Neil Young)
Snowblind (Black Sabbath)
No More Tears (Ozzy Osbourne) - not really a cover because Zakk Wylde co-wrote this with Ozzy and plays guitar on both versions
Pride & Glory
The Wizard (Black Sabbath)
In My Time Of Dying (Led Zeppelin)
Come Together (The Beatles)
Disturbed
Shout (Tears For Fears)
The Power Station
Bang A Gong (Get It On) (T-Rex)
The Cult
Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf)
Faith No More
War Pigs (Black Sabbath)
Powerman 5000
Good Times Roll (The Cars)
Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)

 

[Garrett Lundy]

I tend to like heavy metal sooooo...
Children of the Grave - White Zombie
Shout - Disturbed
Mad World - From the "only exists in a tangent universe" Donnie Darko soundtrack
Kokain - Rammstein
Sympathy for the Devil - Guns N' Roses
One Vision - Type O Negative (In german no less!)
Sweet Dreams - The only redeeming song of Manson
Paint it Black - Gob
(what a) Wonderful World - Unknown, but it was on The Job
Man who sold the world - Nirvana

 

[Travis Olson]

My favorite all time is Tool's cover of Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter". Second would have to be Metallica's cover of Bob Seger's "Turn the Page".

 

[Grant B]

"Friends/Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" by Tripping Daisy (Saturday Morning Theme Song)

Matthew that is a great cd....do you have the Laserdisc of it?

Drew Barrymore is running around in her PJs between videos

Very cool!

Don't forget Butthole surfers doing underdog

Also Noel Gallager doing the Jam's To be Someone

Pretty amazing cover

When Paul Weller sisngs it, you can hear total disgust in his voice.

When Noel sings it, the song turns into a confession