Official Remake Song better than Original Thread

Japanese punk band Hi Standard does a cover of "California Dreamin" that's way better than the Mamas and Papas ever did.

All the reaves or blowwn, and the sky is glay.

I also like what Me First and the Gimme Gimmes did for "Country Roads" by John Denver. NSFW language in the intro...

David S. Wallens wrote: How about anything by Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies. Example 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBoTwOTKw0I

This. And you happened to pick my favorite of all of their covers. Well done.

Also - Social Distortion knows how to cover a song....

Under my Thumb, originally by the stones, is better with Social D.

Ring of Fire. It's hard to say it's better than Johnny Cash, because being better than Johnny Cash is like dividing by zero, but they certainly do it justice. They closed out the set with Ring of Fire a couple of months ago when they came through town. That was the first time I have been in a pit since I was 20. It was awesome.

"Cinnemon Girl"--Mathew Sweet > Neil Young

Gin and Juice - The Gourds cover is awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4hGSR5njZE

Here's a whole CD of better covers:

Paul Anka sings modern rock

OK, it's only good in a humorous way. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has me in tears from laughing so hard.

Reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live skit where it was a lounge singer in the future "swinging" current hits.

-Rob

Stand by your man: Lyle Lovett > Blues Brothers > Tammy Wynett

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_a_Metal_Mood:_No_More_Mr._Nice_Guy

I blast this every now and then to annoy my neighbors.

I reject the very notion of this thread. There has never been a cover that has been better than the original. Some have come close, but never better.

Concrete Blonde > Tommy Janes & the Shondells.

"Holy Diver" Killswitch Engage > Dio.

Yes. That just happened.

jg

Dang you DILYSI Dave, I was gonna put that!

"Wild Horses" The Sundays > Rolling Stones

"Live and Let Die" Guns and Roses > Beatles

"Come Together" Aerosmith > Beatles

I have no idea who the "original" was done by... Muppets don't do original music, to my knowledge...

But Cake did an AWESOME "Mahna Mahna."

I love it!

Also...I got a Kiss tribute CD for some unknown reason (thanks Columbia House when I was 16!). I don't give a hoot about Kiss...but Garth Brooks did a good job of the "Hard Luck Woman" song.

Asleep at the Wheel (IIRC) did a kickass rendition of "I like to Go Bowling" by Raffi that I heard on some "Country Does Raffi" CD my kids got from the Library. Weird...but good.

Pretty much any cover Junior Brown does is AWESOME.

It would be cool to have a "Cover songs that most people don't realize are cover songs" thread. (I don't have enough knowledge to start it, myself.)

Darling Nikki by Foo Fighters at least = to Prince's original

Satisfaction by Devo > Rolling Stones original

Hit Me Baby One More Time by Dweezil & Ahmet Zappa is WAY > than Britney Spears' original

Master of Puppets by Primus > Metallica's original (at least for about a minute.)

Almost forgot about: Bigod20's Like A Prayer > Madonna's

Sea of Love by Robert Plant (the Honeydirppers) >>>> Phil Philips

The original is amazingly bad. I suspect few people have actually heard it.

Another thread that could be done is remakes that absolutely did not need to be done. (The Dixie Chicks - Landslide is one) I have heard a few Eagles songs on country stations that are completely unnecessary (and just not quite as good). Just play the damn Eagles songs! Somehow if the song is done almost exactly the same by some country artist its OK.

Scott Lear wrote: Satisfaction by Devo > Rolling Stones original

YES! You're the only person I know to agree with me.

Walk this way: Run DMC > Aerosmith.

turbojunker wrote:

Javelin wrote: Bad Company by 5 Finger Deathpunch > Bad Company by Bad Company

Disagree. House of the Rising Sun The Doors > Pink Floyd > The Animals

Disagree!!!!!

My choice Police and Thieves The Clash>Junior Murvin

I tend to like velvet underground songs but only when they arent performed by the velvet underground.

Eater did them better in 77

sweet jane

Waiting for the man

Back when REM was good they did some great velvet underground covers

Javelin wrote: Bad Company by 5 Finger Deathpunch > Bad Company by Bad Company

Although I disagree, it's a moot point since both versions are nearly un-listenable.

I prefer the Pixies version of "Winterlong" and "I've Been Waiting For You" over the Neil Young originals. Bowie also did a pretty good version of "I've Been Waiting For You" on the same album that he covered the Pixies "Cactus". Some good ones have already been mentioned, but I know there's more. I'm drawing a blank right now.

It's hard, maybe impossible, to top the one that started this thread, but here's one that hasn't been mentioned:

"Turn the Page" - Metallica > Bob Seger

Javelin wrote: Bad Company by 5 Finger Deathpunch > Bad Company by Bad Company

NO

worst cover ever...by a terrible terrible my eardrums want to commit suicide band

5FD and Nickelback, slipvein and mudknot and Daughtry and all the other "new rock" turdholios can stfu thankyouverymuch.

Hung My Head by Johnny Cash > Sting
London by Anthrax > The Smiths
Pistol Grip Pump by Rage against the Machine > Volume 10
Lollipop by Framing Hanley > Lil Wayne
Shame by System of a Down > Wu Tang Clan
Los Aneles Times by Endo & Xzibit > Xzibit alone

Look up a covers CD called "Loud Rocks". Its a great Rock cover CD of Rap songs, several include the original artists.

Appleseed wrote:

Scott Lear wrote: Satisfaction by Devo > Rolling Stones original

YES! You're the only person I know to agree with me.

Count me in on that one too.

Practically any Springsteen cover is better than the original, but the obvious one is Blinded by the light.

Big sugar's version of let it ride is great.

A lot of people don't know that Tainted love is a 60's song covered by Soft cell.

Now, speaking of cover bands..... I saw Zappa plays Zappa last night with my kids. I've been a Zappa fan for a long time, and didn't know what to expect. That's not easy music to cover, and the Zappa faithful probably wouldn't have a lot of time for liberties taken with the music.

You could tell in the first few minutes that it was going to be a great show. They opened with The gumbo variations and ended with the Muffin man (of course). I thought the use of old video in some of the songs was really well done.

Scheila Gonzales was awesome, but so was everybody else. Even the vocals were spot on.

There are still some shows in the NY/PA area. If you're a FZ fan, this is a show you need to see.

...and pretty much +a lot for everything DILYSI Dave has mentioned (I <3 Social D!)

alex wrote: "All Along The Watchtower" - Jimi > Dylan

"All Along The Watchtower" - Dave Mathews Band > Jimi > Dylan

I know, I know...blasphemy