With input from everyone else in the office, here’s the not-at-all-definitive
list of the worst cover versions of all time:
Limp Bizkit – My Generation. Suggested by Nat. Ew. I’ve never even heard this, and it just sounds so very wrong. So very wrong indeed.
Madonna – American Pie. Jesse calls it a travesty. Everyone nods in agreement. There seems to be little else to say.
Britney Spears – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. This suggestion is courtesy of Greg. As inappropriate as it feels to put this on the list given the lady’s current circumstances, this was a crime against nature.
The Goo Goo Dolls – Give a Little Bit. This is Amit’s pick; “if they’d put their own spin on it,” he says, “it might have been all right.”
The Flaming Lips – Life on Mars? Yeah, so it was live and the recording I downloaded against my better judgment at the age of 19 was of poor quality and distorted. It. Was. Wrong.
Johnny Cash – Hurt. I’m deferring to what a friend of mine said on first hearing this in 2003: “EW. NO. NO. NO. DO YOU CUT YOURSELF, JOHNNY CASH? THEN SHUT THE FUCK UP.”
Add your own in the comments.
Two things. First, My Generation isn’t the only Who song Fred Durst fucked with. He also covered one of my all time favourite songs, “Behind Blue Eyes” and I don’t want to spoil anyting, but it totally sucked.
Also, Hurt by Johnny Cash is perhaps the all time best cover — ever. And I’m a big fan of the NIN version. If you want to hear a less good cover by Cash, check out his version of “Personal Jesus” off the same album. That one’s just weird.
By: Jamie "Danger" McLeod on October 29, 2007
at 12:22 pm
No way, dude. Worst cover ever.
By: Kerry on October 29, 2007
at 4:27 pm
UK bad covers include;
CANDY FLIP – Strawberry Fields Forever. Who, in their right minds would ever thinbk they could better the original? It was, quite simply, a travesty.
GIRLS ALOUD – Walk this way. Gets girls a bad name. They should be taken out and shot. Twice.
By: kevmoore on October 29, 2007
at 11:19 pm
Britney Spears – I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll (Joan Jett)
Atomic Kitten – Tide Is High (Blondie)
Jessica Simpson – Angels (Robbie Williams)
Jessica Simpson – Take My Breath Away (Berlin)
Limp Bizkit – Faith (George Michael)
Destiny’s Child – Emotion (Bee Gees)
Hilary Duff – Our Lips Are Sealed (Go Gos)
James Blunt – Where Is My Mind (Pixies, hell anything by James Blunt is gawd awful)
Pussycat Dolls – Tainted Love (Soft Cell)
Pussycat Dolls – Feeling Good (Nina Simone)
Muse – Feeling Good (NO ONE touches Ms. Simone)
Fall Out Boy – This Is Halloween (Nightmare Before Christmas…shudder)
No Doubt – It’s My Life (Talk Talk)
Jamie Cullum – High And Dry (Radiohead)
Smashmouth – I’m A Believer (Monkees)
Rascal Flatts – Life Is A Highway (Tom Cochrane I almost walked out of Cars because of this)
Phew…glad I got that off my chest.
By: Karon Liu on October 30, 2007
at 5:58 am
Of course, Joan Jetts version is a cover, it was done by The Arrows, and before that was a Gary Glitter B side.
God forgive me, I did a show with Atomic Kitten and they couldnt sing their way out of a paper bag.
Totally with you on James Blunt, he used to be in the army. Send him back to the front line, thats what I say. Soft Cells version of Tainted Love was also a cover, originally done by Gloria Jones.
I quite like Marilyn Mansons Tainted Love, and Fun Boy Three’s Our Lips are sealed, and although I prefer Talk Talks original, No Doubts version didnt murder it, in my humble opinion.
By: kevmoore on October 30, 2007
at 10:31 am
I have to agree with Jamie, the Johnny Cash cover of Hurt rocked. When Trent Reznor says you did a good job of covering his song, it’s got to mean something.
However, I think that there is a whole catagory of bad covers out there. They are the country music singers who try to cover some popular pop song. Just….yuck.
By: Kristina on October 30, 2007
at 5:26 pm
Trent Reznor is in the public eye and not stupid enough to slag a legendary old man who was near death for his hack-job on his most personal song.
It was embarrassingly bad.
By: Kerry "the" Wall on October 30, 2007
at 5:40 pm