The real worst covers of all time are fun/uptempo songs covered really slowly and dramatically for movie trailers. I particularly remember a cover of What is love that is done extremely slowly and melodramatically and it was so Godawful.
That's a trend? I can only think of two of them, the Pinocchio song in the trailer for Age of Ultron, and that cover of Enjoy the Silence by KI Theory used in the Ghost in the Shell trailer. I liked that one, though it's not like Enjoy the Silence is the most quick and poppy track out there. A dramatic cover of What is Love sounds like the kind of thing I could never fucking take seriously, that's one step away from doing a really heartfelt dramatic Allstar cover.
There's also an extremely terrible cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit for The Gallows on WB apparently, and another awful cover of Every Breath You Take for Blair Witch. I'm trying to come up with a few others, but there is definitely a trend unfortunately.
Oh God. How could you take one of Bowie's best songs, on (arguably) his best album, and think you're going to make it better? Pure doo doo, no thanks. Smh G-Eazy....
When I saw Danzig last spring, he asked after a few songs if we wanted to hear any of his Elvis album. I've NEVER heard a crowd go silent so fast. I braced for him to storm off, but he proceeded to pretend he never asked and jumped into the next original track lol.
At least he respected the crowds obvious lack of enthusiasm. Seen Corey Taylor get booed on two occasions for forcing encores of slow Stone Sour songs on an unenthused audience.
just listened to it and what the hell, who chose this song to be the motivational/melodramatic theme song? imo if they really wanted smells like teen spirit on the soundtrack, it would’ve been better if the song just gradually built up as black widow beat up someone or did something bad ass, could’ve been 10x better than what we got.
Surprised no one mentioned Falling in Reverse's cover of "Gangsta's Paradise." This is the part where I would describe that cover to those who are unfamiliar, but there are no words.
Not only is it so so so out of their wheelhouse, but it certainly doesn't help that Ronnie Radke is an obnoxious signer and a far worse person. I can never understand people being super into that band. If someone likes the music but dislikes the person or vice versa, I can understand the separation, but a trash person who's a trash singer? What's left to like?
I was surprised that the whole punk goes ____ albums were not trashed. As a fan of the genre I can say that 95% of those songs are hard to listen to.. They just generally sing either the chorus clean or the verses and then scream the other add some blast beats and just most are really not appealing. There are a couple exceptions the bad romance cover is actually interesting at least alokg with a few others but in general kinda just generic and unappealing at the same time.
They actually stole the idea from a local band in socal called In Fear and Faith. I heard them play this cover live in 2009! It blew my mind, that cover is sick! its on youtube!
Ronnie Radke should be thrown in jail and left to rot, he really is a total fucking insult to rock music, his music isn't even so bad it's good, it's just bad, and Falling In Reverse have got to be one of the worst bands in existence.
As someone who speaks english as their second language, I thought the title implied "cover" as in, the album/LP cover, and I got really confused thinking the About a Girl youtube thumbnail they linked on twitter was the actual cover of the LP of the song until I realised, "oh. I'm just dumb lol"
Easy mistake, but yeah, we'd generally refer to that as either an 'album cover' (not to be confused with a 'covers album - an album comprised of covers) or, more likely, 'cover art' or 'artwork'.
I dont know why but 40 year olds love Disturbed's sound of silence cover for some reason. Used to go to a family friends house and my parents annoying upper middle class friends loved to play it and gush.
i was pretty shocked to hear melon's opinion on the cover, i did not think he'd think that at all. but ig that means i live in an even tighter bubble than i thought -- where i'm from, these "affluent gen xers" are abundant
I noticed that aswell, I go to a friend's house and the only form of rock that would play would be disturbed- sound of silence and Falling in reverse (which is played by my friends sister). I have nothing against Falling in reverse or disturbed but idk. It is weird to think my friends southern country dad (who is a cool guy none the less) would be down with this song.
The corporate trash bag fire of a band "Train" did an entire album covering Led Zeppelin II. I feel like that existing at all at least deserves an honorable mention. I say it doesn't get first place only because I don't think it appealed to anyone enough on either side of the fence for anyone to actually listen to it.
Machine Guns Kelly Cover of Killing in the Name Of. The dynamic range in in his performance is so narrowed that it's infuriating. The dynamic range of Zachs performance is what made that song awesome and considering when that cover dropped, gives a certain air of self importance that's pretty eye rolling.
I'm from Spain and I want to point out that the Ecce Homo's story is not true. It was not in a museum, it was in a church, and the old lady who "restored" it (Cecilia Giménez) did it with the permission of the priest, never asked for money and only wanted to help preserve the art. When it became famous, she said on TV that she was proud of her work and proud to be the reason her town caught the attention of so many tourists (the whole town seemed to be really grateful with Cecilia, they even gave parties in her name), but also kinda sad because of the people who made fun of it, because she said that it was something she did with good intentions and it looked so bad because it wasn't even finished (and they never let her finish).
The only time I've ever heard Imagine covered well is from A Perfect Circle. The reason why I feel like it worked there and most covers of it don't? Because it didn't try to take the song for what it is. It changed none of the words, but completely changed the message. It's like a coin where on one side you have call of hope, and optimism of a future where humanity will grow and prosper. On the other side you have someone who has the same hope, but no optimism. A complete disbelief of humanities ability to achieve those goals. It's one of those covers that completely transforms the song.
I didn't know ppl disliked AAF's Smooth Criminal cover. I think it's one of the best covers out there. Does it add to the legacy? No, but it doesn't need to. It takes the good parts of Smooth Criminal and cranks them up to 11 while not overstepping their boundaries by tarnishing MJ's strengths. It's good shit
I agree 100%. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel and they have no misconceptions about what they're trying to do. They're just trying to have fun with a classic song and they nailed it in an unpretentious way. Fun cover.
Alien Ant Farm wasn't trying to add anything to MJ's classic. It was an homage to a great song with good guitar tone and a silly video. It was fun to see a bunch of nerdy white guys show love to MJ.
That cover was actually the result of a warm-up that the band used to play before shows that people said sounds good and someone suggested they make a song out of it
Yeh I'm surprised to see someone say it's the 'worst cover ever' just because it wasn't setting the world on fire. I'm sure I heard somewhere that the band resisted it being a single because it was just something they did for fun.
Can't let a reference to the Alien Ant Farm cover of Smooth Criminal go by without sharing that the one kid in the music video who dances on the light up paving slabs went on to voice Vaan in Final Fantasy 12.
One time in college, my major’s department chair played the music video for Disturbed’s Sound of Silence in order to start a political conversation rather than giving a lecture. My major was Music Business. The Trump era sure was weird huh
@@BlakeHenke77that’s literally his best cover to date. He basically remixed the whole thing and put his own spin on it, I just don’t think you liked his style.
I thought Alien Ant Farm did an awesome job with Smooth Criminal. They basicslly just took the music as it was originally written, and transfered it over to Bass, guitar and drums without changing any of it. They did a solid job with that song, I totally dig it. The video is awesome too
@@ThePi314Man Basically the only thing that was changed, were the instruments that were being played. Other than the band obviously. Everything else was exactly the same, they played the main riff note for note, just like the original.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. Not all music needs to serve a purpose. If it sounds good, it is good, and the aaf cover of smooth criminal sounds great IMO
I never see these tweets but I’d like to put out there “everything Five Finger Death Punch touches”. House of the Rising Sin, Gone Away by The Offspring, Bad Company, whatever else they’ve covered. just absolutely turning songs into the most insufferable kind of faux tough guy buttrock imaginable
i am amazed not a single song of theirs made this list. Maybe i just have an irrational hatred for that band, but i dont think so. its like a caricature of hulk hogan is trying to sing numetal.
Especially the Gone Away cover. It seems pretty tone deaf to not only take a song somebody wrote about their dead girlfriend, but to perform it with absolutely no passion at all.
I went to listen to it after reading this. The reason September works so well is the incredible groove and pace, Taylors version's sounds so dead and disjointed. Godawful, I regret allowing those soundwaves to enter my ears. I'm going to listen to the original to cleanse myself.
Surprised nobody mentioned any of the covers Five Finger Death Punch has made. Either that or they did and it was just too low hanging of a fruit to mention.
I like some of them. They don't add much to the originals but they are perfectly fine imo. I haven't ever heard a cover from them and hated it, usually it is just an ok version of a good song done with heavier instruments, and honestly that is fine for me
I hate their cover of "Bad Company", mainly because I thought the original was shite and overplayed, and I don't need to hear any version of it ever again.
A really GOOD cover would definitely be stuff like Am I Evil? covered by Metallica and written by Diamond Head, Higher Ground by RHCP and written by Stevie Wonder, The Man Who Sold the World covered by Nirvana and written by David Bowie.
Absolutely tragic nobody mention William Hung's "She Bangs". That was such a legendary and gloriously awful cover and truly the "The Room" or "Angelic Funkadelic" of the cover world. PUT RESPECT ON THE MAN'S NAME
I think it's less tragic in "omg, such a bad cover" and more like... "man, did a bunch of suits and companies exploit a guy who was bad, yet passionate, at singing and make him a money-printing punchline?" At least William hung isn't actually mentally challenged, because that'd add a whole other level of terrible to that mess. Did the guy make money off of it? Luckily. But the industry give him a deal as almost a form of satire - knowingly making bad covers to sell them as a meme, of sorts.
@@TheMFYeti I was doin a lil research and he did indeed make some money for a couple of years and says he reflected positively on his pop music career. Now he works for LA Sheriffs Dept and is happily married. WE LOVE YOU WILLIAM IT WAS YOU WHO BANGED ALL ALONG.
The William Hung thing was so weird, we just all agreed to tell him he was good and pretend we liked his music. Like he got bullied by the entire world.
I'm still convinced that the Puddle of Mudd Nirvana cover was some kind of publicity stunt. There's no way they released something that bad without realizing, and honestly after it came out, people were talking about Puddle of Mudd for the first time in like 20 years, so I am still certain it had to be a publicity stunt.
@@brodftw lol I remember watching a couple vids of them last year and seeing him lay down and pass out on stage mid song. It's honestly sad and I hope he can get help for his problems
I didn't know about that. I've only ever seen one other clip of a Puddle of Mudd performance, and it was from the late 90s or early 2000s, where Wes was singing some Nirvana songs, but honestly sounded pretty good. Guess he's changed since then, hopefully he's getting the help he needs.
I'm glad you said Disturbed's Sound of Silence is terrible, too many people in my life think it surpasses the original and I'm always left trying to convince them I'm not just some Simon & Garfunkel purist, and that the cover just sucks ass.
@@jessequest8575 My issue with it more than anything is how overly cinematic the instrumental is AND the fact that said instrumental is mixed like complete ass imo. It is so muddy when the full orchestral arrangement comes.
Regarding "Imagine" and/or Lennon and Beatles cover's in general, I kind of enjoy King Krule's own take on Imagine and I'm still deeply disturbed by Wild Man Fischers version of Yesterday
@@patriciofernandez2711 or across the universe, the original is better but the cover holds up, Lennon seemed to think well enough of it to do backing guitar and vocals on it.
let's agree: As someone who's not into the music scene in the slightest, I've learned so much about music culture through the let's argue series, Anthony has a lot of insight and knowledge into the industry and he knows it so he talks with confidence about it plus he respects almost any other opinion someone else has and makes an even-minded and thought through response. The editing of the segment and his other vids adds so much more character to the experience and honestly having the weird censor type cuts in the middle of the vids is honestly a genius way to get people back to paying attention if they were drifting off. I give it a light six. It was fun bingeing this show.
I agree so much with The Sound of Silence by Disturbed. I remeber when it came out, all my friends were in awe and sharing it on facebook and twitter and I was like "this is so bad"
I really love the AAA cover of Smooth Criminal. It's a really tight cover and they have fun with it and it's not trying to be anything other than that. I don't really stick around when I hear people bitch and moan about how it ruined the original.
I don't know if it's the worst cover ever but I always have a viscerally negative reaction when I listen to Taylor Swift's cover of "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire
@@riversider2506 I've had plenty of similar realizations in my music listening career, but yes the original was released in 1978 and is much, much better.
I've never been a big fan of Dorian Electra's original music but their covers are pretty sweet. I think I legitimately prefer their cover of Teenage Dirtbag to the original.
Honestly, I can't think of a cover of Teenage Dirtbag that I like less than the original. It's a good song, there's just something so grating about the lead singer's tone and technique that makes it so hard to listen to for me. I think my favorite version so far is Phoebe Bridgers' cover because it's so much more dialed back and her voice is a lot gentler on my eardrums. I can't say it's the best, because that's up to interpretation, but I'd definitely reccomend giving it a listen
I genuinely loved the Alien Ant Farm cover so I could 1000% disagree with that one. While it didn't add anything new, it was so solid with instrumental and vocals were pretty good, it wasn't "worst" cause unlike most of the covers it didn't mess up anything nor did it sound bad. It was just a forgettable song, that doesn't make it bad. I think that person just didn't like it cause I can't find anyone who says it's the "worst". And honestly... it was my first favorite songs I can remember.
I personally love how much Alien Ant Farm played "Smooth Criminal" multiple times at concerts when they released it. Nothing else going on so they might as well play the hit.
They proved pretty quickly that they weren't ponies of many tricks. Todd in the Shadows pointed out how they had one song called Movies that they really seemed to be rooting for, since they shot two separate videos for it when it was a single before their Smooth Criminal cover took off... and then released it AGAIN as a single AFTER Smooth Criminal with a bigger budget (and even a random cameo from Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi for... some reason). I think that tells you all you need to know.
I'm surprised no one mentioned MGK's attempt to "cover" Paramore's Misery Business. To anyone who likes the track, I respect your taste of music but I'm sorry, both of my ears cringed so hard when I heard the chorus.
one bad one that comes to mind is Flaming Lips covering Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out of My Mind like a funeral dirge. For the best I would point to Smashing Pumpkins doing Landslide, and Fine Young Cannibals doing Suspicious Minds
Flaming Lips are a phenomenal band. I can imagine they probably put an indie rock/pop twist on that song, and they’re intentionally zany as well. So I feel like you probably just didn’t like their style.
Personally, Alien Ant Farm’s cover of “Smooth Criminal” is awesome. It was different. They didn’t rinse and repeat the song like so many artists do with covers these days.
@@andyspendlove1019 I learned how to play the song on bass and trying to do with high pitched background vocals is tricky and I'm still trying get the rhythm down without losing any of the tightness in playing the bassline. Fun fun song to play on bass.
Hey Anthony in case you read this, a question... About Imagine covers and over singing it or at least not singing it as toned down as John Lennon did... Have you heard the Chris Cornell version of Imagine? Do you like that take on the song?
There are a few covers that aren’t on here that I think are much worse: 1. The version of “Come Together” from “Cruella” 2. There’s an acoustic guitar cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody” that has the same slow tempo throughout all three sections of the song. 3. “Juicy” by MattyBRaps 4. All of the song covers from “Sing”
@@coby4480 u can have an unpopular opinion without being a troll bro. and u can be presented with an opinion differing to ur own without shitting ur pants. so its a win win
A really great cover that is sadly (and undeservedly) not very well known: Bruce Hornsby's version of "Madman across the water" is such a great thought out version that goes into a crazy jazz part. A favorite of mine since I heard it as a kid.
Cotton Eye Joe was actually researched in the 90s as a weapon of mass destruction for use in psychological warfare. It's generally played one or two times for the enemy and it keeps playing in their heads which leads directly to a devastating loss of morale and mass suicides. A rule was added into the Geneva Conventions solely to keep this song from the battlefield.
What are you talking about? The 90s one isn't the original. It's an american folk song from the 1800s. Rednex covered it into a garbage eurodance country song. To me the worst thing that came out of the 90s.
My brother used to be obsessed with Disturbed's sound of silence cover. He was always trying to get me to listen to it and convince me it was good, better than the original even. I never liked it lmaooo
There are so many people who praise that cover like it's the greatest thing ever. I don't think it's the worst thing like Melon said, but I totally agree with it having missed the subtlety and still vastly prefer the original.
I’m surprised no one brought up Johnny Be Good & Roadrunner/Modern World by the Sex Pistols because that is the funniest disaster I’ve ever heard on a professional album release.
We need a Best Covers of All Time just so we can finally have some positive Muse out of Anthony. Feeling Good is easily one of the best covers, if not the best, ever made.
Other than it being fucking terrible, the fact that it was just covered much better (but still shitty, but not as shitty) by Madcon a few years earlier, and a shit ton of remixes for the original were made just a little bit before that and were HUGE in clubs and on radio (which is what inspired Madcon to cash in and cover it) makes the new cover even shittier.
@@fredh1720 well, either way, i despise the song with all my heart. it's so annoying that it makes me prove people how alien ant farm's cover of smooth criminal was actually a banger back then.
Does "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" count even though it's a charity song? There are so many things wrong with that version, from the AutoTuned vocals to the rap verse to pretty much everything. I would also add Sheryl Crow's cover of "Sweet Child o' Mine".
Bad covers should also include "metalized" versions of pop songs. They always sound like absolute dog shit imo especially when they drop tune the guitars and the vocals are some metalcore or whiny bullshit
Is the opposite of nostalgia PTSD? I think that's what I experienced with that screencap of Puddle of Mudd's performance of Gimme Shelter. I was an intern at that radio station, and witnessing that was horrendous.
@@stubdteauzgautugaux ohhhhhhh i thought you were talking about the actual MJ song lmfaooo i was so tight for a minute i was finna rip you in pieces 😂🤣
Train's 'Led Zeppelin II'. A second would be the Flaming Lips' cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" with Dead Petz-era Miley Cyrus and Moby. Edit: No, unarguably the worst is Katy Perry doing Jay and Kanye's "Ni**as in Paris".
