Why Most Cover Songs Fail

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Cover songs are hard! You have to take a song that everyone already likes and transform it into something new without losing that thing that everyone liked in the first place. Doing a good cover of someone else's song takes a steady hand and a lot of skill, but doing it right can be hugely rewarding: Look at, say, Hendrix's All Along The Watchtower, which was so much better than the original that Bob Dylan started playing it Hendrix's way instead. So what's the difference between a successful cover and an unsuccessful one? Well... it's complicated.
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Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold for proofreading the script to make sure this all makes sense hopefully!

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15 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 994

@12tone 5 лет назад

Some additional thoughts/corrections: 1) My opinion, obviously. Should go without saying, but hey, just in case. 2) I should clarify that I don't have anything against Weezer in general. They have plenty of songs I like. In fact, I think their cover of Africa is, as a piece of music, pretty good, I just think that, as a cover, it's lazy. It's plenty of fun to listen to, but that's almost exclusively due to the strength of the source material, not any decisions Weezer made. 3) I should further note that I'm not saying there's literally no differences between the versions or that, when played back to back, I can't tell which is which. For instance, Weezer's cover features much louder drums, whereas Toto's leans on softer alternative percussion. Weezer has bigger guitars in the chorus. There's plenty of small things like that, but all of that seems more like happenstance and the difference between old-school and modern mixing techniques than it does any real, intentional artistic decision-making. 4) So it's been pointed out that my use of the Ghostbusters logo to represent soullessness in the context of covers could very easily be read as an attack on the remake. That was not my intent, I was just going for "soulless" as a crossed-out ghost. I actually enjoyed the remake, I thought it was fun, so I wanted to be clear that that implication was not my intent. Again, I try my best not to say bad things about other people's work on this channel.

@ConvincingPeople 5 лет назад

It's an interesting point of contrast to their version of "No Scrubs" as well, which actually does what you're talking about in terms of identifying what makes the song work and changing a lot of the surrounding details.

@sicko_the_ew 5 лет назад

Hmm ... Maybe it's also a case of it being a labor of love? (As alluded to somewhere down the bottom of the comments I've posted below). Sometimes a cover could be done with so much love that every last little detail of the original matters? (Since this requires mind reading, it's probably an analytically useless concept, but it might have some degree of psychological validity in some cases.)

@elalecz 5 лет назад

Would you consider “civil war” by gnr a cover of “when Johnny comes marching home”. To me that’s a perfect example of the heart of a song turned into a great cover.

@stefan1024 5 лет назад

The trick is to cover unfamous songs. Don't try to "steal" their fame, but just their ideas. It's easier to step out of the shadow of an unfamous song. Especially covers of well written, yet underarranged/underproduced originals ("rough diamonds") can work especially well. For example Bob Dylan's songs "Mr. Tambourine Man", "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" or "All Along the Watchtower" became popular as performed by other musicians (not that they would have been too obscure in the first place).

@LordDragon1965 5 лет назад

So, to me, one of the best covers is Whitney Houston's cover of Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You. Honestly, the music is very similar, but the feel is totally different because the vocal style of the two singers is so different. Dolly's country sensibilities compared to Whitney and her pop styling couldn't be more different, yet both versions work in their context.

@drewajv 5 лет назад

"You can't copyright chord changes" *glares at the Marvin Gaye estate*

@markseddon3292 5 лет назад

I thought that when I heard it. Radiohead v The Hollies and Air That I Breathe cane to mind

@bendowson3124 5 лет назад

The thing is, it wasn't even the chords that were the same, it was just the groove.

@bendowson3124 5 лет назад

@@burbanpoison2494 All the Marvin Gaye songs I know have chord changes, including What's Going On, Let's Get It On and I Heard It Through the Grapevine.

@tomboz777 5 лет назад

Came here for this comment

@Torthrodhel 4 года назад

You can and can't copyright whatever the most expensive lawyers say you can and can't copyright, since copyright is an arbitrary shitshow led by industry self-interest in the first place.

@penttikoivuniemi2146 3 года назад

I've always felt really torn on Johnny Cash's Hurt to be honest. On one hand, I feel like his decision to mend the tritone the first chord of the progression in the verse basically cut out the heart of the song, hurting (hehe) the atmosphere of depression and regret the original had... But on the other, he also gave it a new heart - he completely changed the meaning of the song into one of an old man looking back on his life with bittersweet nostalgia, knowing he doesn't have long left to live. It's a really good recording as well, but I've always had this weird feeling that the Cash version is wrong somehow. I kinda think of it as a similar thing to a translator completely missing the point of a novel and effectively mistranslating it, but the translated version being equally good on its own merits.

@daksanders4579 2 года назад

I mean no offense in saying this, but I think one of the things that may contribute to your feelings towards Cash’s version is that he isn’t looking back with bittersweet nostalgia, it’s regret. Cash did legitimately struggle with addiction during his career. He lived the addiction portrayed in Hurt and he used his life’s experience to put his own spin on it.

@TheFakeyCakeMaker Год назад

Nah, I think he actually understood the song better than Reznor who wrote it in fact Trent said of the cover "it's not my song any more" I never enjoyed the NIN version the way I enjoyed Johnny Cash's.

@LunarMoth Год назад

I used to enjoy more Johnny Cash. But after listening to The Downward Spiral, Hurt is something else.

@oranpf Год назад

The Johnny Cash version hits so much harder for me. They are both essentially about the same feelings, but where you hear Reznor expressing those feelings intentionally with his voice, Johnny Cash is just singing his truth and you hear the feelings in his voice without noticing him intentionally acting out those feelings.

@thegreatgambeeno 5 лет назад

What's the heart of the so- BASS!

@ThomasNimmesgern 5 лет назад

* Neeley intensifies

@jessepinkeye2339 5 лет назад

I immediately hear Adam Neely's "BASS" intro

@samiraperi467 4 года назад

All your bass are belong to us.

@gunnaryoung 4 года назад

Don't forget to *S L A P L I K E*

@chrislarry05 4 года назад

@@gunnaryoung O M G

@haystackstv5979 4 года назад

The Jimi Hendrix version of All Along The Watchtower is an example of a perfect cover song.

@elzoog 2 года назад

Yes, that's an example of a cover of a rock/folk song. Can you think of a cover of a rap song?

@LemonJoos Год назад

@@elzoog late, but snoop Dogg covered slick ricks song la di da di on doggystle

@elzoog Год назад

@@LemonJoos Ok, but you have to admit that rap covers are quite rare compared to other genres.

@LemonJoos Год назад

@@elzoog yeah, but thats probably because of how personal each song is

@elzoog Год назад

@@LemonJoos You mean, the songs in rap music are more personal than songs from other genres (such as rock, country, jazz, ...)? How does that work?

@Calcprof 5 лет назад

One of the best covers ever: Coltrane’s version of My Favorite Things.

@matpull9014 5 лет назад

Might as well add the beatles cover of Joe Cocker!

@matiasosuna8425 5 лет назад

Amazing cover: Fito Paez's version of Construcao by Chico Buarque. Both amazing songs.

@mickrobertson7782 5 лет назад

I have to agree with you there. As a tenor player, I respect all of Coltrane’s music even if it doesn’t fit my personal style, but I have to say that My Favorite Things is probably my favorite of his pieces.

@tagapiouplayz3737 5 лет назад

Yes please

@sebastien3411 4 года назад

YES! Kept waiting for a mention of My Favorite Things. The only cover song I can think of that so vastly surpasses the original in term of quality and recognizably.

@GodInTheMachine 5 лет назад

I hate when bands add nothing different to an original.

@shelbyherring92 5 лет назад

I partially agree with this, because if it just a note for note recreation, it feels nothing more than a karaoke version. That said, I also feel there are some songs that often too good as they are and that any alteration could damage the songs likeability. Look at covers of "Its Raining Men" by Living Tombstone ft EileMonty or "Cum on Feel the Noise" by Quiet Riot, they really don't add anything to the original or change anything up for the cover, save for instrument choices, but they still sound good, but they aren't original enough to be unique takes on the music they are covering. I guess my whole point is, 12tone is right that is a balancing act between respecting the classics while being fairly original, which is difficult, so it could be understandable why some artists choose not to change anything for fear that they may make something people don't enjoy. I don't know, that's just me.

@derrickbonsell 5 лет назад

Or when a band covers Iron Maiden but doesn't have a fraction of Bruce's range.

@bishopm4401 5 лет назад

Honestly why even try then?

@EpicStuffMan1000 5 лет назад

muse did an amazing job of not doing that to feeling good i was a little disappointed when it wasn't mentioned but there are plenty of other examples

@Hakajin 4 года назад

@@shelbyherring92 One of my favorite covers is Florence + the Machine's cover of Stand By Me. It sticks pretty close to the original, and the changes that are made... I don't know much about music theory, but just describing what I'm talking about, it seems like a lot of covers are just all over the place melodically. But the changes here make sense; they flow naturally from the original while also highlighting Florence's vocal talent. The instrumentation isn't overproduced or watered down, and... Also, I love how they integrated the Final Fantasy series main motif. It works for the song both musically and thematically/

@saoirsedeltufo7436 4 года назад

I think Disturbed's cover of Sound of Silence has got to be my favourite. Brilliant cover, takes the song in a new direction whilst staying very true to the original's tone and message

@AroundTheBlockAgain Год назад

I think that cover helped me understand both the original song AND the performing band better. Now that's one hell of a cover.

@RedmarKerkhof 5 лет назад

I love that you mentioned metal covers since I know you actually like heavy metal. You put it into words flawlessly. So many songs don't NEED heavy guitars.

@chaseholfelder 5 лет назад

Oh hey! Thanks for the shoutout friend! :-) Just checked out a few of your videos. Great channel. New sub!

@Loweene_Ancalimon 5 лет назад

one of my favourite covers is Chris Hatfield's Space Oddity. I think part of what makes it an excellent cover is the context of the recording, and how he changed the lyrics to fit his situation. Hatfield's version is not about an astronaut lost in space, but about himself, and the fact he ultimately will have to leave the ISS to come back to Earth. If I remember correctly, he recorded everything on the ISS, meaning the guitar is one of the two small guitars they have up there, that he recorded it in his sleeping booth, not on the best gear there is. The simplicity of it is what makes it that much more beautiful. And Bowie liked it and allowed him to leave it on RU-vid so...

@brendanmccabe8373 4 года назад

Ancalìmon Loweene And he kept getting notes back from the record label asking him to do the guitar again because it was so hard to play it in zero G

@oggabob 3 года назад

Ron Maimon Or maybe music can be interpreted

@Kyle-gw6qp 2 года назад

*Hadfield

@tanukijessica 5 лет назад

My philosophy has always been to make covers your own, make them sound like you, not the original artist.

@cheesecakelasagna 4 года назад

tanukijessica This is why I like it when artists like Lana Del Rey, Halsey, and Lorde (to name a few at the top of my head) released their debut records with one cover track which they tried their best to rearrange them well to fit into their soundscapes or world of their artistic personas. Halsey did "Walk The Line" (Johnny Cash). Lorde did "Swinging Party" (The Replacements). And Lana still does this every album, "Blue Velvet" (Tony Bennett), “The Other Woman” and “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood” (Nina Simone), "For Free" (Joni Mitchell), and "Doin' Time" (Sublime). And don't forget the brilliant interpretation of Amy Winehouse (and Mark Ronson) to The Zutons's "Valerie".

@kingzod8536 3 года назад

Rap music is good at this tbh, so many good and different cover songs.

@LesbianPretzel 2 года назад

The Beatles' version of "Twist And Shout" and Jimi Hendrix's version of "All Along The Watchtower" are, in my opinion, some of the best cover songs of all time.

@dkevans 5 лет назад

4:25 A Perfect Circle did a major-to-minor cover of the classic song "Imagine". It radically changes the feel of the song, making it sound menacing and foreboding.

@morganadamson5466 4 года назад

They also covered diary of a love song live that one is really badass and I prefer it to the original

@carrott0pgaming844 4 года назад

Morgan Adamson plus the cover of when the levee breaks, which is technically a cover of a cover.

@morganadamson5466 4 года назад

Carrot T0p Gaming is that one by apc? I don’t think I’ve heard it before

@PiPArtemis 4 года назад

@@morganadamson5466 its on the album eMotive. Fantastic album

@carrott0pgaming844 4 года назад

@@morganadamson5466 Yeah, It was on the emotive album along with Imagine.

@GreyGloom 5 лет назад

2:29 Calvin and Hobbes reference to Calvin Ball - immediate like

@henryrichard7619 5 лет назад

There's only one rule: You can't do it the same way twice. Wow, that's actually really relevant to the core idea of the video.

@mickrobertson7782 5 лет назад

Also, did you notice that he wrote the formula to the harmonic series immediately afterwards?

@rws531 5 лет назад

Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox is great example for changing everything.

@HandyClock 5 лет назад

I don't know that they've ever changed a lyric to a song

@jchristophersmith731 5 лет назад

PMJ used to clean up profanity in lyrics...their version of "Blurred Lines" is a great example.

@Neon_Chameleon 4 года назад

Especially in their more modern stuff. The first couple of albums I think were much closer to the originals and much better for it.

@z.kaminska130 4 года назад

Lurker1981 nah I like changing it up more

@mikegleim5241 5 лет назад

If it's not been mentioned, Devo's cover of The Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" is a treat! Good analysis of what makes a cover work, or not. Thanks

@coldanimal5107 4 года назад

A Perfect Circle's version of Imagine takes a similarly radical approach. Almost a complete reinterpretation rather than a simple cover.

@rajin95 5 лет назад

The Mountain Goats did a podcast where different artists covered each song from a single album. The results were mixed and it was apparent that many of the artists didn't have a big interest in the source material, which affected the quality.

@michanowak7060 5 лет назад

So what about rule 'don't cover your idols'? Idea is if I'm inspired by a particular band a lot, I shouldn't cover them because lot of ideas I'll put into cover was already their ideas.

@Exploshi 4 года назад

0/10 didn’t mention all along the watchtower

@LOCarrasco 4 года назад

He did in the text below the video. ;)

@mitchells7634 4 года назад

Here's my take for a good cover; it needs the same heart but different energy. Your example of Africa is one I was already very familiar with (original and 2 covers). The reason Frog Leaps cover is so good is because it has the same heart, same musical journey, but in a completely different way. Leo made the song so different, but if I played it for my dad who had never heard the cover, he would instantly know its a cover of Africa. The same things can be said for Land of Confusion by Genesis, and later covered by Disturbed

@TheAlbumGuy 5 лет назад

5:07 Marvin Gaye family and Ed Townsend have proven that statement wrong

@jonnuanez2843 5 лет назад

I thought the same thing as soon as it was mentioned

@jonathangwynne1917 5 лет назад

Only because juries are stupid.

@SammyNeverEver 4 года назад

Jonathan Gwynne No. Copyright law is stupid

@mackr1940 4 года назад

And Randy California.

@Debthouse 4 года назад

"I Will Always Love You" (Dolly Parton - original; Whitney Houston - cover)

@kionnakelly2918 3 года назад

I love the antfarm cover of "smooth criminal" by Michael Jackson. It's one of the best punk goes pop covers I've ever heard. I almost like it more than the original.

@tortis6342 Год назад

I heard the cover first and for years I thought that was the only version. I was shocked to find out is was originally by MJ.

@TheFakeyCakeMaker Год назад

@@tortis6342 that's worrying

@tortis6342 Год назад

@@TheFakeyCakeMaker blame my dad.

@thor97470 5 лет назад

One of the best covers I have heard would be Disturbed's cover of Land of Confusion by Genesis. I feel that it holds the anger of someone who held this song in their heart for years growing up; only to see that nothing got done and now it is their turn to see that things change. There are mashups of the two versions played side by side that play well together.

@MetalMarauder 5 лет назад

on the other hand their sound of silence cover is depressingly awful

@zelbinian 5 лет назад

@@MetalMarauder Paul Simon didn't think so. :) You might not like it (understandable, it is a little schmaltzy - David does like him some melodrama) but it did exactly what this video says covers should do. And you can't (or at least shouldn't) take anything away from David's vocals. He moved a whole hell of a lot of people with that performance (Paul Simon included) and that's what music is supposed to do.

@PiPArtemis 4 года назад

Personally I feel that In Flames did a better job of Land of Confusion but Im also predisposed to disliking anything Disturbed does. Especially that fucking "OHWAAAHAHAHA" throat clearing sound nonsense

@z-beeblebrox 4 года назад

Speaking of which, the lead singer did an absolutely amazing cover of Sound of Silence

@katresan1059 5 лет назад

Oh and sometimes something like changing major chords to minor chords, like you mentioned, can change the message or the perspective the lyrics want to convey: A Perfect Circle's cover of Imagine is a pretty clever example.

@dcurry7287 5 лет назад

@@ndy8463 As a Primus fanboy I have to mention their cover too. Their "sound" in general is an acquired taste, but their cover absolutely oozes with their particular "sound".

@critical_bryan 5 лет назад

I came into the comments to point towards the entire eMotive album but you definitely pointed out the best track off the album.

@tracer3330 4 года назад

One of my favorite covers of all time is A Perfect Circle's cover of Imagine. When I first heard the song I had to look up the original lyrics to the song. I heard John Lennon version of the song so many times but I've never clicked to with the lyrics until I listened to A Perfect Circle's version. Maynard delivers the lyrics with an almost condescending tone. We've all heard the song for over 30 years and praise the song but people haven't changed. Maynard feels like hes mocking everyone for not changing. It is a brilliant cover and a must listen.

@Leftatalbuquerque 5 лет назад

This video applies to Disco/Dance Remixes, which are very much part of my world. In the 70's, Bonnie Pointer redid "Heaven Must Have Sent You" TWICE: her original album version was a shuffle, like the 60's original, but the 12" Disco Single was a straight 4-on-the-floor with orchestra - it was a huge hit. She then redid the song "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" in the same way. The Spinners redid "Working My Way Back To You/Forgive Me Girl' and "Cupid/I've Loved You For A Long Time" and they were also big hits in 79/80. Quincy Jones covered Chaz Junkel's "Ai No Corrida" in 1981 and brought the song to greater heights. There are many more examples of songs being redone in a new way for the disco dance floor, including many Broadway standards (Memory (Cats), One Night Only (Dreamgirls), I'm Not Going (Dreamgirls)) and other 60's standards (To Sir With Love redone by Vicki Sue Robinson, Bridge Over Troubled Water by Linda Clifford) that were hits, particularly in the then-burgeoning Gay Disco scene of the early 1980's. Later, other 60's songs were rerecorded by one-off studio bands for 12" release - "California Dreaming" by The Night Shift comes to mind. Madonna's version of "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" also was redone in a Club Mix when her film Evita was released. In the 90's and 2000's, remixers such as Tony Moran would take a Celine Dion ballad, strip out the original backing tracks, record new dance tracks, and then speed up the original vocal track to match the new tempo (this was not always successful, for various reasons, one being that usually he would simplify or change outright the chord progressions to something WRONG and banal, but I digress). Donna Summer re-interpreted the pop-opera hit "Time To Say Goodbye" and wrote new lyrics for her dance smash "Con Te Partiro". Love your posts. I am a pianist/organist/accompanist with tons of Theory courses under my belt... and I wish that you had been one of my university professors! You would have made a lot of Materials of Music a helluvalot more fun!

@heavenly2k 2 года назад

I mean Weezer covering Africa is literally just like, music fan service. "What if Goku and Vegeta fused" is like "What if Rivers Cuomo sang a TLC song" lol

@BinglesP Год назад

Also I remember for a while it was basically the only song a lot of rock-centered car radio stations would play(back when Africa was the song everyone was making memes about), so I feel like it was also a sort of loophole that rock radio could use to play that song on loop for more money without having to switch what genre they market themselves with

@peacefroglorax875 Год назад

@@BinglesP Exactly: it succeeded because of how faithful it was to the original, and how impressive it was that Weezer was able to reproduce the sound so exactly. The difference being that it's Weezer playing it, and there are some things like the singer's voice that make it new. A whole category of covers succeed often because they breathe fresh life into a song you've heard many times, but in essence want to keep listening to unchanged. Because they're good songs.

@cyborg555 5 лет назад

Thanks so much for the reference to the major-to-minor conversion RU-vid channel. Absolutely amazing reimagining of a lot of songs.

@tehberral 4 года назад

I love Massive Attack's version of "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game". They took the original and made it much slower, sexier and more calculated. Even growing up in Motown itself I had no idea it was a cover until I stumbled across the original. They tailored it perfectly to their sound. Also, having Tracey Thorne on a song always helps.

@LoraCoggins 5 лет назад

I would like to add that in Vocaloid covers, people literally take the instrumental version of an original song and add a different voice (e. g. Vocaloid, UTAU, your own, etc.). Sometimes, it can enhance the song; others not so much. It does depend on how well a user knows the software and how to tune the voice. But there are so many people that make Vocaloid covers compared to original Vocaloid producers that one could treat this as its own subgenre, similar to nightcore. I actually would recommend listening to some of them; I had found some of my favorite UTAUs and Vocaloids through these types of covers.

@qotice7603 4 года назад

The best cover I ever heard was of Tally Hall’s Taken for a Ride, it was covered by the RU-vidr homestarrunnertron and he took the heart of the song and absolutely transformed it into a beautiful tribute to the original as well as a tribute to tally hall itself.

@aidanschuttler4371 5 лет назад

That's why Zeppelin's covers are so good, they changed so much it became wholly distinct

@thejack0fhearts43 5 лет назад

Oh boy, here come the haters... 🍿

@QuikVidGuy 5 лет назад

@@thejack0fhearts43 if you don't want haters maybe you shouldn't steal songs and call them originals I could mention worse things Zeppelin has done, but that would involve multiple content warnings

@thejack0fhearts43 5 лет назад

@Macaroni and Cliches Worse things? lmao are you an alter boy or something?

@teemulahtonen5448 5 лет назад

Macaroni and Cliches and there the haters came

@RomanPhilosopher 5 лет назад

Sexually assaulting an underage girl with a fish is one of the worst things they did. But also stealing black artists music and not attributing any credit is among their other notable sins

@ivyssauro123 5 лет назад

A great example of good cover are pretty much most famous covers of Bob Dylan's 'All along the Watchtower'. It's an extremely simple song but with a very strong and unique mood to it, and although some covers vastly change the song structure, melody(Hendrix's version, my favorite) and some even harmony(Michael Hedges I think has a very cool version of it), they always maintain that mysterious biblical/apocalyptic feel, and overall tenseness in the air that the original song conveys.

@cyanhallows7809 3 года назад

Bobby Womack is quite a nice version too

@williamepperson3443 5 лет назад

"As we all know the best way to define art is by legal precedents"... 🤣😂😄

@shelbyherring92 5 лет назад

Do all of the Hallelujah covers count? Because there is some heated debates about Cohen's original versus the countkess covers that seek to make it... bigger, I guess? Some say the covers miss the point, while others say Cohen's original version was more of a drone. Like to hear your thoughts.

@cyandinomashups 5 лет назад

I haven't seen that sonic face in years. I want to not see it again.

@darkerSolstice 5 лет назад

I'm not 12tone, but I have a lot of feelings on this topic. Hallelujah is a song that was originally written to express a sense of uncertainty about religion--and specifically Judaism (which was a major theme through Cohen's life and work. See "You Want it Darker" for an example of how that evolved over time). It often seems to me that (usually Christian) cover artists will chop out the parts of the lyrics that don't make as much sense to them, building it up into a huge praise song, and that specifically drives me a little bit batty. Like, if you're doing Hallelujah and you skip the verse that starts 'you say I took the name in vain', I'm not going to be impressed. Now, there's at least one cover that I whole-heartedly back: the Yiddish translation by Daniel Kahn (found on RU-vid on the Forverts channel). It really keeps the roots in the meaning of the song, updates the sound to be more musical, and sounds amazing.

@alicewyan 5 лет назад

It's a song that's often taken to be purely about love or about praise, but I find the brilliance of Cohen's poetry is that it's never just about love, or just about religion / spirituality, or just about depression.

@firthbythesea 5 лет назад

I think people misinterpret Cohen's tone when it comes to the hallelujah. Most covers sound sad, but I find it is quite a jubilant song.

@alicewyan 5 лет назад

@@firthbytheseaI agree, the final message is basically "I survived \m/"

@DreamCheaters 5 лет назад

the Zeppelin`s "since i`ve been loving you" covered by Bent Knee is a good example of awesomeness, using elements taken from the original they created a very different experience in their own style

@gibusgamer93 5 лет назад

On the subject of covers: I'd love to see your take on Jimi Hendrix's cover of All Along The Watchtower. It changed it so radically that it can be really hard to find the "heart" left from the Dylan original, yet it's widely considered one of the best covers in rock music. Cheers for the video!

@mrkrunch4340 5 лет назад

Even Dylan preferred it to his original.

@FranciT98 5 лет назад

I'd say there are two "hearts". One is the descending chord progression (minor, major, major each a whole step apart) and the other is the lyrics, which I think is the key to why Hendrix's cover is so great. What separates the two versions, in my opinion, is that the music in Dylan's version is a backdrop for the lyrics, while Hendrix uses the music to reinforce the emotion in the lyrics.

@Lukronius 5 лет назад

ZF12 Excellent suggestion. I am not a huge fan of Dylan’s singing (not a fan at all, actually) but, man, the guy has written some GREAT songs to be covered by others! “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” by The Animals is one of the most intense, soul-penetrating arrangements I have ever heard of any song. Compare it to the original - it’s night & day. Van Morrison’s cover of the song is incredible, as well.

@anirudhsilai5790 5 лет назад

That would be great!

@brendanharan4501 4 года назад

I don’t think it’s that Hendrix’s covered up the original heart of Dylan’s song but instead the found it perfectly and just accentuated it with his own kind of rock power.

@shelbie7604 5 лет назад

Cake made a really nice cover of I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

@gnoelalexmay 5 лет назад

Agreed - and Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

@playgroundchooser 5 лет назад

And they play a cover of War Pigs live a lot. So f'n great!

@gnoelalexmay 5 лет назад

@@playgroundchooser - cool! Must check that out!

@PiPArtemis 4 года назад

Cake does really great covers

@jamietaylor8663 4 года назад

Cob the fuck did you call me

@brainrich1358 5 лет назад

Some of my favorite covers 1. Quiet Riot - Cum on Feel The Noize 2. Johnny Cash - Hurt 3. Metallica - Whiskey in the Jar

@billyalarie929 2 года назад

Wait that’s not originally Quiet Riot? Who is it??

@danpreston564 5 лет назад

I’ve always really liked No Doubt's cover of 'it's my life'. Very similar to the original but I love Stefani's take on the vocal.

@BinglesP Год назад

I like that cover by Jon Bovi called "It's is my life" personally /j

@bimmy6823 4 года назад

I think a good cover can provide a different feeling and/or message from the original, but still being recognizable as the original when you look into it. An example of this is The Eden Project's cover of Hey Ya by The Outkast

@quietone610 4 года назад

Pet Shop Boys did Elvis' "Always on My Mind" as a pop tune with a heartless protagonist--as in, the narrative is ABOUT a heartless character, singing it to his lover in a heartless kind of way--and I love how it changes the meaning.

@willamcars1 4 года назад

"you cant copyright chord progression, drum beat, or guitar tone" hasnt stopped some people

@moistsnailpoop5295 5 лет назад

One of my favorite covers is Sid Vicious's cover of My Way.

@Sammy71ful 4 года назад

This is why I love Jamie Cullum's covers that he does. The instrumentation is completely different in just about every case, to the point that you have no idea what the song is until the lyrics come in. Case in point: Singin' in the Rain or I Could Have Danced All Night.

@darkerSolstice 5 лет назад

One of my personal favorite covers is the Flaming Lips' "Can't Get You Outta My Head". It takes the most sugary Kylie Minogue song and rips it (and your heart) apart.

@eduardoribas7733 5 лет назад

Hey, clarinet player here :) I’m just passing by to say that the content of your videos is a pearl here on RU-vid. Greetings from Portugal

@bennycorreia2634 5 лет назад

Portugal? Nós estamos mesmo em todo o lado ;)

@nonewmsgs 4 года назад

One of my favorite covers is the "sweet dreams" manson (actually I love a lot of his early covers and early music but I digress). Is he taking the heart of the unsettling music and turning it to 11? Also his boots are made for walking is one of the worst covers ever.

@AniMerrill 4 года назад

Yeah I feel like the Manson cover of Sweet Dreams basically takes the lyrics very literally, where the original is sort of blase about the "use you/abuse you" lyrics and focuses much more on the "sweet dream" angle. Sort of like the world is just this wacky party where everyone's just trying to fit in (with undeniably some sexual undertones, some people do in fact like "abuse"). The Manson cover I think reaches more into the reality of a world of sick people trying to fuck each other over, a theme that pervades a lot of his music. It evokes the emotions of someone dying bloody in a wet ditch rather than a 12 hour dance-a-thon in some club on coke lol.

@wilhelmtheconquerer6214 4 года назад

I would actually dare to say that one of the greatest covers ever was done by me and my band as a school project. Here's why: I'm a metal head who, for large parts of my life has suffered from depression and mental health issues. Therefore, I did a charity concert to raise awareness for depression. To subvert the audience expectations of me, I opted to not make it a trough and through floodwave of hard rock and heavy metal, but instead to ad a softer acoustic section of the set right in the middle. Here we covered a song we all loved, but felt had been almost completely destroyed by the production and arrangement: Demons by Imagine Dragons. We opted to make an fully acoustic version instead, with two western guitars, acoustic bass, cajon and dual lead vocals. It was by far the best received (and preformed) song in the whole set. Almost the whole audience was in tears by the end of the song and people told us it was their definitive version of the song. If that's not a great cover, I don't know what is. If you've read this all the way through, thank you for taking your time! Hope you have a great day

@FlamingCuntLips 5 лет назад

I'm happier now knowing I wasn't the only one that got peeved at the pop song made METAL schtick that was going around for a while. It's a temptation we all have at some point but rarely should we follow through with it. Hence why I've given the recent covers in the style of videos a huge swerve . . . it's cute when QotSA made Villians a David Bowie tribute album but wouldn't have been as good if they labeled it as Bowie sings QotSA.

@PavelFomenkov 5 лет назад

That's exactly why I can't cover as many songs as I want, and I'd like to cover a million of songs. Just because I can't find something to click, can't find the "aha" moment to make a good cover. But a couple videos of mine I'm pretty proud of are "April Come She Will" done in Mark Knopfler manner, and Mark Knopfler's "Golden Heart" done in acoustic. Also, for my version of his song "The Ragpicker's Dream" I played on harmonica - something that has never been done before. That's the best way to make a cover in my opinion, make something that's never been done before. Like Gregorian singing "Brothers In Arms"... And it's one of the best covers in history to me. Thanks for this great video, 12tone. Pavel.

@orrcazz 5 лет назад

Rage Against The Machine's cover of Maggie's Farm is one of my favourite covers, and that's just someone screaming the lyrics over an unrelated riff...

@dcurry7287 5 лет назад

It absolutely keeps the "angry laborer" soul intact, which was a big theme of RATM's music in general. Dylan was a fabulous poet rather than a fabulous guitarist anyways.

@corduroylikethebear 4 года назад

2:17 this is such a perfect way to describe it!!! it’s always such a relief when the cover artist understands this concept. lorde’s cover of everybody wants to rule the world comes to mind

@Polynerdeia 5 лет назад

I just found you and I’m binging through all of your videos. Absolutely adorable channel, subscribed!

@tyronewilson6463 5 лет назад

My favorite cover is definitely Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. The heart of the song remains but the minimal backing makes it feel so much closer.

@alicewyan 5 лет назад

As someone who's really into Leonard Cohen's version, I find Jeff Buckley's cover doesn't convey nearly the same amount of ambiguity that Cohen's has, which is something I really enjoy about LC's songs. But I can see why JB's cover is so popular.

@wingracer1614 5 лет назад

@@alicewyan Musically and sonicly, Buckley's is an all time masterpiece. But as was pointed out in the other thread on this topic, the removal of certain verses does greatly alter the meaning of the lyrics substantially. For me, LC's is a masterclass in poetry. JB's is a masterclass in music performance.

@pulykamell 5 лет назад

You just hit the nail on all of it, in regards to how I think of covers. I understand everyone will have a slightly different opinion, but I even have the same problem now when I hear "Africa" -- is it the Toto original or is it Weezer and if it's Weezer, why did they bother? It does eventually diverge a little, but it's really no more interesting to me than seeing a slavish copy of any original artwork, no matter the medium. I mean, it's a fun party trick, but when I want to experience the artwork, I'll go experience the original.

@JbfMusicGuitar 5 лет назад

I get what your saying here. The Weezer version, as I see it, made the song complete a weird cycle from legit song -> old cheesey song -> meme -> ironically cool song -> once again legit song. So, although musically it's pretty similar the (social?) context around it sort of changes the consumption of the song. Oh man, that was way too pretentious, I should have just said "...but Wierd Al guest accordion solo, dude!", lol

@pulykamell 5 лет назад

@@JbfMusicGuitar Actually, the Weird Al cameo does kind of redeem it a bit in my mind. :)

@JbfMusicGuitar 5 лет назад

@@pulykamell We probably just need a bit more Weird Al in general, lol!

@commandercrack2.018 4 года назад

One of my favorite Covers is you keep me hangin' on by Vanilla Fudge. They made this already great and funky soul song into an absolute banger of a psychedelic rock song

@mathewwallis2863 5 лет назад

Great video! I love recording my own takes on songs I love and this has given me a whole new perspective! Thanks and double thanks for the fender play link!

@oliviaann9946 5 лет назад

Wuthering Heights remains undefeated, change my mind

@sunnybadgr5073 3 года назад

*But Running Up That Hill is not undefeated. Meg Myers cover is better than the original.*

@itskoile1985 5 лет назад

Exactly this is the reason, why I love Nevermore´s Cover of Sound of Silence... take the heart of the song and change everything you want :D

@TheSquareOnes 5 лет назад

Couldn't agree more, that's an amazing cover and is also one of my go to examples of how to reinvent a song. In addition to standing on its own it also shows the importance of making a cover actually fit the album you're putting it on, far too often they stick out like a sore thumb but Nevermore rearranged it to perfectly match the style of the rest of the album so that it enhances the overall experience rather than detracting from it. It also helps that the lyrics and imagery of the song already sound like something Warrel would have written anyway, to the extent that there are probably people unfamiliar with the original that didn't even notice it was a cover. RIP Warrel Dane, truly a unique voice and to this day one of the few celebrity deaths that actually hit pretty hard.

@theofawesome1 5 лет назад

I liked the concept of the "musical archaeologist" that you brought up midway through; very apt way to describe finding the 'heart' of the song. Thanks again for some great content!

@jameswkr7177 5 лет назад

Hey man, thank you! Just a day before this video was posted by you I started building ideas to recreate an old song that has never been covered. I might try kicking off my career with that cover someday in order to get experience in a studio before I go to record my own material. So this video has helped me make some decisions regarding that cover, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR VIDEOS!

@susandanajones7765 5 лет назад

Best cover ever, in my opinion, is Eva Cassidy's cover of Sting' s Field of Gold. A marvelous tribute to the original.

@TeagueChrystie 5 лет назад

I disagree with your premise that the metal version of "Africa" is a particularly different arrangement than the original song *or* Weezer's cover, to be honest. The biggest difference I notice - exactly the same as with Weezer's, really - is just... texture. EDIT: To be clear, the metal version is *more* different than Weezer's - but only marginally, and only (sorry) superficially, imho. EDIT 2: For a point of comparison, and not a perfect example, but one that I'd wager is still a bigger departure from its source material than the metal "Africa" - and yet a very successful cover all the same (while still being only a 'modest' re-imagining of the original song) - we might consider Alien Ant Farm's cover of "Smooth Criminal." For a further point of comparison, a counter-example to "Smooth Criminal" might be The Ataris' cover of "Boys of Summer," which I'd argue - like Weezer's "Africa" - may have been re-imagined too modestly. (And if you wanted an example of an "immodest" re-imagining/cover... honestly, the band that comes to *my* mind is Mindless Self Indulgence - check out "Tom Sawyer" [Rush], "Big Poppa" [Biggie], "Bring the Pain" [Method Man], etc.; alternatively, Ben Folds' cover of "Bitches Ain't Shit" [Dr. Dre] goes - "immodestly" - in the opposite direction of MSI.) (Full disclosure, I actually happen to enjoy pretty much every version of every song I've mentioned; I'm just providing examples that seem to fit the topic.)

@finnkenyon1289 5 лет назад

How much did you listen to of it, because I feel like the chorus has a very different feel to it, and the choice of changing singers for the chorus is interesting.

@aaronmaughan7453 5 лет назад

You're going to have to justify your usage of superficially. If there is a prime example of a superficial cover with no type of innovation, I would point directly to Weezer's Africa. It requires the same amount of effort as the guitar guy at the party playing Wonderwall. Someone different is just singing it. Frog Leap while not doing anything particularly intensive for any genre, serves the "heart" of every song he covers, while adapting the melodies to metal, and in some cases transposing full chords into original arrangements that are still following the chords so well that non metal heads can recognize and enjoy it. It is hard enough to be metal by all standards, while being indolent enough for the casual listener to still find what they were looking for. It does it so well it can teach a metalhead to love pop. I'm getting the impression that you're wanting to give Weezer more credit than they're due in this case. Weezer SHOULD get the credit for being one of the most "metal" bands of the 90's, creating a sound so bland that they stood out like a beacon in the middle of the grunge revolution, and being able to adapt that and keep their off white signature relevant through the mid two thousands. If you want an example of their BEST covers the new album shows exactly how much musicianship they'v e been hiding over the years, because almost ALL of those are good covers that DO change everything enough from the original to make it Weezer's version. Signed, a Weezer hater who is married to a Weezer fanatic.

@Funkybassuk 5 лет назад

I agree so much with this video. Whenever I would arrange covers for my old (originals) band, I’d think about what I really loved about the song and what I thought could be improved/tailored to our band. Sometimes I will listen to several different versions of a song to try to get to what you call “the heart of the song”. It is the hardest part of covering a song.

@fifty-sqrd 5 лет назад

Great, resonates so much.. thank you

@georgekrobertsonmusic 5 лет назад

You really hit the nail on the head as to what defines a good or bad cover. It's something that I really struggle with on my channel which is nothing but covers (must confess this video has somewhat made me question what the point of my channel even is!). Your comment about 'Weezer presents Africa by Toto' sums it up pretty succinctly - are you trying to pay tribute to the artist/band you're playing, or are you trying to *be* them. I know I fall into the latter a bit too much. Given me a lot of food for thought lad.

@MaggaraMarine 5 лет назад

I would say it all really depends on what your goal is. Weezer is a band that plays mostly original material, so them deciding to cover a song note for note without adding anything of their own to it is pretty much pointless. But cover bands are a whole different thing and there is also value to making the song sound exactly like the original song. It really depends on whether you want to sound original or if you want to make it sound as close to the original as possible. I think the worst covers are those that are kind of inaccurate, but also don't add anything new to the song.

@georgekrobertsonmusic 5 лет назад

@@MaggaraMarine Very true. It reminds me of The Classic Rock Show cover band here on RU-vid: I love their covers, but they are definitely meant to be note for note. What makes them great is the proficiency and passion with which they perform. Then there's Trivium's recent cover of I Don't Wanna Be Me by Type O Negative - another great cover that differs in its cleaner production and more technical guitar work. Boils down to subjectivity in the end I suppose.

@bcubed72 5 лет назад

@@georgekrobertsonmusic Well, yeah, a "cover band" sort of is expected to pay fidelity to the source material. I mean, I LOVE Townes Van Zandt's cover of "Dead Flowers," but if my first time hearing it was in some bar, by a Stones cover band...I'd be "WTF?"

@georgekrobertsonmusic 5 лет назад

@@bcubed72 Indeed, I realise my point sounded like a pretty obvious remark but I'm just highlighting that being a note for note recreation doesn't necessarily affect my enjoyment of it. As @MaggaraMarine put it and what you've sort of alluded to, it depends on what the person doing the cover is trying to do as well as what the listener looks for.

@tompatterson1548 11 месяцев назад

@@georgekrobertsonmusic Note for note is fine if you change instrumentation.

@aarondx3764 5 лет назад

I love Gary Jules Mad world because 1.It fit the lyrics a bit more than A bizarre 80's pop song. 2.It introduced me to one of my favourite bands Tears for fears .

@marvelboy74 4 года назад

Talk about stripping down a song. The original TFF version was a little over-produced so I definitely enjoy the sparse arrangement of the cover.

@Yet_another_placeholder 3 года назад

One of my absolute favorite covers of all time would be Hyde's cover of Duran Duran's "Ordinary World". He pretty much changes all of the orchestration from being kinda a pop-song to having a complete symphonic orchestra backing him, in addition to having his own hard-rock band join in from the second verse. It's definitely worth checking out, in my opinion.

@TsubataLately Год назад

Ordinary World is one of my absolute favorite songs ever, but thank you for introducing me to this cover version. While it doesn't quite top the original for me, there are some elements of it that are just fantastic. I love it when a cover song has those exquisite moments that make you forget the original, even if for only the moment. Well worth the listen!

@bonecanoe86 5 лет назад

Yes's cover of Simon & Garfunkles "America" is an example of a cover that changes absolutely everything apart from the melody and lyrics. The melody isn't even preformed in the same time signature. And of course Yes added about 6 minutes to the song.

@anthonyrector8183 5 лет назад

Good covers I've heard. Feeling Good by Muse. Surrender by Less than Jake. Thoughts on this?

@lil_villian5124 4 года назад

The best cover ever: Death's cover of Judas Priest's "Painkiller"

@broman260 2 года назад

One of the worst covers ever, it ruins the intro first off, Judas priests original is literally perfect. Death made a big misstep covering it the way they did.

@actualizedanimal 5 лет назад

One of my favorite examples of a cover that completely changes the feeling of the original is Streetlight Manifesto's cover of "Birds Flying Away" by Mason Jennings. The original is a very low-key, quiet folk song, whereas the cover version adds a ton of theatricality, courtesy of Streetlight's trademark horn section, and for the first time in a Streetlight song, an incredibly ominous piano part that accompanies the buildup after the intro, and then eventually bookends the song as its intensity dies back down. There's so much really cool stuff going on with their arrangement that the song basically sounds completely different from the original even though they use the same two chords and have the same vocal melody. Interestingly enough, on that same album, Streetlight does this the other way around, by taking NOFX's "Linoleum", already a fast-paced punk rock song, and turning it into a laid-back, melancholy ska-folk jam, complete with an absolutely beautiful acoustic guitar solo. The change in instrumentation really adds a lot of poignancy to the lyrics. There's also a fun little touch where when the singer goes "That's me on the street with a violin under my chin, playing with a grin," an actual violin comes in very briefly to accompany the verse. That album in general is very hit-or-miss compared to the band's original material, but I think it shines through the most when they use their talents to add a unique spin to the song they're covering, like their cover of "Just", where after the final chorus their alto saxophonist plays a note in an incredibly high register to imitate the original song's shrieking electric guitar, or their cover of "Such Great Heights", in which they perform the opening synth line on trumpet, alto sax, and trombone. Likewise, it falls flat when they don't do enough to diverge from the original.

@elliotglynnguitar 4 года назад

My favourite cover is liane las havas’ cover of Baltimore, it’s a complete reimagining, even the time signature is different. And it’s SO good

@thanasismavromixailidis918 5 лет назад

"Diamonds and Rust" by Judas Priest That's how you cover a song.

@Ice_Karma 5 лет назад

So, Weezer released a _soundalike,_ rather than a cover?

@baesangelmusic2886 5 лет назад

I agree. In my local musicians crowd, many members believe in exactly duplicating the original. I have always been of the school of thought that an individual musician should express their individuality in their own way. When the originals were created, the artists reflected their own characters. To me, exact covers are shallow because they don't reflect the covering artist's individuality. I have always believed artists need to make it their own and you can't do that when you do an exact representation of a cover. Make it your own and not only will you be more proud of your work but listeners will have an opportunity to hear another artist's personality to a song they've already heard.

@Relyx 5 лет назад

Was not expecting a Frog Leap Studios shout out but glad you love that cover too. One of this best for sure!

@katresan1059 5 лет назад

I liked Weezer's cover tbh, it's fun and Weird Al Yankovic was good. Also I hate pop-songs-go-metal covers for the same exact reason THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MENTIONING IT

@arex3632 5 лет назад

america - yes, that's a great cover

@247snowflake 5 лет назад

Yes also did a pretty good version of the Stephen Stills song "Everydays"

@khtnsuwdih 2 года назад

Agreed! Supercharged, but still elegant and really imaginative. (also has a few cheeky bars of Bernstein's 'America' too!)

@darkguardian011 2 года назад

"The Pot" covered by Brass Against is easily my favorite cover.

@AnthyLoneExoria 4 года назад

I think the best straight ahead cover that I've heard, is probably Green Day's version of Working Class Hero. It sounds similar, yet there's definitely some big changes, more as it goes on. It diverges increasingly, but starts at "home" -and returns back to home in the end with a sample of the actual song. It's both something new, yet still respectful of the original work.

@Azuremane 5 лет назад

Where does Weird Al fall? :-)

@Stray7 5 лет назад

It depends on the song. When he really enjoys a song, the parody version of it really shines. When he doesn't (Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch, for instance), you can tell. This is why his polka version of Bohemian Rhapsody is so awesome, and why his style parodies work (where he's not parodying a particular song, but a general style and vibe, like Dare To Be Stupid being called "the perfect Devo song").

@mustangdebbie56 4 года назад

@@Stray7 Agree. Although the Girls Wanna have lunch was more about how he was forced by his record company to do it, rather than his feelings about the song itself.

@mustangdebbie56 4 года назад

Weird Al started as a typical parody songwriter, but soon his parodies became a cross between a cover and a parody. The cover part is as exact a replica as possible, with only the lyrics changed. This becomes part of the joke; that when you hear the song it's hard to distinguish between the original and the parody until you hear the vocals. For those who aren't aware, his band plays all the music, it is not sampled from the original (the bit of Black Dog in Trapped in the Drive through is not sampled from Led Zepplin). They go to great effort to be as accurate as possible. Now those style parodies are a whole different thing and would make an interesting subject for analysis. I would suggest Genius in France, a style parody of Frank Zappa, as his most complex or Craigslist, a style parody of the Doors, one of his more accessible songs.

@robozstarrr8930 5 лет назад

Dread Zeppelin, a successful cover band .... Cheers!

@megladon88 4 года назад

A fantastic cover band that kept the spirit of each song yet made it wholly their own. I honestly think their version of Stairway is as strong as the original.

@WaterShowsProd 4 года назад

Their take on the riff of Heartbreaker is stuck in my head more often than the original.

@pinchecookie 5 лет назад

About that Weezer Africa cover, it is so similar that I thought it was a statement of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" sort.

@res0nance197 4 года назад

One of my favorite covers is Fireflies by Make Way For Man, and, looking back on it, it does most of the things that were listed.

@stephenbenner4353 5 лет назад

Probably my least favorite lyrical change in a cover song was Bob Dylan’s cover of “Big Yellow Taxi.” He changed the title lyric in the song to “big yellow tractor,” Yet he still called his version, “Big Yellow Taxi.” Furthermore, while I’m mentioning Bob Dylan and we’re talking about covers, I think most covers of Bob Dylan songs are better than the originals.

@bigfootsburneraccount9160 4 года назад

Disturbed, we're looking at you.

@ruialdelopes7791 5 лет назад

I really like your view. I generally don't like covers, and could never figure out quite why, but all you points make complete sense. Bravo. I'd also like to recommended Russkaja's covers (Roar, Get Lucky and Wake Me Up), which are songs I didn't originally like but really loved the cover.

@duffie72 4 года назад

At the same time I agree with you, I can't avoid thinking (specially when I'm included in those type of ppl when it's about some of my dearest artists) that usually we like things we're familiar with. We have a word in portuguese for it, it's "saudosista", I don't know if there's one equivalent in english... But it means someone too attached to the idea of original, so attached that a different version (even the tiniest detail, like extending a note) could only be seen as an offense. We see these kinda of behavior with video game fans, for example. Something gets remastered and then... OH NO it's hard to decide

@jaschabull2365 3 года назад

The closest thing to an English equivalent to that is the TV Tropes trope, They Changed It, Now It Sucks

@8nayrb 5 лет назад

Was that a partial derivative? How much math have you taken?

@QuikVidGuy 5 лет назад

Hz, don't it?

@bcubed72 5 лет назад

LMAO "soulless cover" represented by the Ghostbusters logo!

@cheru_fishmonster 5 месяцев назад

On metal covers, there was a TV show on a number of years ago, Rockstar. It was kind of like American Idol, but for rock, and it was bands looking for a vocalist. They would give each person a song, and they had to make their own arrangement and perform it live. One week, Marty Casey was given the song Hit Me Baby One More Time. Most of the songs they gave to contestants were rock, but I think they wanted to give a challenging song. He didn't make fun of the original. He did a rather stripped down version, but put a ton of emotion into the vocals. The original song, you clearly get the story of a girl who likes someone and is dying to go out with them. But with identical lyrics and melody, Casey made the song into something that sounds more like an abusive relationship. I think despite all of the rock or metal covers that treat the original pop version with derision, that is the power that doing a cover in a different genre can have. That's something I think warrants being made.

@the.Aruarian 5 лет назад

My favorite type of cover is probably the one where it takes you a while to realize it's a cover, even if you're familiar with the original, and it stands on its own as a good song. The first example that comes to mind for me is Torre Florim's cover of the Prodigy's Firestarter.

@sharpdistance 5 лет назад

My biggest issue with this is how you frame the process of creating a cover of a song as a competition and an attempt to outdo the original, which I find is almost never the case. People only do this when they actively hate the song in question and want to show how it could have been good. More often, people will cover songs that they actually like and in that case, you're not going to be trying to outdo the original, you're going to be trying to pay homage to it. This can still involve changing things, but I think it's also perfectly valid to pay homage by paying attention to every detail of the original as closely as possible. In particular, I remember that in some interview (which I can no longer find), Rivers Cuomo (the frontman of Weezer) mentions that on the cover album that their version of Africa is on, their intention was to replicate the originals as closely as possible, rather than to make the "Weezer-ified" version of them. Also, I don't think it's very fair to compare Weezer's cover of Africa, which is a rock band performing a cover of a rock song, to a version that changes it to be in an entirely different genre. Obviously changing the genre of a song is going to require a lot of changes to it, whereas the original version is not entirely unlike the kind of music that Weezer would make anyways.

@derrickbonsell 5 лет назад

I think Bad Wolves's cover of Zombie completely lacked the punch of the original. Now I know the story behind it, but even then it just utterly lacks the punch and the context of the original. The Cranberries's version came from the heart, Dolores and the rest of the band were singing about the Troubles, of which they weren't far removed. Bad Wolves is just singing about war in general and I just don't think they're the right band to give the topic the seriousness the song deserves. Also most metal vocalists just aren't great singers.

@RomanPhilosopher 5 лет назад

Jimi Hendrix did some killer covers because he kept the heart of what he covered but added his own flavor to them

@SaltosAxe 5 лет назад

Surprised you didn't mention jazz! What we play (standards), while not exactly covers, offers a lot in terms of respecting a melody while making great stylistic decisions.