"Artists" Whose Only Hits are Covers

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Inspired by hearing some woman I'd never heard of covering the White Stripes' "Fell in Love With a Girl."

Orgy -- "Blue Monday"
Psuedo Echo -- "Funky Town"
Quiet Riot -- "Cum on Feel the Noize" (bonus points for following it up with "Mama Weer all Crazee Now")

Shouldn't there be a rule that you have to hit on your own merits before you pillage someone else?

― rainman (rainman), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:27 (twenty-two years ago)

The Bangles?

― ModJ (ModJ), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Elvis Presley?

― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Banannarama?

― ModJ (ModJ), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Taco

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Dr. and the Medics

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Shouldn't there be a rule that you have to hit on your own merits before you pillage someone else?

Go for it! Make the rule happen!

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Van Halen. They didn't really do anything after that Kinks song, did they?

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

This may be incorrect, but maybe Michael Bolton. Anyway, fuck Michael Bolton.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

The Lemonheads?

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

The New York Philharmonic?

― ModJ (ModJ), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

The Lemonheads win. Their only two hits were covers -- "Mrs. Robinson" and "Into Your Arms".

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Orgy also had a hit with "Stitches" (aka "The Decent Song, Not The Hellaciously Crappy One").

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Linda Ronstadt

― Nom De Plume (Nom De Plume), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Soft Cell, whose only hit was a Gloria Jones cover.
Kim Carnes, whose only hit was a Jackie Deshannon cover.
Natalie Imbruglia, whose only hit was a ???? cover.
Unless they had other ones.

And I sincerely hope you're joking, either way. If not, trust me: Will to Power and Mitch Ryder are more artists than you'll ever be.

― chuck, Friday, 13 February 2004 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

(Ub40? Big Mountain? Amii Stewart? This could be long fucking list.)

― chuck, Friday, 13 February 2004 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Sinead O'Connor

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

"Walk Like An Egyptian" was a cover?

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:57 (twenty-two years ago)

natalie imbruglia's "torn" was an ednaswap cover

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 13 February 2004 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Pat Boone

― BrianB (BrianB), Friday, 13 February 2004 20:00 (twenty-two years ago)

What counts as a hit here? Charting? Ubiquitous radio smash?

Anyway, Alien Ant Farm.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Friday, 13 February 2004 20:06 (twenty-two years ago)

the kingsmen
frank sinatra

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 February 2004 20:08 (twenty-two years ago)

And I sincerely hope you're joking

Umm, yeah, the quotes surrounding Artists was meant to emphasize those who covered someone else because they didn't really have it to hit on their own. So, in other words, not trying to ruffle Mitch Ryder fan feathers.

trust me: Will to Power and Mitch Ryder are more artists than you'll ever be.

Fair enough. I suppose I'm more Computer Guy than they'll ever be.

― rainman (rainman), Friday, 13 February 2004 20:09 (twenty-two years ago)

aztec camera

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 February 2004 20:13 (twenty-two years ago)

patsy cline
billie holiday
nina simone
chet baker
astrud gilberto
etc.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 February 2004 20:15 (twenty-two years ago)

joan jett comes pretty damn close ("i love rock & roll," "crimson and clover," "do you wanna touch me," "everyday people," "light of day"...) but saves herself, for the purposes of this thread, with "fake friends" and "i hate myself for loving you."

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 13 February 2004 20:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Joe Cocker

― otto, Friday, 13 February 2004 20:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66

― may pang (maypang), Friday, 13 February 2004 20:44 (twenty-two years ago)

This is a bad example, but I'm pretty sure Smash Mouth has more hit songs that are covers than any recent artists I can remember. (Why Cant We Be Friends, Can't Get Enough Of You Baby, I'm A Believer, at least 2 more than I can't think of)

― billstevejim, Friday, 13 February 2004 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Tell me you aren't thinking of "All Star" and "Walking On The Sun"...

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 13 February 2004 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Chuck, did you know that you can get Mitch Ryder to call a loved for a pretty reasonable price at http://www.hollywoodiscalling.com

I felt bad to see him on the list with Kato Kaelin and, uh, those other people. Also Martha Reeves was on the list, she deserves more dignity too.
Though I would love a phonecall from either M. Hint hint!

― My Huckleberry Friend (Horace Mann), Friday, 13 February 2004 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" and "Memorabilia" don't count as hits? "The Night" from the reunion album went top-40 in the UK also, but that's a cover.

― anode (anode), Friday, 13 February 2004 21:03 (twenty-two years ago)

...and "Sex Dwarf" was awesome, too.

― rainman (rainman), Friday, 13 February 2004 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

But as Chuck is doubtless thinking of, in the States they only ever had the one huge monster hit and that was hit.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 13 February 2004 21:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Er, it. Yes.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 13 February 2004 21:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Naked Eyes, "Always Something There to Remind Me."

― mike a, Friday, 13 February 2004 21:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Shouldn't there be a rule that you have to hit on your own merits before you pillage someone else?

I wanna explore this little nugget of wisdom here some more, just because it will be fun. I have my scalpel ready...

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 13 February 2004 21:56 (twenty-two years ago)

So, to start things off, why should this be a rule?

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 13 February 2004 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Chuck - Kim Carnes had other hits. "More Love" (another cover!) went Top 10; she went Top 20 with "Crazy in the Night (Barking at Airplanes)"; and she went Top 10 with two Kenny Rogers duets, "Don't Fall in Love With a Dreamer" and "What About Me."

Add to list:

Michael Damian ("Rock On")
Undisputed Truth (Temptations did "Smiling Faces Sometimes" first)
Lou Bega ("Mambo No. 5" was a Louis Prima thing)
The Nylons ("Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye")
Blue Swede (covers x 2: "Hooked on a Feeling," "Never My Love")
Frijid Pink ("House of the Rising Sun")
Santa Esmerelda ("Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood")

and does Kon Kan kount?

― Joseph McCombs, Friday, 13 February 2004 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Lenny Kravitz

― Leee Majors (Leee), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

So, to start things off, why should this be a rule?

So that I don't have to endure bands like Orgy, who if it weren't for them hitching their wagon to the star of a classic like "Blue Monday," had no business getting attention because their original stuff sucked. I pick on them especially because I thought their version was an abomination and it took about five seconds of their video to see that they were all style over Substance (pun intended).

― rainman (rainman), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:03 (twenty-two years ago)

bulls to red flag.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Surely, you've had to endure worse original hits.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Unless you like Joan Osbourne's "If God Was One Of Us" moreso than the Orgy cover of Blue Monday, for example.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess my point is: if a band is striving to have a "hit", then the fact that they might do it via a cover isn't something they can necessarily control. Maybe their manager and record label have a stronger say in what get's released as singles. Maybe they release both covers and originals as singles, and the cover just happens to be the hit. Maybe the audience just wants to hear something familiar again.

Anyway, if an act does "make it" via an original song, how does this affect the act's integrity (or quality or whatever) in anyway, whatsoever, as opposed to "making it" via a cover?

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

By that token, The Fall have broken this rule, as their first Top 20 hit in the UK was via a Kinks cover. Not saying you have to like the Fall by any means, just saying your criteria for the merits of acts in this case seems rather arbitrary and not well thought out.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, yeah, sure, but this is more frustrating because it just seems like someone getting undue attention for retreading the familiar (maybe because the people who actually do get to make the rules are lazy). I guess Orgy apparently had a follow-up single, but I sure as hell didn't hear it. And then they're relegated to the Pseudo Echo, Doctor and the Medics, etc. category of bands that disappeared becasue they didn't have anything to stand on after their big cover.

I don't know, though. What I tossed out there as (what I thought was) a fairly innocuous thread, has turned into a different animal. For instance, Joan Jett pretty much built her career on the same thing I rip on Quiet Riot for, but because I think she's cool I give her a pass. But, like I said at the start of the thread, the whole thing came about as a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to hearing what was imho a lame-ass cover of that White Stripes' song by someone I'd never heard.

― rainman (rainman), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Right on. I just thought about that, too. Maybe that's the cover they toss off at the end of their set, but the suits in charge don't have enough faith in their original stuff to push it. So, I suppose it's just as much, if not moreso, an indictment of the industry as it is of the bands. Of course, the flipside is what if their original stuff really does suck. I mean, I owned those records I mentioned above and if you take away the covers you had some seriously bad records.

― rainman (rainman), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Can we call The Fall an anomaly for now? I gotta leave work now and will have to get back to this on Monday.

― rainman (rainman), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Joss Stone's cover of the White Stripes is fabulous. Hell - her cover album is pretty great ("I've Fallen In Love With You" is amazing).

― Catherine (Catherine), Friday, 13 February 2004 22:51 (twenty-two years ago)

bands that started out as cover bands:

the beatles
the rolling stones

band that started out as, and never was anything but, a cover band:

the carter family

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 13 February 2004 23:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Shaggy might seem better now if he'd stopped after "Oh Carolina," which was his first hit, a cover song, and perhaps the best reggae single of the '90s. Musical Youth stopped after "Pass the Dutchie," which was their only hit, a cover song, and perhaps the best reggae single of the '90s, and it seems they could no wrong, that's how great they were! Boney M's only American hit was a cover of "Rivers of Babylon," which probably wasn't one of the best reggae songs of the '70s but they were one of the best bands of the '70s regardless.

― chuck, Friday, 13 February 2004 23:04 (twenty-two years ago)

The Strokes
*ducks*

― Sym (shmuel), Friday, 13 February 2004 23:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Also: The Fat Boys had two top 40 hits, both covers. They were great, too (though neither of those covers was all that great, maybe.)

― chuck, Friday, 13 February 2004 23:06 (twenty-two years ago)

oops, "Pass the Dutchie" = '80s not '90s duh.

― chuck, Friday, 13 February 2004 23:06 (twenty-two years ago)

How about Juice NEwton

― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 13 February 2004 23:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Also: Great White. One hit, an excellent cover song, which like all their cover songs (they covered Angel City TWICE I think!) was among the best things they ever did. Their second biggest hit, an unplugged version of a Led Zeppelin song, was also pretty great. And white.

― chuck, Friday, 13 February 2004 23:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Chuck are you forgetting "Rock Me"? Maybe that wasn't actually a hit, I can't remember. It was a hit on hard rock radio though.

― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 13 February 2004 23:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Cult of originality cropping up! So rock 'n roll.

I think performance counts for something (and is paramount in the jazz world, hence no such stigma there). I'm no more impressed by one-hit wonders who wrote their own songs, if almost all of them were crap. But if the cover is totally uninteresting, there's nothing to admire.

― no opinion, Friday, 13 February 2004 23:14 (twenty-two years ago)

re: "Rock ME": Uh..maybe. AMG says they actually had a FEW AOR hits (and one other Top 40), it turns out, and doesn't seem to mention the Zep cover. So maybe I was wrong about that one being second biggest. But "Once Bitten Twice Shy" was obviously their only HUGE hit. They didn't know that rock'n'roll burned. But then they found the candle and they lived and they learned.

― chuck, Friday, 13 February 2004 23:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh man Chuck, I thought I could be bad. And with the first anniversary coming up too!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 13 February 2004 23:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmmm. Hadn't it been for the fact that he topped the US charts with "Give Me Love, Give Me Peace On Earth", it could be argued that George Harrison's two only major hits were technically covers (at least according to a certain court sentence)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 13 February 2004 23:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Frente's "Bizarre Love Triangle." Nobody said that already, did they?

― Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Saturday, 14 February 2004 01:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Fugees: "Killing me Softly" is their only Billboard "Top 40 Mainstream" hit, though they've got others on dance/rap charts.

― no opinion, Saturday, 14 February 2004 09:04 (twenty-two years ago)

The Wallflowers, unless I missed something.

― antexit (antexit), Saturday, 14 February 2004 09:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Ahem. Pseudo Echo AND Frente! both had top 40 chart hits before the aforementioned cover songs, so they dont count. Just thought I'd point that out :)

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 14 February 2004 09:31 (twenty-two years ago)

aztec camera had hits with at least one original ("somewhere in my heart"). frente's biggest australian hit was "accidently kelly st" not BLT

― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 14 February 2004 09:37 (twenty-two years ago)

(cross post)

― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 14 February 2004 09:37 (twenty-two years ago)

wallflowers "one headlight" was a hit and an original

― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 14 February 2004 09:37 (twenty-two years ago)

whoever said the bangles is tripping. the lemonheads is a good answer actually

― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 14 February 2004 09:39 (twenty-two years ago)

And they had other cover hits too - "Luka" and "Different Drum", tho they werent top 40 hits I guess.

But Psuedo Echo grrr I wont have them sullied by that shitty cover they did late in their career anyway!

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 14 February 2004 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

'Van Halen. They didn't really do anything after that Kinks song, did they?'

What about 'Dancing in the Streets'

― dave q, Saturday, 14 February 2004 10:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Which Aztec Camera hit was a cover? (it is early, and my brain hurts)

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 14 February 2004 10:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Toploader, man.

― Jole (Jole), Saturday, 14 February 2004 10:33 (twenty-two years ago)

The Orgy cover was trying to take the song somewhere different. As it turned out that also meant somewhere rubbish but they weren't being 'uncreative' I don't think. And Joss Stone (the White Stripes girl) I have no great love for but there IS a tradition of jazz and soul singers interpreting other people's material, so tough luck :)

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Saturday, 14 February 2004 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Ailsa - Aztec Camera covered "Jump" a little while after VH released it.

I think I'm getting the point of this thread now -- it's one thing to be an *interpreter* of a song (like Cassandra Wilson, Nina Simone, and so many others), but something different to just go through the motions of a retread.

To that end I bring up Save Ferris's needless reworking of "Come On Eileen" and everything Goldfinger ever did. Oh, and the Ataris' "Boys of Summer," though it's too early to give them one-hit-wonder status.

― Joseph McCombs, Saturday, 14 February 2004 14:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Bands with one hit song and it wasn't even their song

"Aztec Camera covered "Jump" a little while after VH released it.

It wasn't a hit 'though - it was the B-side of "All I Need Is Everything".

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Saturday, 14 February 2004 14:22 (twenty-two years ago)

After the Fire: "Der Kommisar"

― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Saturday, 14 February 2004 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

That woman who covered "Fell In Love With A Girl" and took the tune out.

― Stupid (Stupid), Saturday, 14 February 2004 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Was "Jump" released as a single in the States? It is a truly great cover, but I didn't think it would even remotely qualify as a hit.

Have Speedway had any other hits apart from that cover of Genie in a Bottle?

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 14 February 2004 18:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Gun - Word up

― ___ (___), Saturday, 14 February 2004 19:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Fugees: "Killing me Softly" is their only Billboard "Top 40 Mainstream" hit, though they've got others on dance/rap charts.

This is just false.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 14 February 2004 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

how about The Carpenters?

― tod (tod), Saturday, 14 February 2004 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

bands that started out as cover bands:
the beatles
the rolling stones

The Beatles may have started out as a cover band live, but their first proper single had self-written songs on both sides A and B.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 15 February 2004 02:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Fugees: "Killing me Softly" is their only Billboard "Top 40 Mainstream" hit, though they've got others on dance/rap charts.

This is just false.

Info came from AMG. Again, what it showed was that that was the only record to make the Billboard "top 40 Mainstream" list. They had other songs on other charts, even no. 1's, so how you define a "hit" is crucial here...

― no opinion, Sunday, 15 February 2004 05:27 (twenty-two years ago)

kim wilde 'you keep me hanging on', i don't think she had any other hits here but for a while you couldn't escape this song.

― keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 15 February 2004 05:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Talk Talk. The heavily-MTV-supported band that named themselves after someone else's hit and managed to probably score a bigger hit with that song - albeit in a very emasculated rendering.

― Shaman Rikki, Sunday, 15 February 2004 05:50 (twenty-two years ago)

"fu-gee-la" went to 29 on billboard hot 100 ("the" singles chart)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 15 February 2004 05:51 (twenty-two years ago)

is rikki implying talk talk covered the music machine?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 15 February 2004 05:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Ok, wrong about Fugees.

Kim Wilde--I certainly remember "Kids in America" as a hit. AMG says it got to No. 29 on the "Mainstream Rock" chart, but I really don't understand which charts are relevant. No listing for that song and on the "Hot 100" chart.

― no opinion, Sunday, 15 February 2004 08:44 (twenty-two years ago)

aztec camera's best song "Birth of the True" was an original

― MerkinMuffley (MerkinMuffley), Sunday, 15 February 2004 08:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Scooter!

― Siegbran (eofor), Sunday, 15 February 2004 10:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Boston Pops

― Pinche Pendejo (Pinche Pendejo), Sunday, 15 February 2004 14:34 (twenty-two years ago)

The Beatles may have started out as a cover band live, but their first proper single had self-written songs on both sides A and B.

ok, but their first "improper" single was "my bonnie," the beatles backing tony sheridan, covers on both the A and B, and that's the single that brought them to brian epstein's attention, which is to say, that's the single that set them on their way.

and then once they got the chance to record "proper" albums:

first album: eight originals, six covers.

second album: eight orignials, six covers.

third album: all original.

fourth album, eight originals, six or seven covers depending how you count the medley.

my point being solely that they established themselves in the first place as a live cover band and then for several albums did originals and covers simultaneously. they certainly didn't establish themselves as an original band before they started pillaging others, as proposed in this thread's original question. and i think they're a good example of why a rule like that might eliminate some rather worthy "artists."

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Sunday, 15 February 2004 16:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Nilsson.

― Beta (abeta), Sunday, 15 February 2004 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

nilsson's best known for his badfinger and fred neil covers, yeah, but plenty of his own compositions were hits too, including "coconut," "me and my arrow" and "jump into the fire."

then again, his best album, never mind the hits, is an all-covers album: "nilsson sings newman."

there's a dude who was just plain comfortable, and brilliant, doing whatever the hell he felt like doing.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Sunday, 15 February 2004 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)

"how about The Carpenters?"

Richard Carpenter co-wrote a few of their hits.

And I'm going to say this for the last time, Soft Cell are NOT one hit wonders. Neither are Dexy's or Madness. I don't care what the idiot US charts say.

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Sunday, 15 February 2004 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Quiet Riot -- "Cum on Feel the Noize" (bonus points for following it up with "Mama Weer all Crazee Now")

Shouldn't there be a rule that you have to hit on your own merits before you pillage someone else?

This statement is even funnier if you remember that the only reason why Quiet Riot covered "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" was to keep the Mama's Boys' version off of the charts.

― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo (cindigo), Sunday, 15 February 2004 20:09 (twenty-two years ago)

The beauty of this rule is you won't even need a separate rule to deal with songwriters who can't make a proper hit record on their own. They'll be left out to dry!

One question, though. Does this mean bar bands will have to stick to playing their own songs (to prevent an accidental hit cover)? This could have its drawbacks.

― Curt (cgould), Sunday, 15 February 2004 22:33 (twenty-two years ago)

((Frente's "Bizarre Love Triangle." Nobody said that already, did they? ))

I didn't know they even did that, and what about 'Accidently Kelly Street" eh?

― Sasha (sgh), Monday, 16 February 2004 04:10 (twenty-two years ago)

nine months pass...

Music has been constantly consumed, half digested, regurgitated and rearranged for later consumption, for thousands of years. The concept of banning covers or denigrating anyone who releases one is as ludicrous as placing any other conditions on what artists may waffle on about.

I'm sure the original artist and the parasitic record executives who feed off their life force don't complain about the royalties that cover bands generate for them. The only people who get uppity about it are the impressionables who live vicariously through their fav band's antics. Remember, Motley Crue don't trash their own motel rooms. They have people to do that for them while they get manicures LOL!

― Osama, Wednesday, 24 November 2004 23:26 (twenty-one years ago)

For somebody who has had a zillion hit singles in five years, Westlife are impressively close to fitting into this thread.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 25 November 2004 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Friends of Distinction ("Grazing in the Grass," a Hugh Masekela cover), unless they have more hits I don't know about.

― chuck, Thursday, 25 November 2004 01:46 (twenty-one years ago)

the Buggles ("Video Killed the Radio Star", a Bruce Wooley and the Camera Club cover, unless the Buggles did it first but I don't think they did.)

Ram Jam ("Black Betty," a Leadbelly cover)

― chuck, Thursday, 25 November 2004 01:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Cowboy Junkies - "Sweet Jane," although I'd hate to dismiss them as a one-hit wonder.

― mr.drew, Thursday, 25 November 2004 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

ub40 owns this thread as a long-standing band.. whats their percentage, like 70% covers-as-singles?

― chris andrews (fraew), Thursday, 25 November 2004 03:40 (twenty-one years ago)

atomic kitten are up there, too

― chris andrews (fraew), Thursday, 25 November 2004 03:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Did the Byrds actually have any bona fide chart hits apart from those Dylan and Seeger penned ones?

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Thursday, 25 November 2004 07:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, "Eight Miles High."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 25 November 2004 09:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Jimmy Somerville takes some beating:

With Bronski Beat: I Feel Love & It Ain't Necessarily So.

With The Communards: Don't Leave Me This Way & Never Can Say Goodbye. (These were their two biggest hits.)

Solo: You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), To Love Somebody, Comment Te Dire Adieu & Hurts So Good. (These were his four biggest hits.)

Total: 8.

Sticking with Big Gay Pop, Marc Almond's only three Top 20 hits were covers: Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart, Jacky & The Days Of Pearly Spencer.

In 1993, KWS & Undercover were both nominated for Best Newcomer awards at the Brits, on the strength of two Top 20 singles each. All of these were covers.

Of Clock's eight Top 20 hits (1995 to 1998), at least six were covers. (Axel F, Whoomph (There It Is), Oh What A Night (= December 63), You Sexy Thing, That's The Way (I Like It), Blame It On The Boogie.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 25 November 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Three Dog Night?

― Why Does Herr Dadaismus Run Amok? (Dada), Thursday, 25 November 2004 13:35 (twenty-one years ago)

robert wyatt - shipbuilding?

― simon 803 (simon 803), Thursday, 25 November 2004 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

10,000 Maniacs.
At a Springsteen concert I had a fleeting moment where I wondered why he was covering Natalie Merchant, but then I realized the reverse was much more likely.

― fancy bill, Thursday, 25 November 2004 17:34 (twenty-one years ago)

One of the biggest tragedies in popular music, nay history, is that N-trance went from making "Set you Free" to doing cover after cover after cover. Apparently Mr. N-Trance hangs around a studio near where my brother works. I've more than once thought of going down there and screaming "WHHHYYYYY???!!" in his face.

― Bernard the Butler (Lynskey), Thursday, 25 November 2004 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I just watched a TV advert for the new Marilyn Manson best of, and three of the four songs they played snippets of were covers, namely Tainted Love, Sweet Dreams and Personal Jesus.

― jasiska, Thursday, 25 November 2004 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck - Friends of Distinction also scored hits with "Love or Let Me Be Lonely" (which you've probably heard) and "Going in Circles" (which you probably haven't, but should if you enjoy New Birth).

And a big NO on Three Dog Night -- they didn't write their songs, but only a handful of their hits were covers. The rest were solicitations from demos, and I don't think recording a track from a songwriter's demo counts as a "cover."

But I'll trot out Donny Osmond since all of his '70s hits were covers.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Thursday, 25 November 2004 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Candy Flip?

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 25 November 2004 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

This is a very inane, rockist thread. But I suppose that need not even be said.

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Friday, 26 November 2004 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Ella Fitzgerald! :D

― 3underscore (___), Friday, 26 November 2004 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost
Upthread, fact checking cuz addressed the inherent flaw in the conception of the thread. I prefer at this point to view it at as just an oldies trivia thread, so:

Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues
Smith - Baby, It's You

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 26 November 2004 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

surprised no-one's mentioned the fall yet. i think im right in saying that technically their best 'hits' - i.e. the only two singles to get in the uk top 40 were two covers: victoria and theres a ghost in my house.

― mark h, Friday, 26 November 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

the fall was mentioned already by donut.

― Ken L District (Ken L), Friday, 26 November 2004 20:10 (twenty-one years ago)

good point. ignore me.

― mark h, Friday, 26 November 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Shaun Cassidy

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 26 November 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

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