Hack made good

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Which awful done over boring songs have been covered and made brillant. I have a live MP3 of bowie and marrianne faithfull doing You got me Babe. This is what i am thinking of.

― anthony, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Beavis& Butthead & Cher doing I got you babe, plus Red House Painters turn silly love songs by mcdeathny into a masterpiece.

― Geoff, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Do they by any chance achieve this feat by playing it slow?

ADAM and Amy's "Zombie" (orig. The Cranberries) is a good pick here.

― Tom, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The original "Zombie" was awful and boring? Really? Now I have to dig it up to find out...

― Cryosmurf, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Always been bored by "Killing Me Softly" but, wow, for a few weeks in summer '96 the Fugees' version had *it*.

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Baby I love your Way by Diana Ross

― Mike Hanle y, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Didn't Goldfrapp cover an Olivia Newton John song?

― nathalie, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah, she does "Physical" in concert.

"I Got You Babe" is crap even with Bowie and Faithfull singing it... and I LIKE them.

― Sean, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There's no such thing as a crap song made good - the song was good to begin with. Most of my favorite songwriters are "hacks". Hacks are Sixpack Joes in the realm of Music. Why else would more "legitimate" artists cover the songs of "hacks".

And I like Olivia Newton-John as well. She had some great material - just needed more of it.

― Kerry, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Pretty much in agreement with Kerry here, though my nomination in this category, if such a category can exist, is "Where The Streets Have No Name" by the Pet Shop Boys.

― X. Y. Zedd, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ha! Negativland Vs U2! (mark S is so wrong on this point)

― Jerry, Wednesday, 1 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh, and thinking about it... virtually all of the last Kevin Rowland album (and for any of any Antipodean chums, the 1999 Jimmy Little album certainly managed to reinvest a few tired old staples with emotion)

― Jerry, Wednesday, 1 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Even if you dislike "Hey Jude" Wilson Pickett's version has to do *something* for you.

― Keiko, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm afraid to say, Keiko, that it did - it made me dislike it even more. What was once just overlong was now also oversung.

This actually is a general theme - a great soul singer can make a good song better, often, but can also make a bad song worse with the application of technique. Why did soul men so often turn to the Beatles and not other sixties rock bands, too?

― Tom, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

As everyone knows, Aretha Franklin did "96 Tears"

― mark s, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

eight months pass...

same reason all those jazz musicians, lounge singers, Broadway show- tuners and orchestras did: THEY WERE THE FUCKING BEATLES.

― M Matos, Wednesday, 3 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well, yes, but besides that.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 3 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

seven months pass...

Red House Painters rendition of
Genesis' "Follow Me, Follow You."
I don't hate the original, it was
a listenable fluffpop single with
a cool intro, but the Painters
absolutely thrashed it into a
slow, lovely acoustic dirge.

More than a few soul singers have
covered (original) Creedence songs,
which is only fitting, really. Most
of them sound pretty good, except
for Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" which
I dislike.

― Squirrel Police, Thursday, 21 November 2002 23:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, I think the obvious cover-that-was-better-than-the-original has to be DEVO's take on the Stone's "Satisfaction", even though the Stones did an O.K. job. But let's face it, any song DEVO covers is ruined for the original artist because DEVO kick so much ass. And they're from Akron, where my cousin grew up. She pronounces "mom" as "moowam*" and soda as "poowap*".

* soft "a" as in "father"..

― Helltime Producto (Pavlik), Friday, 22 November 2002 00:26 (twenty-three years ago)

Though I disagree that Devo kicks so much ass, they at the very least made "Satisfaction" at least AS awesome. And I prefer it to any Devo-written ditty.

Jason & The Scorchers "Take Me Home Country Roads" has to count for this thing. I really only like J&TS' covers (best Scorcher track is "Absolutely Sweet Marie," but the original was good enough it shouldn't be here).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 22 November 2002 03:12 (twenty-three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.