Pazz & Jop singles that cover or interpret a more famous song

anthrax/public enemy

would the slits' grapevine have been too early for the poll?

I don't want to re-litigate Legendary K.O. either, so I'll go with Husker Du by the barest of margins. When given the chance, for me not to vote for Husker Du in a poll would be an unusual thing.

flying lizards, easy. (obama would agree with me, btw):

The Flying Lizards: C or D, S&D

Slits' "Grapevine" wasn't too early (Christgau voted for it), but it didn't place.

I think Eight Miles High was the only song I ever called a radio station to request (KUSF). It was hard to find the single when it came out

Obama's a well-known communist, so I just don't think he'd go for anything as heedlessly avaricious as "Money." That story's a smokescreen. He was a Billy Bragg/Gang of Four/Crass guy.

Husker Du for me.

wow! this is a much hard one. gotta go with Negativeland tho. just because.

Hey, shouldn't Husker Du's cover of the Mary Tyler Moore theme "Love Is All Around" (#4 P&J 1985 as a B-side) be in this poll, too? (Feel like there must be other ones as well -- Donna Summer "The Wanderer," #20 1980, sort of? though sort of not too. But not about to run through all the lists to figure out what they are.)

Does Summer's "The Wanderer" really qualify?

Probably not -- but it definitely seemed like a sort of rewriting/reworking/reinterpretation of Dion when it came out.

Assume "Bette Davis Eyes," "Mickey," "Pass The Dutchie," "Girls Just Want To Have Fun," "Our Lips Are Sealed," "I Feel For You" (and "My Toot Toot" I guess?) are all disqualified due to the "Tainted Love" rule.

"Madam Butterfly"? (Maybe not.)

Springsteen "War" definitely qualifies though. (And apparently X "Positively Fourth Street," which I don't think I've ever even heard, but which charted as the B-side of "4th Of July," unless you're disqualifying B-sides. That Husker Mary Tyler Moore B, though, was probably the main reason that single charted.)

Salt N Pepa "Tramp"? (Via Otis & Carla? Though rap appropriations might be a grey area in general.)

tempted to go w/ Negativland on this one...reminds me of Butthole Surfers.

Negativland.

Another B-side (or at least second part of a medley?): Soft Cell "Where Did Our Love Go"

Also could be argued that, if those Freelance Hellraiser tracks qualify, then "Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel" should, too. (I'd say that -- unlike, say, "Pump Up The Volume" -- it's less well-known than most of its sources.)

Not sure I get how Johnny Cash's "Hurt" was necessarily a "bigger deal" than the Flying Lizards or Husker Du covers in the poll, either. (They sure seemed like big deals at the time, to me anyway. And "Money" got to #50 in Billboard, even.)

yeah i made a lot of somewhat arbitrary choices here -- but to be honest the only one you mention that i kinda wish i'd included is Springsteen's "War" (and the only one i kinda wish i'd excluded is "Bring Tha Noize")

Gotta concur about "Love Is All Around," one of my favorite covers ever. It was kind of a big deal at the time; I don't think "Makes No Sense at All" would have finished nearly as high without it. But as a B-side, I can see where you might leave it off.

well, i've heard of "Makes No Sense At All" and had the impression it was one of their more famous songs, and i had no idea the "Love Is All Around" on the b-side was THAT "Love Is All Around" or that they had covered it, so it just didn't occur to me.

a few others i might have argued for:

bangles, "hazy shade of winter"
coolio, "gangsta's paradise"
chemical brothers, "setting sun"
DNA feat. suzanne vega, "tom's diner" (though maybe that one's covered by the "tainted love" rule?)

i had no idea the "Love Is All Around" on the b-side was THAT "Love Is All Around" or that they had covered it, so it just didn't occur to me.

We're old guys; we can't help ourselves. Now get off my lawn!

there's a vague underlying theme here that I probably haven't done a good job of articulating -- but to me the "Money" cover, though a hit, feels like more of a deconstruction of the original or somehow dependent on your familiarity with the original than, say, the Bangles' "Hazy Shade of Winter" or "Gangsta's Paradise"

Wait, Setting Sun? How does that work?

"setting sun" works at least in part a rewriting/reworking/reinterpretation of "tomorrow never knows." i almost proposed rem's "drive" too (rewr/rewo/rein of "rock on") but that actually seemed silly.

some dude, that explanation makes sense. (though of course you could still have long, subjective discussions about what fits and what doesn't.)

I'm surprised "Into The Groovey" placed as well as it did.

yeah -- higher than any Sonic Youth song! (the only one that ever placed was "Kool Thing" at #24

that's just weird (and kind of annoying)...

well they've been perennial P&J album kings forever, i have no problem with them getting snubbed on the singles side (for the reasons i went to at length in the P&J 2010 thread)

Money" cover, though a hit, feels like more of a deconstruction of the original or somehow dependent on your familiarity with the original

Fwiw, I'm pretty sure (as somebody who barely paid attention to music at all before 1979) that I was basically unfamiliar with earlier versions of "Money" when I first bought the Flying Lizards 45. I just thought it was a completely wacky and weird record, musically. (Still do.)

weird!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

not sure I voted

haha same here!