Music Cover Party!
- Apr 15
- 2 min read
Several years ago, we had a few friends over and played our version of "Name that Tune" where you'd play a few seconds of a song and have them guess the name of the song and the artist. One guy at the party was incredibly talented at it and could often name the song in like 5 seconds of hearing the intro.
It started a second discussion about bands that do cover versions of other people's songs and that some of the remakes are better than the original. We were able to come up with literally dozens if not hundreds of songs that fit that category without much thought. Sometimes, it would be a classic song from the '60s or '70's that was reintroduced today with a new twist to the song. It might be faster, heavier, redone by someone who never wrote music in that genre or introduced to a new generation of listeners who never knew there was an "OLD" version of the song.
The idea of cover songs has gotten so popular that there are entire albums, artists and XM/Pandora stations that are dedicated to nothing but cover songs.
Since there's so many songs like this out there, I'd like to introduce this as a new series if you like it. We'll start with some examples to whet your appetite and would love to hear some of your suggestions as well.
Here we go:
Walk this Way by Aerosmith reintroduced by partnering with rap band Run DMC
The Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel redone by Disturbed
Torn by Ednaswap redone by Natalie Imbruglia
I Fought the Law by the Crickets redone by the Clash
Red Red Wine by Neil Diamond redone by UB40
Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon and Garfunkel redone by the Bangles
With a Little Help From My Friends by the Beatles redone by Joe Cocker
Killing Me Softly by Lori Leiberman redone by the Fugees
Knockin' on Heaven's Door done by Bob Dylan redone by Guns N' Roses
Tainted Love done by Gloria Jones redone by Soft Cell
I Heard it Through the Grapevine done by Gladys Knights and the Pips redone by Marvin Gaye
I Love Rock and Roll by the Arrows redone by Joan Jet and the Blackhearts
Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Robert Hazard and the Heros redone by Cyndi Lauper
Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival redone by Ike and Tina Turner
Respect by Otis Redding redone by Aretha Franklin
As you can see, we're just touched the surface on this topic. If you like this post, please send me suggestions for future posts.
Excellent. Love the Disturbed version of sounds of silence and the fugues song. Fun that run dmc did the video with Aerosmith. Always thought that Joan Jett did I love rock and roll as the original.
Simply outstanding. People my age remember the classics along with the remakes and sometimes even the remakes of remakes. I find myself in awe, at some of the cover bands that I have personally experienced, and the talents they have mastered. Growing up in the '60s & '70s, the music in that era was imprinted on my mind. A lot of us still listen to the older generation of music, mainly because the new generation of music makes no sense to us. Thank God for the original classics and the covers.
I find I like most of the remakes more than the w