thespian86

HOLY JERK FACE! What is with this sudden surge of covers from the punk rock world. It seems that every album i get has a cover of an eighty's song!

Any thoughts. Thanks. MH.

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FoolThemAll

Better than using awful original material, says I.

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ToolBag

because its soooo scene!

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grumpyolddude

If they did something interesting with them they might be worth a listen. Just regurgitating someone else's work is quite lame.

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wrongfullyaccuzd

Seriously. Punk bands should take cues from the likes of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and just start doing covers cause they can't write anything decent themselves.
Smartbomb's cover of Faith Hill's "Breathe" is pretty cool.
Those punk fans will know NFG released an entire album of covers of songs from movies.
And of course, the Ataris biggest hit ever, "Boys of Summer", was a cover.
I say covers, if anything, help punk.

the_marq

I quite liked the "Smooth Criminal" cover by Alien Ant Farm, nothing else they have released really turns my crank.

I just heard tell of a Foo Fighters cover of Prince's "Darling Nikki." Anyone care to comment on that one?

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chrisg299

I love that song :-D Then again I've liked Foo Fighters to begin with but hey w/e works, more power to em

notaneel

It's not that Me First and the Gimme Gimmes can't write songs...they contain members of such bands as NOFX, Swingin' Utters, Lagwagon, and the Foo Fighters...they are ment to be a fun, novelty band.....but when bands like the Ataris do a terrible cover and then try to pass themselves off as a serious band....it's just sad....and because of the mainstream exposure they get...they make punk rock look like a novelty

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FoolThemAll

I actually quite enjoyed the Ataris cover of "Boys Of Summer". I don't get what people hate about it, other than it being in the sound of nu-punk.

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Redjake

Because DJ Sammy & Yanou did a remake a year before, and it exhausted everyone's opinions of the song. It was old before, DJ Sammy rejuvenated it with techno and a female's vocals, and the Ataris simply redid the song and changed a word or two. Everyone was fed up with it.

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FoolThemAll

Huh. I've never heard of DJ Sammy or Yanou.

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Redjake

It was on the radio for a heinous about of time. If you listen to Top 40 at all, or watch TV, then you probably heard it. Most people don't know the name of the artists that did it, but have heard the song.

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FoolThemAll

I listened to radio a little, semi-regularly, but never heard a third version of that song. Maybe it didn't fit the format of the two stations I generally listened to.

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Vales419

Simple...

Because the new artists cannot think up there own shit, they must redo someone elses.

V.

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mikeylips

Covers are good only if...

1) The song was good originally
2) The cover is well done

I think some bands are covering songs to try and get known, but screw that, they should be working their asses off with their own original material like the way it's supposed to be.

Tophat665

Actually, I disagree that the song needs to be good to begin with. Ahmet and Dweezil Zappa's cover of (Hit Me) Baby One More Time rocks to a degree that is totally unprecedented for any girlie music. When Brittany Spears sings it, the only good thing is like as not she'll be wearing a red Saran Wrap tube top.

Anothr one that springs to mind, but which I havent been able to track down a second time was a punk cover of Glen Campbell, Wichita Lineman. Maybe that's a good song behind the canned strings, but you can't prove it by me. The cover was awesome. Wish I could find it again.

Another: The Gourds, who are bluegrass rather than punk, covered Snoop Dog - Gin and Juice. Snoop Dogg's version is a sterling example of just how boring a rap song can be, even with the excellent lyrics he penned. The Gourds breathed life into that snoozer.

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H12

I see nothing wrong with cover-songs, as long as they aren't embarrassingly bad and the band doesn't rely on that song's success.

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FoolThemAll

Also: Travis nicely covered this song.

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nate_dawg

uhhmm.......that kind of "punk" rock IS a novelty.......

Redjake

if you are in to techno, electronica, or just a steady beat, you should check out the cover. It's officially titled: DJ Sammy & Yanou - Boys of Summer

weird but decent cover, more original than the Ataris cover.

same guy and girl did the "Heaven" cover of Brian Adams.

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:::OshnSoul:::

That's nothing new. That's what punk bands are good at. I like some punk, but most of them have covered at least one song in their running.

FoolThemAll

Ah. I *have* heard the Heaven cover, from when my sister's controlling the radio in the family van. Yeah, I don't really like that kind of music, based on limited exposure.

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Hal Incandenza

I think--THINK--that version is by Urge Overkill, from one of their early albums (Jesus Urge Superstar or Americruiser). They definitely covered it at some point, anyway; maybe there are other versions out there....(And if anyone's interested, UO just got back together, should be touring pretty soon.)

mikeylips

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tophat665
[B]Actually, I disagree that the song needs to be good to begin with. Ahmet and Dweezil Zappa's cover of (Hit Me) Baby One More Time rocks to a degree that is totally unprecedented for any girlie music. When Brittany Spears sings it, the only good thing is like as not she'll be wearing a red Saran Wrap tube top.

I guess I didn't look at it as making a not so great song better, you have a point there. I guess its nice to hear what a band or artist can do with a song.

God of Thunder

Covers have been around for a long time. All artists do it at one time or another it seems. And it's not just one genre.

Hell, The Beatles started off doing covers. "Twist and Shout" was an Isley Brothers tune.

Covers can be flattering sometimes (Hendrix doing "All Along the Watchtower"), a downright wreck other times (Fred Durst's attempt at "Behind Blues Eyes").

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CheeseButtons

I've never heard a punk cover that I liked...covers are best left to people with GOOD VOICES that can improve upon the inflections of the original song.

While we are talking about covers, I'd say Aaron Lews is the cover-man...he can sing anyone's song better then they can.

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FoolThemAll

Not Pearl Jam's "Black". I did like his try, though.

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Dixie_Wrekked

Metallica's garage inc is nothing but covers but I'll still rock out to it

jvwgtr

I really like covers, personally.
Sometimes hearing a song through another artist's interpretation can make you hear the genius of the original.
One of my favorites is John Mayer's cover of Kid A...kickass.

But a lot of times, covers just bring a little nostalgic fun to the listeners...don't a lot of bands do covers in concert? I think building your whole album around a half-assed cover is kind of lame, but as bonus materials or what-not, covers can be a lot of fun.

I had an idea for a mix CD full of covers...all linked.
For example, let's say it starts off with John Mayer's Radiohead cover...the next track is Radiohead covering U2 or whoever, then U2...etc...ending with the final band covering John Mayer.
Kind of like six degrees of separation.

PoteMatic

Dang i tohught i was the only one who noticed... People covering "the monkeys" and stuff like that wtf?

Redlemon

Someone is well ahead of you... http://www.coversproject.com/ .

Hope you have a super-length CD, because the longest chain is 160 songs!

CinnamonGirl

In general, I don't mind cover songs...they're always fun to hear at concerts.

It REALLY bugs me when a band does a cover song and then releases it as a single, though. Especially if it's their first single.

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Redlemon

...especially if it's their ONLY single. (Orgy, Alien Ant Farm).

student

even mozart and beethoven and the likes did covers....well they called them variations on such and such a piece but, yeh, the intent is to add a new perspective on the piece, not just, as was stated before, regurgitate the same thing.

CS733t

IMO the best cover was Seether live performing Nirvana's "You know you're right"

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notaneel

i agree, but it also reflects poorly on the entire "punk" genre as a whole...especially to those who can't tell the difference between the Ataris and Bad Brains

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CinnamonGirl

It's not so much that it's a bad cover, it just annoys me because a) the original version is my favorite song, and b) I loved Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits, and was pretty disappointed that their first radio single was a cover. I know they can do better than that.

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wraithhibn

All I have to say about covers is - Take on Me from Baseketball.

The Ataris last CD sucked balls, the ones before it were much much better.

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Redlemon

REEL BIG FISH!! Woohoo!!

If anyone saw the musical South Pacific, RBF also does an amazing cover of "There Is Nothing Like a Dame".

student

rbf - hungry like the wolf