Badmovies.org Forum

As much as i like Bad Movies, I do also like Bad Covers of Songs.
So are here are some entries of mine and hope you can add some.

Lucy in the sky with Diamonds by William Shatner

If I had a Hammer by Leonard Nimoy
(still waiting for an album by Walter Koenig)

Kung Fu fighting by Ruby and Tom Jones (believe it doesn't sound anything like the original, which should be a plus but isn't)

Another one bites the Dust by Wyclef Jean ( It is possible to ruin one of the best bass lines ever)

Waterloo by Doctor and the Medics and Roy Wood, you'd have though putting those 2 together they could do no wrong, but they can.

Crispin Glover's album The Big Problem...The Solution = Let It Be would fit this category, with special mention made of his cover of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'." It's 3-4 minutes of psychopathic ranting/screaming by one of Hollywood's strangest oddballs. For my money, it ranks right up there with Shatner and Nimoy for weirdness.
Mitch Miller's cover of "Give Peace a Chance" is also pretty bad/odd. Mitch Miller was a band leader in the '50s-'60s and is probably most famous now for his Sing Along With Mitch television show. Why he covered this song is anybody's guess, but it is reeeeeeeeally bad.

Noooo!!! Crispin Glovers albums is brilliant. Clowny clown clown is especially good. Apparently, one of the guys from Devo helped him make it. It's truly weird.

The version of Johnny B. Goode inflicted upon us by Judas Priest.

Oh, yeah, then there's my personal favorite: Pat Boone's In a Metal Mood. Pat Boone covers heavy metal songs with jazz arrangements. I bring this one up here every once in a while. I actually quite enjoy it, plus I can make people scream at me to turn it off and stop the pain.  :twirl:

Best cover version, to digress for one sentence, is Killdozer's version of "American Pie."

Much of what Me First and the Gimme Gimmes do is pretty entertaining, too.  Someone here put me on to them.

The Revolting Cocks' version of "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" is more true to spirit than the original.

Hmm.   Worst cover song?  Gaaaah.   Candidates:

-  Dwight Yoakem's mercilless butchery of Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me."   Or maybe I should say, "Ah Wont Yew tuh Wont Me."

-  Mae West's version of "Twist and Shout" sucks hardcore.

-  So does everything else on the "Golden Throats" album.

-  I don't think anyone has mentioned The Shat's version of "Mr Tambourine Man" yet.

That new version of Korn's Freak on a Leash by Amy Lee and (sorry) I-can't-remember-who is so terrible that I laughed the first time I heard it.

What about Cake's version of "I will Survive"?

I had a laugh and love the insanity of Le Tigre's version of "I'm So Excited" but many people don't share my view...

KILLDOZER's bizzare version of "I'm Not Lisa." is hilarous! Sounds like Frankenstien singing.

Hadn't heard of this one, but I read so many article about Le Tigre a while back I began to wonder if anyone other than rock critics and music journalists actually listened to them. Kind of like The Strokes.

I actually like Cake's cover of "I Will Survive". But I like most of the stuff by Cake I've heard anyway.

Waylon Jennings doing "Do It Again" by Steely Dan was pretty pointless.

The local public radio station used to play this really annoying smooth jazz cover of Derek and the Dominoes' "Layla". It was like really belligerent Muzak. They used to also play a smooth jazz cover of the Allman Bros. "Revival". Just drained all the energy and emotion out of both songs. Think the only reason either song got played was the jazz show DJ was "friends" with members of the band as she used to point out all the time.

Faith Hill's version of Joplin's "Piece of my Heart" was a sad bland joke.

Jose Feliciano's cover of "Light My Fire" actually makes me angry when forced to listen to it, and I'm not even a huge Doors fan.

Pat Boone's version of "Hearts of Stone" is so white-bread it's creepy. Try the John Fogerty cover instead.

This latest round of covers turning up on pop radio is almost funny. Emo/hard rock version of "Land of Confusion"? I didn't mind the Goo Goo Dolls doing Supertramp's "Give a Little Bit", seemed to fit as that band survives by becoming blander and blander to fit the AC format. But now some other group has released a cover of another Supertramp hit, the name of either escapes me. The one with the lines about "take a look at my baby/ cause she's the only one I got" and so on.

You might be thinking of  ... "Cupid's Chokehold" by Gym Class Heroes


However ...

Supertramp's song "Breakfast In America" (1979)

I have the LP of the same name.

Take a look at my girlfriend
She's the only one I got
Not much of a girlfriend
Never seem to get a lot

Take a jumbo across the water
Like to see America
See the girls in California
I'm hoping it's going to come true
But there's not a lot I can do

Could we have kippers for breakfast
Mummy dear, Mummy dear
They got to have 'em in Texas
Cos everyone's a millionaire

I'm a winner, I'm a sinner
Do you want my autograph
I'm a loser, what a joker
I'm playing my jokes upon you
While there's nothing better to do

Don't you look at my girlfriend
She's the only one I got
Not much of a girlfriend
Never seem to get a lot

Take a jumbo cross the water
Like to see America
See the girls in California
I'm hoping it's going to come true
But there's not a lot I can do

Britney Spears cover of "I Love Rock n Roll". I wanted Joan Jett to come and beat her with a guitar.

Any cover by Joan Jett is pretty much gold. "Crimson and Clover", Do You Wanna Touch Me" etc..

A band called Anti-Heros did a decent cover of Patti Smith song "Rock N Roll n****r"

Street Dogs did a cover of Billy Bragg song"Theirs Power in Union" thats not bad.

Megadeth coverd the Sex Pistol's"Anarchy in U.K. with "Anarchy in the U.S.A" and they didn't change  the lyrics so still talks about England so it kind of dumb.

Le Tigre is a great band, Big fan of Kathleen Hanna previous band Bikini Kill.

I may be wrong, but I don't think anyone has mentioned "These Boots Are Made For Walking" the Jessica Simpson version.

That is, unless you have all become pod people and think that it's a "Good" song and doesn't deserve to be on that list...

 I must have been blessed not to hear something so atrocious as the Jessica Simpson version of it...Now have to listen to William Shatner singing "It was a very good year" to kill such a horrible cover...

Thanks for the clarification Cheezeflixz, I wasn't sure if it was a straight cover or if the co-opted part of the song, I've only heard it a few times. Simply Red/Mick Hucknall used part of "I Can't Go for That" on an annoying song called "Sunrise" a few years ago. Kind of the same effect. Sampling can be clever, but these Puff Daddy (or whatever he's calling himself this week) style cover/retreads with some new lyrics and such are awful. "I know, I have some lyrics, let's just license a hook, riff, or melody instead of putting them to a tune of our own. This way we can't be sued for sounding too much like someone else."

Not a huge Supertramp fan either, but I hear them on the radio so much they have a certain level of familiarity.

In the movie "The Departed" (Really good movie BTW) there is a cover sort of with Van Morrison singing the lead in Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" it's just wrong I tell you ... Very few people sound anything like Roger Waters in his style of singing and Van Morrison is not one of them.

Other covers of questionable sanity ...

Kylie Minogue has performed The Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go"
U2 has performed ABBA's "Dancing Queen"
Limp Bizkit has performed- Behind Blue Eyes, The Who
Sheryl Crow has performed- Sweet Child 'O Mine, GNR
The Scissor Sisters has performed "Comfortably Numb" (Pink Floyd) -JUST LEAVE PF ALONE PLEASE!!!
Satisfaction - Britney Spears covering Rolling stones - how dare she!?!
Sittin' on the Dock - Michael Bolton covering Otis Redding - how f-ing dare he!?!
Heroes - Oasis covering David Bowie - sounds like a weak tribute band covering Oasis trying to play Bowie. Abysmal.
What's Goin On? - Bono and Chris Martin covering Marvin Gaye - they just don't have Marvin's pain.
Dixie Chicks with Sheryl Crow covering Bob Dylan's "Mississippi"
Atomic Kitten has performed 'The Tide Is High' by Blondie
Aerosmith - has performed The Shangri-Las Remember (Walking In The Sand)

In my eyes, Van Morrison is king, and can do no wrong. I saw him 2 days ago, and it was one of the best concerts i've ever been to. Truly amazing, ignatz.

Absolutely any song covered by Mrs. Miller.
Her version of Downtown is to die for. Literally.
Here's a link to this and her version of A Hard Day's Night:
http://franklarosa.com/vinyl/Exhibit.jsp?AlbumID=77 (http://franklarosa.com/vinyl/Exhibit.jsp?AlbumID=77)

Mrs. Miller's World
http://www.mrsmillersworld.com/ (http://www.mrsmillersworld.com/)


Mrs. Miller performs It's Magic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGYTrXDF2DU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGYTrXDF2DU)

That version of "Comfortably Numb" was from a live performance of The Wall by Roger Waters with tons of special guests. I like that version, just because it was a change of pace from hearing the original too much (my own fault - classic rock radio and being a Floyd fan in high school), I thought it fit the film quite nicely. Hard to hate Van Morrison anyway. Do wish Marty would retire using "Gimme Shelter" in films though.


They did this? I knew the Wallflowers did a bland note for note version for the Deanzilla soundtrack. Bowie's voice and Fripp's guitar make the song, why do a cover. Other than Rage Against the Machine doing "No Shelter" that soundtrack has a lot to answer for. Puff Diddilly and Jimmy Page. Ha!

BTW heard the Gym Class Heroes song twice today. Yawn.

Now before folks get emotional over Van Morrison let me say I don't dislike VM, I just have a mental image of what a Pink Floyd song should be and VM is not part of it. VM is fine I like'em.

I vaguely remember seeing Roger Water The Wall concert, now that you mention I do recall that performance. I guess I've seen (David Gilmore) Pink Floyd to many times since break up in concert and I'm still suffering from the anxiety after Roger Waters left the group. I only got to see them 2 times prior to the break up with Gilmore/Water and the rest, awesome.

Now back to your original topic ... 

Kilroy MMR - Daydream Believer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzr7xkosWis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzr7xkosWis)

What? You've never heard it before? Consider yourself lucky. Here's one you may be split on, Al Yankovich - Bohemian Rhapsody

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqTGQ-65qW8&mode=related&search= (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqTGQ-65qW8&mode=related&search=)

Weird British water creatures - We Will Rock You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyB6T0YWYFU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyB6T0YWYFU)

And anything and everything from William Hung or... "Crazy Frog"

Maybe we should line up all the different versions of Big Yellow Taxi and see which ones might qualify.

That deserves a karma point, for sheer level-headed accuracy.

Purple Haze by Winger.   :hatred:

That sucks, Torgo.  Actually it's on the iTunes store, so I got to listen to a whole 30 seconds of it.

That weenie played with Alice Cooper, apparently.

Wonder what other horrible hair metal covers are out there.

Some inspiration:

http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=1713&pageid=1

Damn Torgo, I was hoping no one mentioned that one because I was going to post it.  Although its on my I-Pod for novelty purposes.

Wrestler Chris Jericho's band Fozzy had a horrid 80s cover CD. 
Sevendust - Going Back To Cali
Rage Against The Machine - Kick Out The Jams
One of the Zappa kids covered Hit Me Baby One More Time...it was funny though...
Bif Naked - We're Not Going To Take It (I think this was on the Ready To Rumble Soundtrack with the Zappa song above, two crap songs for the price of one...)

I'll pry my brain for much more...

How about the multiple versions of John Waite's "Missing You?" I mean, Waite's version isn't the best 80s song, but it was good enough that nobody else had to "reinterpret" it, either.

Oh, man.  I've uncovered two really rancid ones.   I might win this thread.

I remember hearing an astonishingly suck-ass cover of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side."   A French pop version.     

Now I've remembered it.   It's Vanessa Paradis' version.    Anyone here heard that?

There's also a horrible loungy version of the same song on iTunes, by Arcoiris.     :hatred:

LOL, you just have to read that and you KNOW it's hilarious.

I thought that one was alright, really.

I tell you what you guys are forgetting. Punk covers. Some are fun but there's a hell of a lot of "omg I can sing it really fast and out of tune and throw swearwords in there and play some power chords thats so cool" in there.

I heard this one punk cover of Ben E. King's incredible "Stand By Me". What a load of tripe. They even changed it to say "Just as long as you f**king stand by me".

Then there's the Cliff Richard cover of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and "Wonderful World" mixed into one song. I think it made me lactose intolerant. Give me Israel Kamawiwawo'ole's acoustic reggae styled cover instead, please.

Marilyn Manson

- Rock 'N' Roll n***ar

- Like A Virgin

- Tainted Love

Rob Zombie

- Brickhouse (which isn't a very good song to begin with, frankly)

- Blitzkrieg Bop

Amy Lee (of Evanescence)

- Freak On A Leash (if she would've done some human beat-boxing maybe I wouldn't have minded it as much)

Avril Lavigne

- Fuel

Sum 41

- For Whom The Bell Tolls

- Enter Sandman

- Master Of Puppets

Snoop Dogg

- Sad But True (".... they'll betray.... never ending paper tray... you know its sad but true"- wait what?)

Limp Bizkit

- Sanitarium

Fear Factory

- Enter Sandman

Some forgien metal band called the Acid Drinkers doing SATISFACTION (Rolling Stones),. I posted in the thread 'the WORDS GET STUCK in MY THROAT',last post...about 3 days ago.Trust me...it's B-A-D!!!!! :bluesad:

There She Goes -  Sixpence None the Richer - original was The La's


Sooo horrid I believe that this version was used in ads for feminine hygiene products! 

Ooooh, yes, I gave you a karma point for that one.  I wish she'd just fall off the face of the earth and take her stupid faces with her.

How about this version of that hit "We Are the World"?

Q. Who Would Jesus Hate?
A. EVERYBODY! (Except Fed Phelps and the gang at Westboro Baptist Church)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETpnHnK9Eis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETpnHnK9Eis)

How about the worst cover of a classic film score?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwOP5TM51lM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwOP5TM51lM)

Proving once and for all the Bass Clarinet is the...

Lamest. Instrument. Ever.

(http://www.quodlibet.com/Graphics/BassClarinetPlay.gif)
                LAME!















Well - except for maybe the Alto Clarinet.

Actually some of my best friends play bass clarinet. I'm a bassoonist, so when I play with a concert band or a wind ensemble I'm almost always sitting next to the bass clarinets.

Bassoon: now THAT'S a mega-cool instrument!  :bouncegiggle:

I've also played contrabass clarinet before. Very cool ~ 'cause when you play the lowest notes you can feel the bones in your head vibrate!  :teddyr:

 Maybe i'm insane...but this is really quite good! In fact, I added the song to my profile on Myspace...(of course,that's a WEIRD page,anyway...)
 
                                    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dAO3J5QJ9w

i'm guessing this is supposed to be "THRILLER"....but....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll8Qm8yDj-8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll8Qm8yDj-8)

 The Indian "thriller gets my vote as WORST. I laffed my ass off! 

Yeah, RCMerchant, I agree, that's utter genius...

What's funny is in some of the chorus parts where he sings somtehing like "kali mar..mar..mar..mar" he sounds like Count chocula

Thought of one more, Devo's version of NIN's Head Like A Hole...yes it does exist and its quite goofy...

Has anyone mentioned Winger's tumor inducing cover of Purple Haze yet?

If not, that gets my vote.

The soundtrack CD for Tony Hawk's Underground 2 is pretty bad, but I think that may be because of my love for 80's hardcore punk and my hate for modern-day, popular emo/pop-punk bands.

The Dropkick Murphys, one of the only bands on the CD I actually like, do a cover of the Adolescents "Who is who," but it sounds completely out of place. You have a band who's singer is in his 30's or early 40's singing a song written by a teenager about not fitting in with his peers or the expectations of his elders. Just sounds weird.

I am so with you on this. When I went to see Depeche Mode in concert a while back, the Scissor Sisters opened for them and they performed their disco version of this song. I mean...wow. I was completely dumbfounded.

I LOVE Pink Floyd, I consider them to be my second favorite band (behind Steely Dan :teddyr:), and I am MORE than happy when there is a band that considers the Floyd to be influential to their music, but I am SO sick of the Pink Floyd covers. I was watching a Nightwish concert DVD and even they perform a cover of "High Hopes!" Enough already!

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw8sNoodIDk

winner

CHEEZEE, since you know that lyric (or have access to it) so then you know that Breakfast In America is a great album?!  My own favorite is the first one, "Gone Hollywood." 

I like CAKE, too...

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE did a superior cover of "Wooden Ships" by CROSBY, STILLS & NASH, on their album Volunteers (which is the one to own if there were only one AIRPLANE album to own) however, DAVID BOWIE did a dreadful version of "Across The Universe" on his Young Americans set. 

Yep. Winner. That thing made my ears bleed. The singer was only slightly less harmonious than a truckload of accordions colliding with a wall at 100 MPH.

Susan, you have no soul.  Listening to that filth made me lose every admiring musical bone in my body.  I need it back again.  Where's my Big Daddy Kane album?

Avril Lavigne- "Imagine".  It's on the new 2 disc compilation album for Darfur.  She's the last person I'd imagine to cover a John Lennon song.

That's the worst I can think of now, but I know there's others.

Megadeth's version of Alice Cooper's "No More Mister Nice Guy"
W.A.S.P.'s version of "Mississippi Queen", "The Real Me", "Paint it Black"
Krokus' version of "Ballroom Blitz"
and the biggest travesty of all:
Shinedown's version of "Simple Man".  Those guys should all be dragged out individually and given a daisy face.

As much as it pains me to say this, I really hate this version of:

'97 Bonnie And Clyde by Tori Amos.

Now that I've bagged and flamed my favourite artist EVER, I'll go have a little cry in the corner  :bluesad:

I don't like Eminem anyway, but I fully thought Tori would do her usual acoustic piano magic thing with the song and it would end up having a wonderfully haunting melody like Smells Like Teen Spirit.  Alas, I was wrong.

NON pod person right here.  I think Jessica has an okay voice.  But she just RUINED this song!  I was looking forward to it being really good, but it was just insulting.  All the breathy squeakiness in her voice - bugger off!

Plus Willie Nelson salivating over her in the film clip - wigga please!

I loathe Van Morrison on general principle.  His voice is just awful and non musical.  The only good song he ever did was "Bright Side Of The Road" and I only like that because when it came out all those years ago, I was quite young and didn't know any better!

And feel free to flame me (I can take it) but I actually like Scissor Sisters version of Comfortably Numb.  I'm not a huge fan of PF, but I do like some of their songs, in particular Comfortably Numb.  It's my fave PF song.  But both versions, for me, are good.

I won't flame you, but being raised on Pink Floyd from the Syd Barrett days forward, there are in my most humble opinion some artist you just don't cover, and Pink Floyd on the list.

They have many good song, check the albums "Wish You Were Here" and "Animals" also the post Roger Waters album "Momentary Lapse of Reason" and many others, but that's a good start.

I know that PF fans are fiercely loyal, more than for any other band I've ever seen.  A lot of my friends over the years have been rabid fans so I understand the devotion.  I actually have the CD Momentary Lapse of Reason.  I think it is a masterpiece.  I bought it after being dragged to their Sydney concert by my flatmate.  It was a brilliant show, I think I still have the program somewhere.

Also, I agree with the notion that some artists you just can't cover because their brilliance is undeniable.  I'm like that with Tori Amos.   So I understand where you're coming from with the PF thing.

Forgive me if this has been posted already...

William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man

Also, Bruce Campbell's version of Hungry Like the Wolf (from the Old Spice commercial). I have an actual mp3 of it, so if anyone wants it just PM me.

Piece Of My Heart by Faith Hill
Whatever country group that did the recent cover of Missing You
Comfortably Numb by Scissor Sisters
You Shook Me All Night Long by Celine Dion
Jessica Simpson stealing the musical hook from Jack and Diane
These Boots Are Made For Walking by Jessica Simpson
I Love Rock and Roll by Britney Spears
Lady Marmalade by Christina Aguilera, Pink and some angry girl rapper-types
Hungry Like The Wolf by Bruce Campbell (and people think my singing sucks!)

I could go on allll day ...