Awful Cover Songs

[D-Man]

I remember William Shatner also did a hilarious cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man, but i can't seem to find that on Youtube. 

As for really bad covers...Celine Dion also did a crappy cover of Eric Carmen's "All By Myself".  She took what once had been a gentle, heartfelt song about loneliness, and turned it into a big, overblown, exposition-fest for her voice. 

Then there's the most well-known offender...Whitney Houston.  She's been riding last 15 or so years of her so-called career on a simple cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You".    It was interesting to hear at first, but on repeated hearings, it gets old really quick.  What's worse is aside from the fact that a lot of people don't realize this is a cover song,  I'm convinced this song single-handedly contributed to the growing overuse of melisma in today's pop songs.  Just turn on American Idol, and you'll see what I mean.

[HappyGilmore]

"Imagine" by Avril Lavigne.

I didn't mind the Green Day cover of Lennon's "Working Class Hero" but, there's one song that shouldn't be covered, and it's Imagine. 

Avril's okay with her little pop hits, but leave that song alone.

[BlackAngel75]

I hate to bring this thread back but I was watching the Tube the other day, and I saw this one video that blew my mind.  And it had me thinking back in like the early or mid-90's when this song came out.  Kiss, sung by Tom Jones.  No one should ever, ever, ever, ever do a Prince song EVER!!  In the video, the man (Jones) was doing the Iggy shuffle after the line "think I'm gonna dance".  THE IGGY SHUFFLE!!!!  Tom, let your sixty year old female fans keep throwing their girdles at you when you sing your songs.  YOU CAN'T SING PRINCE'S SONGS!!!

[Allhallowsday]

I hate to bring this thread back but I was watching the Tube the other day, and I saw this one video that blew my mind.  And it had me thinking back in like the early or mid-90's when this song came out.  Kiss, sung by Tom Jones.  No one should ever, ever, ever, ever do a Prince song EVER!!  In the video, the man (Jones) was doing the Iggy shuffle after the line "think I'm gonna dance".  THE IGGY SHUFFLE!!!!  Tom, let your sixty year old female fans keep throwing their girdles at you when you sing your songs.  YOU CAN'T SING PRINCE'S SONGS!!!

I like TOM JONES' version of "Kiss..." recorded with ART OF NOISE if I recall correctly.  Sure, it's absurd and cheesy... guess that's why I liked it!   

Just about anybody's cover of music by The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan or Jimmy Hendrix.

How 'bout Jimi Hendryx's cover of Bob Dylan?    ("All Along The Watchtower.")  I also like RICK NELSON's cover of Dylan's "She Belongs To Me." 

I will say DAVID BOWIE's version of "Across The Universe" (off of his Young Americans set) is terrible. 

[HappyGilmore]

You gotta listen to Richard Cheese.  He does brilliant covers of songs.  Granted, they're played in a cheesy lounge singer act, but that's the whole point.  They're awful, but it's the character.  He actually allowed his version of Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness" to be in the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.

[Eyesore]

Cheese RULES! I love "Holiday in Cambodia" with the "Merry Christmas" line at the end.

[Zapranoth]

Here you go, D-man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGPai4YIz30

Think ah better da-ha-ha-hance now!

[Megalons Revenge]

Born to Be Wild by Slayer

[IzzyDedjet]

I'm a bit of a W.A.S.P. fan, and it was bad enough when I heard their versions of Mississippi Queen and The Real Me, but when I heard the travesty that they made of Paint it Black, that was just about the lowest.
Armored Saint's version of Saturday Night Special was pretty bad, but none, and I mean NONE can be worse than Shinedown's p|$$ poor attempt at Simple Man.

[the guyver]

Metallica doing Stone Cold Crazy..... .......NO ONE WILL EVER TOUCH QUEEN!!!!

[HappyGilmore]

Metallica doing Stone Cold Crazy..... .......NO ONE WILL EVER TOUCH QUEEN!!!!

You should check out Weird Al Yankovic's "Bohemian Polka."  Essentially a remake of Bohemian Rhapsody, recorded around the time Freddie died.  Not a parody.  But, there's a lot of polka based music, with the accordian and whatnot.  Basically a tribute, in Al's 'weird' way.

[the guyver]

I love Weird Al Yankovic! I have seen him in concert 4 times! He puts on ones of the most entertaining shows I have ever seen! Numerous artists have said that if you are popular enough for Weird Al to do a parody of one of your songs you're doing pretty good!

[HappyGilmore]

I love Weird Al Yankovic! I have seen him in concert 4 times! He puts on ones of the most entertaining shows I have ever seen! Numerous artists have said that if you are popular enough for Weird Al to do a parody of one of your songs you're doing pretty good!

Karma for you, man.  Anyone who openly admits to seeing him 4 times is fine by me.  One of the highest forms of flattery for Al I've seen actually came from Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.  He said in an interview one time that not only was he honored that Al wanted to parody him, but it "Made me feel I made it and accomplished something as a musician, to have Weird Al parody one of my songs."  I believe he even said something along the lines of Al was the closest thing to punk at the time.  That's Kurt's opinion though.

[IzzyDedjet]

Here I go bumping old threads again.
Upon further review, I'd like to retract my earlier comment that nothing was worse than Shinedown covering Simple Man.
I lied.
Lizzy Borden trying to do Live and Let Die ranks right up there too

[3mnkids]

Metallica doing Seger's turn the page.. It just makes me cringe.