There is a show on the local community radio station that I listen to during the morning drive.  The show is usually pretty good but the hosts seem to go out of their way to play rotten covers of well known songs.  They're usually so bad that it almost ruins the original.  Today it was Lost In The Supermarket (Clash) covered by the Afgan Whigs ... execrable!  What lousy covers have gotten you angry?

Man or Astroman's cover of The Rezillos "Destination Venus"

 

The original is so great I can't think of anyone who could improve on it.

 

I do like Man or Astroman a lot, apart from that cover.

Oh fuck yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. It's like some disease at KDHX. And I hate it when bands play "ironic" covers of shit songs.

I hate Bratmobile's covers of "Cherry Bomb" by the Runaways and "Where Eagles Dare" by the Misfits,

Green Day's covers of "I Wanna Be On TV" by Fang, "Tired of Waiting for You" by the Kinks, and "Knowledge" by Operation Ivy,

Sublime's covers of "Hope" and "I'm Not a Loser" by Descendents, "Youth Are Getting Restless" by Bad Brains,

and Slightly Stoopid's cover of "I Couldn't Get HIgh" by the Fugs.

I actually like Mudhoney's cover of "Hate the Police," but not as much as the original. I don't like Mudhoney's covers of Thee Mighty Caesars' "She's Only 15" and "You Make Me Die" though. I don't think I've heard a single good cover of a Billy Childish song.

Huh??? lol!

Andy O.B.O. said:

So dumbfounded that I'm dumbfounder, as to imply MORE than dumbfounded.

Andy O.B.O. said:

So dumbfounded that I'm dumbfounder, as to imply MORE than dumbfounded.

Andy O.B.O. said:

I can't really say I hate this since I'm too dumbfounder to really know what to make of it, but...

The Gong show was hilarious actually.  I should have said... It's worse than Star Search! lol!

 

I really hate this one:

I remember a guy wearing a viking helmet with pig tails and groucho glasses/nose/'stache lip syncing to a song sped-up to 78.  When the rubber snake bit his finger, I nearly died!

 

Gimme a break, I was like 10 years old or somethin'!  That's high comedy when you're 10.

Sectmaniac said:

The Gong Show was hilarious!

 

i think miley cyrus covered a nirvana song....and Flea did a weird cover of media blitz i didnt care for too much. oh and arcade fire covering oh its such a shame...eh

The Gong Show was hilarious!

 

I still kind of like the Quiet Riot cover, although now it's more of a guilty pleasure for me.  Having familiarized myself with the original versions of "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "Smoking in the Boys' Room," I can now definitely say the originals are far better.

John Carlucci said:

I was  (and I still am) a big fan of Slade. I saw them live when I was in High School. They were a great live band. I hated Quiet riot's cover of their song. I also couldn;t stand the other two you mentioned.
MikeL said:

For any glam rock fans who are old enough to remember this...how did you respond to Quiet Riot's cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize"?  When I first heard the Quiet Riot version, I thought it was the greatest song ever (keep in mind, I was 15 at the time).  I had never even heard of Slade at the time, so I had no idea it was a cover.

 

@ Axel..............Ughhh American Idol.  It's worse than the Gong Show! 

I was  (and I still am) a big fan of Slade. I saw them live when I was in High School. They were a great live band. I hated Quiet riot's cover of their song. I also couldn;t stand the other two you mentioned.
MikeL said:

For any glam rock fans who are old enough to remember this...how did you respond to Quiet Riot's cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize"?  When I first heard the Quiet Riot version, I thought it was the greatest song ever (keep in mind, I was 15 at the time).  I had never even heard of Slade at the time, so I had no idea it was a cover.

 

"...Great White's cover of Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy... Motley Crue's version of Brownsville Station's 'Smoking in the Boys' Room."  Not that I was such a huge fan of either one but those covers killed me too.

MikeL said:

For any glam rock fans who are old enough to remember this...how did you respond to Quiet Riot's cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize"?  When I first heard the Quiet Riot version, I thought it was the greatest song ever (keep in mind, I was 15 at the time).  I had never even heard of Slade at the time, so I had no idea it was a cover.

 

Speaking of 80s hair metal bands covering glam songs, what did you think of Great White's cover of Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"?  Again, I didn't know it was a cover when I first heard it.  Another example is Motley Crue's version of Brownsville Station's "Smoking in the Boys' Room."  

He's the worst..

John Carlucci said:

It's okay. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. For the record, I hate Zak Wylde too! lol!

 

For any glam rock fans who are old enough to remember this...how did you respond to Quiet Riot's cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize"?  When I first heard the Quiet Riot version, I thought it was the greatest song ever (keep in mind, I was 15 at the time).  I had never even heard of Slade at the time, so I had no idea it was a cover.

 

Speaking of 80s hair metal bands covering glam songs, what did you think of Great White's cover of Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"?  Again, I didn't know it was a cover when I first heard it.  Another example is Motley Crue's version of Brownsville Station's "Smoking in the Boys' Room."  

It's okay. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. For the record, I hate Zak Wylde too! lol!

 

Sorry I was flipping around. I don't hate The Fuzztones that much haha..

But I hate Zakk Wylde forsure.. ;P

 When I was in the band, we were a good live band. I don't think the recordings ever caught us as good as we were as a live band. Which is a shame, because the recordings are what live on.We had a certain chemistry. Oddly enough, I always felt Rudi was the weakest link in that chemistry. Had he let us be, to create at the best of our own ability, I think the recordings would have been far superior.  Had he let us contribute more to the songwriting, he would have had better songs.  I just hope that some people understand, despite the image of the band, we were not all egotistical 60's Garage rock Purists.

 

Wow must have been tough ;-)

 

I dont mind the 'originals' so much and they had a few good tunes, but the covers perhaps should have been left alone.

 

Though I cant really talk I've butchered a few classics myself!

 

 

 Lol! I said it before & I'll say it again. I never played a Vox Phantom. I hated the necks. When I was in the Fuzztones & we signed to RCA, Jordan & I Approached Rickenbacker & we signed an endorsement deal. That was the only way I was able to get Rudi to stop bugging me about playing a Phantom. To be perfectly honest, I always have favored the Fender Precision. I have two gorgeous vintage P Basses that Rudi always gave me a hard time about using in the band. One day we were soundchecking at Scream & the opening band was onstage checking the bass gear. I do not recall which band it was, but the bassist had a 70's P Bass & an SVT.  He sounded awesome. Rudi turned to me and said how come your bass doesn't sound that good?? My answer... It would if you let me play a P Bass! lol!!  To him, it's all image. BTW, he barely has any original gear left, he had to sell a lot of it off. He's playing re-issues now.
Axel Björnsson said:

fuck the fuzztones.. oooooo we only use vox we're so 66' fuck off.... (Really I got 2 or 3 records with them. fuck'em)

 

 The main problem with the Fuzztones is that they never really were or are a band. Having been a part of the band that went the furthest, I can tell you that Rudi tries so hard to control everything that he kills any creativity from his band mates & they end up leaving. He's probably had like 50 people in the band by now & he thinks by dressing them up in the same clothes that no one will notice.  Because our line-up resided in Los Angeles during the 80's & 90's when all of those Hair Bands were happening, a lot of people assumed we must be Metal heads. This is a phallacy. Jordan (the guitar player) was a founding member of the Outta Place. I came originally out of the NYC CBGB's/Max's Kansas City scene as the bassist for The Speedies, Mad Mike was from the Stratford Survivors & The Tones were Jason's first band.

Mr Tea said:

got to agree with teen fink, the fuzztones ruined pretty much every song they covered, turning great punk classics into boring-goth-rock plodders! Its like they really didnt get it! Should've been a heavy metal band probably.

 

....then theres van halens version of 'you really got me' that one really gets me! (maybe van halen and the fuzztones are the same band hmmmm)

I agree, and I was in the band! lol!!  I so tried to get Rudi to do originals. The problem is, his songwriting is not too good either.  You'll notice when listening to his originals, that they all have pieces nicked from other songs so they may as well be covers...

 

• Bad News Travels Fast:  Chord progression lifted from Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath", Played faster
• Nine Months Later- Intro lifted from the Markette's "Out Of Limits"/ Chrous lifted from the Mc Coy's "Hang On Sloopy"
• In Heat: Main Riff  (  & concept Heat/Fire)lifted from Jimi Hendrix "Fire', Riff is inverted
• She's Wicked:  Partial lyrics lifted from Howlin Wolf ( "asked My Baby for water & she gave me gasoline)

 

TeenFink said:

one cover band really grates on my nerves, and i realize they probably have a lot of fans here, but who cares? i'm talking about the FUZZTONES. i can stomach maybe Bad News Travels Fast (their best moment), but the covers they recorded are pretty consistently lame.

now, the DIRTBOMBS, on the other hand, know how to cover songs and do it well. see Ultraglide in Black and If You Don't Already Have a Look as perfect examples. some outstanding covers there.