You know how much I love lists and cover songs, so you should not be surprised to learn that this 20 worst pop music covers list in Cracked, which I discovered while looking for their story about dirty old-time songs for my previous entry, would be catnip to me. I have thirteen of the listed songs in my collection, some by the original artist, some by a different cover artist, and one by Cracked’s named offender, so I just went with them all rather than whittle them down to 10. Here they are:
1. You Shook Me All Night Long – Bing Ji Ling (orig. Ac/DC, bad cover by Celine Cion and Anastasia)
2. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – Warren Zevon (orig. Bob Dylan, bad cover by Guns N Roses)
3. American Pie – Don McLean (bad cover by Madonna)
4. My Generation – The Who (bad cover by Hilary Duff)
5. Video Killed The Radio Star – The Buggles (bad cover by The Presidents of the United States of America)
6. Walk This Way – Aerosmith (bad cover by Macy Gray)
7. I’m A Believer – The Monkees (bad cover by Smashmouth)
8. Sweet Child O’ Mine – Sheryl Crow (orig. Guns N Roses)
9. Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell (bad cover by Counting Crows)
10. Anarchy In The UK – Sex Pistols (bad cover by Motley Crue)
11. Behind Blue Eyes – The Who (bad cover by Limp Bizkit)
12. (Sittin’ On The) Dock Of The Bay – Otis Redding (bad cover by Michael Bolton)
13. And It Stoned Me – Van Morrison (bad cover by Bob Dylan)
For what it’s worth, I like the Smashmouth and GNR covers, the former of which was prominently featured in the movie Shrek and the latter of which got a fair amount of radio airplay back in the day. I will also note that Popdose, from whom I got that Sheryl Crow version and several others of “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, had the same complaint about not doing the riff. The others I can’t say I’ve heard, and for the most part I can’t say I want to hear them, though I’m sure I’ve come across the Michael Bolton cover in my nightmares. Off the top of my head I can’t think of any song covers that truly offend me, but Rod Stewart, backed by the London Symphony Orchestra and a choir, doing “Pinball Wizard” may be the most ridiculously over the top cover I’ve ever heard. What are your least favorite cover songs?
It looks like the Cracked article was originally published in March of 2007.