The History Of Modern Music Culture In Cover Versions Volume Two
I’ve loved cover versions right from The Clash’s ‘Police And Thieves’ and The Pistols ‘No Fun’. You just can’t beat a good cover. Of course, these days they are so prevalent some ignorant old bastards have begun to proclaim that all the best tunes have already been written even though they don’t much like cover versions themselves. It would appear that they believe an artist is somehow cheating and artistically corrupt by performing any song other than their own. Odd then that the kind of artists these fools truly do love like Elvis P, The Beatles, The Stones, even the crinkly God that is Dylan, built their early careers on a solid foundation of other people’s songs. Naturally they would never dare call them rotten.
As per usual it’s all in the teaching. Once upon a time covers as a concept in their own right weren’t even a consideration. They existed alongside an artist’s regular self penned songs and no-one thought anything of it. It was only at the turn of the new century that covers began to be considered something of a dirty word, no doubt influenced by the hordes of wannabe nobodies warbling all those insipid auto-tuned versions on the ever increasing cycle of TV talent shows.
Let’s face it, crap covers of crap songs are all around these days. And yet, as we all know, they can be so much more than that. Sometimes, they can even be - shock, horror - better than the original. Just because an artist wrote a song back in the day or even the other day doesn’t mean it’s sacrosanct or untouchable. And it doesn’t necessarily mean they wrote or performed it the best way possible either, no questions asked, forever and ever amen. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, any version of a Beatles song is better than the original and the same goes for Oasis and quite possibly Dylan too.
What we have here on Volume Two of The History Of Modern Music Culture In Cover Versions is more of the good stuff. Despite the ridiculous, pretentious title, Volume One immediately became one of our most popular playlists ever and Volume Two is simply more of the same. I don’t think you’ll be hearing any X Factor or Voice wannabe sounding quite like these anytime soon.
ONE
1. Beck / Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat
Original release Bob Dylan August 1966 LP ‘Blonde On Blonde’
2. Echo & The Bunnymen / People Are Strange
Original Release The Doors January 1967 LP 'The Doors’
3. The Cure / Purple Haze
Original Release Jimi Hendrix March 1967 Single
4. Calexico / Alone Again Or
Original Release Love November 1967 LP ‘Forever Changes’
5. Nirvana / Here She Comes Now
Original Release Velvet Underground December 1967 LP ‘White Light’
6. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds / Sleeping Annaleah
Original Release Tom Jones July 1968 Single
7. The Pixies / Wild Honey Pie
Original Release The Beatles November 1968 ‘White Album’
8. The Sundays / Wild Horses
Original Release The Rolling Stones April 1971 LP ‘Sticky Fingers’
9. Arctic Monkeys / Diamonds Are Forever
Original Release Shirley Bassey October 1971 Film Soundtrack LP
10. Bauhaus / Telegram Sam
Original Release T.Rex January 1972 Single
11. The Cardigans / Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Original Release Black Sabbath December 1973 LP ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’
12. Black Box Recorder / Seasons In The Sun
Original Release Terry Jacks March 1974 Single
13. The Wedding Present / Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)
Original Release Cockney Rebel March 1975 LP ‘Best Years Of Our Lives’
14. Sparklehorse / Wish You Were Here
Original Release Pink Floyd September 1975 LP ‘Wish You Were Here’
15. The Sea And The Cake / Sound And Vision
Original Release David Bowie January 1977 LP ‘Low’
16. Yeah Yeah Yeahs / Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
Original Release Ramones August 1977 Single
17. Grace Jones / Warm Leatherette
Original Release The Normal February 1978 Single
18. Sonic Youth / Ca Plane Pour Moi
Original Release Plastic Bertrand May 1978 Single
19. The Dandy Warhols / My Sharona
Original Release The Knack May 1979 Single
20. Moloko / Are ‘Friends’ Electric?
Original Release Tubeway Army May 1979 Single
TWO
1. Hot Chip / Transmission
Original Release Joy Division October 1979 Single
2. Camera Obscura / Super Trouper
Original Release Abba November 1980 Single
3. Rowland S. Howard / White Wedding
Original Release Billy Idol October 1982 Single
4. No Doubt / It’s My Life
Original Release Talk Talk January 1984 Single
5. The Postal Service / Against All Odds
Original Release Phil Collins March 1984 Single
6. Iron & Wine / Love Vigilantes
Original Release New Order May 1985 Single
7. Elbow / Running To Stand Still
Original Release U2 March 1987 LP ‘The Joshua Tree’
8. Lambchop / This Corrosion
Original Release Sisters Of Mercy September 1987 Single
9. Dinosaur Jr. / Just Like Heaven
Original Release The Cure April 1989 Single
10. Dynamite Hack / Boyz N The Hood
Original Release NWA November 1987 LP ‘NWA & The Posse’
11. Jesus And Mary Chain / Tower Of Song
Original Release Leonard Cohen August 1990 LP ‘I’m Your Man’
12. Marilyn Manson / Personal Jesus
Original Release Depeche Mode August 1989 Single
13. Timo Raisanen / Creep
Original Release Radiohead September 1992 Single
14. Devendra Banhart / Don’t Look Back In Anger
Original Release Oasis October 1995 LP ‘Morning Glory’
15. Klaxons / No Diggity
Original Release Blackstreet September 1996 Single
16. Naosol & The Waxx Blend / Clint Eastwood
Original Release Gorillaz March 2001 Single
17. The Lemonheads / Beautiful
Original Release Christina Aguilera November 2002 Single
18. Ruth / Fix You
Original Release Coldplay June 2005 LP ‘X & Y’
19. Violent Femmes / Crazy
Original Release Gnarls Barkley March 2006 Single
20. The Big Pink / Sweet Dreams
Original Release Beyonce November 2008 Single
