Just been listening to Tina Turner's Private Dancer. A quintessentially 80s album (What's Love Got to do with it, Private Dancer, Better Be Good to Me etc). However, the last two tracks are Help! and 1984. When I viewed the tracklist I didn't even assume they were covers of The Beatles and David Bowie. I love the album, but it's fair to say I prefer the originals.
One which immediately comes to mind is when the Bellamy Brothers interpreted 'You're My Favorite Waste Of Time' by Marshall Crenshaw in 1985. Both artists are incredibly talented and have experienced levels of fame during their music careers with Crenshaw on early MTV appealing more to rock audiences and the Bellamys appealing more to classic country audiences, despite their previous massive genre-crossing 1976 international pop hit with 'Let Your Love Flow,' which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in addition to international chart positions. Once the pandemic comes to an end, I highly recommend catching live shows by Marshall Crenshaw (preferably full band) and the Bellamy Brothers (preferably full band). 'You're My Favorite Waste Of Time' was written by Marshall Crenshaw and covered by long-running group The Bellamy Brothers. The same album includes 'Old Hippie,' which was a major hit for The Bellamy Brothers. Shown below is legendary singer-songwriter and rock legend Marshall Crenshaw in current and past form.
Anna McGarrigle translating and reworking Bob Seger's Some day you'll accompn'y me into a a French folk tune, 'Tu vas m'acompagner'. First time I heard it I just assumed they wrote it themselves. I didn't expect them to cover Seger.
Siousxie and the Banshees version of Dear Prudence is the first that comes to mind. The Black Crowes do a killer cover of Oh Sweet Nuthin’ though they play it in G instead of F.
Run-DMC covers "Mary, Mary" by The Monkees Incidentally, this is Mike Nesmith's fave cover of this song, and IIRC it's his fave cover version of any of his songs.
The Jayhawks covers Grand Funk Railroad - I thought it was fun for the '90's hip roots folky Americana band to cover a '70's stadium heavy rock band - even if it was one of GFR's most tame and melodic tunes. They did a great version fer sure.
I remember listening to that album when it came out and the first listens I kept thinking 'i'm sure i've heard these songs before'. It was only when I read a review, I realised. I had heard bits of Taylor's album previously.
Prince’s performances of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case Of You”, while not that unexpected, managed to call attention of a new generation of fans to her music. Before that, it was a bit of a deep track, having appeared on her “Misses” album. Now, it is among her best known tracks - Pitchfork recently ranked it the top Joni track of all time, which is certainly defensible.
Richard Thompson covering Britney Spears´ ¨Oops I Did It Again.¨ Sarah McLaughlin covering Donovan´s ¨Wear Your Love Like Heaven.¨ Golden Smog covering Neil Young´s ¨On The Beach.¨ Gil Scott-Heron covering Bill Callahan´s ¨I´m New Here.¨ H.C. McEntire covering Led Zeppelin´s ¨Houses of The Holy.¨ (2020)
James Last and his Orchestra plays: Hawkwind - Silver Machine>T Rex - Children of the Revolution>Alice Cooper - School's Out Definitely unlikely, and actually rather entertaining!
“Lust ForLife” goes bluegrass courtesy of The Bad Livers And Run C&W “playing that sweet soul music just the way god intended it to be played - bluegrass style”
Well... there were warnings. I mean they did "Helter Skelter" on their debut album. Which is probably even bizarrer.
Interesting topic. Devos "Satisfaction" comes to mind. Definitely "unlikely" but I don't think this was a random choice at all. In fact it was very calculated. How about Scissors Sisters and "Comfortably Numb"? This I never really "got"....
Reminds me of seeing Crenshaw's cover band Astagafa (sp?) numerous times in the mid-late 1970s here in EL; they weren't all that good, and I was surprised by how much better his later solo efforts were.
