Artists who never, or very rarely, recorded cover songs.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Spaghettiows, Jul 10, 2020.

  1. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Silver Creek, NY
    I'm not talking about early demos or unreleased material or old material released decades later or unreleased live performances. And let's leave holiday songs out as well. I mean the official non-holiday discography released while an artist was/is active. By rarely, let's be generous and say that means five or less instances but preferably less.

    I'll start with:

    Queen
    Eagles
    Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
    Black Sabbath
    Alice Cooper

    I'm going by memory here so feel free to rip into me if any of the above artists would not qualify.
     
  2. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    The Police/Sting?
     
  3. Hombre

    Hombre Forum Resident

    The Doors with Morrison only released three covers: two in their debut album and one in L.A. Woman.
     
  4. Pinknik

    Pinknik Senior Member

    I don't think Pink Floyd did any covers. Roger Waters did Across the Universe at some point. David Gilmour has done a handful of covers live.
     
  5. ghoulsurgery

    ghoulsurgery House Ghost

    Location:
    New Jersey
    The Danzig-led version of the Misfits. They recorded only one cover and sometimes did an Elvis song live. I think that’s it.
     
  6. Farmer Mike

    Farmer Mike Forum Resident

    The Eagles had 5 or 6 covers on their first 3 albums, plus they have several co-writers from outside the band.
     
  7. TheLoveDrags

    TheLoveDrags Forum Resident

    AC/DC
    Velvet Underground
     
  8. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Silver Creek, NY
    The major, popular bands that have recorded absolutely no covers is a rarity. I can't think of one by Pink Floyd, unless you count some "borrowing" of the Dr. Who theme.
     
    hi_watt, Uuan, ajsmith and 2 others like this.
  9. Cookie!

    Cookie! Forum Resident

    Location:
    FL, USA
    Genesis
    Steely Dan
     
  10. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Silver Creek, NY
    Yeah, I knew about having many collaborators, but was not aware of the outright covers.
     
    Dovetail7 likes this.
  11. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Silver Creek, NY
    Good call. Only one I can think of is Baby Please Don't Go.
     
  12. jamesmaya

    jamesmaya Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Townes Van Zandt
     
  13. TheLoveDrags

    TheLoveDrags Forum Resident

    I think that’s it..
     
    Spaghettiows likes this.
  14. Cookie!

    Cookie! Forum Resident

    Location:
    FL, USA
    Billy Joel didn’t include any covers on any of his studio albums; not until Greatest Hits Vol. 3 in 1997 did he release 3 studio recorded covers.
     
  15. If I Can Dream_23

    If I Can Dream_23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    One of my personal favorites...

    Raspberries!
     
  16. Witchy Woman

    Witchy Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Third Coast, USA
    I’m going to go out on a limb and say Duran Duran. They recorded very few if any (studio) covers until their Paper Gods album in 2015.
     
    bataclan2002 and Spaghettiows like this.
  17. Tom Schreck

    Tom Schreck Forum Resident

    Seems like some of the jam bands (80s to present) hardly ever attempt covers in the studio but play them live all the time, so do those count? Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler
     
    tombayz likes this.
  18. sekaer

    sekaer Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Guided By Voices
     
  19. Farmer Mike

    Farmer Mike Forum Resident

    Leonard Cohen
    Elton John
     
  20. If I Can Dream_23

    If I Can Dream_23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Also, many of Motown's greatest artists! At least in terms of most of the singles.

    Although countless artists have covered them. :)
     
    Spaghettiows likes this.
  21. TheLoveDrags

    TheLoveDrags Forum Resident

    Marc Bolan - in the 12 years he released records he did very few.
    Summertime Blues
    Do You Wanna Dance
    Dock of the Bay.

    Tutti Frutti in the Born to Boogie film...
     
    pinkrudy and Groggy like this.
  22. swandown

    swandown Under Assistant West Coast Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Aside from the entire album of covers they released in 1995, that is.
     
  23. If I Can Dream_23

    If I Can Dream_23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Also Sly & The Family Stone! (Sly Stone)
     
  24. Farmer Mike

    Farmer Mike Forum Resident

    They did do that covers album, "Thank You".

    Edit-Swandown got their first.
     
  25. If I Can Dream_23

    If I Can Dream_23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Also, Chicago.

    At least certainly relative to the immense number of their songs.
     

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