The AV Club publishes basically the truest article ever

[TVC15]

http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/let_it_die_23_songs_that_should

A lot of it has been said before, and I think their ordering is out of whack, but it is soooo truuuuueeee.

[ToxicAdam]

That top 10 is good. I would have added "Whole Lotta Love" by Zepplin.

[TVC15]

[youtube=425,350]VxCM9dellRs[/youtube]

[Madrun Badrun]

I haven't heard like half of those songs ever.  I suck at music. 

[Gay Boy]

Most are solid choices. I agree with all but two.

Come On Eileen - The cover by Badly Drawn Boy is better than the cheesey original
Wonderwall - Again, better than the original. Ryan Adams > Oasis


The New Order "cover" of Love Will Tear Us Apart out this fall was damn good too, but does that even count as a cover since New Order is Joy Division minus it's one dead member?

[xnikki118x]

5. "All Along The Watchtower"

One source estimates that Bob Dylan has played this song 1,400 times—more than any of his others—but that number pales in comparison to the number of covers out there, by performers including Pat Boone, Dave Matthews, Heart, Tiny Tim, and virtually every jam band ever. In one regard, "All Along The Watchtower" is an argument for covers, as Jimi Hendrix's version is virtually definitive. But then you remember Heart.


This made me . I'm not familiar with Heart's cover and I'm not sure I wanna be, but the DMB one suckssss.



Revolution: Blessid Union of Souls, surprisingly enough, did an excellent cover of that at the end of their Walking off the Buzz album.


8. "Come On Eileen"

Speaking of Dexy's Midnight Runners, the group's 1982 hit "Come On Eileen" desperately needs to find eternal rest, along with the pointless '80s nostalgia it embodies. And what was it about shitty '90s ska bands and hits from the '80s? Because Save Ferris was all over this back in '97. "Eileen" was played out even then, when it was a mere 15 years old.

I remember Save Ferris and listening to their cover, lol.



14. "99 Red Balloons"

No other song better embodies '80s musical nostalgia than Nena's "99 Red Balloons"—ahem, "99 Luftballons"—and for that reason alone, it deserves retirement. Not enough? How about a slew of terrible covers by the likes of Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger, or a Harry Potter-themed version called "99 Death Eaters" by Draco And The Malfoys, or the raved-up version by Airbag? Maybe that isn't enough: When VH1 Classic auctioned airtime for Hurricane Katrina victims in 2006, one viewer donated $35,000 for the station to play Nena's video continuously for an hour.

I like Goldfinger's cover. :x

[Eric P]

ska bands are horrible about this, but then the first specials album is basically a cover EP with an original track or two so it does go all the way back to the beginnings of white involvement in the sound.

there's also a problem in the EDM community with remixing anthems into whatever the hot shit genre of the day is.  the song i am absolutely sick to death of hearing remixed is Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics.  DJ Icey made an industry out of Florida Breaks covers of 80s tunes much to my chagrin

[TVC15]

Punk bands in general are terrible about it.  In the late 90s, early 20s, there was the trend of punk/pop punk compilations of all covers, especially terrible 80s covers.  I really hated that.

[Eric P]

oh that still happens thanks to the "Punk Goes" series and you haven't heard shittastic until you've heard a modern punk band covering a horrible grunge song by a band that was scooped up in the wake of the subpop  panic

[TVC15]

Oh Jesus I am glad I do not follow punk any more.  I'm not sre I could stand to listen to the last rock movement worth mentioning get rape raped by Blinktards.

[Eric P]

you're so far removed that you don't even realize that it's the blink 182s that are being covered.

[TVC15]

My mind is blown.  In a bad bad bad way.

Sadly, I am curious, but I don't want that shit showing up on my last.fm log.

[Eric P]

my mind was blown when i heard two alternagirls of about 17 talking in a circuit city

"i just always give you shit because your hero killed himself"

"that's totally not fair.  he didn't kill himself, there's so much evidence that courtney love did it"

he killed himself 13 years ago.  is there that degree of romance about him so soon?  also a conspiracy theory.

i felt really old and wondered if people in the 90s felt the same way about ian curtis.

[TVC15]

Yeah, I'm 26 now.  I'm something of a hermit when it comes to the youth of today, but it never blows my mind how time works with pop culture.  I pull out my calculator and start doing head math.  "So Duran Duran to me is basically like Pearl Jam to kids born in 1991 (I was born in 81)?"

[Eric P]

i will routinely look up wikipedia's lists of movies or albums released 10 or 20 years ago to maintain my sense of time scale.

[ferrarimanf355]

That top 10 is good. I would have added "Whole Lotta Love" by Zepplin.

There should be a moritorium on Zeppelin covers, and violators should be whacked by the Hammer of Thor. The Beastie Boys are exempt, because they sampled John Bonham's drumming off of "When The Levee Breaks" to make "Rhymin' And Stealin'", thereby proving beyond a doubt that they have impeccable musical taste. 

[bluemax]

ska bands are horrible about this, but then the first specials album is basically a cover EP with an original track or two so it does go all the way back to the beginnings of white involvement in the sound.

there's also a problem in the EDM community with remixing anthems into whatever the hot shit genre of the day is.  the song i am absolutely sick to death of hearing remixed is Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics.  DJ Icey made an industry out of Florida Breaks covers of 80s tunes much to my chagrin

That's because Ska was more or less built on covers and ripping other people off. The early Jamaican ska bands all formed out of Jamaican dudes who spent their careers playing covers of American Big Band/R&B from the period. I read one comment once that was something like "in the early days the only difference between American R&B and Jamaican music was the accent of the singer".

That being said the shitty ska punk period of the 90s had some horrible affinity for 80s song covers:

Reel Big Fish - Take On Me
Goldfinger - 99 Red Balloons
Save Ferris - Come on Eileen
The Hippos - Always Something There to Remind Me

There's a ton more I can't even remember but it was bad. A lot of Punk bands did the same thing. I think I remember a couple compilations themed around 80's music.

Such as this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_Goes_80's

Edit, doh you already "covered" the Punk Goes series of comps. Punk Goes Metal was one of the better ones.

I miss being in HS and buying comps