Favorite cover artists?

[trashcanman]

Lately I've been thinking about what it takes to make a truly great representation of another artists' work. There are tons of discussion and lists about what the best covers are, but I don't really see too many discussing which bands and artists have the best overall resumes in this regard. So let's do that. My personal picks are going to Anthrax and Johnny Cash.

Anthrax has probably built a better portfolio of covers than anybody in music history. They've tackled just about every major genre and almost always remained respectful to the original track while adding their own personal touches. Who else can stack covers from bands like Husker Du, The Smiths, Journey, Public Enemy, Metallica, Rush, and Cheap Trick on the same pile? Not to mention they recorded the only decent Sex Pistols cover I've ever heard. And that's just getting started. Check it.




And then there's Cash. In addition to being one of the greatest songwriters of his generation, he was constantly reinterpreting the newer music he heard all around him from Dylan to Nine Inch Nails alongside timeless folk classics with equal respect right up until his death. Everything from Danzig to Depeche Mode, Soundgarden, Tom Petty, Bob Marley, CCR, the Stones, Nick Cave, Simon and Garfunkel, Ray Charles; the fucking list goes on and on. And pretty much every time he's done it the consensus was that once Cash sang it, the song became his. Here's some more.






So what'chu got?

[The Curmudgeon]

I've been struggling with this one, if I'm being honest. I think you'd be hard pushed to beat Johnny Cash. But let's see..

I think it's something that really came through when bands released singles that had extra tracks on there. The good ol' days of b-sides were when bands really could let their influences show, covering bands and songs that they normally wouldn't put out on an album release.

With that in mind, last week's "Verdict" band Travis always put out excellent singles, and a lot of the b-sides were inspired covers (Dylan's "You're a Big Girl Now", "River" by Joni Mitchell, "Killer Queen" by, er, Queen). They weren't drastically different or re-imagined, but quality covers all the same. In fact, it was their inspired acoustic cover of Britney's "Hit Me Baby, One More Time" that really sealed their fate as Big Deals, before "ironic" covers of pop songs were really a thing.

Cover of choice: "The Weight" by The Band, a song I'd never really heard, but now can't seperate from this version. Weezer covered this song as a bonus track on the Red Album, but it's nowhere near as good as this one (mainly because Travis' Fran Healy can actually fucking sing).



Ash are another who would give cover songs as b-sides, usually scattered over two part CD singles. A superb, eerie electronic version of Lennon's "Give Us Some Truth", a kick-ass "Does Your Mother Know", "Teenage Kicks", "Everybody's Happy Nowadays", the list goes on, including a cover of the "you belong to me" song from Man With Two Brains. But come on, what other band could do this justice?




I prefer this approach to flat out releasing cover versions as singles. I lost a lot of love for Marilyn Manson for pulling that shit. You cover "Sweet Dreams" and make it some evil metal song? Cool. You make "Tainted Love" a pop rock song? Hmm, OK... now you're covering "Personal Jesus?" Come on dude, write your own fucking hits.

[trashcanman]

You'd never heard The Weight? Ouch. That reminds me of another truly great artist known for her covers obliterating the originals. I mean, Otis Redding is arguably the greatest soul artist of all time, but who's the first name in your head when somebody asks you who sang Respect?



Yeah, the Manson thing bugged me too. That dude tried so hard to recreate that first hit over and over. He was also fond of mangling any rock song with a somewhat controversial name (Rock and Roll Nigger, Highway to Hell, The KKK Took My Baby Away, etc). I really need to get into Ash.

[edit] When I entered the name Ash into Spotify search, they were the TWENTY SIXTH artist down the list. How obscure are these guys?

[The Curmudgeon]

Rock and Roll Nigger was fucking raw, though. Can't take that away from him. And damn, Otis wrote "Respect"? I had no idea. I can't even imagine a guy singing that, it's SUCH a gold standard of, like, girl power or whatever. The things you learn.

As for Ash? They're not too obscure, really. They've been a casualty of the great rock and roll drought of the last ten years so their more recent albums and singles have pretty much sunk without trace. But they've scored a couple of number one albums in their time. They had a string of hit singles that gave them their second number one album, and it kept Janet Jackson's heavily hyped album off the top spot. They recorded their celebration party and called it "We're Sorry, Miss Jackson."

They are totally a band you should get into. They've had a Best Of ("Super Sonic 7's") and then they complied their "1 single every week for every letter of the alphabet" series into handy compilation albums, so there's a LOT of gems out there that are quite easy to come by. You'd think that a band who've been out for 20 years would end up releasing more grounded, "mature" work, as elder spokesmen of the rock game.

Or, y'know, you could call your new album "KABLAMMO!", release the infectiously goofy single "Cocoon" from it that could have come from a bunch of 17 year old's and make the video just of the lead singer eating sushi while a bunch of weird shit happens in the background.



If you're looking for a new band to get into, Trashy, Ash could certainly be your guys.

[trashcanman]

I've meant to ever since you had them on Your Verdict, but it just kind of slipped my mind. Listened to one of their live ones last night and that hit was fierce. Definitely going to be hearing more of them from now on.