Five Cover Songs to Get You Through the Week (8-15-2016)
Five Cover Song for the Week 8-15-2016
I started making this list with the intent to come up with five best cover songs. That failed because there are so many great songs that are covers and I didn't want to spend endless time analysing and justifying why song A was better than song B and Song C and so on and so on. So you are going to get a weekly serving of five covers and poor little me has to listen to more music.
Sometimes there is song that was an ok song to begin with or it might have been a great song but did not get the attention it deserved. Every now and again someone will do a cover of the song and will make you believe that it is their own, even if you know better.
Below are five of my favorite cover songs that may or may not have been an amazing song to begin with.
I will list the artist, cover song followed by original artist in parentheses, Artist: Cover Song (original artist).
Eddie Spaghetti: Carry Me Home (AC/DC)
"Carry Me Home" is not an AC/DC staple from the Bon Scott years or widely available until Back Tracks. In 2005 Eddie Spaghetti the front man for the Supersuckers did a nice honky-tonk version of this lesser know song.
Eddie Spaghetti
AC/DC
Johhny Cash: Redemption Song (Bob Marley)
I know what you are thinking why not "Hurt"? Johnny Cash definitely made "Hurt" his song but "Redemption Song" has two music legends, Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer (the Clash). As an added bit bonus, Joe Strummer did a cover on his last album "Streetcore".
Johnny Cash
Bob Marley
Motorhead: Sympathy for the Devil (Rolling Stones)
Lemmy has done some amazing covers in his career but this is the crown jewel of Lemmy covers. It has the subtlety of Mick Jagger but the full force and growl of Lemmy and Motorhead.
Motorhead
Rolling Stones
Coal Chamber: Shock the Monkey (Peter Gabriel)
In the late 90s bands were doing covers on a regular basis and some were better than the original. Like Orgy's cover of "Blue Monday", Coal Chamber's cover was much better than the original. If you want a heavy version with Ozzy Osbourne, this is your song.
Coal Chamber
Peter Gabriel
Black Label Society: Ain't no Sunshine (Bill Withers)
Zakk Wylde is no stranger to doing covers, playing with Ozzy for almost twenty years covering Black Sabbath and Randy Rhoades years of the Ozz. Black Label Society has covered Neil Young to Procol Harum to Lynyrd Skynyrd. The music video is reason enough to listen Zakk's cover of "Ain't no Sunshine".
Black Label Society
Bill Withers