An A-Z of great cover songs

With covers being the latest craze right now, I wanted to post a list including some of my favourite songs done by some of my favourite artists who manage to do the song justice. One person who isn't on the list is a one trick pony who goes by the name of Mark Ronson. On the subject of crappy covers, that Instant Karma album released a few weeks ago is awful too.

I went through my entire 20,000 song collection on itunes to find cover versions and sure enough I found each and every one of them (including the original versions) on youtube which amazes me. It took me a few hours to make this list up but if you only have time to check out one, make it Foo Fighters.

Arcade Fire & U2: Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division original)
Alicia Keys ft Adam Levine: Wild Horses (The Rolling Stones original)
Barenaked Ladies: Careless Whisper (George Michael original)
Beastie Boys: Radio Radio (Elvis Costello original)
Chris Cornell: Thank You (Led Zeppelin original)
Cat Power: Satisfaction (Rolling Stones original)
Divine Comedy: No One Knows (Queens Of The Stone Age original)
Dave Grohl: Tiny Dancer (Elton John original)
Elliott Smith: Jealous Guy (John Lennon original)
Eva Cassidy: Fields Of Gold (Sting original)
Foo Fighters: Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin original)
Flaming Lips: Can't Get You Out Of My Head (Kylie Minogue original)
Gary Jules: Mad World (Tears For Fears original)
Gipsy Kings: Hotel California (The Eagles original)
Israel Kamakawiwo: Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Judy Garland)
Indigo Girls: Romeo & Juliet (Dire Straights original)
Jeff Buckley: Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen original)
Joe Cocker: With A Little Help From My Friends (Beatles original)
KT Tunstall: Want You Back (Jackson Five original)
Killers: Shadowplay (Joy Division original)
Lilly Allen: Naive (The Kooks original)
Lemonheads: Mrs Robinson (Simon & Garfunkel original)
Muse: Feeling Good (Nina Simone original)
Marvin Gaye: Yesterday (The Beatles original)
Nirvana: The Man Who Sold The World (David Bowie original)
Nina Gordon: Straight Outta Compton (N.W.A. original)
Offspring: Feelings (Morris Albert original)
Ok Go: Don't Bring Me Down (ELO original)
Paul Anka: Eye Of The Tiger (Survivor original)
Placebo: Runnin Up That Hill (Kate Bush original)
Rufus Wainwright: Across The Universe (The Beatles original)
Radiohead: Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon original)
Siouxsie And The Banshees: Dear Prudence (Beatles original)
Stereophonics: Handbags And Gladrags (Rod Steward original)
Travis: Hit Me Baby One More Time (Britney Spears original)
Tori Amos: I Don't Like Mondays (Boomtown Rats original)
U2: Helter Skelter (The Beatles original)
Urge Overkill: Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon (Neil Diamond original)
Van Halen: You Really Got Me (The Kinks original)
Vic Reeves: Dizzy (Tommy Roe original)
Weezer: Big Me (Foo Fighters original)
White Stripes: Jolene (Dolly Parton original)

There isn't exactly a huge amount of X, Y and Z bands that I know of so no covers from Xtreme, Yellowcard or Zapp & Roger. Which is a relief because they're crap. More tomorrow.

Covers continued...

Here are some honourable mentions that couldn't make my A-Z. Some bands and artists had more than one which deserve their own posts. It's in sections with individual bands, different versions of the one song (Johnny B Goode) and the final part... when covers go bad. I decided to swap this post with the "A-Z of Covers" so it would make sense chronologically.

Arctic Monkeys:
You Know That I'm No Good (Amy Winehouse)
Love Machine (Girls Aloud)
Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)

Ben Folds:
Bitches Ain't Shit (Dr. Dre feat Snoop Dog)
Careless Whispers (George Michael)
Such Great Heights (The Postal Service)

Johnny Cash:
Bridge Over Troubled Waters (Simon & Garfunkel)
Desperado (Eagles)
Gods Gonna Cut You Down
Hurt (Nine Inch Nails)
In My Life (The Beatles)
Mercy Seat (Nick Cave)
Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
We'll Meet Again (Vera Lynn)

Oasis:
Cum On Feel The Noize (Slade)
Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles)
Helter Skelter (The Beatles)
I Am The Walrus (The Beatles)
Noel & Friends: All You Need Is Love (The Beatles)
Strawberry Fields Forever (The Beatles)
Whatever (with The Beatles)
Within You Without You (The Beatles)

William Shatner:
Common People (Pulp)
It Was A Very Good Year (Frank Sinatra)
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Beatles)
Rocket Man (Elton John)

Johnny B. Goode:
Brain Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Chuck Berry original
George Harrison and friends
Green Day
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley anniversary performance
Hugh Laurie, Sir Patrick Moore and Pheobe Legere
Jimi Hendrix
John Lennon
Jullian Lennon
Marty McFly
Motorhead
Peter Tosh

Examples of bad cover versions:
Alien Ant Farm: Smooth Criminal (Michael Jackson)
Amy Winehouse & Charlotte Church: Beat It (Michael Jackson)
Britney Spears: Satisfaction (Rolling Stones)
Celine Dion & Anastacia: You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC)
Girls Aloud vs. Sugababes: Walk This Way (Aerosmith vs. Run DMC)
Hayseed Dixie: Roses (Outkast)
Korn: Another Brick In The Wall (Pink Floyd)
Limp Bizkit: Faith (George Michael)
Limp Bizkit: Behind Blue Eyes (The Who)
Madonna: American Pie (Don McLean)
Marylin Manson: What goes around comes around (Justin Timberlake)
Richard Cheese: Baby Got Back/ Personal Jesus (Sir Mix-A-Lot)
Shery Crow: Sweet Child O' Mine (Guns N Roses)

Special Mention:
Westlife, Girls Aloud, Richard Cheese and Wierd Al Yankovic.

Coming soon to a theater near you

I wanted to get these trailers out of the way since the computer is crashing all the time and and I don't have the time to post that huge one I promised yesterday until tomorrow.

Be Kind Rewind

Jack Black. Mos Def. Michael Gondry. That's all you need to know.

Lars And The Real Girl

Ryan Gosling stars in "A heartfelt comedy starring Academy-Award nominated Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom a loveable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the internet to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his Brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and his wife Karen (Emily Mortimer) and they are stunned..." Check out the trailer for more. It looks like good fun even though I've a feeling that the trailer gives a bit too much away as most trailers do.

The Nines

The other Ryan, Mister Reynolds stars as "A troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed videogame designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways." This looks really interesting. It's from John August, the screenwriter of "Go" and "Big Fish" and is currently working on the Captain Marvel and Prince Of Persia movies. I'm assured that they're two different films.

Alvin And The Chipmunks

Check out the high-larious moment where alvin eats some doodoo. HAhahaha. Comedy gold. After this and Underdog, you can see that Jason Lee is really moving up since his days as "Teenage Drug
Customer" in "Mi Vida Loca".

Best live performance ever...

...of Franz Ferdinand perfoming "Outsiders" live on Jools Holland.

Did you know Nick is using an Epiphone Wilshire? Late 70s guitar I think. See, the more you know. This is a lazy post because I'm putting together tomorrow's post which is huge and well worth waiting for.

"There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes"

I've posted the Thriller video already a few weeks ago but it seems many people still haven't seen it so I figures, these peoples must be slow in da head. Part two of the Thriller video was released yesterday and to celebrate it's greatness, I've combined all things CPDRC and Thriller so I don't have to do it again. Bain taitneamh, bitches.

Thriller- As made famous by the 1,500 inmates of CPDRC
Thriller- Michael Jackson original (apparently)
Thriller- American Football Band stylee
Thriller- Wedding reception dance
Thriller- Full lego version
Thriller- Jennifer Garner version (only great because she's hot. Andy Serkis is there too. He's... not so hot.)

Other CPDRC videos:
Village People: In The Navy/ YMCA
Black Eyed Peas: Bebot
Sister Act: I Will Follow Him
Sister Act: Dayang Dayang
Sister Act: Hail Holy Queen
Queen: Radio Gaga


I sure as hell am no genius but I've noticed that they're very fond of Sister Act. You can't qoute me on that though...

You can see a Filipino news special before the craze even happened here. The subtitles seem to change into the worst possible colour every time the shot changes but that's alright; you can make out some basic words in English filled in with some gibberish in between. I have to warn you, it's 10 minutes long so you're going to watch just one of the clips, watch Radio Gaga. I'll die happy if I never have to hear Thriller again.

I don't know what to make of this...

Yes, that's Chamillionaire (black and white) rapping with himself. I have to admit, some things on that news ticker at the bottom is a bit funny. The video actually consists of two related songs: "Hip Hop Police (feat. Slick Rick)" and "Evening News". Some say he's the future of Hip Hop. I say "Shut your smelly face". Anywho, check it out here:



Some of it seems like it was written by a brain dead parrot but there are tiny moments of Dave Chappelle standard comedy. It's got another weird moment where another rapper, Slick Rick, is talking to himself in a different costume so that's a bit weird. Has Slick Rick lost his marbles? Has he ever had them? Although... Once upon a time, not long ago, when people wore pyjamas and lived life slow...

Speaking of somebody who has lost the plot, R. Kelly, is developing the next 10 chapters of his "Trapped In The Closet" saga. Yes, THE Robert Sylvester Kelly. The one who (allegedly) married a 15 year old Aaliyah when he was 27 and years later filmed himself peeing on a young girl. I can't put into words how disgusting that is. So, I'll let Dave Chappelle sing you a song! Oh, snap! He's got a remix edition!

I've embedded below a recap that he's personally put together to remind you of how great this story is. In case you need the full story you can find chapters 1-5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 on the almighty Youtube.



...

Oh, shit.

Song of the week: Number 5

Common: The People (not to be mixed up with this or even this)

There isn't a great selection for a new music video this week. 50 cent released his new video for "Ayo Technology" featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland which is God-awful. Check it out:



Awful, isn't it? The intro is pathetic: "So special. Un-forgettable. Fifty cent (cent). Jus-tin (tin). Timba-land (land). Damn (Damn)". And then "super-producer" Timbaland comes in with his "Block Party" ringtone sample which he stole. The rapping by 50 is diabolical, which might explain why his last three singles "Amusement Park", "I Get Money" and "Straight To The Bank" made no impact at all in the charts when they were released. Curtis might as well have stolen a full verse from Ice Cube or someone since he's paying too much of an homage to his work and to every other artist associated to Compton. He sounds like he's repeating everything he's said before in his hundred mix tapes. He's definitely no Talib, Jigga, Mos Def or Common when it comes to wordplay.

On a related note: I also hate you Tay Zonday! You, with your fake voice and 12-year-old-like freaky face. Learn to sing and stop posting songs on youtube. That bastardo is everywhere these days. Chocolate Rain is being copied and remixed to no end. Some of the remixes and spoofs are actually quite good. Others... not so much. I don't know what to make of the following though...


Another "song" making the rounds is Spiderpig. Check out the full song here. Apparently, it's number 13 in the Irish charts, which goes to prove the theory I had two weeks ago about the Irish buying into fads as soon as one stops they buy into another. Expect it to knock Journey (of Sopranos fame) from the top spot in a week. There's even a real life version of Spiderpig here. It's got web-slinging action between buildings and everything. I'm sure the Spiderpig was funny in the film at one point. Now it's getting played on the radio.

This is the weekly lazy post with my favourite song of the week. Here are my last Sunday song posts: 29/07/07, 22/07/07, 15/07/07, 08/07/07. I went on a bit of a rant in this one so it wasn't as short or lazy as I would have wanted it to be. Sorry for making you read.+