A band such as Great White, had their only #1 hit with a cover of “Once Bitten, Twice Shy”. Same with the Black Crowes, their biggest hit was “Hard To Handle”.
This got me thinking of all the cover songs that I like. I compiled a list of some great covers, some of these actually sound better than the original versions. The order is alphabetically (it sorts better that way on iTunes), not by favorites.
Fox On the Run – Ace Frehley
Come Together – Aerosmith
Bring the Noise – Anthrax
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath – Anthrax
Outside Woman Blues -Back Door Slam
Hard To Handle – The Black Crowes
C’est La Vie – Bob Seger
Move Over – Cinderella
Hey, Hey, My My (Into the Black) – Dave Matthews Band
That’s Life – David Lee Roth
Rock On – Def Leppard
No Matter What – Def Leppard
Working Class Hero – Green Day
Hair of the Dog – Guns N’ Roses
Live And Let Die – Guns N’ Roses
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – Guns N’ Roses
Black Dog – Heart
Misty Mountain Hop – Heart
Love, Reign O’er Me – Heart
Imagine – Jack Johnson
Uncle John’s Band – Jimmy Buffett
Brown Eyed Girl – Jimmy Buffett
Southern Cross – Jimmy Buffett
Levon – Jon Bon Jovi
Turn The Page – Metallica
Whiskey In The Jar -Metallica
Stone Cold Crazy – Metallica
Wild World – Mr. Big
Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You – Pink
Bohemian Rhapsody – Pink
Little Willy – Poison
I Never Cry – Poison
Can’t You See – Poison
Dead Flowers – Poison
Your Mama Don’t Dance – Poison
Back In The Saddle – Sebastian Bach & Axl Rose
I Am a Rock – Shaw-Blades
California Dreamin – Shaw-Blades
For What It’s Worth – Shaw-Blades
Everything I Know – Tesla
Thank You – Tesla
All the Young Dudes – tesla
Shooting Star – Tesla
Street Fighting Man – Tesla
Instant Karma – U2
Cat’s In The Cradle – Ugly Kid Joe
Mainstreet – Uncle Kracker
Drift Away (feat. Dobie Gray) – Uncle Kracker
(Oh) Pretty Woman – Van Halen
You Really Got Me – Van Halen
Radar Love – White Lion
Purple Haze – Winger
In today’s music world, it seems that everyone is recording a covers album. From heavy hitters such as Metallica to music vet Peter Gabriel, everyone is recording other peoples music. Can anyone write a classic anymore? To think that a record company would give contracts out to artist to re-record old songs sounds a bit absorbed to me, but it’s not my money. Three of my favorite bands: Metallica, Tesla and Poison recorded entire albums of covers. Tesla, actually recorded 2 cover albums. Did they lose their ability to write? Or was it done, just for fun? Maybe a little of each. Well for Metallica, they actually got better when they released the awesome powerhouse Death Magnetic.