Less famous covers that you knew before the more famous originals

I'm pretty sure I've related this on ILM before, but Joan Jett's cover of Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner" - heard it at Wolf Camera and was hypnotized.

The first time I heard Led Zeppelin's Rock & Roll was Cyndi Lauper doing a cover of it on some Channel 4 chat show. Might've been The Last Resort. I thought it was brilliant, my dad sat me down and said, "Son, you've got a lot to learn."

I haven't heard that Cyndi Lauper version but if she changed it into an 80s synth pop song then HELL YES I want to hear it.

Sunshine by Paul Westerberg

Type O Negative's cover of "Angry Inch"

No, I don't think she did. It was pretty faithful, IIRC.

If we can count Weird Al then I knew "My Bologna" long before I knew "My Sharona". I still way prefer the Weird Al version though.

Papa M's cover of the Misfits' "Last Caress".

Luna's cover of Season of the Witch

...Metallica's cover of Last Caress

Ha! The Fugees "No Woman, No Cry"

...Metallica's cover of Last Caress

Was the original "Last Caress" ever that famous to start with?

that's why I didn't list it either...nothing the Misfits did ever really made it big.

yeah that's fair. More people probably know the Metallica version than know the Misfits version. And definitely more than know the Papa M version!

all the covers on This Mortal Coil's "It'll End In Tears".

Lydia Lunch's "Some Velvet Morning".

Jazz Butcher covering John Cale's "Leaving It Up To You"

and probably lots more.

I heard Frankie Goes to Hollywood's version of "Born to Run" years before the Springsteen original, and I still like it more.

First head VU's "Rock n Roll" done by Jane's Addiction

Metallica's lame version of BOC's Astronomy

Here's a good one. Candy Flip's cover of Strawberry Fields Forever. I'm sure I had heard the original before but it wasn't until the cover that I really got to know the song

"(i can't get no) satisfaction" otis redding

Camper Van Beethoven's "Insterstallar Overdrive"

Phil Collins's cover of "You can't hurry love" is still probably less famous than the Supremes right? That one

rod stewart - forever young

I knew the Dead Kennedys' Pull My Strings before I'd heard My Sharona.

Also yeah Lydia Lunch's Some Velvet Morning.

Van Halen--You Really Got Me

futureheads "hounds of love"

last 2 posts = also for me

TWO examples from Fine Young Cannibals "Ever Fallen In Love With Someone" and "Suspicious Minds" before the Buzzcocks and Elvis versions.

Bryan Ferry -

What Goes On
A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
Let's Stick/Work together

and various others, at the time.

Goo Goo Dolls "I could never take the place of your man". fun cover....though it doesn't beat Prince at all.

# Less famous covers that you knew before the more famous originals [Started by The Reverend, last updated 6 minutes ago] 29 new answers
# i don't want to listen to massive attack anymore [Started by ethan, last updated 7 minutes ago] 30 new answers

Two by Faith No More! "War Pigs" and "Easy".

R.E.M., "Femme Fatale"

greenhorn - "50 ways to leave your lover"

la bamba soundtrack, pretty much.

me too...I remember thinking the Los Lobos version was the original when I was a kid

I heard the Blues Magoos version of "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" before I heard the original by The Move. Not a very famous song, either version. but still...

I just had a friend ask me if I had a copy of "this really great R.E.M. song, 'All I Have To Do Is Dream.'"

Various songs appearing on The Residents Present the Third Reich 'n' Roll including "Double Shot of My Baby's Love"

anybody that grew up in the 80s will be shortly naming a Bananarama song

Psuedo Echo's cover of "Funky Town", originally by Lipps Inc.

Several Beatles' covers of mainly Chuck Berry numbers.

Beatles cover >>>>>>more famous>>>>>>> Chuck Berry original

Embarassingly (because based on Chairs Missing and Pink Flag and even the Dome albums I always considered myself a huge Wire fan) I heard the Fisherspooner version of "The 15th" first

Also Souled American's version of Little Feat's "Six Feet Of Snow," which by the way is one of the best cover songs ever

REM's cover o' "Superman"
Nazareth's cover of "This Flight Tonight" (it took fukken decades before I heard the 'riginal:)

I know the Monroe recording is not the "original", but it's certainly at least one of the best versions of the song:

I heard my parents and various friends and relatives sing "Happy Birthday" to me & my sister long before I heard the recording of Marilyn Monroe singing to JFK.

Uh, make that best known

loads of Spacemen 3 covers - "Will the Circle Be Unbroken", "Che", "MaryAnne", "Rollercoaster", "Starship"

altho I guess most of those aren't "famous" really

Bill Medley: "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

Love & Rockets - "Ball of Confusion"

Elton John "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" before The Beatles

Hall & Oates' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" before The Righteous Brothers

Elton John "Pinball Wizard" before The Who.

Talking Heads - "Take Me To the River"

Many, many Bob Dylan songs. I didn't even start listening to Dylan until I was 22 or 23.

Snuff - I Think We're Alone Now

Testament - Nobody's Fault
I had no idea that this was a cover until I mentioned to someone that I couldn't understand why that song was so horribly much worse than the rest of the album. Fellow looked at me and asked if I'd heard of Aerosmith. Pfft! (Hmm, I don't actually know if it -is- a famous Aerosmith song. For all I know it might be a b-side. I've never heard the original, thankfully.)

Phil Collins - "Tomorrow Never Knows"

the fall - victoria
mirage - tomorrow never knows
bangles - live

superchunk - train from kansas city

Given my age, I think I'm allowed to not be embarrassed by knowing Paul Young's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" before encountering Joy Division.

rainy day - holocaust
rail - back of a car
this mortal coil - kangaroo
teenage fanclub - free again

clearly i was a late arrival to big star

Many, many Bob Dylan songs. I didn't even start listening to Dylan until I was 22 or 23.

I'd claim that most famous cover versions of Dylan songs are actually more famous than the originals.

Such as?

All Along the Watchtower
Mr. Tambourine Man

Yeh.

Camper Van Beethoven's "Insterstallar Overdrive" - not IO but, for me: "Pictures of Matchstick Men"
Love & Rockets - "Ball of Confusion" - yes

also:
"Tower of Song" - Jesus & Mary Chain
"People are Strange" - Echo & the Bunnymen
"Rawhide" - Dead Kennedys
"Radar Love" - White Lion

that was me that told you that Oystein. and that song doesn't suck.

Kristin Hersh - Trouble

Elton John "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" before The Beatles

-- Joe, Monday, 12 November 2007 21:57 (1 hour ago) Link

Elton John "Pinball Wizard" before The Who.

-- snoball, Monday, 12 November 2007 21:59 (1 hour ago) Link

Oh yes, my mom was/is an Elton fan, so these. In fact, I've still never heard the original "Pinball Wizard".

Al Kooper's version of "Season of the Witch"
Blood, Sweat & Tears "40,000 Headmen"
Patti Smith "Gloria"

In fact, I've still never heard the original "Pinball Wizard".

Lucky boy.

Actually, come to mention it...

The New Seekers "Pinball Wizard" before The Who.

Add the following to the list by Shakey of Dylan covers more famous than the originals:

All I Ever Want To Do - The Byrds
My Back Pages - The Byrds
If You Gotta Go Go Now - Manfred Mann
The Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann
If Not For You - Olivia Newton-John
I Shall Be Released - The Band

Arguably also "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" (Clapton, GnR) although Dylan's own version of that song has become quite famous too.

number one cup - the monkey song

(haha 'famous')

Bad News- Bohemian Rhapsody
Minutemen- Dr. Wu

All of the Minutemen's covers except the Creedence ones. Most of them I've heard the originals since hearing the covers, but I still haven't ever heard the original "Ack Ack Ack." And I only heard the Meat Puppets' original "Lost" for the first time in the last couple of months.

Probably a lot of Jesus and Mary Chain songs, including:

Vegetable Man (Pink Floyd)
Mushroom (Can)

Also:

"On Tape" by Teenage Gang Debs (Pooh Sticks)
"Mobo" by The Dustdevils (Hose, see Rick Rubin)
"Heartbeat" by Big Black (Wire)
"I Love Her All the Time" Camper Van (Sonic Youth)
a bunch of Feelies covers, inluding Dancing Barefoot, Sedan Delivery, etc.
"A Fifth of Beethoven" (I was young)
"Black Diamond" by The Replacements (Kiss)
"Citadel" by Red Kross (Stones)

Let's add the Wedding Present's version of "Box Elder" RIGHT
HERE...

Counting Crows - Big Yellow Taxi

...

'Black Night' by Vic Reeves (the Deep Purple ditty)

I heard Li Yuchun's cover of Shakira's "Eyes Like Yours" before I ever heard Shakira, at all.

Is the original Talk Talk more famous than Alice Cooper's version? I've been listening to that since it came out, and I just heard the original for the first time yesterday.

The F.U.'s version of Green Beret.

The Soft Pink Truth's cover of Crass's 'Do They Owe Us A Living?'

The Breeders - Happiness Is A Warm Gun
U2 - Helter Skelter
Aerosmith - I'm Down
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Here Comes The Sun

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00002MVQO.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Boyz II Men - Yesterday

"Crimson and Clover"? Would the Joan Jett version be considered as equally or more famous than Tommy James and the Shondells'?

Any covers that Nina Simone has ever done - I grew up on her, but not so much with a lot of the Dylan and Beatles and Bee Gees that she used to cover. And I still haven't heard Big Star's "Thirteen", but I know it back to front via Wilco, Elliott Smith, Kind of Like Spitting, random youtube dudes...

One more for Geir/Shakey: Peter, Paul, and Mary's "Blowin' In The Wind."

Today, Dylan's version is probably more famous than Peter, Paul and Mary's even though it wasn't back then.

"Crimson and Clover"? Would the Joan Jett version be considered as equally or more famous than Tommy James and the Shondells'?

I'm pretty sure the latter is played more often on oldies stations today than the former is played on classic rock stations today. So, no.

in flames' cover of 'everything counts'

Blur's Oliver's Army (Costello) and Maggie May (Stewart)

Krokus - Ballroom Blitz (Sweet)
Bob Dylan - The Boxer (Pau Simon)
Ramones - Needles & Pins (Searchers)
Triumph - Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh)

Is "Venus" by Bananarama more famous than the Shocking Blue original. I don't think so generally, but it probably is for my generation.

I heard Stars do "This Charming Man" on some Darla comp; at least a year went by before I found out it was a Smiths song.

Japan - "Ain't that Peculiar" (Marvin Gaye)

Jim White - "King of the Road" (Roger Miller)

Charming Hostess - "Won't you keep us Working?" (Residents)

Oh yeah, I'll sign up on the Ramones "Needles & Pins" and Charming Hostess.
Also, Nomeansno - Would we be alive? (Residents again)
Melvins - Goin' Blind (Kiss)
Entombed - God of Thunder (Kiss)
Oblivians - Sunday You Need Love (Trio, though I suppose this might not be overly famous either. It is the best thing ever though)

I don't know if this counts, but maybe Alicia Keys' cover of "How Come U Don't Call Me?"

The first version I heard of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was the Nicki French version.

And of course the first version of "Hip To Be Square" I heard was the Sesame Street cover.

Japan's 'All Tomorrow's Parties', of COURSE.

The Velvet Underground couldn't improve on that.

Faith No More "Let's Lynch The Landlord"

Granted the original wasn't that famous either.

> Lydia Lunch's "Some Velvet Morning".

Starpower's "Some Velvet Morning"
Sonic Youth's "Rowche Rumble"

Carnivore's cover of "Manic Depression"

Voivod's "Astronomy Domine"

second a lot of the Faith No More covers: "Let's Lynch the Landlord", "Easy", "Midnight Cowboy" (except I'm sure more people listened to FNM's Midnight Cowboy than the OST)

another fun thread along these lines might be: Less famous songs you knew that sampled famous songs before you knew them .. what a tongue-twister though.

Oh yeah, I'll sign up on the Ramones "Needles & Pins" ...

Hm, the Ramones'? For my, ahem, general age group it must have been Smokie's version of same that registered first.

The first version I heard of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was the Nicki French version.

-- musically, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:13 (4 hours ago) Link

And of course the first version of "Hip To Be Square" I heard was the Sesame Street cover.

-- musically, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:14 (4 hours ago) Link

These. And the first version of "Sweet Dreams" I heard was Marilyn Manson's.

Low - "I Started a Joke". Still haven't heard the Bee Gees original but this version is beautiful.

The Clash - Pressure Drop

The Beatles' "Anna (Go to Him)" I heard before the Arthur Alexander version. Ditto "Boys" (the Shirelles).

Lydia Lunch's "Some Velvet Morning"...Starpower's "Some Velvet Morning"

Slowdive's "Some Velvet Morning"
Primal Scream's "Some Velvet Morning"

Jim White - "King of the Road" (Roger Miller)

I'm pretty sure I heard the Proclaimers' version of this first.

Oh, c'mon, Matos--you'd have had to be xgau's age to have heard those Beatles covers (plus others, natch) in their original versions first, no? Well, either that or just really damn lucky. (Or a Beatles hater, I suppose.)

Another one for me is Poi Dog Pondering's cover of "Love Vigilantes", which I still love both for the song and because it's what turned me on to New Order (along with the first Electronic album around then).

I heard the JChurch version of Nick Lowe's "marie provost" first.

I hadn't thought about that song for years, but was reminded of it due to a mention in the book "Gerald's Game". i dusted off the 7", then searched out some info on JChurch and it turns out Lance Hahn died in October. Sad.

Ramones - Needles & Pins (Searchers)

Same here. I was aware it was a cover, I just happened to hear the cover first.

Heard Joe Cocker's version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" before the Beatles version when I watched The Wonder Years as a kid. Bet that one goes for a lot of people.

I'm pretty sure when that horrible band Orgy came out with their cover of Blue Monday I had never heard the New Order original. Ah, middle school.

Back in the 80s, I had only ever heard Can through the covers - JAMC's Mushroom Head, Loop's Mother Sky. Think I might have heard Kendra Smith's cover of She Brings The Rain before the original, as well, quite possibly.

Lights - Save Me A Place
(checked out the original on Tusk afterwards, i think i prefer Lights' version)

Racer X - Moonage Daydream. The liner notes didn't even state this was a cover. When I started to check out other music after my metal period was over, I was quite surprised by Bowie's original rendition.

Will second the Blue Monday by Orgy. Still kinda prefer theirs, whatever taste points that loses me.

Dynamite Hack's novelty cover of Boys In The Hood. Alien Ant Farm's novelty cover of Smooth Criminal, although that was pretty famous I guess. From the same period, whoever sampled/interpolated "Sundown, I think it's a sin..." or whatever.

Oh, all the Metallica nods remind me of their "Turn the Page" which qualifies for me here.

Foo Fighters doing "Down in the Park" by Gary Numan.

Erase Errata doing "Boris the Spider" by The Who live. Was YEARS before I figured out wtf that spider song was.

Smashing Pumpkins "Landslide," which a friend and I somehow interpreted as a weird, acoustic version of "Drown."

Almost certain I heard "Octopus's Garden" by Raffi or some other kid-friendly artist as a tot.

And of course, mountains of things parodied by Weird Al, in fact, virtually everything parodied by Weird Al before the late nineties or so, I knew originally via Al. I was a nerdy kid.

Some of the stuff on this thread is kind of iffy to me though. No way is REM's "Superman" less famous than the original! And Van Halen's "You Really Got Me" is probably approaching higher recognition than the Kinks' version.

Agreed. I was going to mention Mazzy Star's "Blue Flower" cover, but that's clearly better known than the original.

Slowdive - Some Velvet Morning
Mercury Rev - If You Want Me to Stay
Motley Crue - Smokin' in the Boys Room & Anarchy in the UK

"Will second the Blue Monday by Orgy. Still kinda prefer theirs, whatever taste points that loses me."

hmmm, like a billion?

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - "Ferry Cross The Mersey"

speaking of the kinks, i'm pretty sure i heard pretenders cover of stop your sobbing first. and speaking of the pretenders, it's possible that i heard everything but the girl's cover of kid before the original. cuz even though my brother had the pretenders debut when it came out i don't think i ever listened to the whole thing till years later.

When I was a little kid I only knew Anne Murray's "You Won't See Me," "Daydream Believer" and "Danny's Song." Haven't heard any of these since I was at least 8 years old.

I think Orgy and New Order's "Blue Monday"s are just about equally famous.

Smashing Pumpkins "Landslide,"

Now that I think about it, as late-80s pop & thrash metal was my first musical obsession, I'm sure a lot of classic rock & punk staples were first heard via dudes in tights w/ poodle hair. A few others that spring to mind: "Radar Love" by White Lion; "Gudbuy t'Jane" by Britney Fox; "Purple Haze" by Winger

I was going to mention Mazzy Star's "Blue Flower" cover, but that's clearly better known than the original

Yeah, but Pale Saints cover version FTW!

Hmmm, along those lines though, I think Bongwater's "The Drum" might qualify as less famous than Slapp Happy's. Tough call. Anyway, heard the Bongwater version first, and still kind of prefer it.

Mazzy Star > Pale Saints in terms of "Blue Flower" IMO, but the "here comes the fuzz pedal" section of the PS version never fails to give me the spine chills. Both versions totally rule, btw. Still haven't heard the original.. Maybe this should be polled?

Other trax I thought of: "People are Strange" by Echo &TB; "Hot Rod Lincoln" by All; "Tower of Song" by Jesus & Mary Chain; "Rawhide" by Dead Kennedys

It's funny: Mazzy Star make one tiny chord change to the song that vastly improves it over the Slapp version, even though I'm generally a huge Slapp Happy fanboy.

most Velvet Underground songs I first heard through others (so uncool was/am I):

Mitch Ryder - "Rock and Roll"
Big Star - "Femme Fatale"
The Feelies - "What Goes On"

Heaven & Earth's cover of "Sixty Years Old" convinced me to seek out Elton John's original, and from there I began to take seriously an artist I'd blacklisted ever since I watched the relevant bit of Princess Di's funeral on tv.

joy divisions cover of 'sister ray' haha

In the eighties at the Kennel Club in Philadelphia, I often heard Pretty Poison's cover of the Tuxedomoon song "No Tears," having never heard the original at that point. I wish I could find it now in mp3 form, I think it was on a flexi disc and I haven't heard it since. It's great.

I'm still convinced The Sea and Cake's 'Sound and Vision' is better than the original Bowie song (which I didn't hear until much later). Barely anyone agreed with me, I made a poll on this.

oh.. Red Red Meat's 'I'm not in Love' is better than the 10cc version. Also heard the Red Red Meat version first. Talk about a kick ass guitar solo in the middle

Both "Proud Mary" and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" I chiefly knew via the versions on this LP I owned as a six-year old

http://paintinglady.com/music/images/TheBells_StayAwhile.jpg

Also: "Bang a Gong (Get it On)" (Witch Queen), "Like a Rolling Stone" (Jimi Hendrix)

everything on the rainy day album
ida's version of 'everybody knows this is nowhere'

Beach Boys - "I was made to love her" before Stevie Wonder's original

I've still never heard CCR's "Don't Look Now" -- only ever heard the Minutemen cover.

Pretty sure I heard Bauhaus' version of "Ziggy Stardust" before Bowie's, and a lot of times I still prefer it to the original.

Megadeth's "No More Mister Nice Guy" before Alice Cooper's
Soundgarden's "Girl U Want" before Devo's

these are pretty bad:
Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" before Tommy James and the Shondells...
Michael Bolton's "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" before Otis Redding
Michael Damian's "Rock On" before David Essex

hole 'gold dust woman' (lol)

I'm pretty sure Tiffany's version of "I Think We're Alone Now" is a lot more well-known than the original, I know at the very least it was a #1 and the original wasn't.

i know both tiffany and ratcat's versions better than the orig

also: husker's 8 miles hi

pretty sure there are equally or more famous covers out there of all of Tommy James' hits.

the lucky bishops' versions of 'time of the season' and 'gone is the sad man'

lush doing 'love at first sight' and 'i'd like to walk around in your mind' although basically no fucker had heard the vashti track when they covered it

holy crap suzi, I forgot all about ratcat!!! now THEM I loved. unashamedly.

Blackstreet's cover of "Money Can't Buy You Love"

My Way by the Sex Pistols came before the original version. Sure this has already been mentioned.

First version of Help! I heard was this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJY7KW_YAac&feature=related

Butthole Surfers "Hurdy Gurdy Man"
Don McLean - "Crying" (the Roy Orbison song)

Me playing Light My Fire on piano
My quite out of touch dad: Ah, lemme guess - Jose Feliciano!
Me: Um no, The Doors
Dad: Who the fuck are The Doors?

grace jones' love is the drug

The Cure - "Foxy Lady"
Bauhaus - "Telegram Sam"
Siouxsie & The Banshees - "Dear Prudence", "Helter Skelter"
Sisters Of Mercy - "Gimme Shelter"

Pet Shop Boys - you are always on my mind

Jeff Buckley: "Hallelujah" (not familiar with the Cohen one until later)

I'd argue Buckley's is the more famous version these days.

Primal Scream and Kate Moss - "Some Velvet Morning"

^ heard Slowdive's version before the original as well. Not really that good a song...?

I was surprised a couple years ago to learn that "Blue Monday" by Orgy was a cover of a very highly regarded song by a very highly regarded oldies act called New Order. as crappy a cover as it was, they really made it their own.

other depressing ones:

Limp Bizkit - Faith (George Michael)
311 - Love Song (The Cure)
Foo Fighters - Darling Nikki (Prince)
Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes (The Who)
Big Yellow Taxi - Counting Crows + Vanessa Carlton (Joni Mitchell)
The Ataris - Boys of Summer (Don Henley)

the early '00s was a dark time for alt-rock bands covering baby boomer chestnuts, although in fairness couple of these songs are just inherently awful, particularly "Big Yellow Taxi".

Always thought it was bizarre Frederick Durst could have such a wholesome upbringing in musical preferences and release stuff that contradicts everything perceived to be of quality or merits in an artist with the aforementioned.

The Raincoats' "Lola"

And yes I mean I'd *heard it* before but as far as rly becoming acquainted with/paying attention to:

Bjork & PJ Harvey - "Satisfaction"

The Scientists - It Came Out of the Sky

Always thought it was bizarre Frederick Durst could have such a wholesome upbringing in musical preferences and release stuff that contradicts everything perceived to be of quality or merits in an artist with the aforementioned.

I doubt Freddie really appreciates those songs/artists as a fan or even as a scholar. in the case of "Faith", I can imagine him writing off George Michael's version as wibbling faggotry and wanting to put his stamp on it partly for shock value but mostly to convince himself that, like a '90s buttrock Midas, his touch turns everything into pure testosteronic BADASS.

in the case of "Behind Blue Eyes", he identifies with the lyrics because they validate his sense of self-pity and gave him a chance to respond to his haters in their own language, but I doubt he has any great appreciation for The Who except insofar as they're considered one of the greatest rock bands ever... and so are Limp Bizkit.

when Fred Durst records a cover song, his aim is not to pay tribute to the original artist (and whatever qualities or merits they embody), but to pay tribute to Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit.

I had no idea "Faith" was a cover at first either. All I could think at the time was how bizarre it was for someone to write a song that was half really catchy pop funk and the other half dumb screamo shit. It makes a lot more sense now.

I'm still convinced The Sea and Cake's 'Sound and Vision' is better than the original Bowie song (which I didn't hear until much later). Barely anyone agreed with me, I made a poll on this.

I don't really agree either, IMO Prekop's voice is way too light and airy while Bowie's vocal gives it the small amount of power that the tune deserves. But otherwise, yeah. I heard TSAC's version first and was floored to find out that it was a cover of something that came out over 25 years before, and that it was actually a pretty damn faithful cover besides.

Anyway, here's mine:
Devo - "Satisfaction". Blame it on my parents having two copies of Devo's greatest hits around the house. I woke up to the radio at 11 and the Stones were playing, I could only think, "Who is this band and why are they covering Devo??" *slaps forehead*

Sting - "A Day in the Life". It's on the Demolition Man EP, yeah I know I know, but again I was like 11-12 and somehow hadn't heard the original. At first I just thought, "wow, this is one of his best songs ever, why didn't he release this???" Then I saw the credit "Lennon/McCartney"

Alien Ant Farm - "Smooth Criminal". They definitely did a good job with it since I never suspected that MJ did the original. In hindsight I don't know how I missed it...it's all anyone ever talked about with this song.

ELP - "Hoedown". AKA "Rodeo" by Copland or "Where's the beef?" Again, I was pretty young, I knew the melody was famous, somehow I thought that ELP made it that way.

Cake - "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps". Recognized the Willie Nelson cover and "I Will Survive", of course. This one just floored me when I found out because it sounded so much like a Cake song.

Polysics - "The Great Brain". Okay, so P-Model's version isn't really famous, but I never ever would have guessed it was a cover. It fits so well into Polysics style that they could have almost put the ORIGINAL onto the album and it wouldn't seem out of place.

LCD Soundsystem - "Jump Into the Fire". My wife, who is a fan of LCD (but doesn't know all the songs), heard the Nilsson original while we were driving and asked if it was them. I mean pretty much the entire LCD Soundsystem sound comes from this song. So yeah, I was pretty surprised to find out it was a cover.

Pomplamoose, "Single Ladies"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4gicHqWzv4

The Bangles' "September Gurls"...pretty sure.

Top of my mind:

Slade - if this world were mine
Heard it before the Gaye version and I think I actually like it better.

13th floor elevators - its all over now baby blue
Might be that it was my first but it's also my favorite version, love how loose it sounds.

Soft Cell's Hendrix Medley (Hey Joe/Purple Haze/Voodoo Child)

Portastatic cover of 'Boy from School' before Hot Chip original

pretty much every Motown song I knew the California RAisins version before I knew the original

^^ oh god, yes, same here. they only made 13 episodes of the cartoon, which seems almost incredible to me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJyfpm_NyW8

Yeah there must be a fair few Motown ones - for starters:

Japan - Ain't That Peculiar
Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hangin' On
Incognito - Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing
The Jam - Heatwave

john cale - hallelujah
neko case - never turn your back on mother earth
van halen - (oh) pretty woman, etc
all burt bacharach songs

elliott smith - thirteen

Garbage - Thirteen

I didn't know Minor Threat's "12XU" was a Wire cover for many years until I finally picked up Pink Flag and played it.

Metallica introduced me as a teenager to Killing Joke via their version of "The Wait."
I think that's the only band/song that can be considered "famous" at least compared to the NWOBHM obscurities that they were doing at the time.

I guess this happens more when yr young.

Like for some time, I only knew "Too busy thinkin 'bout my Baby" by Mardi Gras.

toots & the maytals - country roads

The Bangles' "September Gurls"...pretty sure.

― clemenza, Tuesday, September 1, 2015 4:48 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is a more famous cover of a less famous original though, surely?

All the covers on Living Colour's Biscuits were this way for me -- Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothin, Burning of the Midnight Lamp, Love and Happiness, Memories Can't Wait

Stone Temple Pilots - "Dancing Days"

no wonder I thought that song was so much better than the rest of their output...

That's probably one of my least favorite Zep songs

jawbreaker - pack it up

an embarrassing amount, but one: tracey thorn's get around to it

Minor Threat - Stepping Stone

Phil Collins "You Can't Hurry Love"

Nirvana-The Man Who Sold The World

Oh huh, I always think of that as the more famous version, like it took what was for most people a real obscurity and put it on this mega-selling album and MTV special.

i had the young marble giants on in the stockroom at this one job and one of my coworkers asked me, 'who are this band covering hole'

The Blues Brothers, "Soul Man."

This abomination was played on Chicago radio at least twice an hour in 1979. Hearing the Sam & Dave original five years later was a monumental revelation.

Pretty sure I heard Alexei Sayle's "Play That Funky Music Jewish Boy" first. The original is definitely more famous.

xpost Christ, I'd never seen it until today. friends of a friend used to do this version at karaoke nights, dance choreography and stupid Aykroyd "Soul mahhhhn" vocal. I thought they were just clowning it up but nope. Aykroyd annoys me cos he appears to be making fun of the song with his performance, even though I know he has reverence for it.

Nancy & lee's version of Jackson. Dopn't think I knew it was a cover for several years after it. Still not sure how often I've heard teh Johnny Cash version.

Gun Club Run ThrouGH The Jungle think I heard a couple of years before the CCR.
& I probably picked up on Robert JOhnson after hearing their first lp, which in turn may have been picked up from Son House. Preachin The Blues that is.

THink it toook me years to finally hear Tiny bradshaw's Train Kept A rollin, loved the Johnny BUrnette version for a couple of decades before taht and probably first heard the song in garage punk versions or by the Yardbirds or Led Zeppelin. Garage punk versi8on may have been the Chosen Few.

First came across I'm MOvin On by the Rolling Stones on No Stone Unturned the lp that was supposed to be their bsides and I'm not sure stuck to that model. I later heard it by Ray Charles on a best of him and only after that heard the Hank Snow original.

I only know the Lydia Lunch version of Run Through the Jungle... it was years before I even knew it was a CCR song, which I've still never heard.

Original is on Cosmo's Factory and I think it may be about Vietnam.

Lydia version 8 Eyed Spy?

Yes, 8 Eyed Spy.

This is probably an opposite example, hearing the original after the more famous cover. Anyway, Dawn Penn's version is wonderful, but so is this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsJMfYDUNCE

Joy Division's version of Sister Ray - put the teenage me off wanting to hear the Velvet Underground for ages

I was very familiar with 1992's two rocked-out covers of "Pink Moon" (by Walt Mink and Sebadoh) long before I heard the original -- probably in that VW ad.

fIREHOSE's live totem pole ep introduced me to böc's 'the red and the black', wire's 'mannequin' and the butthole surfers' 'revolution (part 2)'

r.e.m. introduced me to wire's 'strange'

r.e.m. introduced me to wire's 'strange'

Me too - though my guess is the R.E.M. version is more "famous," in that Document has probably sold more copies / been heard by more ppl than Pink Flag?

I never knew about Willie Cobbs' "You Don't Love Me," that's totally amazing!

Carnivore’s “Manic Depression”

Not strictly a cover but I heard Evolution Control Committee's Whipped Cream Mixes before Rebel Without a Pause.

I feel like we may be entering a golden age of people being more familiar with less famous cover versions. Went out to dinner tonight, and the music playing on their stereo was 100% cover versions, with an emphasis on reggae takes of 80s songs. I know people who would tell you their favorite type of music is cover versions.

...also, "A Child's Introduction to the Beatles" by a group called the Wild Honey Singers with several of the best known Beatles songs before I'd ever heard the Beatles.
And Status Quo's Roadhouse Blues before the Doors'.

Sebadoh's "Pink Moon" and REM's "Strange" for me too. Nick Drake and (early) Wire seemed impossibly obscure when I were a lad, pre-internet.

One 'original' I only just heard last night was Elton's John's "Step into Christmas". I made of point of finally looking it up after seeing a snippet of Gavin & Stacey characters singing it. I've known it was a John/Taupin thing since shortly after the Wedding Present covered in 1992, but the latter was somehow the only rendition I'd ever knowingly been exposed to.

Heard Joe Cocker's version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" before the Beatles version when I watched The Wonder Years as a kid. Bet that one goes for a lot of people.

― musically, samedi 12 septembre 2009 03:49 (ten years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I think I only "discovered" the Beatles original years later as a teenager !

Does that count as being less famous than the original though?

There's a lot of these on the Residents' "Third Reich and Roll" but the Rascals' "Good Lovin'" is the one that springs most readily to mind.

... was always great to hear the original songs because they were uniformly so good.

Ah, I just thought of 2 pretty embarrassing ones :
Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes's "If You Don't Know Me By Now" and Simply Red's 89 cover version (surely Harold Melvin's is considered the classic version, right !?)
And again, H. Melvin's "Don't Leave Me This Way" and The Communards' 86 cover version.

The Communards version was more a cover of Thelma Houston’s m/l contemporary discofied cover version of HM&BN’s Philly soul original.

The Psychedelic Furs' version of 'How Soon is Now' that was the theme from Charmed (or some other show?)

I don't think I'd heard any Smiths stuff outside of 'the Queen is Dead', I knew one of their major songs was called 'How Soon is Now' and I knew the song from that cover version but had no idea that's what it was.

There was a band called Dark Star who had a single out 'I am the Sun' around that same time, so I figured it was that.

Not that I've familiarized myself with the Smiths' discography all that much since...

that was on The Craft soundtrack too.

I was really into Motley Crue as a kid. When I first heard U2's cover of "Helter Skelter," my first thought was, "Hey, it's a Motley Crue song!" Shortly after that, I got a hold of the <i>White Album</i>.

One time my high school girlfriend referenced 'Dear Prudence' and I was all like '(smirks knowingly, buffs nails on shirt front) o you mean the Siouxsie and the Banshees song? yes, I'm that cool'. And I was.

I knew the Beach Boys’ version of The Times They Are A-Changin’ years before I heard a note of Dylan.

All the cover songs (mostly? all? by Los Lobos) on the La Bamba soundtrack.

Is Camper Van Beethoven’s version of Pictures of Matchstick Men more or less famous than the Status Quo’s? I’ve heard CVB’s version in the wild, but the only reason I’ve ever heard the original is because I sought it out when Napster became a thing. This might be a North America vs UK thing?

The first version of “You Don’t Own Me” I remember hearing is the Blow Monkeys’.

Alan Jackson's "Summertime Blues"

Is Camper Van Beethoven’s version of Pictures of Matchstick Men more or less famous than the Status Quo’s? I’ve heard CVB’s version in the wild, but the only reason I’ve ever heard the original is because I sought it out when Napster became a thing. This might be a North America vs UK thing?

The original got to number 7 in the uk charts and was just one of their 50 (!!) top 40 hits.

sorry, 57 top 40 hits, the search was cutting off after 50 results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D53v84sXluw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVrELhxOFnM

^ The Naked Eyes version was actually a much bigger hit in the US

I definitely knew The Go-Go's "Cool Jerk" (not a US single) before ever hearing The Capitols' hit version from 1966

I heard Bauhaus's Ziggy Stardust before I heard Bowie's

The first version of “You Don’t Own Me” I remember hearing is the Blow Monkeys’.

First version I heard was Joan Jett. Is the Lesley Gore original pretty well known? I really only knew her for "It's My Party" at that time.

I heard the Minutemen version of Dr Wu about 30 years before I ever heard the original. I knew it was a steely dan cover, but back then you couldn't really have it both ways... you were on one side or the other.

I heard Sublime's version of Dr. Wu before I heard Steely Dan's. I had already heard Steely Dan by this point, but not Katy Lied. Brad Nowell was probably more influenced by the Minutemen.

I knew "To the left to the left" from Lil Wayne before realising he was quoting a very famous Beyonce song

lol i am just now learning that.

I love "Comfortable"

I think I outed my own ignorance on ILM of all places and got a good dressing down for it too

I knew Scissor Sisters' Comfortably Numb first. Still think it bangs?

did hearing the Beyonce version undermine the primacy of the Lil Wayne track in your mind, or was it......... impossible to supplant?

Lana Del Rey's cover of Sublime's "Doin' Time" rewrite of Summertime

Is Camper Van Beethoven’s version of Pictures of Matchstick Men more or less famous than the Status Quo’s?

I would say less because it hit #12 on the US charts and was played a lot on rock radio when I was a kid; I knew the CvB version was a cover from the get-go.

Here's one: David Bowie's version of "God Only Knows" on Tonight. I knew of the original, and remember thinking incredulously, "isn't this supposed to be one of the greatest songs ever?"

"Pictures of Matchstick Men" seems like one of those Sixties songs along with "For Your Love" and "We Gotta Get Out of this Place" that didn't make the jump from 80s AOR playlists to 90s-onward classic rock radio. CBVs cover came right in the transition, and was a label suggestion to get them on the radio, IIRC.

One time as a kid I was listening to the Naked Eyes version of "Always Something There", and my dad came by and said, "this was the first song I heard after coming to America in the 60s" and for years it gave me a very mistaken impression of how old the Naked Eyes version was

I also used to like the Howard Jones cover of "I.G.Y." a lot until I realized it was a cover, and a very lazy one at that. Basically it's the original with Jones trying to sound like Fagan and crappy synth horns in place of real ones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-bgiiTxhzM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBfFDTPPlaM

Is the Love reworking of My Little Red Book now the familiar version as in the better known one.
Not sure to what extent they were aware of teh Mannfred Mann version which features in What's Up Pussycat. Must be several recordings where a set up like that has happened where the once lesser known cover is now the known one.

Also seeing way up thread a reference to Season of the Witch , is the Donovan version well known? I think it has been a fav song of mine in the Joolz and Brian Auger version since my early teens. BUt it seems several acts had versions in the late 60s.

Where does First Time Ever i Saw Your Face fit is the Macoll original as well known as Roberta Flack's? I assume her That's No Way To Say Goodbye is less known than Leonard cohen's? sublime anyway.

Love and Rockets "Ball of Confusion" before The Temptations
Devo "Working in the Coal Mine" before Lee Dorsey
10,000 Maniacs "Peace Train" before Cat Stevens (although I'm sure the Cat Stevens version was lodged somewhere in the recesses of my memory)

*I've still never even heard the Macoll original of "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu_ozjAu_vM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxgMGk9JPVA

Also,

Lush "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" before Middle of the Road or Mac and Katie Kissoon, whichever one considers the most famous version (for quite a while I thought it must have been an ABBA song)

I'm the US charts at least, the ATF version did better than the Falco version, and the Quiet Riot version did better than the Slade version.

I'm sure I mentioned but Will to Power's "Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird" was the first time I'd heard either song.....I didn't hear the OG "Freebird" until middle of high school, and Frampton's BILYW only a few years before that.

Yeah, I thought everyone in North America knew the Quiet Riot version of that song before the Slade one. Only big music fans even know it was a Slade song!

I only learned Slade did the original after I played Vice City and heard the Quiet Riot one for the first time in years, and then looked it up.

did hearing the Beyonce version undermine the primacy of the Lil Wayne track in your mind, or was it......... impossible to supplant?

― honkin' on bobo, honkin' with my feet ten feet off of beale (Doctor Casino), Monday, March 1, 2021 7:39 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I'm p sure I must have heard the Bey track a few times before, but not really compartmentalised the "To the left" part enough to recognise that that was what LW was referencing. But I was really into "Comfortable". Not sure which one is most prominent in my mind now because I must have heard "Irreplaceable" a lot more times I recent years as it's a work radio staple and also hugely excellent

I knew "Alone Again Or" as an early Boo Radleys song before realising it was a cover of Love.

All those songs on Incesticide, like "Turnaround", I didn't realise were covers. I was really surprised to find out that was a Devo song: it just sounds like something Kurt would write

Galaxie 500 – 'Isn't It a Pity'

There are lots of sections on The Beach Boys "Smile" which I didn't really know were ripped straight out of the Great American Songbook. I like how that record is kind of a mix album in that respect

Something I did know, when I was very young and not familiar with the concept of cover versions, was that Strawberry Fields Forever was BY THE BEATLES AND NOT BY CANDY FLIP! I was so annoyed with Candy Flip for putting the wool over everyone's eyes and convincing them that it was their song when it wasn't. SO ANNOYED!

Orgy – 'Blue Monday'

(I was 13 at the time.)

Most of the songs on Cat Power's The Covers Record.

it was like a year ago when I learned the version of "Dream Weaver" I thought was the original was in fact the SECOND re-recorded version of Gary Wright's "Dream Weaver" from 1992

Strawberry Fields Forever was BY THE BEATLES AND NOT BY CANDY FLIP!

Holy crap you people are old. xp

lol I tried to say you people are young. I'm a few Belgian Tripels into the evening.

Tbf I'm at the midway point where I'm simultaneously young and old.

I think it's fair to always feel that way.

I guess they qualify more like samples or remixes rather than covers but I knew these hip hop versions from the late 90s before the original ones:

Pras - Ghetto Supastar (interpolation of islands in the stream)
Puff Daddy - I’ll be missing you (The Police)
Pras, Wyclef Jean and Queen - Another Bites the Dust

I guess also every song in the Space Jam soundtrack that was a cover.

Although I think that one is an example of covers being biggest hits than the originals.

People itt hearing Beatles covers before the originals makes me feel either very old or very young depending on what was the cover they heard.

xxxpost
Klaus Nomi was my first exposure to You Don't Own Me

Ditto

Pras - Ghetto Supastar (interpolation of islands in the stream)

Yeah, same for me.
Also, on the same level, I only found out a few months ago that Vampire Weekend's "Step" was based on Souls of Mischief's "Step to My Girl". The first time I heard the latter, by chance through a random Spotify playlist, was a WTF moment !

10,000 Maniacs "Hello In There" and "Everyday is Like Sunday"
Rod Stewart "Tom Traubert's Blues"

INterstellar overdrive and Love's My Little Red Book does nicking a semi remembered part of the main riff count as a cover?
& how does teh Steptoe an Son theme tune feel about taht

Pras - Ghetto Supastar (interpolation of islands in the stream)

Same for me with this one. In fact I think I only knowingly heard Islands In The Stream for the first time a few years ago and had previously thought Pras was interpolating the verse from "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette

John Martyn Solid Air vs Pharaoh Sanders Astral Travelling (which I think came before Lonnie Liston Smith's own version)

A Certain Ratio's version of "Shack Up" by Banbarra is my example

I don't hear anything other than a similar pace and mood between "Solid Air" and "Astral Travelling"?

this happened to me soo much bc when napster first came out i mainly used it to download stuff i coulnd find in the shops - import-only bonus tracks and b-sides that were often covers, but it wasnt always obvious bc i didnt have the liners with writing credits or anything.

Vanessa Williams - 'Work to Do'. My eyes just about shot out of my head when I stumbled upon the Isley Brothers' AMAZING original a few years back.

Oh, lol, I was having second thoughts about the Isleys' being the more famous one and double checked: Isley Brothers hit 51 on the charts and Vanessa hit 52, so it scans.

One time as a kid I was listening to the Naked Eyes version of "Always Something There", and my dad came by and said, "this was the first song I heard after coming to America in the 60s" and for years it gave me a very mistaken impression of how old the Naked Eyes version was

for all the oldies radio I listened to growing up I never knew this song was a cover until just now, so I don't think the Naked Eyes version is less famous than the original

Ditto "Tainted Love" at about the same time; both were hits and you needed to be informed of their coverness.

Tin Tin Out was the first version of 'Always something there' I heard, and I didn't know it was a cover until years later.

xp i'd bank on the soft cell version being much better known though

(and yeah the tin tin out versh was the first one i heard too)

There's been baffled discussion 'round these parts before re: 'Always Something There to Remind Me'. Partly because the original wasn't that huge a hit and wasn't an oldies radio staple, partly because the Naked Eyes cover, while released by a British band, pretty much turfed out in the UK but became a huge hit in the US and elsewhere.

I first knew "Eight Miles High" from the To the Power of 3 album (the ELP minus Lake album that even the hardcore fans don't seem to know about)

I might have know the Husker Du cover first? Is that possible? *racks brain*

Sandie Shaw's recording of "Always Something There to Remind Me" was #1 in Canada, the UK, and South Africa, acc to Wikipedia. I think I did hear it before the Naked Eyes, although it's tricky with songs I heard very young, tbh.

You can be sure Naked Eyes were very familiar with the Sandie Shaw version, being British and all, it's her signature song.

Ofc hers wasn't the first recording either and I'm not sure the concept of "cover" even works for songs like this.

Yeah, there were a bunch of songs in the mid-'60s (not infrequently written by Bacharach and David) that were insta-standards, for all intents and purposes, recorded and released as singles by multiple artists all within a short period of time.

I wish I'd heard Sandie Shaw's version of "Your Time Is Gonna Come" before Led Zeppelin's original, it's great.

I can't remember which one it was but Aretha Franklin released her version of a Beatles song before the actual Beatles version of the song dropped.

I think I actually heard Sonic Youth's "Superstar" before the Carpenters'.

Oh and Judy Collins released her recording of 'Both Sides, Now' before Joni did.

xpost Yeah, definitely heard SY's version first. Which is also true for about half of the covers on If I Were a Carpenter.

Siouxsie & The Banshees - "Dear Prudence", "Helter Skelter"

I actually heard their version of "All Tomorrow's Parties" before the Velvets'. It's pretty obscure but a local campus radio station played it in the early 90s when I was taping songs off the radio.

Along with 'Dear Prudence', there's probably several songs I first discovered via cover versions on 120 Minutes (literally my only access to non-top 40 music during several teenage years spent in the middle of nowhere). The Bauhaus version of 'Ziggy Stardust' immediately springs to mind.

Oh yeah, on that note, I heard Love & Rockets' "Ball of Confusion" first. Also Springsteen's version of "War".

I mean, not from 120 Minutes but from some 'alternative' program on MuchMusic or possibly album-oriented radio, I think.

The Burds 8 Miles High vs John Coltrane 's India.

Rewriting into what was becoming rock.

Like John Martyn showing his love for Pharaoh while writing about his mate Nick Drake a few years later.

The Aretha Beatles cover was "Let It Be", released a month or so before their version.

Sandie Shaw's recording of "Always Something There to Remind Me" was #1 in Canada, the UK, and South Africa, acc to Wikipedia. I think I did hear it before the Naked Eyes, although it's tricky with songs I heard very young, tbh.

― to party with our demons (Sund4r)

It's weird that in the US even Sandie Shaw's version charted higher than Dionne's. Shaw was not particularly high-profile in America (biggest hit "Girl Don't Come" at #42). Dionne's version was only released in '68 though, four years after Shaw's.

I def. knew Rod Stewart/Jeff Beck's "People Get Ready" before hearing the Curtis Mayfield/Impressions original or even Dylan's covers.

I knew Rod Stewart's "You Are Everything" before the Stylistics. sadly.

same thing with "This Old Heart of Mine".

(before the Isley Brothers)

Basically the entire saggy, cover-laden back half of Rod Stewart's career.

(Only just recently learned that even 'Some Guys Have All the Luck' was a cover, although obviously not a more popular one.)

Some Guys Have All the Lunch

Summer breeze by the isley brothers before Seals & Croft. Maybe by TYpe O Negative before taht though

The Main Ingredient's version of Summer Breeze is the one to beat (but admittedly, I only discovered that one recently)

The doom-goth-metal version of "Summer Breeze" was the titles music for one of the big teen horror revival films in the 90s so I could def see how that had more traction than a crusty old AM gold hit for people of a certain age.

^^^had to look it up, it was I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997).

Dopn't think that was how i knew iti. Not sure why that was teh lp I picked up by them but it was. Bloody Kisses.
Don't know how many of those films I've seen. THink if any its been on tv way later.

fairly sure I heard Beats International's "Dub Be Good To Me" before I ever became familiar with the SOS Band's "Just Be Good to Me"

"Take Me Home Country Road" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

I didn't realize it was not a local song and was a cover until I was in high school.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-tqI0D1CAU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzajXmENvyo

re: “You Don’t Own Me”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R22urvGcWy4

hugely popular Dutch cover version (from 1981)

fairly sure I heard Beats International's "Dub Be Good To Me" before I ever became familiar with the SOS Band's "Just Be Good to Me"

100% sure I did. might not have been familiar enough to pick Guns Of Brixton at the time, and didn't hear Jam Hot until the last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hphwfq1wLJs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz-RNe7xoVI

The Sisters Of Mercy - Gimme Shelter
Devo - I Can't Get No Satisfaction
The Danse Society - 2000 Light Years From Home
The Soup Dragons - I'm Free

I guess I had no exposure to the Stones as a kid, except for their 80's stuff.

I knew DJ Sammy's version of "Heaven" long before I knew it was a Brian Adam's song.

I hate both versions with a passion.

*Bryan Adams

Haha, that one does genuinely surprise me.

part of it was I didn't have a cd player in my car until about 2003, so I had to play the radio, and the local adult contempt station was playing the hell out of this shitty dance version, and I'd somehow avoided the Bryan Adams version.

one week, I was at work (restaurant) and the Bryan Adams version came on, and it was like..."oh, that makes sense".

That you made it through the 80s without hearing the original was what surprised me! It was given awards for radio airplay in the US and Canada and apparently charted higher in the US: http://www.jimvallance.com/01-music-folder/songs-folder-may-27/pg-song-adams-heaven.html

lol I'm surprised too, especially since I knew just about every other Bryan Adams song.

oh man, i was a fan of that Soup Dragons song when I was 9 years old and I was today years old when I found out it was a Stones cover

fairly sure I heard Beats International's "Dub Be Good To Me" before I ever became familiar with the SOS Band's "Just Be Good to Me"

I had a similar realization a few years back with the St Etienne cover of Only Love Can Break Your Heart... I knew each song separately but didn't initially make the connection. I'd say that's one hallmark of a great cover version.

Or maybe that's just rationalizing my own inattentiveness.

bauhaus - third uncle
the dickies - eve of destruction

yeah Third Uncle I think I heard on taht mini lp collecting the singles that I bought in 1983. THought it really good, was probably years before I heard Eno rock. I have Taking Tiger Mountain among the printout images i have on my wall right now.

I don’t think I’ve even heard the Eno original. I think I always knew it was a cover but I can’t recall hearing the original one. Let me amend that right away.

I love the Eno song but it's not particularly famous, is it?

Oh wait I have actually heard it. I wouldn’t call the original as more popular than the cover though... I mean neither are chart hits but I think the Bauhaus one is the most popular one. At least on spotify and youtube it’s true.

I love the Eno song but it's not particularly famous, is it?

That's true of a few of the suggestions in the thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpGA0azFdCs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-EF60neguk

For me this is all Beatles songs (which I mostly heard as jazz versions or other covers).

Also a ton of '70s funk and soul and '80s r&b, which I heard as New Orleans brass band backgrounds and quotes. Then I'd either ask somebody or randomly hear the original at some point and be like "ohhhh." Also true for a ton of samples obv.

Nazareth's cover of "This Flight Tonight" (it took fukken decades before I heard the 'riginal:)

This was true for me too but I don't consider the original more famous, I don't think. At least when I was growing up, Nazareth's version was a classic rock radio staple around here.

"Secret" classic rock Canadian Content! Just like "Born to Be Wild" (written by Edmonton's Mars Bonfire) and Alice Cooper's "Hello Hooray" (written by Toronto's Rolf Kempf).

Sinéad's version is definitely more famous than the original.

Yeah, I had assumed that post was somehow positioning Prince’s version as the “cover”

The "Prince" version was released in 2018, two years after he died, so it'd be quite a surprise if anyone knew his demo before the Sinead cover released in 1990.

The original was released by The Family in 1985, which had Prince playing keys, St. Paul Peterson and Susannah Melvoin singing, and regular Prince horny guy Eric Leeds on sax. It's the only song on the album that Prince didn't falsely credit as being written by other people.

(I assume all xzanfar's embed spams itt are trolling)

When She's So Unusual came out, I was a kid and not familiar w/Dirty Mind (I didn't hear the original version of the song until much later). Lauper's album sold many more copies than Dirty Mind, which I suppose makes her version more "famous" by default... though given the profile of the Prince album (and song), it sort of feels like a toss-up today.

^This is a really good one! I can't remember if it was "much" later that I heard or owned the original, but it definitely was somewhat later, although I'm sure I knew who wrote the song and knew that album existed, but it didn't have the big hits like 1999 and Purple Rain.

Yeah - I remember knowing it was a Prince cover, but our family’s Prince collection started with 1999.

(I’ve still never heard the original “Money Changes Everything”!)

Sinead and Prince is like the exact opposite concept of this thread.

(xp)
Heh. B-b-but have you heard the Rogue Wave cover of it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz3MtoAmXYQ

Or The Smiths song with the same title?

or the Bryan Ferry cover of the Smiths song, but with a different title?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHyUSNPtNJ8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkh_oEN_Pc8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-2CKsaq5r8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrMd1meC_2I

are you a bot y/n

Speaking of The Smiths, I knew TATU’s cover or “How Soon is Now” before knowing who The Smiths were. I’m not that certain that The Smiths one is more popular... they seem to cater to a different audience.

I’ll assume it is and that it fits the concept of the thread.

How do we stand on covers that reached #1 of original songs that also reached #1? Like eg: Venus (Shocking Blue/Bananarama) or Lady Marmalade (Labelle/Christina Aguilera, Mya, Lil Kim & Pink).

In those cases I heard the cover first, and they reached top of the charts but the originals were also #1 hits in their respective years.

Earlier in the thread I posted Puff Daddy’s interpolation of The Police, they were both #1 hits but I wouldn’t think for a second that Puff Daddy’s version is more popular. Maybe in the late 90’s it was but I don’t think I’ve overheard it anywhere in the past 20 years.

Lol, Neanderthal.

What audience does TATU cater to (actual question)? Fwiw, the Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?' has over 128M plays on Spotify (their third-highest, which is mind-blowing to me). TATU's cover has a little over 10M plays.

or the Bryan Ferry cover of the Smiths song, but with a different title?

Now that I look at the Apple Music list more closely, though, "How Soon Is Now" is listed three separate times since it appears on multiple releases, so that probably makes a difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDS6i3j11jU
heard a demo version of this: pretty good!
played the game much later: pretty bad!
finally saw the movie even later than that: pretty bad!
then found the lauper/captain lou video: pretty good!

What audience does TATU cater to (actual question)?

― to party with our demons (Sund4r)

Compared to The Smiths? I’d say rockist vs popist. Nowadays the lines are blurred but it didn’t feel that way in the early 00s.

As I said, I suspected The Smiths original was the most popular version but in my experience I don’t know many Smiths or TATU fans, I’m just going by the reaction whenever that song is played. Usually friends born 88-onwards know it by the cover.

I don’t care about that song in particular, but I do get frustrated when I play “Running up that hill” in a social gathering and I hear someone telling me “oh good one! The Placebo song!”

Interesting. The Smiths song was even used in car commercials here in the early 00s. The only TATU song I've heard (and the only one that charted in Canada, based on Wikipedia) is "All The Things She Said". If I expected people to know a cover of "How Soon Is Now", it would probably the one that was used for Charmed (Love Spit Love?).

However, the first version of "How Soon Is Now" that I heard was the Meatmen's, which is definitely a candidate for this thread.

Anyhoo to expand on the TATU vs The Smiths audience: I think people who were listening to TATU were very most likely not into indie/jangle rock from the 80’s or even aware of who The Smiths were.

Maybe in England the experience was different, maybe the Smiths were still a popular band in the teenage demographic in the early 00s.

I thought they were big in Mexico?

They are, but they’re actually more popular in the mexican communities in California, not in Mexico per se. Also not for my particular demographic. Everyone I’ve spoken to born after 1990 don’t seem to be aware or have a strong opinion on them.

Yeah, they're not a band I find cross over that great with younger people here either ime. I've never known a non-ilxor who listens to TATU, though.

Again, this is pretty much my isolated experience so take it with a grain of salt. In the late 90s/early 00s internet was pretty much a luxury in Mexico and there wasn’t much outsider influence. Older, legacy bands were only shared either by older siblings and friends or via MTV or VH1 and I don’t think I ever watched a The Smiths video on either. I think I became aware of The Smiths until my mid 20’s and it was via internet. It wasn’t until my late 20’s that I actually overheard them in a social context - via “This Charming Man” - and it was actually in Spain not in Mexico.

Yeah, they're not a band I find cross over that great with younger people here either ime. I've never known a non-ilxor who listens to TATU, though.

― to party with our demons (Sund4r)

I don’t know anyone who still listens to TATU but “all the things she said” and “how is soon is now?” were extremely popular in my demographic when they came out. Nowadays they’re more of a “hey remember this band?” sort of thing.

I can see “all the things she said” was pretty much a top 10 hit everywhere except the US: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_Things_She_Said

The cover of “How soon is now” was only a top 10 hit in Chile, Mexico, Sweden, Russia and Greece. Might explain why I perceive it as a more popular song than what it actually was.

The Residents, "Good Lovin'" / The Rascals, "Good Lovin'".

There's bound to be other Residents' tracks because they often covered songs that were 60s US hits but did nothing in the UK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtuUpoiKQtQ

Great, didn't look at th evideo playing since it started with a record label picture.
Oh well .
mainly posted because it would be teh opposite of the thread.
Covers of odd choices by artists well known for other stuff
THihk this should be sharable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QV8KN9fDaE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfnOaLQHKh8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-QT3AWtcjI