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.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, 1 March 2021 16:22 (three years ago) link
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.
― enochroot, Monday, 1 March 2021 17:43 (three years ago) link
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.
― peace, man, Monday, 1 March 2021 18:02 (three years ago) link
I knew "To the left to the left" from Lil Wayne before realising he was quoting a very famous Beyonce song
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Monday, 1 March 2021 19:00 (three years ago) link
lol i am just now learning that.
I love "Comfortable"
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Monday, 1 March 2021 19:30 (three years ago) link
I think I outed my own ignorance on ILM of all places and got a good dressing down for it too
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Monday, 1 March 2021 19:33 (three years ago) link
I knew Scissor Sisters' Comfortably Numb first. Still think it bangs?
― imago, Monday, 1 March 2021 19:38 (three years ago) link
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, 1 March 2021 19:39 (three years ago) link
Lana Del Rey's cover of Sublime's "Doin' Time" rewrite of Summertime
― grab bag cum trash bag (sic), Monday, 1 March 2021 20:29 (three years ago) link
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.
― Hello Nice FBI Lady (DJP), Monday, 1 March 2021 20:33 (three years ago) link
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?"
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 1 March 2021 21:48 (three years ago) link
"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.
― Citole Country (bendy), Monday, 1 March 2021 21:55 (three years ago) link
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
― Vinnie, Monday, 1 March 2021 23:27 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-bgiiTxhzM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBfFDTPPlaM
― xzanfar, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 00:22 (three years ago) link
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.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 00:26 (three years ago) link
Love and Rockets "Ball of Confusion" before The TemptationsDevo "Working in the Coal Mine" before Lee Dorsey10,000 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"
― Josefa, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 00:53 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu_ozjAu_vM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxgMGk9JPVA
― xzanfar, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 00:59 (three years ago) link
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)
― Josefa, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 00:59 (three years ago) link
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.
― enochroot, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:24 (three years ago) link
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.
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:25 (three years ago) link
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!
― to party with our demons (Sund4r), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:27 (three years ago) link
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.
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:28 (three years ago) link
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
― 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
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:37 (three years ago) link
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
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:42 (three years ago) link
Galaxie 500 – 'Isn't It a Pity'
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:44 (three years ago) link
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
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:45 (three years ago) link
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!
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:47 (three years ago) link
Orgy – 'Blue Monday'
(I was 13 at the time.)
Most of the songs on Cat Power's The Covers Record.
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:47 (three years ago) link
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
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 02:49 (three years ago) link
Strawberry Fields Forever was BY THE BEATLES AND NOT BY CANDY FLIP!
― enochroot, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 03:06 (three years ago) link
Holy crap you people are old. xp
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 03:10 (three years ago) link
lol I tried to say you people are young. I'm a few Belgian Tripels into the evening.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 03:11 (three years ago) link
Tbf I'm at the midway point where I'm simultaneously young and old.
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 03:17 (three years ago) link
I think it's fair to always feel that way.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 03:18 (three years ago) link
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.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 03:46 (three years ago) link
Although I think that one is an example of covers being biggest hits than the originals.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 03:47 (three years ago) link
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.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 03:52 (three years ago) link
xxxpostKlaus Nomi was my first exposure to You Don't Own Me
― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 04:18 (three years ago) link
Ditto
― Live, laugh, love, get lucky (hardcore dilettante), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 04:51 (three years ago) link
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 !
― AlXTC from Paris, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 08:23 (three years ago) link
10,000 Maniacs "Hello In There" and "Everyday is Like Sunday"Rod Stewart "Tom Traubert's Blues"
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 08:51 (three years ago) link
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
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 09:27 (three years ago) link
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
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 09:48 (three years ago) link
John Martyn Solid Air vs Pharaoh Sanders Astral Travelling (which I think came before Lonnie Liston Smith's own version)
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 09:57 (three years ago) link
A Certain Ratio's version of "Shack Up" by Banbarra is my example
― Sven Vath's scary carpet (Neil S), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 11:16 (three years ago) link
I don't hear anything other than a similar pace and mood between "Solid Air" and "Astral Travelling"?
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 13:09 (three years ago) link
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.
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 13:32 (three years ago) link
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.
― Chokeslamming A Memory (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 13:44 (three years ago) link
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.
― Chokeslamming A Memory (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 13:46 (three years ago) link
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
― eisimpleir (crüt), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 14:00 (three years ago) link