Less famous covers that you knew before the more famous originals

"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.