OK, we've had the thread on great cover versions - and there were some truly excellent ones.
But what about the other side, cover versions that were so awful that the master tape should have been taken straight to the nearest incinerator?
I can think of four off the top of my head
Madonna - American Pie. Why, oh, why?
Eric Clapton - I shot the sheriff. Bob Marley's song is suffused with anger, Clapton's has the world-weariness of a commuter who's missed the 8.32 from Dorking.
Vanilla Fudge - You keep me hanging on. H-D-H's song is a mini pop masterpiece. A tale of love gone wrong in three sprightly minutes, Vanilla Fudge's take has zero emotion, zero spark and zero understanding
The worst of all though has to be Bryan Ferry's Hard Rain's Gonna Fall. Dylan's song about the possibility of a nuclear war (written at a time when such a thing was a real possibility) becomes a merry pub sing-a-long in Ferry's hands. It's a disaster all right.
I'm sure there are many, more that should never have been released.
But what about the other side, cover versions that were so awful that the master tape should have been taken straight to the nearest incinerator?
I can think of four off the top of my head
Madonna - American Pie. Why, oh, why?
Eric Clapton - I shot the sheriff. Bob Marley's song is suffused with anger, Clapton's has the world-weariness of a commuter who's missed the 8.32 from Dorking.
Vanilla Fudge - You keep me hanging on. H-D-H's song is a mini pop masterpiece. A tale of love gone wrong in three sprightly minutes, Vanilla Fudge's take has zero emotion, zero spark and zero understanding
The worst of all though has to be Bryan Ferry's Hard Rain's Gonna Fall. Dylan's song about the possibility of a nuclear war (written at a time when such a thing was a real possibility) becomes a merry pub sing-a-long in Ferry's hands. It's a disaster all right.
I'm sure there are many, more that should never have been released.
