This article is part of the John Frusciante Challenge: 10 Articles in 10 Days. It is named after the legendary Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist, as he recorded 6 albums in 6 months during 2004.
If you think that this content doesn't make sense, probably you're right! I still hope you'll enjoy it though...
There is something in music that divides fans and critics more than anything else: covers. Yes, those remakes of older songs. Who finds them intriguing, who finds them offensive, who deems them better than the original, there isn't an absolute truth about cover songs. It's important to remark that reinterpretations of other artists' material used to be the norm before the Rock explosion. In the Blues environment, being interpreted by another artist was the highest recognition. When music became a true industry from the 60s onward, covers could even be considered a sort of plagiarism. Later, covers became a new opportunity for music labels to refresh their catalog, recycling new material through new faces. Indeed, a cover can be an effective way to launch new artists. You can promote someone who people don't know leveraging on something that they have already heard.
Personally I appreciate covers. For the artist is anything but easy to rearrange and reinterpret an old song, especially if it was a hit. It's hard to play with someone's else ideas and make the idea yours. You need to be respectful of the legacy, but you are demanded to bring your own view on a certain piece of music. You have to decompose someone's else music and reassemble it as your music.
Here I am going to list 7 examples, among my favorites, in which I believe that the new artist did a great job, in some cases exceeding the original performance.
You Gotta Love - Florence + The Machine
Probably not everyone knows that this is a cover, from a song released in 1986, sung by Candi Staton.
It's not my favorite song by Florence + The Machine and I even don't deem it exceptional, at least for Florence + The Machine's high standards. It's more that the original sounds empty, boring, spineless, a plastic disco theme. I praise the fact that this amazing British band managed to create a tough piece of music out of a piece of nothingness.
And hey! That was their debut. Double challenge successfully completed!
Ain't It Fun - Guns 'n Roses
"Well, ain't it fun when you've broken up every band that you've ever begun"
Slash must have though it is fun indeed. This cover is featured in the album The Spaghetti Incident?, made indeed only by covers. Ironically, after this work, Slash left the band and we can consider Guns 'n Roses broken up for some years, before returning on stage without their guitar hero's hat.
Luckily for us, Slash gives us raw emotions on this track. His riffs here are usually dirty, with a sharp grit. His guitar frames perfectly with the powerful drums ignited by the "Such fun!" line.
Yes this cover is such fun, just as when you know you gonna die young and definitely recorded way better than the original by Rockets From The Tombs.
Bongo Bong (Je Ne T'Aime Plus) - Robbie Williams
I like Manu Chao. However, when I have to choose, I feel that Robbie is the king of the bongo. Some of you might think that I have shitty taste in music, but I don't mind. I find the mix between Latin music elements with British pop amusing. I say simply brilliant! If you don't like it, know that "je ne t'aime, tout le jour".
If there was someone capable of a fresh, entertaining cut to this song, that was Robbie!
Rock And Roll Music – Beatles
Chuck Berry is one of the very first musicians whose name was carved in the Music Hall of Fame. In my opinion his biggest merit is that he created The Beatles. I'm pretty sure that without Mr Berry, those 4 boys from Liverpool wouldn't have had the same magical touch they had, especially in their earliest appearances.
It's not a chance so that the Fab 4 paid a tribute to one of their "mentors". This version is not better nor worse than the original. It represents more an energy transfer between Berry and The Beatles to create something bigger than anything else seen in music until then!
Unlike the even-toned vocals provided by Chuck Berry, John Lennon sings it as loud as possible, like to say to the world who The Beatles are!
Such a pity that there is no decent karaoke version on YouTube...
My Body Is A Cage - Arcade Fire
Probably the saddest song in the list. I love Peter Gabriel's lyrics. They spark so much empathy that you feel like you are also affected by some disability. "My body is a cage that keeps me from dancing with the one I love" pierces through your heart. It makes me think how lucky I am with my body and reminds me that I should keep care of it more than I do.
Though Peter Gabriel's grandiosity, it's only with an astonishing band like Arcade Fire that this hymn can shine in its full light.
The arrangement is smart, starting with a filtered voice. It conveys a sense of struggle. The voice is accompanied by an apparently shy church organ. Apparently, because the organ is just waiting to explode in the second minute. From here, the organ will take us up to the climax where the protagonist will beg to set his body and his spirit free...
Get It On (Bang A Gong) – The Power Station
The original was written and performed by T. Rex, a British band that was going to reach the same fame touched by The Beatles. This rapid climbing was abruptly interrupted by a tragic car accident that took T. Rex leader Marc Boland's life away, when he was only 29. This band basically invented the classy, sexy, glam rock.
Considering the background, it sounded implausible to cover this song, but someone did; a temporary band formed by musicians I appreciate: Robert Palmer on the vocals backed by Duran Duran members John Taylor and Andy Taylor. The result is what a fan of these guys expects: strong, fun, sparkling, and I would say sunny vibes! That sun that you could enjoy in the 80s while wearing an Hawaiian shirt and a pair of dark sunglasses over your big mustaches.
In this case the cover is brighter, while the original is more dreamlike, with a deep psychedelic frame. Which version I prefer depends totally on my mood.
Hurt - Johnny Cash
I'm sure that most of you expected this. Yes, I must knee before Johnny Cash. There's nothing to say about this masterpiece. If you don't know this song, just listen to it. I can only tell you the following facts:
- It was Johnny Cash's final hit right before his death
- Because of this, it is considered like his will
- The music video is considered among the best of all time
- Nine Inch Nails, the band behind the "original" claimed: "This song is not ours anymore"
This is a rare example in which the cover goes way beyond the original and the new artist becomes the original one!
If you know the song already, I can only suggest you to watch an alternative "music video" that is not less emotional than the official one:
"Anyone I know, goes away, in the end..."
If only Zack Snyder saw this...
Do you agree with this list? What other covers do you like? Don't be shy and post the comments below!