File this one under the "get a life" category...

I always believed that Satisfaction shouldn't be covered. This point was illustrated when my daughter came home with Britney's breathy phone sex version. The intro sounds very much like the Phyllis Diller version that I have on a Rhino "Golden Throats" compilation.

This got me to thinking - how many covers are there of Satisfaction, and are any of them any good? So I did some digging.

By the time I was done, I uncovered about 25 different versions including covers by:

Tom Jones
Justine Bateman
Rolf Harris
Bjork & PJ Harvey
Jerry Lee Lewis
Aretha Franklin
Samantha Fox
Grateful Dead
David McCallum (the Man from Uncle guy)
The Ventures
Otis Redding
Television
Jonathon King
Fatboy Slim
Blue Cheer
and a bunch more that I can't think of.

Most were dreadful, some were merely mediocre. But there were a couple of good ones:

Devo - this one's pretty well known.
The Residents - must be heard to be believed.
Rolf Harris - a scream. Imagine Satisfaction being done the same style as "Tie me Kangaroo Down". Even Rolf couldn't get through it without cracking up.

The best versions were very different takes on the song, totally discarding the arrangement and starting from scratch.

I did find one more or less faithful cover done by Tom Petty that managed to capture the brattiness of the original.

Best: Dave Grohl doing "Stairway to Heaven" on Later w/Craig Kilborne. Absolutely hilarious.

Worst: EVERY Puff Daddy song.

Man! A ton of great covers above that I knew of but just didnt come to mind! The Zappa version of "Stairway" with the horn....Brilliant!

But if you really wanna hear some truely ingenius covers, check out what I found on Craig Anderton's forum early: http://www.hitme.net/prozak/aqualung.mp3
http://www.hitme.net/prozak/reaper.mp3


This message has been edited by Duhduh on 05-28-2001 at 03:25 AM

Those guys are hilarious! Do they do weddings?

That's Bruce Lash...a great guy from Chicago. He put out a CD called "Prozac for Lovers"...doing bossa covers of classic rock tunes. His more traditional, less tongue-in-cheek stuff is worth checking out, too.

Here's another absolutely shit cover ( pardon my language, but I heard it yesterday and it's total crap!!) Every Littlee thing she does is magic by Spook!! What a total anihilation of a Police track... Man I wish those bloody rappers would leave these tunes alone.... If ya can't write anything of your own you don't deserve a deal and to murder someone elses track like this is just criminal imo!!

Simon

There was a cd of genuine Muzak remakes of Classic Seattle/grunge songs at one time....

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New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald

Where was it Chip?

Gotta put in my vote for Hendrix' Watchtower. Another great one that comes to mind in Joe Cockers version of "With a Little Help from my Friends". Changing it from 4/4 to 3/4 time was brillient.

Tom


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http://www.digitalaudiorock.com
The Protools Plugin Preset Co-op

Best: Lemonheads "Mrs. Robinson" or RHCP "Higher Ground"

Worst: Lenny Kravitz "American Woman"

I think someone already named Madonna's "American Pie" as the worst. It's right up there.

Another thing I LOATHE...is when the stupidass remixers take a hit that's not bad on the radio, usually a slower song, and remix it with that barfbag stomach churning fast "boom chigga boom chigga" "dance" beat. And if a song kinda churns your stomach to begin with, you DEFINITELY need airsick bags.

They did that with Celine Dion's nauseating "My Heart Will Throw Up...er Go On"...and, a Madonna song that actually wasn't bad initially. That weird one with the bluish video where she turned into a doberman or something. I could almost stand that song 'til I heard the "dance" mix.

Shake shake shake...shake shake shake...shake your...ULP...ULP...ULP...

They should compile all of those into a "Bulimic's Greatest Hits" CD.

Awww, Ted... guess you won't want to hear my dance-remix of the Canadian National Anthem.

Boom-chigga-chigga-Boom-chigga-chigga!

Yep... I forgot that Madonna beat the hell out of "American Pie." What the fürk was she thinking?!?!?!

Hahahaha...it'd be a sure hit at hockey games, eh?

Then we could get Steven Tyler to do a duet with Britney on the US anthem and put it to a disco beat...

While I'm thinking of it, on Dream Of The Blue Turtles, Sting redid an early Police tune, very well I will add. Shadows In The Rain. The original was VERY weird. The remake was a faster tempo with more feeling than the original.

Neil



This message has been edited by fantasticsound on 05-30-2001 at 12:12 AM

Uh... in a word, no! What did the Beatles ever do to Joe Cocker? I've heard Beatles covers I could appreciate. This is NOT one of them.

Have to agree others about Phil Collins. True Colors sucked. (His version, not Cyndi Lauper's.) As did Groovy Kind Of Love. Now, You Can't Hurry Love was pretty cool, though!

Neil

Can't remember what compilation CD is on, but Matthew Sweet did a live version of "She Said, She Said" that was great!

I always liked both of these versions. I thought the first one was weird, but the song is basically about being neurotic, so it works. Besides, the Police were heading toward their dark "Ghost in the Machine" days. That's just where they were. When Sting redid it, he was into his jazz jam band thing and the remake reflects that. Same song, two different worlds. It is pretty cool when you cover your own song though..

<>

For what it's worth, I've heard that Paul Mcartney liked that version enough that he actually suggested that Cocker cover 'She Came in through the Bathroom Window'.

I do really like the original version...just thought his was an interesting take on it.

Tom


This message has been edited by tld on 05-30-2001 at 09:40 AM

Check out the Sex Pistols version of "Roadrunner", the song originally done by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. It is probably the best and worst cover of a song I've ever heard. I love it. The song is on "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle" along with another great/awful cover, "My Way".

My Way
Now your talking!! As you rightly say the best and worst cover all in one.... But irresistable imho

Simon

The Tories do a really cool take on "Round and Round" by Ratt!