Worst Cover Songs Of All Time

[Ginsly]

I happened to hear Lenny Kravitz's cover of American Woman for the first time in ages recently, and was honestly kinda stupefied. He essentially took everything that was good about the song and hit Delete.

That got me thinking about some other ones that might have fallen through the cracks. Here's... this, and I'm so, so sorry you are now aware of it: Everclear's cover of The Joker by The Steve Miller Band. The heady mixture of ill-fitting vocoder and Art Alexakis's own brand of off-the-cuff banter make this one for the ages.

What are some others? I'm a glutton for punishment.

 

[Nostradoomus]

 

[Nostradoomus]

and I'm not even going to link it because it's so offensively bad, but bono doing Hallelujah is probably the worst thing on earth

edit: machine gun kelly covering system of a down on howard stern

god there's so many

 

[Ginsly]

Well, I can't say I didn't ask for this. Good lord, that is truly painful.

Funny - I was waiting tables in 2000/2001 downtown Chicago and my manager walked up to me and said "hey, you're a musician - look who's behind you!" I turned around to see a bunch of standard-issue grubby dudes and some very disinterested companions. "It's Puddle Of Mudd!" he said. I turned around again, and the band kinda looked up as they had likely heard the back-and-forth. They probably expected me to approach them, but I just shrugged to my manager and walked away. Guess I should have feigned interest, but... I had strawberry lemonade to refill.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I happened to hear Lenny Kravitz's cover of American Woman for the first time in ages recently, and was honestly kinda stupefied. He essentially took everything that was good about the song and hit Delete.

That got me thinking about some other ones that might have fallen through the cracks. Here's... this, and I'm so, so sorry you are now aware of it: Everclear's cover of The Joker by The Steve Miller Band. The heady mixture of ill-fitting vocoder and Art Alexakis's own brand of off-the-cuff banter make this one for the ages.

What are some others? I'm a glutton for punishment.

I started singing "if you want to destroy my sweater, whoawhoawhoa." Until I remembered what was listening to.

 

[jcpst]

You asked for it

 

[Nostradoomus]

damnit @jcpst I had almost forgotten about that abomination

 

[Nostradoomus]

I started singing "if you want to destroy my sweater, whoawhoawhoa." Until I remembered what was listening to.

you could always try the cover of Africa by Weezer but I don't recommend it

 

[drgonzo1969]

This shitty Limp Bizkit cover

 

[PapaBear]

 

[Nostradoomus]

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Do xmas songs count?

 

[Blooze]

Did Twisted Sister have a good song? Ever? I so loathe that band and it’s from my generation.

 

[DailyDovetails]

Live versions of Good Lovin by the Greatful Dead. It would probably be fine as a 2 minute song but as a 15-20 minute song it can be down right painful to listen to.

 

[Nostradoomus]

really? there's a whole Shatner side to that record dude

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

really? there's a whole Shatner side to that record dude

Yeah, Bill gets all the attention while Lenny shits into our ears just the same. Also, Shatner is barely singing so it feels more like a parody of singing than a song.

 

[Nostradoomus]

I like the lenny side

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Of the three I posted, the U2 is by far the most offensive to my ears.

 

[Ginsly]

I'm shocked no one has posted Alien Ant Farm's version of Smooth Criminal. I'm pretty sure it made me punch a wall Andy Bernard-style once.

Not a cover, but seems like some people need a reminder of Nimoy's uh, genius..

 

[Nostradoomus]

Alien Ant Farm is awesome as hell, that's why