Cover Songs

There are good covers (Imagination by the Rolling Stones, I Believe in Miracles by Pearl Jam) and there are bad covers (Simple Man by Shinedown, Billie Jean by Chris Cornell). I was listening to some music today when I got to thinking about what makes a good cover song, what makes a bad one, and if releasing cover songs is akin to selling out.

As you may have already surmised, I think it is possible to record and even release good cover songs. The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Animals, and virtually every other band from that era did. From House of the Rising Sun to Harlem Shuffle, great bands have released great cover songs, and there are some keys to releasing good ones.

The band should truly respect and enjoy the band and song being covered. When the Beatles and the Rolling Stones both recorded Chuck Berry covers in 1963 (Roll Over Beethoven and Come On, respectively), they fulfilled this requirement (the Stones broke one of my fundamental rules, but we'll get to that later). Both bands were highly influenced by Berry. John Lennon once opined, "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'." Keith Richards, while inducting Berry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said, "It's hard for me to induct Chuck Berry, because I lifted every lick he ever played." On the other hand, when a band like Guns n Roses covers Since I Don't Have You by the Skyliners, it comes off as a bad joke.

A band should NEVER release a cover as their first single. There's nothing worse than a band (or record label) trying to sell a mediocre band by choosing to release a cover as their first single (had anyone ever heard of Shinedown before their version of Simple Man?). Here's where we come back to the Rolling Stones' cover of Come On. It was their first single. If there is any way I can justify this violation, it is that Chuck Berry and Come On were not well known in England, or even in much of North America at the time.

Which leads to another key: a really good cover song should take a little known track and make it something special. When Eddie Vedder turned Indio's Hard Sun into a smash hit, he followed this key.

A slightly different take on the previous key is to take a song and make it your own. The aforementioned Chris Cornell version of Billie Jean changed the song entirely. While I'm not a fan of the version, Cornell had the right idea. The Rolling Stones' version of Imagination (originially by the Temptations) took a smooth, doo wop song and made it a genuine Stones' rocker. When Run DMC covered Aerosmith's Walk this Way, they helped rap break into the mainstream, and even helped create a new genre of music defined by bands such as Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.

In the early days of rock and roll, recording a cover song was considered very normal. Artists would record, and often even release, another artist's song, sometimes even concurrently. Now, releasing a cover song has a negative connotation, after all, the easiest way to record a hit song is to re-record an old hit. But when done properly, cover songs can be respectable, can be cool. Otherwise, they're just annoying.

On a similar note - I'm almost always 100% against sampling. Some of the worst offenders: Vanilla Ice stealing Under Pressure; P. Diddy stealing Let's Dance...

*For an example of the difference between a good cover and a bad cover check out David Bowie and Mick Jagger's version of Dancing in the Street and contrast that with Van Halen's version.