There must be some kind of way out of here

[venta]

Well, today NME has published a chart of the "best cover versions of all time".

It's here: http://www.nme.com/news/muse/53090

Virtually none of them meet my criteria for a good cover. In particular, I don't believe that most people will have had any idea that the songs were covers when they first heard them. If someone had to tell you the song you know is a cover, it doesn't count.


[Poll #1622076]

Other reasons why the NME is wrong: in their corresponding chart of the worst cover versions ever, Madonna's American Pie only makes #8.

Edit The Beatles' song should of course be Twist and Shout. Search and replace error :)

Comments

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

...But not Elvis's version of Blue Suede Shoes?

Hmm. Does your definition mean that something stops being a good cover when it becomes better known than the original? As opposed to the original being obscure to start with, I mean?

[venta.livejournal.com]

It doesn't stop being a good cover - it's a person by person thing. So maybe you can appreciate something as a cover version when I can't, because I don't know the original version.

You can get a certain amount of retrospective coveriness by subsequently going and listening to the original, but I don't think it's ever quite the same.

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

Fine point. And on that one, I suspect I heard the original first, or at least at roughly the same time as the Elvis version.