What's a song you love that has a horrible version of it?

[IndieForever]

Anything that was good that was given a dubstep remix, but particularly Zombie by the Cranberries. It's annoying enough to see that 85%+ of music videos people make using the song are with zombies instead of showing any understanding of the song itself, but that remix is just grating on my ears.

You will abso-fucking-lutely love this then. I'm on a roll this evening, a full 100% of my music-based disgruntlement aimed firmly at people who think that anything Vocaloid is 'desu' and can be inflicted on an innocent public without consequence. I use it myself, but I wouldn't point this WMD at anyone without fair warning. So... fair warning given!

 

[RJ 17]

Does it count if you don't like the original version?

Because this version of Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" will most assuredly give you nightmares that will haunt your very soul. o.o

Spoiler: You have been warned...

 

[ThreeName]

Kurt is crying right now. Why does everyone and their mother feel the need to cover this song?

Probably because it doesn't actually require any talent to sing.

I made it all the way to the chorus. I couldn't go on. Richard Dawkins should put that in a book because it's PROOF THAT GOD IS DEAD

My soul is crying

 

[Zontar]

Snip

Why, why did you do this to me? Why dame it, why?

I couldn't get threw the first half. Dear god that was terrible. I think part of my brain is bleeding now.

There are times where vocal systems work, and this is most definitely not one of them.

 

[MorganL4]

good lord she ruins the living hell out of this.

Just utterly rotten.

WHY? WHY?!?!?! YOU JACKASS.... I had happily forgotten that that horrific mess existed, and then you HAD to post it. Didn't you. I now officially hate you, congratulations.

I was just going to post Madonna's cover of American pie, but now that you posted the Mariah Carey "Bringin' On the Heartbreak." There is not point, I can't top that in the realm of horrid cover versions.

There is however the totally bland and boring "Cum on feel the noize" from Quiet Riot, that had none of the honesty and realism of the original Slayed version. It did get them the first ever #1 bilboard metal album.... And a Rock&Roll Hall of Fame induction....BEFORE Black Sabbath got theirs..... Seriously Da Fuq? And no one in the US even knows who Slayed were, and the Brits just remember them as the band that did that Christmas song.

 

[IndieForever]

Whilst there are so many awesome candidates - Jessica Simpson's cover of Berlin's 'Take My Breath Away' (video link not included for health reasons), Ozzy Osbourne's butchering of 'Stayin Alive' and anything involving Sony's Vocaloid (hint to would be Vocaloidists - it's a tool, not a singer), there can be only one winner.

This haunted my childhood and it would help my now-fragile mental state if I could share it with you all. A burden shared is a burden etc, etc.

I loved the original track and I loved Star Trek. How could a mashup not be good?

 

[OutcastBOS]

good lord she ruins the living hell out of this.

Just utterly rotten.

WHY? WHY?!?!?! YOU JACKASS.... I had happily forgotten that that horrific mess existed, and then you HAD to post it. Didn't you. I now officially hate you, congratulations.

I was just going to post Madonna's cover of American pie, but now that you posted the Mariah Carey "Bringin' On the Heartbreak." There is not point, I can't top that in the realm of horrid cover versions.

There is however the totally bland and boring "Cum on feel the noize" from Quiet Riot, that had none of the honesty and realism of the original Slayed version. It did get them the first ever #1 bilboard metal album.... And a Rock&Roll Hall of Fame induction....BEFORE Black Sabbath got theirs..... Seriously Da Fuq? And no one in the US even knows who Slayed were, and the Brits just remember them as the band that did that Christmas song.

Y'know why the Quiet Riot one sounds like it does? The singer and the drummer hated the fact that they had to do another cover song (like they did with the song Mama Weer All Crazy Now) and they planned to make it sound as bad as they could make it.

OT: While I usually like their music, I'm just not a fan of Five Finger Death Punch's version of Bad Company, from the band of the same name. I dunno, I think it's just that they changed the meaning to another HOOAH TROOPZ song. And while that isn't an inherently bad thing, since it's cool that they support the troops and stuff, but it's just not what the song was about. ...Also I'm a sucker for bass, and it doesn't have much of that in it, especially compared to the original.


compared to the original

 

[AroLombardi]

To make things worse, try as best you can to list an alternate version that is considered just as official as the version you enjoy listening to.

For me, that would have to be this video game boss theme. This version I actually like:
This version, while having some better aspects to it in terms of instrumentals, is horribly butchered by autotune:
This is a rare instance that forces me to say that the original Japanese version of something is worse. The only other thing I say this about is Dragonball Z voice acting. I've heard that the Japanese DBZ voices are supposed to be a homage to the way Bruce Lee talks due to his influence in giving Japan more legitimacy in action entertainment media, but I don't care honestly. They don't fit the characters as well to me. Having heard Cell's voice actor though, I can say that he stands out as damn good. He is supposed to be a good Japanese voice actor however so it makes sense I like his performance.

That's mine. What's yours?

I actually am the opposite. The autotune is ehh but the beat is much stronger and the singer, autotune aside, sounds better. It's the only PAL version I chose over the other in my NMH playlist.

Spoiler: OT

Not a big fan of pony music anymore, but this song is still really good to me. It's a cover of a Living Tombstone song. Kujiro's remix sort of sounds better with how sad the lyrics are.

Living Tombstone is a fairly alright writer and musician, but, and I mean no disrespect, his so called "accent" sounds tone deaf and awful to me. I mean listen to his note sustain in the original. His tones are just all over the place and when he doubles his voice it clashes so badly. I don't understand how all the comments defend his "accent" so vehemently. But hey, Youtube comments.

 

[Vault101]

The shit is strong with this one:
[spoiler/][/spoiler]

I have to object to the Lorde one, even if it is a little "trailer fodder" at times I think it works really well overall (there was a cool trailer type thing done with Game of Thrones which was awesome) Tears for fears generally works well when adapted to darker songs (in fact someone said that was an aspect of new wave: Combine poppy cheerfulness with daker lyrics...or at least it was a tears for fears thing)

 

[Fox12]

The shit is strong with this one:
[spoiler/][/spoiler]

I have to object to the Lorde one, even if it is a little "trailer fodder" at times I think it works really well overall (there was a cool trailer type thing done with Game of Thrones which was awesome) Tears for fears generally works well when adapted to darker songs (in fact someone said that was an aspect of new wave: Combine poppy cheerfulness with darker lyrics...or at least it was a tears for fears thing)

I really liked Gary Jules take on Mad World, and I respect Lorde as an artist, but somehow it just didn't ring true. Maybe Tears for Fears just had more passion to it, which paradoxically made it more sad to me then Lorde's more straightforward take on it. At least the singer seemed to understand the song, as opposed to most pop singers, who just regurgitate music without thinking about it.

 

[Vault101]

At least the singer seemed to understand the song, as opposed to most pop singers, who just regurgitate music without thinking about it.

to be fair the "singer" is also backed up by producers and record labels carefully crafting her image, I mean I think we tend to place too much agency on the "face" themselves

 

[Tommasaurus]

Well as much as I hate to admit secretly digging power ballads hard, for me it is this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eT464L1YRA

getting turned into this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlGEII0ejyA

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

Master of Puppets, probably one of my favorite Metallica Songs
[spoiler/][/spoiler]

This cover I found one day by someone called Van Canto

GRRRRRRRR wow does this suck. Completely ruins it by trying to sing along to the opening, and I don't mean he added lyrics to it.
I mean he sings the guitar part like you would do in your car.
There is a reason singing instrumentation is only something you do in your car.

[spoiler/][/spoiler]

That beginning part is so bad I cannot even get to the rest of the song to see if it was just a bad piece. Because I have heard some songs where one part was bad but the rest of the song was ok enough to tolerate but no, not this one from Mr. Van Canto.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

I don't know why I even tried to look up a metal cover of Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream, I don't know what I was looking for, I don't know what I was expecting but it was all really not great.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

I have a weird predilection for folk music. It's not a huge part of my music library but it has a place.

While Whiskey in the Jar is pretty far from my favorite, if it shows up on the rotation I won't skip it.
It's a fun song and it tells a neat little story.

The version I have is from the Dubliners and is usually the version most folks have heard if they've heard any version of the original.

Spoiler

The story told is a simple one.

A man robs Captain Farrel, takes his ill gotten gains home to his wife/girlfriend who then betrays him by sabotaging his pistol and stealing his sword. She then turns him in to the Captain and, being unable to defend himself is sentenced to military service.

Because he's a scoundrel, he tries to make his punishment easier by being stationed with his brother and planning on all the carousing and general hell raising they'll do together.

The End.

I don't know who first thought to muddy the waters but it's usually the Thin Lizzy version that I hear most often...and it's kind of a mess.

Spoiler

The song loses pretty much all lyrical flow and narrative and the story is reduced to. A man robs Captain Farrel, gets drunk has sex with his wife and then, on an unrelated note, Captain Farrel just barges in and the man kills him.

wee.

Now I don't like this version but I don't hate it either. It's just not my style.
And there's been a lot of covers of this version of the song. (Simple Minds, Belle and Sebastian...the Leningrad Cowboys.) and I'm not a fan of any of them, for the same reason.

I didn't really hate it until Metallica swaggered along and just kicked it while it was down, and it all boils down to James Hetfield's godawful vocals. Now, to be clear I don't have a problem with Metallica or Hetfield I just don't think this song was a good match for this band because his vocals completely ruin it.

Spoiler

Listening to him try to grunt out the "Musha ring dum a doo dum a da Whack for my daddy-o" lyric is just laughable.

 

[Zipzip the Penguin]

The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my all time favorite movies, and Danny Elfman does a brilliant job as the singing voice of Jack. You can tell what he's feeling not just from what he sings but how he sings it. He put so much emotion behind the words, which were also very well written.

Then we get this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlI1gvyO1iI

The guitar sounds decent, but the singing is completely flat and drones on like a fly in my ear. Irritating is putting it nicely.

 

[Skatologist]

Quite a few Streetlight Manifesto songs from 99 songs of Revolution just didn't do it for me. I'd say they aren't "horrible" but many are much more lackluster compared to the original performance of the bands. I still think it's good, just kind of find some of their weakest performances to be on the album, especially when I feel some of these songs should be so wildly different in tone when they play. I would probably say the most disappointing was the rendition of NOFX's "Linoleum", I can't put my finger on what exactly I don't like, but I know I'm not the only one who didn't like the cover.


and the original for comparison:


I'd say the have arguably good and paying a sort of tribute to the classic versions of these songs, but the above example is just not impactful, I guess you could say, as it should be with this band given their other work.

 

[jamail77]

snip

I actually am the opposite. The autotune is ehh but the beat is much stronger and the singer, autotune aside, sounds better.

When you say this do you mean to say the alternate singer is better or the singer sounds better in that version (because it's the same singer in both versions and I'm confused what you mean)?

I'm going to have respectfully disagree with you. As I said, there are betters aspects to it like some of the instrumentation, but any improvement, as far as I'm concerned, is completely 100% butchered by the autotune. The tampering of the voice was not necessary and does not fit with the theme or thrill of the fight. I should have said earlier that SOME of the unnecessary techno (other techno parts were fine) put in did not help either. The version I prefer may be simpler, sure, but I think it is better off for it. I wish I could take the best of both worlds. I can't though, so I'm sticking with the version I like and the one you like less (You didn't say you disliked it outright so I'm assuming you just prefer the PAL version rather than dislike the non-PAL version).

Living Tombstone is a fairly alright writer and musician, but, and I mean no disrespect, his so called "accent" sounds tone deaf and awful to me. I mean listen to his note sustain in the original. His tones are just all over the place and when he doubles his voice it clashes so badly. I don't understand how all the comments defend his "accent" so vehemently. But hey, Youtube comments.[/spoiler]

We definitely agree here. My ears! Kidding, it's not that bad, but yeah, it sounds off. I don't know much about the guy; however, I do not think his accent gives him a pass. Reminds me of when I was in Israel. Is he Israeli? He probably tries really hard to sound better honestly. The accent pierces through and messes him up when he tries to set a certain tone in English, I bet. Not defending him. Like I said, it doesn't give him a pass. Just theorizing here.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my all time favorite movies, and Danny Elfman does a brilliant job as the singing voice of Jack. You can tell what he's feeling not just from what he sings but how he sings it. He put so much emotion behind the words, which were also very well written.

Then we get this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlI1gvyO1iI

The guitar sounds decent, but the singing is completely flat and drones on like a fly in my ear. Irritating is putting it nicely.

Ignoring that a cover of that was not very feasible to begin with, that is like an insult to the original. It sounds disrespectful to me though I doubt it was meant to disrespect the original, unintentional disrespect probably.

 

[AroLombardi]

snip

When you say this do you mean to say the alternate singer is better or the singer sounds better in that version (because it's the same singer in both versions and I'm confused what you mean)?

I'm going to have respectfully disagree with you. As I said, there are betters aspects to it like some of the instrumentation, but any improvement, as far as I'm concerned, is completely 100% butchered by the autotune. The tampering of the voice was not necessary and does not fit with the theme or thrill of the fight. I should have said earlier that SOME of the unnecessary techno (other techno parts were fine) put in did not help either. The version I prefer may be simpler, sure, but I think it is better off for it. I wish I could take the best of both worlds. I can't though, so I'm sticking with the version I like and the one you like less (You didn't say you disliked it outright so I'm assuming you just prefer the PAL version rather than dislike the non-PAL version).

I see what you mean, and you're right that there were a lot of additions that didn't fit with the rest of the game. Especially since it was like one of few songs in both games with lyrics, so it was breaking theme either way. I didn't know it was the same singer though, but yeah I like the PAL version's singing. Even if it may be the same singer, she definitely goes for a wider range than in the US(?) version. But I think it does come down to a matter of tolerance of autotune. I don't encourage it, especially with singers that have not established skill before using it, but I think things can still sound good with them.

snippy

We definitely agree here. My ears! Kidding, it's not that bad, but yeah, it sounds off. I don't know much about the guy; however, I do not think his accent gives him a pass. Reminds me of when I was in Israel. Is he Israeli? He probably tries really hard to sound better honestly. The accent pierces through and messes him up when he tries to set a certain tone in English, I bet. Not defending him. Like I said, it doesn't give him a pass. Just theorizing here.

Don't know much either, actually. I've heard a few other songs and he has moments of fairly good singing, but it was mostly songs with lower and more narrow tone ranges. He's a likable dude, and I want him to keep creating, but boy if he got with a good partner he could do amazing songs.

 

[Sounga]

I have a weird predilection for folk music. It's not a huge part of my music library but it has a place.

While Whiskey in the Jar is pretty far from my favorite, if it shows up on the rotation I won't skip it.
It's a fun song and it tells a neat little story.

The version I have is from the Dubliners and is usually the version most folks have heard if they've heard any version of the original.

Spoiler

snip

I Did not expect to see this here but I agree. Well to a certain degree the main difference i while I enjoy the Dubliners version my favorite one is from a band called Darby O'Gill.

Spoiler

It may be because it was one of the first versions i heard thanks to Pandora. I didn't hear the Metallica version until much later and found the Thin Lizzy version in from the comment section in the Metallica one with some guy claiming it was the original. Which i found amusing.