No Cover: Stop With All The Damn Covers!

This is an observation of mine. You and your band have reached your big break. The deal is presented to you for X amount of videos/songs and you sign without hesitation, but the label only seems to be interested in one song. Your version of “Wrecking Ball”. You don’t want to because you only play it as filler, but too late, you already signed. The video is a hit, everyone knows you. Fame and fortune are yours, but only for a week and the world moves on. Nothing else fly’s and you are branded a “One Hit Wonder”.  This can easily be a reality should you choose to be so hungry. My suggestion read the fine print and DON’T START WITH A COVER!!

Probably my favorite cover is Alien Ant Farm’s “Smooth Criminal”. The “Anthology” album that everyone loved for the one song was released in 2001 and has the power to take you back to image of a woman in a two piece swim suit, wearing a wolfmask and leather jacket. According to wikipedia they are still active, which is nice to know honestly. I legitimately liked this band. Another light success they had was being present on the sound track for the early playstaion game “Tony Hawk: Pro Skater 3”. This sustained them for a little big longer, and might have pushed them to a “go big or go home” mentality, resulting in their “These Days” music video depicting them actual crashing the BET awards. If the video rings true, they where well received by everyone who didn’t have a badge. They will be certainly be remembered as some smooth criminals.

A less favored song on my part is The Ataris’ take on “Boys of Summer”. The song was featured on the album “So Long, Astoria” and was released 2003. A band that is also still active with singer and guitarist Kristopher Roe being a constant member for the whole duration. My distaste for this band stems from both the song selection on their part and about everything else that remains. A band built on the Pop-punk invasion that was started by (in my opinion) Blink-182. Videos of their performances can still be found on youtube as late as 2011, one of which is surprisingly “Skulls”, a Misfits cover. Not one of their best songs, but I feel I can respect The Ataris a little bit more because of this choice.

The official video seems to be almost impossible to find. Out of your Mouth was much more successful then Beyoncé Knowles in ridding the internet of something they didn’t want out there. I almost couldn’t find their original Madonna cover of “Music”. My memory is nothing to ever put money on, but this band is so far into the obscure I spend an hour and a half trying to find their name. In my journey, I have come across a band called “Regardless Of Me” who covers Frozen, which may land on a list much like this one, but perhaps not. The music industry is not what it was. Out of Your Mouth, unlike the other two depicted bands, are no longer together. With large tours with Korn and Family Values not helping their career, it would be fair to disband.

I am sure there are many many more, but lets end it off with the most famous cover that not a lot of people know is a cover. Quiet Riot’s “Cum on feel the noise”. Originally written by Slades’ Jim Lea and Noddy Holder who, with the right hat, looks like the Tom Baker AKA “The Fourth Doctor”. A lesser known fact: Quiet Riot hated this song. No one wanted to play it, and no one wanted to record it, but Epic Records insisted heavily. Defeated, the whole band learned the song at their own leisure and recorded it in the studio. The version that we all listen to on the classic rock station, the one that made the album is the only take ever done by the band. They literally went into the studio, never played the song together and nailed it in one take. Their career probably lasted as long as hair metal did, but it is still a cover that launched their name to #5 on the music charts.

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