Jun 202025
 

One Great Cover looks at the greatest cover songs ever, and how they got to be that way.

Suspicious Minds

When Fine Young Cannibals covered “Suspicious Minds” in 1985, they covered more than just a song made famous by Elvis Presley in 1969. They covered a song that was iconic of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in his post-“’68 Comeback Special” pomp at the globally televised “Aloha from Hawaii” show in 1973. Sweaty, lavishly sideburned, and spangled in white American-eagle jumpsuit. Colorful lei around neck. Huge band behind him. Thirty-piece orchestra. Choir. Enraptured fans. Frenetic dancing during the extended drum fills. And acrobatic shapes that came with the immortal line: “I hope this suit don’t tear up, baby.”

Brave, then, for Fine Young Cannibals to even attempt such a song, and hugely unlikely that they should proceed to have an international smash hit with it in early 1986. They were, lest we forget, a decidedly unstarlike three-piece from Birmingham, UK, two of whom had only recently emerged from the ashes of punk-influenced, inner-city ska band The (English) Beat. They’d further stripped the song of the flamboyance, grandeur, and melodrama we’d come to associate with it, and pretty much de-Elvised it, making sure it fit, instead, with the gritty, socially conscious, and virulently anti-Margaret Thatcher vibe of their debut album.

FYC also made the song sound fresh, more urgent, and more relevant to a new—largely unemployed—generation, gaining for themselves an immortal signature tune in the process, one which would more than hold its own against “She Drives Me Crazy,” “Good Thing,” and anything off their all-conquering second album, The Raw and the Cooked. They’d clearly given the world… One Great Cover.

How, though, did the flagrantly non-jumpsuit-wearing band pull off such a stunt?
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Aug 102021
 

In the Spotlight showcases a cross-section of an artist’s cover work. View past installments, then post suggestions for future picks in the comments!

20th Century

People come up with crazy schemes all the time – what’s less common is when someone actually goes through with said crazy scheme. Americana legend Peter Stampfel, formerly of The Holy Modal Rounders and The Fugs, is that someone. Continue reading »

Jul 012021
 
av undercover

Anyone who was paying attention to cover songs a decade ago will remember The A.V. Club’s “Undercover” series. In the vein of the BBC Live Lounge and Triple J Like a Version, the entertainment web site would bring bands into their Chicago offices to cover a song. The concept, though, was the site started with a masters list of songs and the band had to pick one. The later they came in, the fewer song choices remained. It went on for years and the covers were ubiquitous (we must have posted a million of ’em). Practically every indie band of the era stopped by (many several times), and they often delivered something great. Continue reading »

Sep 212016
 

Welcome to Cover Me Q&A, where we take your questions about cover songs and answer them to the best of our ability.

Here at Cover Me Q&A, we’ll be taking questions about cover songs and giving as many different answers as we can. This will give us a chance to hold forth on covers we might not otherwise get to talk about, to give Cover Me readers a chance to learn more about individual staffers’ tastes and writing styles, and to provide an opportunity for some back-and-forth, as we’ll be taking requests (learn how to do so at feature’s end).

Today’s question: What’s your favorite Muppets cover song?
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Dec 212012
 

Adele dominated the cover song landscape in 2011, but Two-Aught-Twelve saw no similar galvanizing figure. Yes Lana Del Rey got covered a lot, but Leonard Cohen and Arcade Fire also seemed to garner an unexpected landslide of great covers (and speaking of landslides, so did Fleetwood Mac). “Call Me Maybe” was a huge hit that didn’t lead to much in the way of classic covers, and few seem to have even bothered attempting the Korean raps on “Gangnam Style.”

Which means that cover songs in 2012 were more diverse, ambitious, and left-field than ever before. A given YouTube search or Hype Machine browse would be as likely to turn up forgotten hits or underappreciated songwriters as it would the latest Top 40 smash. Find a sampling of all the diversity in Cover Me’s official Best Cover Songs of 2012 countdown. Start with #40-31 on the next page, and check back daily as we’ll be adding more til we hit #1.

Aug 242012
 

Every digital-age music aficionado is familiar with the “pay what you can” concept that many indie bands are utilizing to get their music out there (and hopefully get paid to do so.) The Good Natured decided to try a different approach when offering their rendition of Fine Young Cannibals‘ 1989 chart-topper “She Drives Me Crazy” – for just a tweet, you get a free download of the tune. If you haven’t fallen in love with U.K. based The Good Natured, be prepared to do so once you listen to this cover. Continue reading »