Elton John Leads Brian Wilson Tribute at Hall of Fame Ceremony

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Nov 112025
 
Elton John covers Brian Wilson

At the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions, Elton John led a tribute to Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson. “We loved each other,” John said, “I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather pay tribute to than Brian Wilson and his family with this incredible song.” He then launched into a cover of the 1966 song, “God Only Knows,” with back up from musicians including Don Was on bass and Benmont Tench on piano. (“God Only Knows,” appeared on the Beach Boys record Pet Sounds.)

Describing the first time he met Brian, John said it happened the first time he was in Los Angeles with lyricist Bernie Taupin. “We were scared shitless because he was my idol. He was the one that influenced me more than anybody else when it came to writing songs on the piano. It was an evening we would never forget,” John said. “Meeting someone who was a true genius doesn’t happen very often.”

The emotions were visible on John’s face as he sang the repetitive title line, “God only knows where I’d be without you.”

Brian Wilson passed away in June from cardiac arrest at age 82.

Toni Cornell Honors Brian Wilson with Soft “God Only Knows” Cover

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Jul 212025
 

Toni Cornell, daughter of the late Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell, has released a heartfelt studio cover of The Beach Boys classic “God Only Knows.” Cornell might not sound much like her father, who is known for rich, deep vocals. But her vocal control is amazing and sounds stunning layered over an acoustic guitar and tambourine. Continue reading »

Cover Classics : Babybird’s ‘Covers’

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Jul 152025
 

Cover Classics takes a closer look at all-cover albums of the past, their genesis, and their legacy.

Babybird Covers

You won’t know this one. Well, not unless you read our Good Better Best on The La’s ‘There She Goes‘, where Adam Mason gifted the best to the version from Stephen Jones, aka Babybird. (Or should that be babybird? Citation needed.) This isn’t a dig at taste anyone’s taste or due diligence in capturing all end every cover version in the world, more around the blink and you missed it nature of the release. Covid still very much the story of the day, it snuck out in June of 2021, likely a pointer to how Jones had himself spent lockdown. There were limited hard copies available, on CD, as a single disc, a double, containing a trio of additional revisions, and a special edition, with individually hand finished covers. These all sold out aeons ago, with none of these self-released items accessible even through Discogs. But, luckily for you, if so inclined, you can grab the downloads over on Bandcamp. And they are free! Continue reading »

The 30 Best Sly & The Family Stone Covers Ever

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Jun 272025
 

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

Sly & The Family Stone Covers

Sly Stone died on June 9 at the age of 82. Two days later, Brian Wilson died, also 82. It was a rough week for eccentric musical geniuses years ahead of their time. We paid tribute to Wilson here, and a couple years ago did a full Best Beach Boys Covers Ever list that now serves as a de facto tribute too. After all, he wrote just about all of those songs.)

So today, the great Sly Stone gets the same treatment. Thirty covers of all the hits, and a few deeper cuts too. Hot fun begins on the next page. (And once you’re done with this, check out our new Five Good Covers piece on “Family Affair.”)

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In Memoriam : Brian Wilson

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Jun 162025
 

In Memoriam pays tribute to those who have left this world, and the songs they left us to remember them by.

Songwriter Brian Wilson in Santa Monica California 1990

God only knows where we’d be without Brian Wilson.

If that sounds glib, a journalistic play on one of his best-known tunes, think it through. The footprint made by Brian Douglas Wilson, who died on June 11, nine days short of his 83rd birthday, is amongst the largest of any single musician from the 1960s, certainly of those born his side of the Atlantic. As a writer and producer his skill was exemplary, but remember also his angelic voice, arguably the second finest in his family (his brother Carl just one step ahead in those stakes, to my mind).

Whilst it had seemed he had been long gone, trapped in his own mind, if still being paraded out by management, friends and family, the pain of his actual departure from this world is both profound and shocking. Few musicians have had as much scrutiny over the years, with books and films aplenty, all documenting the highs and lows of a life lived largely in the public eye. From the start, the bedeviled saga of the Beach Boys has attracted equal parts adoration and opprobrium, the former usually reserved for Wilson, the latter for those who sought to take advantage of his often precarious mental health.

And what highs and what lows there have been. But we at Cover Me have come to praise his genius, rather than rake over those coals; there will be plenty of that elsewhere. One of only two musicians to get two birthday “salutes” from us, here and here, his legacy was also rightly celebrated in our deep dive into the best 40 covers of songs by his band, the Beach Boys. Sure, he didn’t write them all, but certainly had a hand in the vast majority of the best ones.

Add in a welter of album reviews for the myriad tributes to him, personally and/or The Beach Boys, and it is obvious as to quite how well regarded he was, here and everywhere. I typed “Brian Wilson” into our site search engine and it delivered 16 pages, with “Beach Boys” providing 31. Even if you allow for some duplication, that is quite staggering. As such we need, and Brian Wilson deserves, a last hurrah, a valedictory victory parade of the bounty left in his wake, with the Beach Boys and without. Here is a baker’s dozen of his best.
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