The Damned Archives

The 25 Best Goth Covers Ever

Posted by Staff at 11:00 am 4 Responses »

May 312024

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

As regular readers know, here at Cover Me we put together a Best Covers Ever list every month for a celebrated artist. We’ve recently done the Pet Shop Boys and Sheryl Crow. And before them we did the biggie – The Beatles – and before them, Bob Dylan! But every now and again, there’s a particular genre that’s crying out for the Best Covers Ever treatment – and this month it’s the Dark Genre. It’s goth!

So why now, you ask? Are goth covers really a thing? And why don’t Alien Sex Fiend or Fields of the Nephilim have their own Best Covers Ever features?

Fair questions, all. First off, goth music is everywhere right now. It may have emerged out of the UK post-punk scene and enjoyed its most innovative period from 1980 to 1982, but it’s now the reason we have Whitby Goth Weekends in April and November (well, that and Count Dracula), World Goth Day on May 22, and goth nights down the Hatchet Inn in Bristol most nights, particularly Thursday. It’s also why we have heaps of goth books on the market right now, from John Robb’s The Art of Darkness to Lol Tolhurst’s Goth: A History and Cathi Unsworth’s Season of the Witch, all trying to explain goth’s lasting influence as a musical subculture: the fixation with death, the dark theatricality, the Victorian melodrama, the leather, the thick black eyeliner, the fishnet tights, the deviance, the sex, the deviant sex, and, of course, spiders. Continue reading »

Quarantine Covers 4: Chris Martin, David Gilmour, Angel Olsen, James Blake, Hayley Williams, and More

Posted by Ray Padgett at 9:00 am No Responses »

Apr 142020

It’s a strange circumstance: What has been awful for humanity at large has been pretty good for the world of cover songs. Even we would say that’s a terrible trade-off!

Nevertheless, we’ve been grateful that so many musicians have taken to Facebook, Instagram, etc to share their music and, in many cases, cover favorite songs that are helping get them through. So, for the fourth time and certainly not the last, we’re rounding up some of the best we’ve seen recently and encouraging you to add your own below.

One note: There are some obvious names you won’t see here. John Prine. Bill Withers. Adam Schlesinger. Kenny Rogers. So many wonderful covers are emerging to pay tribute to artists no longer with them that we’ll be rounding them up separately. We did the first set for Prine here. Continue reading »

In Memoriam: Arthur Lee (Love)

Posted by Seth Lorinczi at 10:00 am 3 Responses »

Aug 102018

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

The story of rock ’n roll is littered with unsung heroes, pioneers, and straight-up madmen, but few—if any—cast as long a shadow as Arthur Taylor Lee, the frontman of the ‘60s Los Angeles band Love. Last Friday, August 3rd, marked 12 years since his passing, but if anything his legend has continued to grow, not diminish, following his death at the age of 61.

Then again, that’s not saying much. For most of his life, Arthur Lee’s renown had nowhere to go but up. Love (the band) was more a theory than a working practice, and outside of a loyal local following in its mid-60s heyday, there were precious few rewards for the band’s labors: A handful of reasonable chart positions and occasional airplay, but little to no financial or critical acclaim, particularly after the essential lineup of the band quit (or were fired by Lee) following their late 1967 album Forever Changes.

After that, Lee spent the next couple of decades issuing a sporadic series of solo albums and half-hearted reboots, none of which garnered—or, frankly, deserved—much attention. So why celebrate him now? What about this troubled, and often troublemaking man deserves our attention?

Moptop Madness: Coope, Boyes and Simpson vs. Bob Dylan, Spiers & Boden vs. The Damned

Posted by Ray Padgett at 8:00 am 4 Responses »

Mar 202011

This March, we pit 64 Beatles covers against each other in what we call Moptop Madness.

Yesterday’s winners: The Black Keys, “She Said She Said” and Al Green, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”

It may be Sunday, but there’s no rest for our weary Beatles cover players. Two more battle royales gear up with underdog Coope, Boyes and Simpson challenging titan Bob Dylan, and mellow Spiers and Boden taking on the much louder Damned.

Listen to each pairing below, then vote for your favorite. For added sway, try to convince others to vote your way in the comments. Voting closes in 24 hours. Continue reading »

Moptop Madness: Coope, Boyes & Simpson vs. En Vogue, Ruby Suns ft. Esau Mwamwaya vs. The Damned

Posted by Ray Padgett at 8:00 am 3 Responses »

Mar 062011

This March, we pit 64 Beatles covers against each other in what we call Moptop Madness.

Yesterday’s winners: Aretha Franklin, “Eleanor Rigby” & Al Green, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”

It’s all over the map today. In the first match, folk meets disco when Coope, Boyle & Simpson’s “Think for Yourself” clashes with En Vogue’s “Yesterday.” In the second, the world music-minded Ruby Suns ft. Esau Mwamwaya fights tooth and nail with British punks The Damned as “Birthday” battles “Help!”

Listen to each pairing below, then vote for your favorite. For added sway, try to convince others to vote your way in the comments. Voting closes in 24 hours. Continue reading »