This year Missy Elliott joins the ranks of rappers being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, following legends like Grandmaster Flash and The Furious 5, who became the first rap group to be inducted in 2007, and more recently Jay-Z, the Notorious B.I.G. and Eminem. However, Elliott breaks open another door, becoming the first female hip hop artist to be inducted. Continue reading »
California folk pop singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham enjoys her covers, having released an EP full back in 2020. Her latest is a solo acoustic cover of Tina Turner‘s most covered song: “What’s Love Got to Do with It.”
Performed live for the Howard Stern Show, Cunningham’s version begins with her finger-picked guitar and nothing else. Though the tempo is nearly the same at first – a little slower in the verse – the vibe is entirely different. She slows down in the pre-chorus and the chorus, reinforcing how distinct it feels.
Cunningham’s vocal sounds almost rueful. There’s a feeling of liberation in Turner’s performance at times; sure, she’s not entirely happy about coming to this realization, but she knows she won’t get fooled again. Whereas Cunningham’s performance sounds like she’s come to this unhappy realization now it’s pure lament. That attitude fits the rest of the performance, as Cunningham performs it as a traditional folk song, there’s nothing peppy in in it.
As regular readers know, every year, at the end of the year, we do a big year-end covers list. This tradition started in 2007 and will continue in a couple months with the best covers of 2021.
But there are so many years before 2007 where we weren’t doing year-end covers lists (and, as far as I’m aware, no one else was either). So once a year, we do a big anniversary post tackling the best covers of a year before Cover Me was born. So far we’ve done 1969, 1978, 1987, 1996, and, last year, 2000.
And for 2021, we look back thirty years, to the heady days of 1991. The days of grunge and acid house, of parachute pants and ripped denim, of The Gulf War and Home Alone. Country music and hip-hop increased their cultural dominance (or really just making their existing dominance known; 1991 is also the year Soundscan made the Billboard charts more authoritative). In a single day, Nirvana released Nevermind, Red Hot Chili Peppers released Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and A Tribe Called Quest released The Low End Theory. Think that’s a fluke? The week before saw massive albums from Mariah Carey, Hole, and Guns ‘n’ Roses (two albums, no less). The week before that came Garth Brooks, Talk Talk, and Saint Etienne.
All of those trends are reflected in the list below. Many of these covers scream “1991!” LL Cool J raps Disney. Courtney Love shrieks Joni. Aretha Franklin tries to new jack swing. A spate of early tribute albums (in fact, last year I wrote a 33 1/3 book about a 1991 tribute album). Other covers are more timeless, from veteran artists doing great work several decades into their careers, or way-underground artists who never even approached the mainstream. The only criteria was quality. Thirty years later, these 50 covers Hole-d up the best.
Check out the list starting on Page 2, and stay tuned for the best covers of this year coming in December.
The list begins on Page 2.
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!
Tina Turner’s place in rock ‘n’ roll history has long been assured. In fact, those words could have been spoken forty years ago, thanks to her Hall of Fame-worthy career with Ike Turner. But it’s what she’s done since then that really puts her over the top. She overcame a textbook case of a hellish marriage, turning tragedy into triumph. Her solo work has become her signature work, something no Beatle or Supreme could ever say. And for the past twenty years, she’s been in the Guinness Book of Records for selling more concert tickets than any solo artist before or since. Make no mistake: her second trip into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is even more deserving than her first.
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Millions saw Brandi Carlile cover John Prine’s final song “I Remember Everything” at the recent Grammy Awards. Turns out, it was a preview of a new album, a sequel to 2010’s Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, one of the best tribute albums ever. Not much more info out there yet – it’ll be out in the fall, apparently – but it has a high bar to live up to. Continue reading »
Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.
Given that a change of sorts has come {and more is due), what better time to revisit “A Change Is Gonna Come,” one of the greatest songs of hope and aspiration ever. Let’s remind ourselves of its durability through the decades, and listen as it (hopefully) fires up expectations of a better and braver new world.
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