Wham! Archives - Cover Me

Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan Duet on “Last Christmas”

Posted by Luke Poling at 10:48 am No Responses »

Dec 122024

One of the joys of TV specials by musicians is the duets that occur. One only need look to Bing Crosby and David Bowie’s version of “Little Drummer Boy to see how successful these duets might be. In Sabrina Carpenter’s new Netflix Christmas special, she is joined by fellow pop star Chappell Roan for a cover of Wham!’s “Last Christmas.” Keeping true to the aesthetic of both the special and Carpenter’s stage show, the two team up in a scene set late at night/early morning, while they sing the song karaoke style from a TV. The new version of the song plays up the sadness of the lyrics, with the more upbeat rhythm only coming in during the second verse. Continue reading »

The Regrettes Cover Talking Heads at Final Show

Posted by Aleah Fitzwater at 9:00 am No Responses »

Jan 042024

The well-loved rock band The Regrettes have regrettably completed their last shows as a band. And to say goodbye, they brought back their cover of “Psycho Killer” live at the Fonda Theater. The group was dressed in all white and performed a high-energy version of the ‘77 tune under pulsing red lights. The quintet of rockers maintained their stellar showmanship right up until the very end.

In light of their final performances happening just before the holidays, the musicians also covered “Last Christmas” by Wham! during their final shows. This cover began with a daring acapella intro, so be sure to check out both of the live tunes below.

Watch the Regrettes play “Psycho Killer” below:

You can also listen to “Last Christmas” here:

For more great covers of Talking Heads be sure to check out this link:https://www.covermesongs.com/tag/talking-heads

Five Good Covers: “Faith” (George Michael)

Posted by Patrick Robbins at 4:30 pm 2 Responses »

Jun 242022

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

The title track from George Michael’s Faith album saw the former Wham! member further shedding his bubblegum image. After the shock of the lyrics to the first single from that album, “I Want Your Sex,” the second single was more about the music, combining blue-eyed soul with rock ‘n’ roll, mashing up Bo Diddley and Duane Eddy into a very hot and tasty stew. “Faith” wound up being Billboard’s number one single for all of 1988. Accept it before it destroys you, it said. Oh, wait – sorry, that was Dana Carvey as George Michael.

As “Faith” covers go, Limp Bizkit made the biggest impression with theirs, racking up over 25 million YouTube views and over 55 million Spotify plays. But not everyone liked it, including Michael himself: “What we’ve heard from George Michael’s people is that he hates it and hates us for doing it,” said guitarist Wes Borland. So we decided to seek out five other covers that may be less famous, but which have something that hits us just right.

The 50 Best Cover Songs of 2021

Posted by Staff at 9:00 am 2 Responses »

Dec 172021

Follow all our Best of 2021 coverage (along with previous year-end lists) here.

To come up with our year-end list, we listened to thousands of covers.

That’s not an exaggeration, or loosely throwing around “thousands” for effect. My iTunes tells me I personally listened to and rated 1,120 new covers in 2021. And I’m just one of a dozen people here. Many of those thousands of covers were very good! But “very good” isn’t good enough for our annual year-end Best Cover Songs list. So when we say these 50 are the cream of the crop, we mean it.

They, as usual, have little in common with each other. A few tie into current events: Artists we lost, social justice concerns, live music’s fitful return. Most don’t. But does a doom metal cover of Donna Summer really need a reason to exist? How about African blues Bob Dylan, New Orleans bounce Lady Gaga, or organ ballad Fleetwood Mac? Nah. We’re just glad they’re here.

So dive into our countdown below – and, if you want us to send you a couple hundred Honorable Mentions culled from those thousands, join the Cover Me Patreon.

– Ray Padgett, Editor in Chief

Boris Go Shoegaze on New “Last Christmas” Cover

Posted by Riley Haas at 2:00 pm No Responses »

Dec 162021

Do we really need another cover of Wham!‘s “Last Christmas?” Japanese experimental metal legends Boris think so. As the band puts it “We hope this Christmas will be the ‘Last Christmas’ of COVID-19” which is, um, sweet, I guess. That intention is a weird prism to look through if you think about the lyrics of “Last Christmas” so perhaps it’s best we don’t dwell on that.

Rather, we should dwell on the rather unique take this rather unique band has taken with a song that has been covered to death. Boris go full shoegaze (or nugaze, if you prefer), with extremely loud, My Bloody Valentine-esque distorted guitars mixed low enough as to not overwhelm the song, and pounding drums. The arrangement is rounded out by sweet vocals by co-lead singer Water, what sounds like a vibraphone and the ubiquitous Christmas sleigh bells that seem to find their way into half of the Christmas songs out there. Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of October

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

Nov 012021

Andrew VanWyngarden – Dance Monkey (Tones and I cover)

One of the biggest one-hit wonders of the last few years, pop singer Tones and I’s “Dance Monkey” emerged out of seeming nowhere to top charts across the world last year. In her home country of Australia, it is the longest chart-topper ever, breaking a record held by Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”! Despite its ubiquity, however, major covers have been sparse (perhaps because many people find the song, you know, annoying). Never one to shy away from putting off his audience, though, MGMT frontman Andrew VanWyngarden gave it a trippy psychedelic-folk cover as part of a radio station fundraising challenge. Continue reading »