Since the Earvolution staff put together their list of best cover songs, I thought I might as well get them to list the worst ones. No objective criteria here, but most of these songs either want to make the reviewer turn the dial or cringe when its an otherwise good artist making a mistake. Here goes:…








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26 - John Carusi
"I'm A Believer", trashed by those atonal wannabe tough-boys Smashmouth. Geez, they suck; they have a strangely laxative effect on me.
27 - Aaron
here are some bad ones...
jessica simpson destroying "take my breath away" by berlin
rod stewart "have i told you lately" by van morrison
i disagree on "big yellow taxi" and "love song"
28 - Josh Grisdale
oh god, please tell me that someone has heard
1) the bravery's version of an cat dubh (originally a u2 hit), which should've stayed that way... it is butchered by the bands odd usage of synths... ugh...
2) the killer's version of 'ruby, don't take your love to town' (originally a kenny rogers song), which is about the soldiers in vietnam's pain... and i think the band (being young and annoying because of brandon flowers, even though their music is USUALLY great) missed the point of this song and made it into a joke... the band THEMSELVES even laugh at the beginning of the track... hopefully it was at themselves
29 - smahman
Counting Crows cover of "Big Yellow Taxi" is by some distance the most offensive thing I have ever heard. How they can take 2 and a half minutes of shimmering perfection and bloat it into nearly 4 minutes of pomp fest is beyond me. What DID they think they were adding.
Greatest cover version of all time?
Jeff Buckley lifted "Halleluiah" a notch.
30 - Joyce
Being a Pink Floyd fan forever...and being that comfortably numb is my favorite song...that horrendous piece of garbage that the scissor sisters call music should be banned from the airwaves!! Who listens to this stuff????
31 - Mike Haynes
What about Scooters version of the Logical song by Super tramp.
And what was everyones opinion of Dub side of the moon by Easy All Stars
32 - ps
dub side of the moon was good. they also did radiodread, which was apparently good enough for thom yorke
33 - Michael Grant Neary
Video Killed The Radio Star performed by The Presidents of The United States is the worst covern song ever!
Thev original Piece By The Buggles is a piece of art. Well Produced, with a nifty futuristic sound and a great-GREAT-melody.
So what do we come up to?
The Answer.... POTUS` version is a sad display of an excesively primitive and reductionist piece of crap which goes back to the stone age.
34 - dan noreen
sheryl crow destroying sweet child o' mine. totally disgusting, why ruin a great song
poison screwing up rock n roll all night
35 - Dave
WTF Britney Spears doing Satisfaction?
"HOW DARE SHE" is an understatement! She should be thrown into a fire for that.
36 - pckid888
My vote is for Celine Dion massacaring 'you make me feel like a natural woman' by Aretha Franklin. When I hear Aretha sing it, the sincerity and feeling in her voice is really quite compelling. Celine sings it like she is picking her nose or thinking about her lunch order.
37 - Donald Gibson
I'd like to second the previous comment about Celine Dion's version of "Natural Woman". And I'd also like to add Dion's versions of "All By Myself" (originally by Eric Carmen) and "River Deep Mountain High" (done best by Tina Turner).
38 - ViciousAlienKlown
I loved the Joan Jett version of "Crimson and clover" and thought the original lacked emotion and the whole fading in and out of the instruments sucked.
39 - moldy
hilary duff did a cover of "my generation"... she actually had the nerve to change "hope i die before i get old." to "hope i don't die before i get old"... bloody wench...
40 - daniel daniel
Rufus Wainwright's Hallelujah cover couldn't possibly have ruined Shrek for Paul Dobry, considering that the version used in the film was John Cale's. Wainwright's is only used for the soundtrack, due to licensing issues.
41 - Mark
i cant belive My chemical romance's cover of astro zombies By the misfits wasnt in there!
42 - clammy
I guess nobody here has heard Old Dirty Bastard and Macy Gray's remake of "Don't go breaking my Heart." You must find it on youtube... comic genius!!
43 - chris johnson
Bullet For my Valentine-Crazy Train
this song is not meant to be covered this is ozzy osbourne and randy rhoads song period BFMV ruined it until i hear the real version again
44 - MusicGeek
The cover of Savage Garden's ballad "Truly, Madly, Deeply..." done by Casandra, was that her name? The original version, the one by Savage Garden, made me burst into tears the first time that I heard it. I thought that it was beautiful then! I still think so! I heard the Casandra cover on YouTube and cringed in absolute discomfort. She took one of the most romantic love songs of the 1990s and turned into fizzy, schoolgirl crush techno.