[Closed] Worst cover version of all time

That is terrible. I cant believe he made that let alone released it. If this isnt a case against recreational drugs I dont know what is.

The BBC various useless idiots and has-beens cover of Perfect Day. Not posting a link cos it makes me sick.
Apparently Susan Boyle has shat all over it as well, but haven't heard it so can't nominate that.

(Got to 17 secs on the George Michael one and had to stop it)

Ellie Goulding covering Elton John.

End of thread.

I've said it before, you can't ruin an Elton John song cos he's done it already.

The Irish boy band that did Cat Stevens - Father & Son.

Madonna still keeps that particular crown, but the GM one is indeed dire 😯

I was just coming on here to mention that George Michael one but I see now that it is the entire inspiration for this thread. Why oh why do supposedly serious artistes insist on using god-awful vocoders or whatever it is that makes their voice sound like that??!

It's one of my favourites too and invokes some special memories. GMs cover is a complete abortion, even if it is for charity. How about the opportunity to donate so that it never played again.

Goddamnit George! I can't see youtube from behind work's firewall, but I maintain that George Michael has (had?) the single greatest pop voice of all time. [i]Of all time![/i]

Busted's version of Teenage Kicks was pretty awful

What was that girl pop band that covered "Under The Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers? That was utter kak!

All Saints. That was ok I thought. (No more than 'ok')

Anything done by an X-Factor/Pop Idol etc person.

End of thread.

Synthetic yodelling is all the rage dontcha know! 😕

Without a doubt, the worst cover ever! So bad its good!

Justin Bieber's version of Killing in the Name is fairly horrific.

Mindst you, that doesn't actually exist anywhere other than my mind, but I can assure you it makes me unhappy...

twohats beat me to it. It's just mesmerising.

Whatever those tuneless whores were that did that god awful cover of 'Under the bridge' by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Should have been taken out and hit with a shovel for that travesty.

That was All Saints!

The one I HATE the most is the Fine Young Canibals version of the punk classic "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)".

Now that is how to murder a song.

That lass off the x-factor that covered 'hallelujah' - shocking.

We must rise up against the Old Order!

This is obviously the new order of celebrity charity work.

George Michael is shocking, did he sing it in the prison showers.

I love that Final Countdown! Funny.

Oh, there's so many,

Elvis doing "You were always on my mind" not a patch on Willie Nelsons version.

Ronan"top o' the mornin too ya" Keating Murdering Garth brooks' "If tomorrow never comes"

"Behind blue eyes" by Limp Bizkit

"Sweet child o' mine" by Cheryl Crow.

Almost forgot, Ronan Keating covered "Fairytale of new York" as well,person of unmarried parentage that he is!!!

You were always on my mind - pet shop boys

'The long and winding road' - Gareth Gates and Will Young duet arrgghh!

arse crunchingly awful as all the songs mentioned are, nothing can match the eyeball squelching awfulness of any cover version perpetrated by the abysmal william shatner .he has shatnered on many a worthy tune including " common people " by pulp and indeed he sould be pulped for inflicting himself on the world

Oh dear George best get back on the bong pronto !!
did hear him doing Tim Buckley's Song to the siren it was not bad

If you really want to hear something horrific, Fairytale of New York had a death-warmed-over redo by Ronan Keating. Unutterably ghastly, it has to be said. Or if that’s not bad enough, there’s Leonard Cohen’s Halleluiah as murdered by Alexandra Burke.

But the winner, the absolute star in the pack, has to be Blur’s Song 2. Covered, ‘for your pleasure’ by Robbie Williams, of all people. Listen to it on YouTube and hear the sound of a barrel-bottom being scraped so hard it’s about to wear through.

bum tish bum tish ,One Time..........bum tish, tang tin tang tang..... Two times....
Take it to da bridge etc

[i]Listen to it on YouTube[/i]

No. You can't make me

Leona Lewis's version of Run - truly awful.

[img] [/img]

The Gallows doing the Ruts Staring at the rude boys, its even got Dizee Rascal in it. Some songs just shouldnt be covered.

Haven't heard GM's effort, I don't listen to R1, and I can't tell songs apart that use autotune anyway. The Madge one above I can't play, YouTube refuses to play it, but if it's 'American Pie', then that is truly one of the worst covers ever foisted onto an innocent public. Godawful. Another is Guns'n'Roses doing 'Sweet Child o' Mine'
Oh, wait a minuit...

A load of X-factor bods covered Heroes by David Bowie.

By an absolute country mile, the worst cover version ever.

I prefer the All Saints version of Under the Bridge.

I normally have better taste, it's sort of a guilty secret. LOL

Didn't Will Young slightly kill Light My Fire in a sort of lounge singer stylee a while back?

I opened this thread with a list already in my head. Some of them have already been mentioned but I was going to add Adele's version of The Cure's 'Love Song'.

But then I listened to (the beginning of) that George Michael ABOMINATION. That is a crime, a heinous crime.

This was pretty dire.

Prepare to cringe your skin off

The Clash's cover of police and theives is about the worst cover i've ever heard. Truly awful.

Hey Sid, maybe you should listen to some of the songs listed in this thread eh? Bit of a silly choice I reckon. For the [i]worst ever[/i] like?

[i]
A load of X-factor bods covered Heroes by David Bowie.

By an absolute country mile, the worst cover version ever.
[/i]

God, yeah they were playing that in the changing rooms after football, I almost had to run out into the corridor naked to escape it!

surely this thread should just have a link to the current hit parade/chart thingy/whatever you call it these days, guaranteed to have a handful in there, oh and can i just add anything done by Cowells Cronnies/X Factor. (havent tried the GM one above yet, I was going to then read the comments and got worried for my ears!!)

There are loads...a little more obscure but Annie Lennox doing the Ash song (Shining Light I think?) - FFS, it wasn't even a good Ash song.

DezB - I agree with and listened to all the covers in the thread.... And perhaps my choice was rash (esp. after the Take That number). Its just that Im a big fan of both Junior Murvin and the Clash, but find the Clash's version just kinda awkward and embarrasing. In the words of Junior Murvin imself... "They have destroyed Jah work!" Seen-I. One love. 8)

Ellie Goulding covering Elton John.

End of thread.

Exactly. I actually liked her stuff before she did that.

There is a awful version of Tainted Love out there at the moment. Not sure who it's by but it's horrible!

the worst ever for me and i can't believe no-one else has mentioned this yet was rolf bloody harris slaughtering led zep's stairway to heaven, he should have been dismembered for that.

mmb- Damn it!! Was just finding that on youtube too slow! I think i have it on tape somewhere, i bought it! Though i was only about 10 at the time i think!

Didn't Will Young slightly kill Light My Fire in a sort of lounge singer stylee a while back?

ah yes, but that's a pretty faithful cover of Feliciano Lopez' (?) god-awful cover of it, so in a way it's not that bad*. as covers of covers go.

* I still don't like it, but it's not exactly his fault. I bet he's never heard the original...

The OP's version is awful, truly awful. Nearly as bad as Paul Young's (was it him? yes it was) version of Love Will Tear Us Apart:

i think worst cover versions are by those who should know better, such as bowie doing the alabama song.

why David? why?

is that Nosferatu behind Mr B?

Exactly. I actually liked her stuff before she did that.

The Elton John cover is nothing compared to this travesty she put out

and how it SHOULD sound

It happily kill her for ruining one of my favourite songs of all time

This has to be up there with the worst

I think this is terrible but my lad loved it when he was smaller , it's only saving grace for many of you is the small antipodean singer in it.

Wow. That Paul Young Joy Division cover is something else. Jesus.

I would like to nominate the Jessica Simpson version of These Boots Are Made For Walkin'. Horrific.

I would like to nominate the Jessica Simpson version of These Boots Are Made For Walkin'. Horrific.

Video's not bad though...

Ye gods 😆

ah my ears! pass the earbleach!

The thing is, the Shatner stuff is a bit tongue in cheek, people actually think Ellie Horseface Goulding is a credible artist. Just what is happening with her mouth?

That Bowie cover of Alabama Song is absolutely horrendous.
😆

whoaaa neddy, that shatner thing is genius. 8)

but that's a pretty faithful cover of Feliciano Lopez' (?) god-awful cover of it

Jose Feliciano

close 😉 I got one of the names right 😆

Wing does AC/DC, not too serious though(I hope):lol:

There are some very strong contenders up there but this one really should be mentioned as it is pure MURDER!!!

EDIT: Goddam it, how do you know if embedding is disabled before you post?

sounds a bit like GuitarPro backing there

gggrrrrrrrrrrrr 👿

sorry but in a perverse kind of way I sort of like that 😯

sorry but in a perverse kind of way I sort of like that

I was going to post the Cure's butchering of 'Foxy Lady', but on listening to it again I rather enjoyed it too. 😳

And i thought I hated this at the time, but listening to it again it's aaaaawsome 😀 . But I will put it up anyway as a nod to the 90's rave thread.

The story behind the Rolf Harris - Stairway to Heaven cover is pretty interesting. It was some TV show which had every guest do a cover of that song at the end of the show (a sort of running gag). Rolfs was so good it was later put out as a single and I'm sure he appeared at Glastonbury doing it too.

I think it's brill!

yes yes yes all these ghastly songs but my personal threshold was reached with emma buntons rip off of edi brickels 'what i am'. She didnt even make any attempt to change it. Just a note for note copy. Pathetic. And a whole genration grow up thinking it was hers.

Its a crime against humanity

i didn't think i could dislike Disturbed more, but then they did this.

ye gads, there's some atrocities on here! bookmarked this thread for whenever CRC do a sale on stabbings...

Please stop suggesting Shatner covers. The man is a genius. Every waking second he spends creating an artisic parody of himself. It's beautiful. Zap Brannigan couldn't do it any better.

For me the worst cover has to be Will Young's light my fire. Will and that version should have been hung at birth for that one.

any cover i attempt on guitar 😆 but i'll have nothing bad said against the shatner (a genius in my opinion 😉

Yeah another Shatner fan here too, no one else could have pulled it off, somehow he does.

[i] Just a note for note copy. [/i]

Yeah, they usually are the worst offenders.

But for some reason I can forgive Emma Bunton. 😳