I finally have had time to sit down and type this out. In 1998 or so, my friend and I conceived of the covers mix. It basically became a series of mix CDs. With the following rules: 1) Song had to be a cover; 2) It could not be a note for note cover (you had to make it your own); 3) The original had to be well known (this excluded covers that were bigger than their original); 4) had to be awesome, or had to be terrible.
This spawned a few different CDs. Good examples of covers that makes those CDs are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gVxRvNfFLg Wonderwall by Ryan Adams. Redefines the song in an awesome, introspective way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epKnNM02D2Q Hit Me Baby One More Time. This one is really a change to the song in a good way, but Adams is clearly better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp8-tJTUWto Stairway to Heaven by Dolly Parton. This makes the mix because it is insane. It has some value, but the way Dolly Parton loses it at the bridge and rants about the almighty dollar seals its inclusion.
I have tons more. I can post if people have interest. We did come to the agreement that the best cover of all time using these rules could never be picked.
That said, we came to the conclusion that the worst cover of all time was this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szLD-XYQL5g Changes the words. He isn't singing. Changes the tempo of the music in a bad way. It loses the youthful innocence and feel that makes the original so good. I hope that Paul Simon sent hate mail to Frank over it.
Shawn
