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Huge classic hits, but rarely or never covered

I always wondered why Badfinger songs weren't covered more. In their short span they produced some timeless classics I seldom hear played.

That's interesting, because I played 'No Matter What' with three different bands, really nice takes on the song every time, and it never seemed to be a big crowd pleaser. Never got why.
 
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i would go thru the BillBoard top 10 hits from every year that's in your wheel house ...

i did that with classic rock stuff ... but i'm old .. !!

Vehicle - The Ides of March

Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers

Stay with me Tonight - Jeffrey Osborne

We're an American Band - Grand Funk

Easy Living - Uriah Heap

see ... told u i was old ...
I came across the Devo version of "Secret Agent Man". Like their version of "Satisfaction", Devo put their own unique spin on these two songs.
 
That's interesting, because I played 'No Matter What' with three different bands, really nice takes on the song every time, and it never seemed to be a big crowd pleaser. Never got why.


I've played that one a lot and I often do "Baby Blue"in my acoustic sets- that had a bit of a jump in recognition after the "Breaking Bad" finale. My go to karaoke song is "Without You", but I do the Nilsson version so I can sing the long high notes.
 
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Also the earlier proto-Eurodance that was Sabrina's "Boys Boys Boys".
(...)
Music that traumatized a generation.
Ah, la Salerno... I'd definitely make an exception and file that under "educational" rather than traumatising. :D

Overall I'd say Euro dance music/danceable pop - early Kylie, Kim Wilde, stuff like that (I'm sure I'm forgetting others, including male performers, for whatever reasons :whistle:) - in the 80s tended toward...less nasty than 90s techno, but that's just me.
Another Italo disco superclassic that I'd be proud to include in my list is Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy":

Speaking of Italian claims to pop fame, I'm reminded of the late Laura Branigan shopping for hits - "Gloria", "Self Control" - Bootside.
Out of all that stuff, I suppose Ace Of Base probably had the greatest global appeal.
I'd love to see covers of Ace Of Base songs where I live. Are they an established part of your local songbook?

What about you USA folks? Do you play or have seen AoB songs played in your neck of the woods?
 
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Overall I'd say Euro dance music/danceable pop - early Kylie, Kim Wilde, stuff like that (I'm sure I'm forgetting others, including male performers, for whatever reasons :whistle:) - in the 80s tended toward...less nasty than 90s techno, but that's just me.
Heh, my memories of new music (and Western culture in general) start in 1990, so I missed out on a lot of the earlier stuff. Never heard Sabrina until about two or three years ago, when people from work wanted to do that song at a Christmas party.

Most commercial cover bands around here make their money from weddings, so they play disco polo and rock. The ones that don't mostly play rock, occasionally soul and R&B.
 
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I always wondered why Badfinger songs weren't covered more. In their short span they produced some timeless classics I seldom hear played.

Harry Nilsson's hit "Without You" being the obvious exception. :)
I did an arrangement of "Baby Blue" for a band I was in a few years ago, though we never got around to performing it. Aimee Mann covers that one, does okay with it.
Back in the late 80s my friend's hair metal band did a great cover of "Day After Day".
I'd swear I recently heard some band cover "Rock Of All Ages" though I can't recall who it was or where I heard it.
I would love to cover "Carry On Till Tomorrow"

...but yeah, those guys were incredibly prolific when it came to churning out hits.
 
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Back in the early 90s the band I was in at the time covered this. We also covered Blues Before and After as well as Blood and Roses. All three always were well received. Never been able to get anybody to play any Smithereens since. Real shame imo. Fun to play and many of their tunes will put people on the dance floor.

I played lots of Smithereens tunes when they were new. My current band was talking about reviving A Girl Like You. Their songs are still popular around here.
 
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