Improperly Played Covers

[MonopolyMoney]

What song irks you to hear covered because players always get it wrong?


Mine is the octave riff in the chorus of "Any Way You Want It" by Journey. People rarely get that part right and it annoys me because that is one of my favorite fills of all time.

Here is the proper version ripped from a rock band recording probably.

 

[fhm555]

Jason Isbell feels your pain, as he expresses in the opening line of this song.
One thing I can't stand is this bar and this cover band, trying to fake their way through "Castles Made of Sand"

 

[hrodbert696]

I cover everything improperly.

 

[Stinsok]

Not played as much now , but Johnny Be Goode and Cocaine are not metal songs

 

[lfmn16]

Not played as much now , but Johnny Be Goode and Cocaine are not metal songs

Johnny B. Goode is metal when Judas Priest plays it!

 

[MonopolyMoney]

I cover everything improperly.

I thought a thread like this would get a lot of replies since so many play covers either for money or fun.

Maybe it is a sore subject


I don't know of many others to add as I don't necessarily mean songs that are just played like in a bedroom (any song can be played poorly by anyone on a bad day), but ones where people commonly play the completely wrong parts or leave whole parts out.

The only thing that comes to mind is songs where Nile Rodgers plays.

 

[sears]

Ross Valory did the ionian like nobody else! I love his playing. What a tasty track. Is that a boo-boo at 1:48? I love hearing how he plays those staccato eighth notes. How many bands have I been in, where they want me to play more smoothly, and I'm thinking, I'll do what you want but you don't know what you want..

 

[Duder]

Plush by STP. They always sing the rising pre-chorus too early. Always. That or Dream On by Aerosmith. I've not heard many people besides Steven Tyler and myself who nail the falsetto part at the end. I'm sure there are many out there who can, but the one's I've seen cannot.

 

[lz4005]

What song irks you to hear covered because players always get it wrong?

I've seen/heard dozens of bands screw up the halftime shuffle of Led Zep's Fool In The Rain.
Drives me nuts every time.
None have even come close except Pearl Jam when Robert Plant sat in with them once.

 

[lfmn16]

It doesn't bother me at all if people change things up a little. I do want them to get the signature licks, all of the changes and the feel right though. What bothers me is when I see a band half-assing their way through a tune, obviously just going through the motions because they are too $%*ing lazy to learn the song right. That is really contemptuous of your audience. If you are accepting money to play, be a professional.

 

[RustyAxe]

Meh ... the band can play whatever the hell they're capable of playing ... I HAVE the original recordings. But that said, there aren't many bar room cover bands I care to hear anyway.

 

[ONYX]

I'm not in the habit of scrutinizing covers--if it sounds like it's in the neighborhood, so be it. But there is one that drives me nuts--the main riff to Zeppelins "The Ocean". I've heard very few bass players get it right.

 

[INTP]

Cissy Strut. I don't think I've ever heard a cover where they played it like the Meters played it. I normally don't care too much, but the way most bands do this one ruins the groove for me.

 

[mongo2]

We deliberately arrange covers to our liking. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[DWBass]

Cissy Strut
What's Going On

There's a local r&b band in my area and they butcher just about every song they play.

 

[Duder]

We deliberately arrange covers to our liking. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I think that's different than what OP was talking about. We rearranged "People are Strange" by The Doors and threw in a bit of "Dazed and Confused" by Zeppelin and it seems to go over fairly well. I think OP means people who screw it up because they don't know better.

 

[ant_riv]

I'm not sure if irks me is the right word, but when a band covers "All Right Now" and the guitar player incorrectly plays the verse riff (chords) and then especially when the bass player incorrectly plays the main bass riff in the instrumental section.

These are such iconic parts and I expect there are tons of YouTube and other resources if one can't hear it to help get it right. It makes me wonder if it's lazy, can't hear it, or just don't care.


And my wife says my favorite comment when I see other bands is "tune it or die!"

 

[mongo2]

I think that's different than what OP was talking about. We rearranged "People are Strange" by The Doors and threw in a bit of "Dazed and Confused" by Zeppelin and it seems to go over fairly well. I think OP means people who screw it up because they don't know better.

Yeah, screw ups are just that, however, I don't seem to run across it often. Most who do covers around here don't copy exactly but they don't screw it up either. I find it refreshing to hear how others interpret a song.

 

[bass12]

Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine never seems to get played with the right feel (not terribly surprising, I suppose, given that I live in Montreal). It pretty much always gets played too fast and without the light swing/bounce that the original possesses.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Most bands leave out half of the second verse of Outshined by Soundgarden, but I kinda get that one as the music video does that, too.