Tuesday Top Ten: Most Successful Hair Band Cover Songs

This hair band-centric Rocktober, we've looked at the Top Ten Hair Band Power Ballads, the Top Ten Hair Band One Hit Wonders, and the Top Ten Noncharting Songs by Successful Hair Bands.  This week, we're going to take a look at the most successful hair band cover songs.  Just as in any genre, hair bands covered, to varying degrees of success, a decent number of songs that were previously performed by other artists.  Some of these songs were released as singles and did quite well, becoming huge hits and even signature songs for the bands.  Other covers were album fillers (I don't mean that negatively) or included on live albums, presumably songs by other groups that the hair band loved and to which they wanted to pay homage.

I scoured hair band Billboard chart records and checked to see if a band or artist's songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 were cover songs, and there were a bunch of songs I had no idea were covers.  Below, I'm going to list the ten most successful cover songs performed by hair bands.  As with past lists, I'm restricting it to the Hair Band Era.  Thus, to be eligible for this list, the song must have been released (either as a single or on an album that was released) between July 25, 1980 to May 23, 1992 (i.e., if it was on an album released before May 23, 1992, but it wasn't released as a single until after, it counts).  Conversely, if it was released as a single after July 25, 1980, it counts even if it was on an album released before then.  And as usual, my definition of a "hair band" is somewhat fluid, so not all of these artists would necessarily be considered hair bands throughout their entire career.

Instead of limiting it to ten, I am going to list all of the songs that made it into the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 -- which makes it eleven songs.  In addition to the top eleven, I'm going to list the other charting hair band cover songs in an honorable mention category.  There may be some I'm missing, but I think this list is pretty exhaustive, based on my own confidence in my researching abilities.  For all of the songs, in parentheses after the song and hair hand artist, I'm going to list the highest chart position on the Billboard Hot 100 for the cover version and then the original artist (or in some cases, both the original artist and then another artist who made the song famous).  For the top eleven, I'm also going to put the You Tube videos of both the original and the cover.

Honorable mention (in reverse order by chart position):  "Whiter Shade of Pale" by HSAS (#94; Procol Harum); "Little Suzi" by Tesla (#91; Ph.D.); "That's Life" by David Lee Roth (#85; Marion Montgomery, Frank Sinatra). "We Will Rock You" by Warrant (#83; Queen); "For The Love of Money" by BulletBoys (#78; The O'Jays); "I Did It For Love" by Night Ranger (#75; Russ Ballard); "Piece of My Heart" by Sammy Hagar (#73; Erma Franklin, Big Brother and The Holding Company (i.e., Janis Joplin)); "Since I Don't Have You" by Guns N' Roses (#69; The Skyliners); "Hide Your Heart" by Kiss (#66; Bonnie Tyler (though it was co-written by Paul Stanley)); "Radar Love" by White Lion (#59; Golden Earring); "Sympathy For The Devil" by Guns N' Roses (#55; The Rolling Stones); "If Looks Could Kill" by Heart (#54; Pamala Stanley); "Leader of the Pack" by Twisted Sister (#53; The Shangri-Las); "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" by Quiet Riot (#51; Slade); "Dancing In the Street" by Van Halen (#38; Martha & The Vandellas); "Live and Let Die" by Guns N' Roses (#33; Wings)

11.  "Smokin' In the Boys Room" by Mötley Crüe (#16; Brownsville Station)

Mötley Crüe's 1985 cover of "Smokin' In the Boys Room" turned Brownsville Station's 1973 hit into a harder rocking song with, more importantly, a memorable video.  The original was a genuine hit, going up to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the Crüe's cover -- which appeared on their Theatre of Pain album -- ended up being the band's first Top 40 hit, topping out at #16.  The video featured horror and sci-fi film legend Michael Berryman as a high school principal, to whom poor Jimmy is sent after a dog literally eats his homework.  Jimmy then escapes to the boys room, where he runs into Vince, Mick, Nikki, and Tommy.  Dystopian hilarity ensues.  Whenever someone would smoke in the boys room at my high school -- which happened more than you might think -- it was impossible not to have this song come into my head.

9 (tie).  "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" by David Lee Roth (#12; Irving Caesar, Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima)

David Lee Roth loved old-timey songs (see Van Halen's Diver Down album), and he was not afraid to cover them and release them as singles.  "Just a Gigolo" and "I Ain't Got Nobody" were two unrelated songs from the 1920s and 1910s, respectively, which were eventually put together in a medley by Louis Prima in the '50s.  Roth recorded and released the medley as part of his Crazy From The Heat EP (which contained four cover songs), released in January 1985 while he was still technically the lead singer of Van Halen.  He and the band would part ways a few weeks later.  "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" was the second solo single Roth released, and it hit #12 on the charts.  Perhaps more importantly, it taught a generation of young men that being a male prostitute isn't all fun and games.

9 (tie).  "(Oh) Pretty Woman" by Van Halen (#12; Roy Orbison)

As I alluded to above, Van Halen's 1982 Diver Down album featured several cover songs (five, to be exact).  One of those was Roy Orbison's #1 hit from 1964, "(Oh) Pretty Woman."  The Van Halen version didn't top the charts, but it did hit #12, making it the band's highest-charting song up to that point.  The video for the song was banned by MTV.  Having seen it many times, I'm not sure why, but perhaps MTV didn't think the world was ready for Michael Anthony dressed as a samurai who rescues a drag queen from the clutches of several grabby little people.

7 (tie).  "Your Mama Don't Dance" by Poison (#10; Loggins & Messina)

In 1972, Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina had a #4 hit with "Your Mama Don't Dance," an easy listening rock song about generational gaps.  Poison covered the song on their sophomore album, 1988's Open Up and Say . . . Ahh!  The exclamation mark is part of the album title, although I am generally excited about the album and the band's cover version of this song, which became Poison's fourth Top 10 hit in the U.S.

7 (tie).  "What About Love" by Heart (#10; Toronto)

This one kind of hurt because I had always assumed it was a Heart original.  It is not.  Originally recorded in 1983 by Canadian group Toronto -- which I assume was an attempt to be the Canadian Boston -- the song was not released.  After the band broke up, one of the members played the demo for a music publishing company, who offered it to Heart, who turned it into one of their signature songs on their self-titled 1985 "comeback" album that propelled them back into the mainstream.

6.  "Signs" by Tesla (#8; Five Man Electrical Band)

For better or worse, Tesla is credited by some with starting the "unplugged" movement with their 1990 live acoustic album, Five Man Acoustical Jam.  The album title was a tribute to Five Man Electrical Band, which originally recorded the song "Signs" in 1971 as a song that encouraged everyone not to judge books by their covers -- and not to be so damned beholden to signs.  The original version went to #3 in the U.S. and #4 in the Five Man Electrical Band's native Canada, and Tesla's live acoustic cover also cracked the Top 10 in the U.S., getting up to #8.

4 (tie). "Cum On Feel The Noize" by Quiet Riot (#5; Slade)

Quiet Riot's cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize" was the first song featured during this Rocktober, so I won't repeat what I said in that post.  As this and the next song indicate, '70s glam was a big influence on '80s glam metal.

4 (tie).  "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" by Great White (#5; Ian Hunter)

I had no idea this was a cover until a couple weeks ago.  It makes complete sense, now that I am listening to the song in a whole new light as a '70s glam cover.  Originally released in 1975 by former Mott The Hoople lead singer Ian Hunter, it was a modest hit in the UK, but didn't chart in the U.S.  Of course, Great White's 1989 version was their biggest hit, and this has become their signature song.

3.  "California Girls" by David Lee Roth (#3; The Beach Boys)

How does a lead singer show his soon-to-be-former band members that he can do just fine without them?  He covers a popular Beach Boys song (and gets Carl Wilson and Christopher Cross to sing backing vocals), makes a video featuring plenty of scantily clad ladies, and releases it a few months before the news of the break-up is hitting the world.  As with "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" (discussed above), David Lee Roth's Crazy From The Heat EP featured his now-famous rendition of "California Girls," which did just as well as the Beach Boys' original 1965 version, as both hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. I believe this was the first song I ever sang at karaoke, probably when I was about 9 or 10. I sincerely hope the audio tape of that performance (and yes, there was a tape) has been destroyed.

1 (tie). "Alone" by Heart (#1; I-Ten)

This was another one I was shocked to find out was a cover.  It was written in 1983 by the amazing songwriting duo of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg -- who also wrote Madonna's "Like a Virgin," Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors," The Bangles' "Eternal Flame," and The Devinyls' "I Touch Myself," among others -- perhaps attempting to imitate Jim Steinman (and, if they were, they did a hell of a job).  Originally, it was recorded part of their own project, I-Ten.  Hilariously, it was recorded in 1984 by John Stamos and Valerie Stevenson for the short-lived CBS sitcom Dreams.  Thankfully, Heart got a hold of the song and recorded it for their 1987 album Bad Animals, making it into a #1 in both the U.S. and Canada, and making it into one of their most well-known songs.  I can't imagine this song being sung by anyone other than Ann Wilson, and I'm forever grateful that Uncle Jesse wasn't the last one to record it.

1 (tie). "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts (#1; The Arrows)

This song IS Joan Jett.  Except that it's not hers.  Originally, "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" was released in 1975 by The Arrows -- written as a response to The Rolling Stones' "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)."  The song was a b-side for The Arrows, but luckily a young Joan Jett heard it while she was touring England with The Runaways in 1976.  She originally recorded it with Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols in 1979, but that version was only a b-side of Jett's single "You Don't Own Me" (a Leslie Gore cover, itself).  Jett re-recorded the song with The Blackhearts and put it on her 1981 album, which she named after this song.  The song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for seven weeks in 1982.  It's unquestionably her signature song, and even though it was released 27-32 years before my kids were born, they all love it and ask to hear it often.  Since I also love rock and roll, I have no choice but to oblige.