We've reached the end of Rocktober, but be sure to tune in Monday for Crowvember, a daily look at nature's most misunderstood avian animal.
But before then, we have one more Coverocktober song for you. It's Hair Band Friday, so our final selection will be Mötley Crüe's cover of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter."
"Helter Skelter" is one of my favorite Beatles songs, off of my favorite Beatles album, their self-titled 1968 four-sided masterpiece we know as The White Album.
As rock lore goes, Paul McCartney wrote "Helter Skelter" after hearing an interview with Pete Townshend, who described "I Can See For Miles" as the loudest and rawest song The Who had ever recorded. Being a Beatle, Paul thought "challenge accepted," so wrote a blistering (literally, if you believe Ringo's outburst at the end) rock song that is considered one of the first heavy metal songs.
A helter skelter is a British term for a large amusement park slide that spirals along a tower. So why is a cover of the song being included in Coverocktober on Halloween week -- and Halloween itself, at that? Well you see, there was this guy one time who thought this song about a slide (that even specifically refers to a slide) and a couple other songs on the White Album were actually coded songs that predicted an international race war. That guy's name was Charles Manson. "Helter Skelter" was part of his motivation for the Manson Family's horrific Tate-LaBianca murders in the LA area in 1969, and it ended up being the name of the best-selling book written by Vincent Bugliosi (the prosecutor in the Manson murder trial) about the murders and the subsequent trials (a chilling but worthwhile read), as well as the name of a 1976 made-for-TV movie based on the book. After Manson Family members murdered the LaBiancas, Patricia Krenwinkel wrote the misspelled "Healter Skelter" in all caps on the LaBiancas' refrigerator door in Rosemary LaBianca's blood. Cults, am I right?
Mötley Crüe's version was the last track on the first side of their epic 1983 album Shout at the Devil. It was the perfect cover song for an album that drew the ire of parents and the PMRC, alongside songs with "devil," "kill," "dead," "beast," and "danger" in the titles. Their version is an even more hard-rocking, but generally true-to-the-original, version of the song. Happy Halloween, piggies!
Yesterday we featured a cover medley of two Misfits songs, so today we're featuring a cover song by The Misfits -- their version of the Halloween classic "Monster Mash."
The now-iconic and enduring original version of the song was released by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers in 1962, and it went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, just before Halloween. It has reentered the Billboard Hot 100 five times over the years, reaching #10 in 1973 and the Top 30 within the last few years.
In the early '60s, Pickett was an aspiring actor who was also in a band. At a show one night, he started doing an impression of Boris Karloff, a horror movie icon best known for his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the original 1931 version of Frankenstein. The crowd loved Pickett's impression, so he decided to capitalize on it. He and his fellow band member Lenny Capizzi wrote "Monster Mash," with Pickett doing his Karloff impression as he sings about a mad scientist whose monster arises and starts dancing (a variation of the popular dance craze the Mashed Potato), and then he invites all of his monster friends. And then they fucking party.
In 1997, The Misfits recorded a cover of the song as part of a promotion relating to the DVD release of a 1967 Rankin Bass stop motion animation film called Mad Monster Party -- which starred, you guessed it, Boris Karloff. The Misfits then released their version of "Monster Mash" as a single in 1999 and rerecorded it for their 2003 album Project 1950. The song is notable because it was the first song on which bassist Jerry Only sang lead vocals. I'm posting the 2003 version because I like that version slightly better than the 1997/1999 version. Like the original, they use bubbling and chain sound effects at the beginning, before it turns into a punked-up, fast-paced version of the song, with sing-along backing vocals. All in all, a pretty damn fine cover that both pays homage to the original and makes it their own at the same time.
Our next selection in the darkness of the last week of Coverocktober comes courtesy of one of the best cover bands there's ever been, Metallica.
In 1987, the band released a five-song EP of covers called The $5.98 E.P. - Garage Days Re-Revisited, and then in 1998, they released Garage, Inc., which included a full album of new covers on disc one and then Garage Days (which had been unavailable since its original run in 1987) and some additional covers that had been B-sides to singles or were one-off recordings on disc two.
One of the covers from the 1987 Garage Days EP was a medley of two Misfits songs -- because it takes two Misfits songs to make one three and a half minute song -- "Last Caress/Green Hell." Then at the end of the song, there's a little wonky, out-of-tune version of the opening riff to Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills." The Misfits songs are pretty true to the originals, but Metallicized.
"Last Caress" has been a standard at Metallica live shows over the years, though they usually leave "Green Hell" out of it. The song was also the centerpiece of a minor controversy. At the 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards, the band was supposed to perform "King Nothing," but MTV forbid the band from swearing or using pyrotechnics. So they did what any good metal band would do: they played a song about murder and rape, which got them banned from MTV for a few years.
"Green Hell" is a blistering hardcore song, originally released by The Misfits in 1983, but in my mind, that takes a backseat to "Last Caress." The original version of "Last Caress" (recorded in 1980) is one of my favorite Misfits songs, and it's widely considered one of their best songs and one of the best punk songs ever, for that matter. In a 2019 poll, it was voted by New Jersey residents -- New Jerseyeans? New Jersers? New Jerseyganders? New Jersies? -- as the best song ever released by a band or artist from New Jersey, beating out Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, and other great Jersey bands and artists. That's crazy.
The lyrical content of the song is disturbing, purportedly the fictional confession of a killer and rapist. The opening stanza is about as brutal as it gets: "I got something to say / I killed a baby today / And it doesn't matter much to me / As long as it's dead." That's followed by a stanza about raping "your mother." Then the chorus is about longing for "sweet lovely death," though whether that's the killer wanting to die or talking about giving his victims "one last caress" before they die is unclear. But the way Glenn Danzig sings the song has a macabre beauty to it, where if you weren't listening to the lyrics, you might think it's a punk cover of a late '50s/early '60s teen tragedy song. It's a hell of a song, but certainly not for the faint of heart.
Back in 2013, Swedish metal band Ghost released a five-song EP called If You Have Ghost. It was produced by Dave Grohl, who also played on a couple of the tracks, and all but one of the songs on the EP were covers. But these weren't your standard metal covers of other hard rock or metals songs. The band covered ABBA's "I'm a Marionette," Depeche Mode's "Waiting for the Night," Swedish pop group Army of Lovers' "Crucified," and Roky Erickson's "If You Have Ghosts."
Their cover of "If You Have Ghosts" seems to fit with the band's mystique and, of course, fits very well with the band's name. Now if you're not familiar with Roky Erickson, I'll give you some background. Erickson was a co-founder, lead singer, and rhythm guitarist of the influential Austin-based psychedelic rock band The 13th Floor Elevators, whose 1966 song "You're Gonna Miss Me" -- with Erickson's howling vocals -- is considered a treasure of both the garage rock and psychedelic rock genres. Then in 1969, he got busted with a joint, and rather than face up to a decade in a Texas prison, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, so he was sentenced to a state mental hospital, where he remained until 1972. In between electroconvulsive therapy treatments, Erickson wrote songs, many of which would end up on future albums.
After he was released, he formed a band that would become Roky Erickson & The Aliens, and Erickson's lyrics and music took more of a hard rock and horror-inspired turn. In 1978 and 1979, the band recorded songs that would end up on a self-titled EP in 1980 and a full-length album, The Evil One, in 1981. CCR bassist Stu Cook produced the songs, and the recording sessions were interrupted when Erickson got arrested while having a psychotic episode and then had to spend three months in a state hospital before returning to finish the songs. He also did a lot of drugs.
"If You Have Ghosts" was on The Evil One, and the original song is kind of a frenzied southern rock power pop song, with Erickson seeming to go off the rails a couple times. I'd say Ghost's cover version is far more polished, with staccato strings kicking the song off, crisp vocals from Papa Emeritus II, some nice guitar solos from some Nameless Ghoul, rhythm guitar from Grohl, and generally a more clean feel than the original. But they turned it into one of their anthems. Also, The Nameless Grohls would be a great name for a Ghost/Foo Fighters tribute band.
Well folks, we've reached the ultimate week of Rocktober, which means it's Halloween week! And that means the Coverocktober songs from here on out will be songs that feature dark, macabre, or creepy themes. So let's start with one of the all-time perfect Halloween week songs: "Black Sabbath."
This is one of the rare examples of an eponymous song off an eponymous album. As the title track and first track from Black Sabbath's 1970 debut album, "Black Sabbath" is just a creepy, badass song that announced a new genre of music. Can you imagine what this must have sounded like in 1970? Less than two months after the end of the '60s and flower power, heavy metal was born with this song. It starts off with rain and some distant church bells, perhaps in a quaint village in the English countryside. And then plunges into the devil's triad -- an inverted tritone (I have no idea what that means!) that was very rarely used in music because it was said to summon Satan. It doesn't get any more metal than that. But then it does. Ozzy's voice is chilling, and the lyrics are chilling, describing a figure in black pointing at the narrator, who tries to run away. Turns out it's Satan, and he's smiling. That's never a good sign. The lyrics were inspired by a now-infamous metal legend, experienced by bassist Geezer Butler a couple years earlier. He had painted his apartment black -- as one does when he is obsessed with the occult -- and he had, among other things, a black occult book that Ozzy had given him, which was written in Latin (obviously) and contained various pictures of Satan. Butler put the book on a shelf next to his bed before he went to bed one night. Then he wakes up in the middle of the night to see a giant figure in black standing at the end of his bed and pointing at him. After the figure disappeared, Butler got up and the book was gone. Now I would have immediately painted my room a different color and removed all occult books from my flat, but Butler wrote a song instead -- and we thank him for that.
The original is a classic, but I assure you, it's not as creepy as New York goth metal band Type O Negative's cover, which closed out the 1994 Black Sabbath tribute album, Nativity in Black. Type O Negative transforms the song with their cover, going full-on doom by ramping up the Satanic references, adding weird sound effects and chants, and slowing the song down to a snail's pace. Lead singer Peter Steele's deep voice is the stuff of nightmares on this song. Type O Negative's version makes you feel like you're trapped in a bog, trying to escape from some cannibalistic cult in the middle of the night, but you can barely move through the sludge, and they're closing in.
As seems to be the pattern, I failed to post a Coverocktober hair band song on Friday, so you get two songs/posts today.
As you may know, Def Leppard is one of my favorite bands. Not only is their original music great, but they can play a damn fine cover song. Back in 2006, they released their ninth studio album, Yeah!, which was a cover album paying tribute to the British rock-and-rollers of the '70s who influenced them. As I learned on a bonus CD I bought (containing several extra songs and a couple band interviews), the band chose nearly entirely songs by British bands and chose only songs that were released before Def Leppard signed their first record deal. It's quite different than any other cover album out there.
Most of the songs are not songs that you would normally hear on the radio, except maybe on a "deep cuts weekend." The band wanted to choose songs that were hits in the UK, but not necessarily huge hits. Hence, no Rolling Stones or Beatles songs. But what we do get is a great gathering of songs from the likes of T. Rex, David Bowie, The Kinks, ELO, Thin Lizzy, Roxy Music, Badfinger, Free, Mott the Hoople, and Faces, among others. Musically, they played the songs as closely to the originals as possible (which was their intent).
I love this album, not only because the songs are great, but also because it got me into (or more into) many of the bands they covered. There is no better example of that than their cover of Thin Lizzy's "Don't Believe a Word," which was originally released on Thin Lizzy's seventh studio album, 1976's Johnny the Fox. Of course, I knew of Thin Lizzy before Yeah!, but I hadn't delved into their catalog outside of the hits. I loved Def Leppard's version of the song, so I checked out the original, and then that snowballed into me getting every one of Thin Lizzy's albums. Now, Thin Lizzy is on my short list of favorite bands -- which, granted, is still like 25 bands. So, thanks Def Leppard!
At barely over two minutes long, "Don't Believe a Word" is short but sweet. The original is one of my favorite Thin Lizzy songs, thanks to Def Leppard's cover. I've always been taken by Phil Lynott's lyrics, and in this song, he's essentially telling a woman "don't believe anything I tell you, especially if I tell you that I love you." He's pouring his heart out to her, but hedging his bets, giving both of them an out. If he wants to ditch her, he can say, "I told you not to believe me when I told you I love you," or if she says she doesn't love him or isn't interested, he can say, "no big deal because, as I said, I was just kidding." And if she wants to ditch him, he can't protest because then she'll say "you told me not to believe a word you said." Classic!
I owe you two songs today because I didn't have time last night to post one, as I was gleefully attending Nat Bargatze's show at the United Center. Who knew one could be so funny without swearing?
Anyway, my song choice today comes from the very first Jimi Hendrix Experience tape I ever bought, and from Columbia House at that, if I'm recalling correctly. It was a 1988 compilation called Radio One, comprised of songs the group recorded for BBC broadcasts in 1967. Ten years later, the songs from Radio One were included on the more comprehensive BBC Sessions double album. Radio One was the perfect introduction to Hendrix for me. It had some of the group's own big hits, as well as a bunch of great covers, like The Beatles' "Day Tripper," Curtis Knight's instrumental "Drivin' South," Elvis Presley and Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog," and several blues songs, including today's selection, "Killing Floor."
Written and originally recorded in 1964 by blues legend Howlin' Wolf, right here in Chicago at Chess Records -- and featuring Wolf's fantastic guitarist Hubert Sumlin, as well as Buddy Guy -- the song is an electric blues classic. Wolf's lyrics reference the killing floor of a slaughterhouse as a metaphor for relationships. If the song's narrator had only followed his gut instinct, rather than some devil woman, he would have had a nice little trip to Mexico. instead, he's down on that killing floor. The song was adapted by Led Zeppelin as "The Lemon Song" in in 1969 on Led Zeppelin II, giving Wolf a co-writing credit.
In March 1967, the Experience recorded the song on the BBC. Hendrix's opening guitar riff blows my doors off every time. It's controlled chaos, and he keeps it up the whole song, -- save for his amazing solos -- giving the song a more frantic feel than the original. Just another example of the genius that was James Marshall Hendrix.
I haven't yet featured a song from a grunge or '90s alternative rock band this Rocktober, so lucky #13 seems like as good a time as any. One of my favorite songs by The Cure is their iconic 1987 hit "Just Like Heaven." While it wasn't a massive success on the charts, it did reach #40 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it The Cure's first Top 40 hit in the U.S. It was also the band's eleventh Top 40 in their native UK, reaching #29 on the UK pop chart. But time has treated the song better than radio play and sales at the time might have. I'd reckon I'm not overstating things when I say it's one of the best new wave and goth rock songs ever made.
Influential alt rockers Dinosaur Jr. recorded a cover of the song in 1989, with the intention that it was going to be part of a compilation album. However, the band liked how their version sounded so much that they kept it for themselves. In typical Dinosaur Jr. fashion, they sped up the tempo, added plenty of distortion, and turned the chorus into a visceral scream. The result is a great pre-grunge alt rock track that pays homage to a band who influenced countless others, while also showing why Dinosaur Jr. became such an influence on so many '90s rock bands. Even Cure lead singer Robert Smith has said Dinosaur Jr.'s version of "Just Like Heaven" is his favorite cover of the song.
Since we're celebrating cover songs this Rocktober, let's talk about the cover songs that you may not know were covers. And just so we're all on the same page, this is Rocktober, so I'm talking about rocking songs that you didn't know were covers. There are many other great covers that would more broadly fall into this category -- Sinead O'Connor's cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" comes to mind -- but that's a story for another day (or you can just Google "songs you didn't know were covers").
I had fun researching this one because I uncovered many songs that I -- your supposed rock and roll history blogger -- had no idea were covers. Please make sure you're seated when you read this, as some of what I have to say may shock you to your very core.
Narrowing this list to ten was nearly as impossible for me as dunking a basketball on a ten-foot rim. As a result, I'm going to give you a hearty "Honorable Mention" section, which includes Ace Frehley's version of "New York Groove" (which I separately posted about last week after Ace's death). In the ten that made the main list, I tried to go with more songs that I think you truly may not realize are covers, and there are songs spanning several decades. These are in alphabetical order by cover artist.
1. "Piece of My Heart" by Big Brother and The Holding Company (1968)
Originally by Erma Franklin (1967)
"Piece of My Heart" is one of Janis Joplin's signature songs, and probably my favorite song that she ever sang. But a year before she and Big Brother and The Holding Company recorded it, Aretha Franklin's older sister Erma recorded the original version of the song. Franklin's version is slower and more of a standard '60s soul song. It's great, but Big Brother's version is fantastic. Big Brother's cover went to #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Joplin's highest-charting song during her lifetime.
2. "Hard to Handle" by The Black Crowes (1990)
Originally by Otis Redding (1967)
Before he tragically died in a plane crash in December 1967, soul legend Otis Redding had recorded various songs that would be released posthumously. One of those was "Hard to Handle," an uptempo Memphis soul gem. His version had mild success, reaching #51 on the Billboard Hot 100, but over the next few decades, it was largely overshadowed by the rest of his excellent catalog. Then in 1990, along came this rock and roll band that didn't really fit into the popular genres of the day. The Black Crowes played soul- and blue-inspired rock, so it's not a shock that they chose to cover "Hard to Handle" on their debut album, Shake Your Moneymaker They punched up the original, giving it a honky tonk rock feel and making it their own. The song proved to be their breakthrough song, originally reaching #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1990, then reaching #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it was reissued in 1991.
3. "1985" by Bowling for Soup (2004)
Originally by SR-71 (2004)
Pop punk funny guys Bowling for Soup's highest-charting song was a catchy ode to longing for the mid '80s, "1985." Released on their fifth studio album, 2004's A Hangover You Don't Deserve, and the song went to #23 on the Billboard Hot 100. It set a record for most downloads on iTunes in a single week. Only thing is that it wasn't their song. Two months before Bowling for Soup released their version of the song, fellow pop punkers SR-71 released the original. SR-71 lead singer and songwriter Mitch Allan gave the song to Bowling for Soup, who made some slight changes to the lyrics, and the rest is history.
4. "The Twist" by Chubby Checker (1960)
Originally by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters (1958)
This one may blow your mind. Chubby Checker's legendary 1960 song "The Twist" solidified a dance craze and various other "twisting" songs. It went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960 and 1962, it was the #1 song on Billboard's Decade-End Hot 100 chart for the 1960s, and it's the #2 song on Billboard's All-Time Hot 100 chart. And it was a cover. Hank Ballard & The Midnighters recorded the original in 1958, and it had some minor, if not slow-moving, success, reaching #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960. Legend has it that Dick Clark tried to book the group on American Bandstand, but they were unavailable, so he found a local singer, Checker, to perform the song instead. But don't feel too bad for Ballard. As the songwriter, he presumably made a nice bit of change from Checker's cover.
5. "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" by Great White (1989)
Originally by Ian Hunter (1975)
Having named their fourth studio album Once Bitten..., it now only seems natural that Great White named their fifth studio album ...Twice Shy. They must have known what was in the works. 1989's ...Twice Shy featured the band's biggest hit, "Once Bitten, Twice Shy." A glammy, boogie-woogie rocker, the song went all the way to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's not surprising there's some glam to it, as it was originally recorded in 1975 by Ian Hunter on his first solo album after leaving UK glam rock band Mott the Hoople.
6. "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane (1967)
Originally by The Great Society (1966)
I'll be honest, I had no idea this was a cover until last week while researching this Tuesday Top Ten category. "Somebody to Love" is one of the quintessential Jefferson Airplane songs, so of course, I assumed it was originally their song. But alas, it was actually originally recorded a year earlier as "Someone to Love" by another Bay Area band, The Great Society, which featured future Jefferson Airplane lead singer Grace Slick on vocals (and was written by her brother-in-law Darby Slick). The original is a little unpolished, and Jefferson Airplane took the song to new heights. You see, because it's an airplane.
7. "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts (1982)
Originally by The Arrows (1975)
Eighties covers of '70s glam rock songs seems to be a theme, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" falls into that category. It was originally recorded by UK glam rockers The Arrows in 1975, but didn't chart. Seven years later, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts made it the title track to their second album, and they stayed pretty true to the original, though Jett's snarling vocals add a bit of grit to the song. Their version went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the band's breakthrough single and rightfully putting Jett at the top of the list of female rockers.
8. "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin (1969)
Originally by Jake Holmes (1967)
This is another one that blew my mind. Folk rocker Jake Holmes recorded the original version of "Dazed and Confused" in 1967. It's a melancholy dirge about uncertainty in a relationship. Holmes opened for The Yardbirds, and guitarist Jimmy Page took a liking to the song. They rearranged it and often played it live. When The Yardbirds broke up and Page formed Led Zeppelin, the band recorded the song for their self-titled debut album, reworking the lyrics in the process. It would become a staple for the band, and their version is much more visceral and rocking than Holmes's original. Holmes eventually sued Page for copyright infringement, and they settled out of court in late 2011. Since then, on Led Zeppelin releases, the songwriting credits are listed as "By Page – Inspired by Jake Holmes."
9. "Black Betty" by Ram Jam (1975)
Originally recorded by James "Iron Head" Baker (1933)
As with glam covers, blues covers abound. "Black Betty" was a traditional African-American work song -- allegedly a reference to whiskey -- and the first-known recording of the song was by James "Iron Head" Baker back in 1933. Delta blues legend Lead Belly recorded the song in 1939, as did various others over the years. But it wasn't until New York City rockers Ram Jam rearranged the song, gave it a rock and roll makeover, and released their version in 1977 that the world truly came to know "Black Betty." Ram Jam's version went to #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it has been featured in various films and TV shows since.
10. "War" by Edwin Starr (1970)
Originally by The Temptations (1970)
And we end the Top Ten with another one I had no idea was a cover until last week. Written by the legendary Motown songwriting team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, "War" was a anti-war anthem originally recorded by The Temptations for their 1970 album Psychedelic Shack. However, Motown didn't want one of their most popular acts to face any backlash by releasing an anti-war song, so the label didn't release The Temptations' version of the song as a single. Nonetheless, Motown agreed to let another artist on their label, Edwin Starr, record the song and release it as a single, a mere three months after Psychedelic Shack was released. Starr's version is funkier, angrier, and more soulful than the original, and it perfectly captures the anger of the anti-Vietnam War movement. It was rightly a huge success, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Honorable mention:
-"Trouble No More by The Allman Brothers Band (1969) (originally recorded by Muddy Waters in 1955 as a variation of "Someday Baby Blues," recorded by Sleepy John Estes in 1935)
-"Cocaine" by Eric Clapton (1977) (originally recorded by JJ Cale in 1976)
-"New York Groove" by Ace Frehley (1978) (originally recorded by Hello in 1975)
-"Alone" by Heart (1987) (originally recorded by i-Ten in 1983)
-Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin (1971) (originally recorded by Roger Miller in 1969)
-"Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen (1963) (originally recorded by Richard Barry & The Pharoahs in 1956)
-"God Gave Rock and Roll to You II" by KISS (1991) (originally recorded by Argent in 1973 without the "II"; KISS modified the lyrics in their version)
-"Blinded by the Light" by Manfred Mann (1976) (originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen in 1973)
-"Cum On Feel the Noize" by Quiet Riot (1983) (originally recorded by Slade in 1973)
-"Black Magic Woman" by Santana (1970) (originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac in 1968)
-"Good Lovin'" by The Young Rascals (1966) (originally recorded by Lemme B. Goode in 1965)
Today's Coverocktober song is not only a good one, but also one that has been covered by many great artists. Originally recorded in 1935 by Delta bluesman Big Joe Williams, "Baby, Please Don't Go" is a traditional blues song, likely evolving from earlier African-American folk songs. Perhaps the most popular version was recorded in 1964 by Them, fronted by a then-19-year-old Van Morrison (with a then-20-year-old Jimmy Page providing session guitar work on the track. Before that, blues legends Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker recorded their own respective versions of the song, and after Them's version, the song was covered by the likes of AC/DC, John Mellencamp, The Amboy Dukes (featuring Ted Nugent), Aerosmith, and Paul Revere & The Raiders, and Ten Years After. The song has been inducted into both the Blue and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.
Of the many great covers of the song, I'm going with AC/DC's version, which was included on their 1975 debut full-length album High Voltage, which was only released in its original form in Australia and New Zealand. The song wouldn't be released internationally until the 1984 compilation '74 Jailbreak.
The band had played the song as part of their live set before they decided to record it, and thank the rock gods they did. They take what Them did with the song and ramp up the tempo, creating a frenzied, blistering blues rock masterpiece.
Today's Coverocktober song is by one of my favorite new bands, The Linda Lindas. I first saw them at Lollapalooza in 2023, when all of them were still teenagers (and I think the drummer might have just turned 13 the week before, which is crazy). I loved their energy and their punky and sometimes poppy sound, not to mention the relatively mature sociopolitical content of their lyrics.
You likely know the 1967 garage rock classic "Little Bit O' Soul," even if you don't know who recorded it. Well, it was The Music Explosion, and this was their one hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is gritty and catchy, with that earworm "do do do-do, do do do-do" repeating riff.
The Linda Lindas recorded a cover of the song for the 2023 film Totally Killer, giving it a pop punk revamp. Their song has a slightly faster tempo than the original, and they complement the garage punk feel of the song with some "heys" and "hos" thrown in every now and then. All in all, it's a nice update to a great song.
I intended to post this Friday, but I made the wise last-minute decision to grab a ticket to see Violent Femmes at the Salt Shed, so my intentions were laid to waste by American music, which I do, in fact, like.
Anywho, the second Hair Band Friday selection for this Coverocktober comes courtesy of Mr. Big. While best known for their ballads, like their #1 hit "To Be With You," their Top 20 hit "Just Take My Heart," and their Top 30 cover of Cat Stevens's "Wild World," what you may not realize is that Mr. Big could rock just as hard as the rest of 'em.
Their 1989 self-titled debut album featured a cover of Humble Pie's sublime blues rocker "30 Days in the Hole," which the latter released on their fifth studio album, 1972's Smokin' -- the band's first album after founding guitarist Peter Frampton left the band. Written by lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott, the song is about getting busted for drug possession. The band released the song a year before they traded $50 and a case of Heineken to Stillwater in exchange for miss Penny Lane.
Mr. Big's version is (or appears to be) a live version, and it closed out their first album. The cover is a pretty straightforward cover of the original, showcasing the band's ability to rock a couple years before they got branded as a ballad band.
The rock world lost a giant today, as founding member and original guitarist of KISS, Ace Frehley, died at at 74. As you may know, I love KISS, and I was fortunate enough to see them many times, including twice on their final tour (which lasted five years, thanks to COVID). Granted, that was without Ace, but I also got to see him solo a couple times. Of course, the greatest Halloween I'll never remember was thanks to dressing up as Ace. And if you need something to cheer you up on this somber day, check out this compilation of clips of Ace laughing. The guy had a hell of an infectious cackle.
In 1978, KISS was arguably the biggest rock band in the world, and they decided to do something a little odd. On September 18, 1978, all four band members released solo albums, though technically they were KISS records. Ace's solo album -- which was featured in 2009's Rocktober -- is, in my opinion, heads and shoulders above the rest. He really came into his own on the album, and the album is full of energy, great songs, and wicked guitar licks.
The biggest hit from any of the four solo albums was Ace's version of "New York Groove," which went to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. I had intended to feature "New York Groove" on a forthcoming Tuesday Top Ten about songs you may not know are covers, but alas, the Spaceman's unexpected return to his home planet got in the way. Needless to say, I had to feature the song today.
The song was written by Russ Ballard, who had been the lead singer and guitarist of the band Argent before gaining prominence as a songwriter for other artists beginning in the late '70s. As a side note, KISS would cover another Ballard composition, "God Gave Rock and Roll To You," in 1991, albeit with some modified lyrics. "New York Groove" was originally recorded in 1975 by British glam rockers Hello. Their version of the song was a Top 10 hit in their native UK, as well as in Germany and Austria. It's a glammy, catchy foot stomper.
But it was Ace, a native New Yorker, who took the song to new heights three years later, punching it up and giving a rockier feel. When he sings "Here I am, again in the city, with a fistful of dollars, and baby, you better believe, I'm back in a New York groove," I can actually picture Ace Frehley, in full makeup, triumphantly returning to NYC, strutting down Broadway as gaggles of fans and hookers follow him. No disrespect to Hello or to Ballard, but this is, was, and will always be Ace's song.
Song #8 in our journey through rocking covers is The Ramones' "Do You Wanna Dance?" Before we get to that, let's talk about the history of this song.
The original version was written and recorded by Bobby Freeman, and it was called "Do You Want to Dance." Released in 1958, it reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on the Billboard R&B singles chart, and #1 on the Canadian pop chart. It's a great early rock and roll song, with a shuffle beat that just makes you want to do the jitterbug or the bunny hop, or whatever those crazy kids were doing back then. Jerry Garcia is rumored to have played guitar on the original, but that doesn't appear to be substantiated. The original was also featured in the 1973 coming-of-age classic film American Graffiti.
Over the years, the song has been covered by various artists, many of whom have had pretty decent success with it. In 1962, Cliff Richard and The Shadows' version of the song went to #10 on the UK pop chart, #1 in The Netherlands and Sweden, and into the Top 10 on a couple other European charts. In 1963, Del Shannon's version went to #43 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1965, the Beach Boys recorded a fantastic cover (and my personal favorite version of the song), renaming it "Do You Wanna Dance?" It ended up being the highest-charting Beach Boys song on which Dennis Wilson sang lead vocals, reaching #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Then in 1972, Bette Midler released a slowed-down cover, which went to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100. On top of that, the song has been covered Rock and Roll Hall of Famers John Lennon, Neil Young, and The Mamas & The Papas.
But the cover version we're highlighting today is The Ramones' version of the song, which was released on their third studio album, 1977's Rocket to Russia. Their version was also included in the 1979 cult classic Rock 'n' Roll High School, which heavily featured the band. The Ramones' cover reflected their love of '50s rock, and they gave the song The Ramones treatment, infusing it with punk energy in an economical 1:55. The song would be the band's third and final single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #86.
I failed to post anything yesterday, so you get two posts today. Huzzah! Song #7 is a damn fine cover: Judas Priest's version of "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)." Based on my maniacally kept Rocktober records, this is amazingly the first time I've ever featured a Judas Priest song during Rocktober. Madness!
The original version of the song was recorded by Fleetwood Mac in 1970. This was during the Peter Green era of Fleetwood Mac, when they were a blues rock band, and several years before they revamped with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Green has said that he wrote the song after an LSD-induced dream, where he was encountered by a dead green dog barking at him from the afterlife. Pretty standard. It was the last song Green recorded with the band, and it reached #10 on the UK pop charts, which would be the band's last Top 10 hit in its native UK until "Tusk" in 1979.
Metal gods Judas Priest recorded a cover of the song that was released in 1979 on the band's fifth studio album, Hell Bent for Leather -- which was titled Killing Machine in the UK and released in late 1978 there, though the UK version did not originally include "The Green Manalishi." While the original is a plodding psychedelic rock song, Judas Priest upped the tempo and added some snarl to the song, making it into a metal masterpiece.
Judas Priest also performed the song as part of their set at Live Aid in 1985. True story: several years ago, some friends and I had a Live Aid-themed New Year's Eve party. We each came up with a cocktail based on something relating to Live Aid. My contribution was The Green Manilishi, which was one part Fireball and one part Sour Apple Pucker. Apple cinnamon seemed like a tried and true combo, but the drink was not great. The Pucker overpowered the Fireball, and they just didn't mix well together. I'm relieved to see that Fireball recently released an apple flavor called Blazin' Apple. I've had it, and I'll admit that it tastes significantly better than The Green Manalishi.
Coverocktober Song #6 is one of those covers that, if you were to claim the cover is better than the original, I wouldn't slap you in the face. And that's saying a lot because I love CCR, and the original was a Top 5 hit for them. Released in 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival's original version of "Proud Mary" is an earnest, roots rocky song about a guy who leaves his life "working for the man" in the city to travel on a river boat. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first of the band's nine Top 10 hits in the U.S.
A year later, Ike & Tina Turner included their cover of "Proud Mary" on their album Workin' Together. Ike and Soko Richardson rearranged the song significantly, starting it out with a slow, soulful stroll through the first verse and chorus. Then all hell breaks loose, and the song rips into a frenzy, with Tina just destroying everything in her path, with some help from backup singers The Ikettes. The cover went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Billboard R&B singles chart, and it earned Ike and Tina a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group.
I'm including a live version of the cover because, while hearing the song is great, seeing Tina Turner perform it is even better. And their bassist might be Bill Hader.
I fully intended to post this on Friday, but it slipped through the cracks. The good news is that, as a result, you'll get two Coverocktober songs today. What a day to be alive!
As with all Fridays, this past Friday was Hair Band Friday, so the Coverocktober song comes courtesy of Danish-American hair band White Lion. On their third studio album, 1989's Big Game, they covered "Radar Love," the classic 1973 hit from Dutch rockers Golden Earring. The song is one of the greatest driving songs of all-time (if not one of the greatest rock songs period), about a guy who is speeding home to his lady, causes an accident, and dies ("one more radar love gone"). Until the last ten years or so, I didn't realize the line was "Brenda Lee's 'Coming on Strong'" (a reference to a 1966 song by Brenda Lee), but rather, I thought it was "brand of leaves coming on strong" (a reference to cigarettes the narrator must have been smoking to help keep him awake on his long drive). Anywho, the original was a big international hit for Golden Earring, reaching #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as #1 on the pop charts in their native Netherlands and reaching the Top 10 on the pop charts in six other countries.
The song has apparently been covered over 800 times, though arguably no cover was a bigger success than White Lion's version, which peaked at #59 on the Billboard Hot 100 (the band's fifth and final single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100). White Lion's version stays pretty true to the original, and at about the 3:20 mark, there is one of the most delicious drum fills you'll ever hear, courtesy of drummer Gary D'Angelo.
Today would have been John Lennon's 85th birthday, so in honor of John, it only seems appropriate to do a Beatles cover for today's Coverocktober selection. While The Beatles recorded many great covers, especially in their earlier days, none is more iconic than their version of "Twist and Shout," featuring John on lead vocals.
While The Isley Brothers were the first group to have a hit with "Twist and Shout" -- their version went to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962 -- they were not the first to record the song. The Top Notes took home that honor, recording and releasing the song in 1961. Their version is more uptempo than later versions and has a Latin garage rock feel to it.
Connections to The Beatles and the original version of "Twist and Shout" abound. The original was produced by Phil Spector, who later produced The Beatles' Let It Be album and co-produced George Harrison's All Things Must Pass and several of Lennon's solo albums, including Plastic Ono Band and Imagine. And the back-up singers on the Top Notes' original recording were The Cookies, who song "Chains" was covered by The Beatles on their debut album Please Please Me.
The Beatles' cover -- which was also included on Please Please Me and was released as a single in the U.S. -- more closely tracks The Isley Brothers' version, which added the bridge of ascending "ahhs" that we now know and love. John's vocals on the track are the stuff of legend. They saved the song until the end of the recording session, and John's voice is noticeably hoarse, which ended up being perfect for the song. The band recorded the song in one take.
The Beatles' version reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1964, kept out of the #1 spot by another Beatles song, "Can't Buy Me Love." Oh, and the other three songs in the Top 5 that week were also Beatles songs. "Twist and Shout" was the only Beatles cover song that sold a million copies in the U.S., and it was the only Beatles cover that charted in the Top 10 on any national pop chart. It also charted in the Top 10 on the pop charts in ten other countries. And then Ferris Bueller lip-synced to it on a float in the Von Steuben Day Parade in 1986 when he should have been in school.
Day 3 of Coverocktober takes us to the '80s with a cover of a '60s psychedelic rock song by a '70s punk band.
Ten years after The Damned became the first British punk rock band to release a single (1976's "New Rose"), they decided to pay homage to one of their influences, LA-based '60s psychedelic rockers Love. In 1967, Love released their third studio album, Forever Changes, which, while not necessarily a big commercial hit, was acclaimed by critics and fellow musicians and is now considered one of the best albums from the psychedelic era. The first song on the album is "Alone Again Or," a melancholy psychedelic folk rock song with strings, horns, and a bit of of a mariachi feel -- telling a tale of loneliness, waiting for one's lover to return, while realizing that we "could be in love with almost everyone." What a quintessential Summer of Love subject matter.
I love (pun intended, motherfuckers) the original, and The Damned's cover stays pretty true to the original, but replaces acoustic guitars with electric and gives the song an '80s update. The cover reached #27 on the UK pop chart, making it The Damned's last of nine Top 40 hits in their native UK.
Song #2 in Coverocktober comes courtesy of Chicago soul band JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound (who later changed their name to JC Brooks Band). I saw them back in 2011 at Schuba's, a small and lovely live music venue in Lake View, and I was blown away. The show was all energy, and I'm sure I wasn't the only newbie in attendance who they made into a fan.
Anywho, one of my favorite songs of theirs actually isn't theirs. "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" was the first track off of Wilco's signature 2002 album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The original is a plodding, fuzzy psychedelic indie rock song, coming in at just under seven minutes long.
JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound originally recorded their cover of the song in 2009 and also included it on the band's 2011 Want More album. They turned the song on its head, making it their own by chopping the song in half and making it into a rollicking, toe-tapping soul rock song, complete with a horn section and call-and-response. It's, quite simply, a damn fine cover and a damn fine song.
We kick off Coverocktober with what is probably my favorite song by thrash metal gods Anthrax -- their 1990 cover of Joe Jackson's 1979 song "Got The Time." This is one of those songs that I didn't realize was a cover until I had already been listening to the song for years.
"Got The Time" was featured on Anthrax's fifth studio album, Persistence of Time, and it was only the band's third cover song on an album, with their cover of Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen" from 1984's Fistful of Metal and their cover of Trust's "Antisocial" from 1988's State of Euphoria being the prior two.
It's a frenetic rocker with a driving bass line. Anthrax's version cracked the Top 20 on the UK pop charts, reaching #16, making it the band's biggest hit in the UK up to that point and second-biggest hit in the UK overall after 1991's collab with Public Enemy, "Bring the Noise," which got up to #14.
The cover is pretty faithful to Jackson's original, with more of a metal flair. The original was featured on Jackson's 1979 debut album, which also included his breakout hit "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" Jackson apparently didn't think very highly of Anthrax's cover, claiming it wasn't as fast-paced as the version of "Got The Time" on Jackson's Live 1980/86 live album. Whatever, man. Both versions rock, and here they are for you to compare.
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