We all know cover songs are not as good as the original. I
generally agree with that statement-it’s usually a good idea to take a bad song
and make it better than to cover a great song. Sometimes though, covering a song
from a different genre can lead to good results. Some of my favorite punk
covers:
Ring of Fire –Social Distortion. Original by Johnny Cash.
Bluntly put, there is only one man in black. Social Distortion covers this song
beautifully by making it their own style yet it still has the original sound of
the Cash classic.
Judy is a Punk-Joan Jett-Original by the Ramones. Everyone
who can play the guitar a bit can cover the Ramones due to the simplicity of
their style. Joan Jett is correctly considered the first lady of rock and you
can see the love she has for the original while singing this one.
Don’t Stop me Now-The Vandals-Original by Queen-The Vandals
are a funny band. It’s impossible not to laugh while listening to them
sometimes. That’s a compliment because punk can sometimes take itself too
seriously (I exempt classic Jello Biafra). With this cover The Vandals are
basically asking someone to stop them than laughing in their face while doing
so.
I Fought the Law-The Clash-Original by The Crickets-You
don’t get much more punk than fighting the law, in parituclar when the law wins
which (both for good and bad) it always seems
to. The Clash version seems to amplify
it and add more than the original but it’s still a great version of a classic
rock and roll song.
One of the more famous punk covers is the NOFX version of “Go
Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac. I like
NOFX and the song but not this version. This is a song that has to be sung by a
couple that is still in love but won’t work out for practical reasons. Having
only one person sing it completely strips the song of everything that makes it
interesting.
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