The Art of the Cover

For those of you who don't know, when a band or artist performs a song originally written by another, their version is called a "cover."

While there are many reasons a band may want to perform the work of another, the most obvious reason is to pay homage to the original artist. Doing a cover is not stealing. On the contrary... it's typically a sign of respect.

Sometimes an artist will do a cover just for the love of the song. Often, however, the reason has more to do with their audience. Perhaps they know a song that will get the crowd riled up. In Boston, for instance, a lot of bands have a habit of playing the Standells song "Dirty Water." Getting the audience's attention by playing a cover like this is an old trick... and it still works.

Less often, a band will cover another artist to get the audience interested in that artist. A great example of this is what we saw in the twilight of the late Johnny Cash's career. Over his last several albums, he covered many other artists. Most of them were younger artists like Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails. These artists were far from obscure, but they were certainly alien to Cash's core audience.

Regardless of the reason behind it, a cover can do a great many things. Whether they bring a classic song to a new generation, honor a fallen or defunct band or simply put a new spin on the music of one of their contemporaries, when a band does a cover it's guaranteed to breathe new life into a song.

Here are some covers of songs, along with their original versions. These ones have some particularly interesting stories.





In the 1970's, John Lennon's "Imagine" was an unrivaled anthem of peace. The man's highly influential world view and his less talked about bitterness made this song an honest and powerful picture of the world as it could be.

In 2004, A Perfect Circle rushed to put out their third album, eMOTIVe, in time for election day. This was an album of political songs that the band put out to play their part in swaying the presidential election. It didn't work, but we did get some great songs out of it. This cover of "Imagine" twisted the song to serve the times... this version is decidedly dark, and why shouldn't it be? Thirty years after Lennon's "Imagine," the "dreamers" aren't as far along as some might have hoped.





Neutral Milk Hotel had actually disbanded before they achieved much critical and commercial success. However, they did manage to touch one man--Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey. Lacey has covered several Neutral Milk Hotel songs over the years, and he speaks very highly of the band. His praise and covers have doubtlessly driven up the sales of Neutral Milk Hotel's albums over the years. Thanks in part to Brand New and in part to a peculiarly positive Pitchfork review (don't they hate everything?), you can no longer go into a hipster bar or coffee shop without hearing Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Though, I'm not sure if Neutral Milk Hotel would actually thank anyone for that.





And here it is, the cover you couldn't miss if you were alive in the 1990's. This is a prime example of an artist taking someone else's song and truly making it theirs.

Where The Eurythmics wrote a shameless pop song with a slightly bitter twist, Marilyn Manson found a violent, pornographic alternative rock ballad. Interestingly enough, this is actually the song that catapulted him out of relative obscurity--with good reason. From the crushing bassline to the indisputably evil guitar riffs, Manson's version of "Sweet Dreams" is the kind of song that sticks in your head. Even if you don't want it to.