From rock legends to disco queens, some artists really don't appreciate when others reimagine their work! Join us as we explore controversial cover versions that sparked outrage from the original performers. From metal takes on pop classics to altered meanings of beloved songs, these covers struck all the wrong notes with their creators.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at 10 more examples of cover songs being publicly
00:12denounced or criticized by the original artist.
00:22Number 10, I'll Still Love You, Ringo Starr.
00:30The Beatles were still fighting long after the band had broken up.
00:36In 1970, George Harrison was recording All Things Must Pass when he laid down a piece called Whenever.
00:42However, he only went as far as the demo, and the song never made it to the finished album.
00:47He then tried giving the song to other artists and even produced a few versions himself, but nothing was ever released.
00:54Fast forward to 1976, when former Beatle Ringo Starr recorded the song for his album Ringo's Rotogravure.
01:02You know I would do, yes I do.
01:07While details have never been made public, Harrison was reportedly not pleased with Ringo's iteration,
01:14and even took legal action against his former bandmate.
01:17So much for that touching tribute.
01:19Uh, I think I'll be leaving now.
01:22We're bound now.
01:23When?
01:24Now.
01:25Number 9, I Will Survive.
01:27Cake.
01:28I think I lay down and die, oh no not I, I will survive.
01:33A staple of late 70s disco, I Will Survive has endured thanks to its empowering lyrics and funky sound.
01:41And while Gloria Gaynor's version is soulful and powerful, Cake's is dry, sarcastic, almost cynical,
01:47featuring frontman John McRae's signature monotone vocals.
01:52As long as I know how to love, I know I'll be alive.
01:57Cake also replaces the disco instrumentation with a minimalist rock setup,
02:02stripping down the production and the bombast.
02:05It was a change to be sure.
02:07And while some may like it, Gaynor was not a fan.
02:10But not because it sounds so different.
02:13No, Cake actually altered some lyrics and even introduced an F-bomb.
02:17And it was this profanity that Gaynor did not enjoy.
02:20I should've changed my flock, I would've made you leave your key.
02:25Number 8, The Rite of Spring, Fantasia.
02:29When Igor Stravinsky wrote his ballet, The Rite of Spring, his purpose was, in his own words, to express primitive life.
02:35And so Walt Disney and his fellow artists have taken him at his word.
02:39Unlike other covers, orchestral works are often performed verbatim with virtually zero alterations.
02:47That certainly wasn't the case with Fantasia.
02:50Disney's team adapted Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, but they rearranged the order of the movements and made substantial cuts to the original work, reducing it from 30 plus minutes to about 20.
03:02There's also the visual element to consider, as Disney changed the piece from a primitive and brutal pagan ritual to a story about dinosaurs.
03:23Suffice to say, Stravinsky was not a fan, which is especially painful, as he was the only composer from the movie that was still alive at the time.
03:32He called the new musical arrangement, excreble, and the accompanying visuals, unresisting imbecility.
03:38The man has a way with words.
03:40Instead of presenting the ballet in its original form, as a simple series of tribal dances, they have visualized it as a pageant, as the story of the growth of life on Earth.
03:51Number 7.
03:52Mrs. Robinson, The Lemonheads
03:54It's a big ask to cover Mrs. Robinson, one of the most popular and celebrated songs ever made.
04:09It's an even bigger ask to make a grungy version of it, but Lemonheads were approached to do a cover of the song to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Graduate.
04:18With the band being quite hot at the time, thanks to the album It's a Shame About Ray.
04:22Paul Simon reportedly hated the cover, as did the Lemonheads frontman, Evan Dando.
04:36However, Simon later appeared on The Howard Stern Show and claimed that it was so-so.
04:41He's coming around.
04:42What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
04:45Joe and Joe have left and gone away.
04:48Hey, hey, hey.
04:50Number 6.
04:51No Man's Land
04:53Joss Stone featuring Jeff Beck.
04:55The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain.
05:01Reportedly a favorite of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, No Man's Land is a powerful anti-war song about a young man who dies in World War I.
05:10Though respectful of the dead, the song's message is clear.
05:14War is futile, and we shouldn't glorify it.
05:17This entire message was altered in Joss Stone's cover, which was made as the official Poppy Appeal single for the Royal British Legion in 2014.
05:26You see, she completely omitted the back half of the song, which contains the core anti-war message.
05:38It's a sentimental tribute to war rather than a poignant reflection on its futility.
05:43Many people, including the original songwriter Eric Bogle, were not happy with the alterations, and the singer even wrote an entire piece in The Guardian expressing his disappointment.
05:54Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest?
06:01I just got out my little red book the minute that you said goodbye.
06:13This is one of those cases when a cover becomes even more popular than the original.
06:18My Little Red Book was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and recorded by Manfred Mann, but the single did not perform, failing to reach the hot 100.
06:27Enter the band, Love, whose cover reached number 52.
06:31Oh dear, what's up about you?
06:33Yeah, baby, what's up about?
06:35This was a completely different version, transforming the song from Bacharach's jazzy lounge-pop origins into a raw garage-rock anthem.
06:44They also altered its signature chord changes, simplifying Bacharach's unusual progressions into a more straightforward rock song.
06:52Bacharach reportedly hated these changes, claiming that they played the wrong chords.
06:57However, he did concede that the song brought him some credibility in the world of rock and roll.
07:03This is what's up, it's all about you.
07:05Do you need it?
07:06Walk off the cross.
07:07Number 4.
07:08Anarchy in the UK.
07:10Motley Crue.
07:11Anarchy for the UK.
07:14The Sex Pistols burst onto the scene with Anarchy in the UK, a ferocious punk song that introduced a harder, faster, and grittier sound to the mainstream.
07:23Fifteen years later, it was covered by Motley Crue for their compilation album Decade of Decadence 81-91.
07:30It's a much glossier production, with a more polished sound and flashy guitar work.
07:35The band also altered the lyrics, substituting UK organizations and references for American ones.
07:43So, Anarchy in the USA then?
07:50John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten, did not like these changes, telling NME they peppered it with the wrong words, cause they didn't know the full Monty.
08:00They lost the meaning somewhat.
08:02I, I wanna be Anarchy in the UK.
08:12Number 3.
08:13Life on Mars.
08:14Barbra Streisand.
08:15Is there life on Mars?
08:23Very few want to criticize Barbra Streisand.
08:26David Bowie didn't have a problem.
08:29Life on Mars is considered one of his most iconic songs, released as a single at the height of his Ziggy Stardust fame.
08:35It was also around this time that Barbra Streisand recorded a cover for her album Butterfly.
08:40As they ask her to focus on sailors fighting in the dance hall.
08:47She transforms the song from a glam rock ballad into a more theatrical and lush pop piece with sweeping orchestration.
08:54Many people hated Streisand's Broadway gloss, believing that it ruined the song's surreal and moody atmosphere.
09:01And that includes Bowie himself, who called it both bloody awful and atrocious.
09:05Hey, even the legends have a few missteps.
09:08Take a look at the lawman beating up the wrong guy.
09:14Number 2.
09:15Behind Blue Eyes.
09:17Limp Bizkit.
09:18No one knows what it's like to feel these feelings.
09:24Despite its scathing reviews, Limp Bizkit's cover of The Who's Behind Blue Eyes was a commercial success and is one of the band's highest-charting singles on the Hot 100, released at the height of their fame.
09:35There was an attempt at vulnerability here, with stripped-down instrumentation and melodic vocals that were a far cry from the band's usual efforts.
09:43Regardless, the song was not received well by critics or Pete Townsend.
09:53In an interview with Uncut in 2005, Townsend referred to that Durst Fellow and called his cover an embarrassing effort and one that discredits a fine song.
10:04To be the sad man behind blue eyes.
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10:25Number 1.
10:28These Boots.
10:29Megadeth.
10:30You keep sayin', you got somethin' for me.
10:34The idea of Megadeth covering Nancy Sinatra is just hilarious.
10:39They covered her seminal song, These Boots Are Made For Walkin', for their debut album, Killing Is My Business and Business Is Good.
10:46Although they intended it more as a parody than a straight cover.
10:49As such, they included some, shall we say, raunchier lyrics.
10:54One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.
11:00The song's writer and producer, Lee Hazelwood, called it a perversion of the original and demanded that the band omit it from future reissues of the album.
11:09Frontman Dave Mustaine later called out Hazelwood, saying that he happily collected royalties for a decade before issuing his complaint.
11:16Funnily enough, Megadeth later did a proper cover of the song with the correct lyrics for the 2018 remaster of the album.
11:33What do you think of these covers?
11:35Let us know in the comments below.
11:37No one knows what it's like to be hated.