So Far, William Shatner Hasn't Made The List
http://retrocrush.com/archive2007/badcovers/index.html is the link; but, but, but, you are forewarned. Retrocrush.com is in the process of listing the 100 worst cover songs of all time. They have gotten from 100 "up" to 25 at the time of this post. They are doing a couple more each day. As noted in the title, Captain Kirk has not yet been "honored." Mr. Spock has made the list.
I've not listened to anything yet, I just read some of the comments that accompany the links to the videos. Wonderful stuff. I'm off to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," no. 100, as covered by Bill Cosby; and, it gets better/worse.
8 comments:
Oh, this should kill some boring time at work! haha
Just my opinion...anything by Carol Channing & Lucille Ball.
I think you need headphones at work.
I hadn't thought of Carol Channing in years. Broadway Hello Dolly?
I'm a big Tiny Tim fan (seriously), but he is very much hit and miss. I wasn't suprised to see he made the list, but I was surprised it wasn't for "Hey Jude (cha cha cha)" or his polka version of "Stairway to heaven."
There were a couple on the list I actually thought were pretty good. I liked Marilyn Manson's version of "Personal Jesus" and the Atari's version of "Boys of Summer."
And there were a few were the artist never really had a chance. How can there ever be a good version of "She bangs?"
Just as best-of lists inevitably reflect the biases of their compilers, worst-of lists tend to be the product of those with various axes to grind. The very fact of signing a recording contract implies a minumum level of competence (taste is another matter entirely). The unfortunate efforts of the likes of William Shatner and other celebrities are due more to cultural disconnect and/or massive egotism than to rank incompetence. Worst-of lists rarely tell you much more besides who it's cool to hate on this week.
Having once seen an unfortunately-named act called Dirty Underwear play out-of-tune guitars in a nearly-deserted Wichita bar many moons ago, my standards for musical incompetence are rather high (or low), indeed.
BTW, thanks for the spot on the blogroll.
I just can't get my head around Tiny Tim. I remember seeing him on the Tonight Show with Carson with Tiptoe Through The Tulips and the Ulelale (sp?).
As to bad and good music, I know what I like when I hear it. I don't necessarily know who did it or what genre it fits into. I like that song. Even when I've been in a bar, hearing a bad cover band, I can listen to the real song in my head unless they are really bad.
No problem Dr. S. It was overdue.
Tiny Tim is a good case in point.
He was certainly an odd character, downright incomprehensible to this eight-year-old seeing him for the first time on Laugh-In. But Herbert Khaury (Tiny Tim's real name) was also a respected musicologist with an extensive knowledge of early 20th century American popular music. "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" was a #1 hit in 1929. Tiny Tim's falsetto, ukelele playing, and some of his odd mannerisms were a conscious effort to mimic the popular vaudeville performers of that era. Not like I plan to run out and buy any Tiny Tim records, but you just don't realize stuff like that when you're eight years old.
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