Covers and originals

A lot of people maintain, that there can never exist a  cover version of a song being better than the original itself. So the original of a song is always the best version of that song. A cover version cannot surpass the original. Well, I think this is a myth. Of course, I appreciate the original always as what it is: as an original idea which is recorded for the first time and therefore played by the original band with great enthusiasm and force. This makes the original always special. but this does not nessecarily mean, that a cover version must be inferior to original. To me a real cover version must follow two basic rules:

1) The cover version must respect the original!

2) The cover version must document the band covering the original. This means that it must be clear that it is not the original band playing this version. The cover version must sound as it would have been composed by the band covering it.

If these two rules are not respected, the cover version is just a parody or a copy or both of it. Let's have a look at a few examples, where I think these two basic rules are finely represented.

Example A: NO REMORSE (The band whose name shouldn't be verbalized anymore)

The brilliant cover by CANNIBAL CORPSE




Example B: PAINKILLER (Judas Priest)



notedly well covered by DEATH:



Example C: IRON FIST / ACE OF SPADES (Motörhead)





covered in a rarely good way by SODOM:






Sodom is always a band for good cover versions. They do even Iron Maiden in a respectable manner:



or AC/DC:



Well dudes! So long! I hope you liked my choice! Feel free to comment on this stuff!

Up the Irons!

Gun