Sometimes a cover should not be allowed

For me, in the vast majority of cases with a song I like, it is the [first] version that I heard that is 'right', and rarely do, I like covers. One of the earliest I recall was the Beatles' Help, never liking Joe Cocker's version.

That said, with bands long since gone, so-called 'tribute' bands that create a clos illusion of the original sound can be great. E.g. PIgs on the Wing (Pink Floyd).

Most Covers are weak.... shall we List them all?

there are only a Hand Full of Artist WHO are Able to make it Better.

first of all Mr. J Cocker. Sad he is gone.

I love the original "Behind The Mask" by Greg Phillinganes. I'm always underwhelmed when I hear the more famous Eric Clapton version.

I prefer Manfred Manns Blinded by the light to Springsteens version, and I believe he did too

The Far Corporation's Stairway to Heaven in the mid-1980s' - urgh!

Dear Prudence - Siouxsie and the Banshees - an awesome cover!

Some covers have, however, been better than the original. Take, for instance, Jimi Hendrix's version of 'Johnnie B Goode' from the 'In The West' album, which is like Chuck a Berry on steroids, or even his version of 'All Along the Watchtower' - Bob Dylan even changed the way he played it to be closer to the Hendrix version.

Allow this one .....

Tom Waits .... Somewhere,  from West Side Story. Brilliant. 

Bob F

I can think of several songs where I like the cover just as much as the original.  Here are the first two that came to mind :

Disturbed : Sound Of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel)

Marilyn Manson : Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This (Eurythmics)

In both cases very different from the original - perhaps that's the clue?

Rolf Harris deserved to be banged up for his execrable murdering of Stairway let alone anything else he had done.

steve