70s/80s Soviet album covers. Until today, I had no idea Soviet hair metal existed. Prepare for keytars, mall hair and proof that 80s cheese was not solely a product of degenerate kepitalist decadence.
posted by DecemberBoy on Jun 23, 2009 - 54 comments

Beck intends to record cover versions of selected albums in a day, unrehearsed, with guest musicians and then to release them on his website. Pitchfork announced it yesterday here. The first song is Sunday Morning.
posted by tawny on Jun 19, 2009 - 48 comments

The Art of Penguin Science Fiction is a historical guide to the design of book jackets in the Penguin SF line by James Pardey. But before reading the essay I recommend looking at some of the wonderful cover designs, for example We, Deathworld, Rork!, The Drowned World, Star Maker, The Evolution Man, Fifth Planet and Alternating Currents. They certainly don't make SF book jackets like they used to. All hundred plus covers can also be browsed alphabetically by author. [via The Guardian Books Blog]
posted by Kattullus on May 7, 2009 - 25 comments

NYC Public School's PS22 Chorus belts out catchy tunes like Viva La Vida, Eye of The Tiger and Everybody's Changing. These Fifth Graders have also have worked with Tori Amos and Passion Pit among others. Make sure to check out their website.
posted by pwally on May 3, 2009 - 26 comments

Jack and Meg did it first. Audioslave did it poorly. The Hives tried to do it by rote. The Flaming Lips did it best while simultaneously Moving To Florida. It's been done in Mario Paint and on a ukulele. But the latest people to attempt it? Country legends The Oak Ridge Boys.
posted by namewithoutwords on May 1, 2009 - 108 comments

The Sun Ra Quilt of Joy
posted by Joe Beese on Mar 7, 2009 - 28 comments

Modern video game covers reimagined as Classic Books.
posted by ColdChef on Feb 4, 2009 - 30 comments

The "I Can Read Movies" Series is a set of fake film novelizations, done in 1950's and 1960's illustration style. [via]
posted by piratebowling on Jan 30, 2009 - 20 comments

Hungary may be the gloomiest country on earth. Believed by its people to be suffering from a centuries long curse, it's most famous modern musical export is probably the "Hungarian Suicide Song" - Gloomy Sunday. Originally popularized by Billie Holiday in the US (with an upbeat ending tacked onto the original lyrics), it's been covered dozens of times since then. Links to a few of my favorites inside: [more inside]
posted by empath on Jan 10, 2009 - 37 comments

The 25 best comics covers of 2008 - from Robot 6, the new home of the old blog@Newsarama team. [more inside]
posted by Artw on Jan 3, 2009 - 21 comments

Now I know how to Criticize Lin Piao and Discredit Him Completely, next time won't you join with me? Lots of other great covers on this site, but this one takes the (happy kids marching with rifles) cake. (via)
posted by ericbop on Sep 11, 2008 - 16 comments

A brief look at the Big Bang birth of a fandom: the explosion of 'Dr. Horrible' fandom in just 47 days. Quite a lot of "more inside" follows. [more inside]
posted by WCityMike on Aug 31, 2008 - 42 comments

Songs we wish were ours l 2 l 3 l 5 l bootleg Great idea, no? I thought the series was over but it looks like they kept it going.
posted by danep on Jul 24, 2008 - 29 comments

Leonard Nimoy ruins Joni Mitchell. Johnny Cash redeems Gordon Lightfoot. The Donnas render Men Without Hats ever so slightly less ridiculous. The CBC assembles a list of great (and sub-great) covers of Canadian songs. And a happy Canada Day to you.
posted by bicyclefish on Jun 30, 2008 - 65 comments

Mario Paint Composer emulates and extends the composer function from Mario Paint for the SNES. It has been used extensively to cover classic game music, popular hits both old and new, some of the greatest songs on earth, and even the occasional classical piece
posted by grandsham on Apr 1, 2008 - 9 comments

Coverville is a wonderful, podcast which collects covers grouped by various themes. [more inside]
posted by shothotbot on Mar 6, 2008 - 14 comments

Book nerds everywhere will enjoy these scans of cover art from the works of Beat Generation authors William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and John Clellon Holmes. [more inside]
posted by dhammond on Mar 4, 2008 - 12 comments

Here are 52 cover songs that Of Montreal have done over the years. via
posted by carsonb on Feb 1, 2008 - 37 comments

Total Eclipse of the Heart (YT) as "performed" by Legion of rock stars, a cover band that does “such lousy job with the source material that it becomes oddly hilarious”. (Choice of 179 videos. Via The in-between)
posted by growabrain on Jan 27, 2008 - 52 comments

You all remember the song from Sesame Street, but you've never heard it like this: one two three FOUR FIIIVE six seven EIGHT NIIINE TEN eleven TWELVE! (via). Se7en!
posted by Astro Zombie on Jan 10, 2008 - 17 comments

Written in 1967 by Bob Dylan, it was originally quiet, lowkey... and vaguely menacing. But when Jimi Hendrix redefined it the following year, even Dylan knew that the song had changed forever.

Since then, it's been covered (over and over again), praised almost as often, analyzed, referenced, and, of course, found to be encoded in the minds of Cylons.

Originally released 40 years ago, erm, yesterday: All Along the Watchtower.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher on Dec 28, 2007 - 41 comments

Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos
posted by Artw on Dec 5, 2007 - 72 comments

"The Pulp Gallery is a visual reference guide to the wonderful cover art of pulp and pin-up magazines." From the bizarre (Lovecraft!) to the breezy (NSFW?), the savage (Any relation to Adam?) to the spicy (Eel Trap!). And don't miss the gallery of recycled art.
posted by dersins on Nov 30, 2007 - 7 comments

Covering The Mouse. An MP3 blog dedicated to cover versions of Disney songs. My favorite so far is Gene Simmons' cover of "When You Wish Upon A Star."
posted by amyms on Nov 21, 2007 - 17 comments

Pop Songs 07 is a blog by Matthew Perpetua, founder of Fluxblog, in which he is attempting to write about every R.E.M. song eventually. With the recent release of Stereogum’s tribute to Automatic For The People, Drive XV, (free mp3s of covers of every track on the record by a range of indie rock acts) he was asked to write an essay about the album: Sweetness Followed: 15 Years After Automatic.
posted by ND¢ on Oct 16, 2007 - 53 comments

Okay, first, take a look at this collection of 60's and 70's Asian Pop Record Covers. Cause they're just a helluvalotta of fun to look at. Now, if you find your musical appetite whetted, the same fellow who brought you those wonderful jackets has a Singapore and Asian 60's Pop Music MySpace page, where you can listen to his fabulous audio playlist, see video clips and more record jackets, and get more info on this very fertile period in Asian pop music history. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Sep 26, 2007 - 17 comments

The author of the excellent (and previously mentioned) 60s/70s soul music blog Funky 16 Corners has put together an awesome compilation album available for free download, called Rubber Souled, featuring soul covers of Beatles classics; the results are intriguing, from Stevie Wonder's funked out version of We Can Work It Out to a nightmare inducing Bill Cosby cover of Sgt Peppers.
posted by jonson on Jul 25, 2007 - 31 comments

LP Cover Lover The world's greatest LP album covers. Groovy, man. [some nudity, some total insanity]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Jul 18, 2007 - 29 comments

Songs You Didn't Know Were Cover Versions: Good Lovin', Mambo No. 5, The City of New Orleans, Fernando, The First Cut Is the Deepest, I Love Rock 'n' Roll, Just A Gigolo, Without You, Don't Turn Around, Let's Live for Today, Dazed and Confused, Seasons in the Sun, Pass the Dutchie, There's Always Something There to Remind Me, Gloria, Respect, Turn Turn Turn, When the Levee Breaks, Do You Wanna Touch Me, Cum on Feel the Noize, Hanging on the Telephone, I Go Blind, I Will Always Love You, Take Me to the River, Louie Louie, The Twist etc. etc.
posted by jonp72 on Jul 13, 2007 - 111 comments

Aside from the usual crap, YouTube has a great selection of one the most covered song of all time: All Along the Watchtower. Classics like Hendrix (live and studio), Neil Young (at DailyMotion with better sound) and U2--and some great contemporary versions like Keziah Jones' blazingly-fast version, Bradley Fish's 12-instrument (including Chinese Zither) version, Michael Hedges’ reason-to-be-excited cover, and even a quite good version of DMB's much-maligned cover. What doesn't really rank: Dylan's original.
posted by FeldBum on Jul 2, 2007 - 43 comments

All This and World War II [trailer; IMDB] is a 1976 musical documentary that mixes World War II newsreels and movie clips with Beatles covers. Looks like Hitler disapproved. [lots more inside]
posted by kirkaracha on Jun 29, 2007 - 6 comments

Mefites love cover versions. But are we ready for The Legion of Rockstars? To wit: "1) A bunch of people put on noise-canceling headphones. 2) They all listen to the same song and play along. 3)The results are recorded and set to the original music video. 4) Hilarity ensues" (myspace, via).
posted by bardic on Jun 22, 2007 - 22 comments

Sure, reading is great, but books are fun to look at, too
posted by nuclear_soup on Jun 21, 2007 - 37 comments

If this album cover quiz frustrates you, you might enjoy watching some album art wars instead.
posted by Oriole Adams on May 29, 2007 - 38 comments

Van Halen's Eruption on Violin | Elton John's Rocket Man on Banjo | Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody for solo classical guitar | Foggy Mountain Breakdown arranged for electric slap bass | Toto's Africa for Acoustic Guitar | The Postal Service's Such Great Heights for Voice
posted by jonson on May 21, 2007 - 51 comments

The always-excellent (and MeFi fave) Jonathan Coulton, inspired by Alanis Morissette's cover of My Humps from a few weeks ago, has done a marvelously droll cover of You Oughta Know.
posted by shiu mai baby on Apr 19, 2007 - 52 comments

Sgt. Pepper's 2.0 . fourty years later, BBC 2 is preparing a recording session (with the original recording instrumentation and Geoff Emerick) to be aired on 2 June. Oasis, The Killers, Razorlight, James Morrison, The Fratellis, Travis and the Kaiser Chiefs are the artists currently announced. Not the first time someone covers the Beatles (there's even a mashup, previously covered on Mefi).
[via]
posted by darkripper on Apr 6, 2007 - 56 comments

Catchy bitter ukulele break-up song by Duncan Pflaster. Video with song. Simple and excellent. Found via Cat and Girl.
posted by LobsterMitten on Mar 30, 2007 - 27 comments

They Don't Know I'm speechless right now.
posted by vronsky on Jan 29, 2007 - 110 comments

The Torontoist Cover Song Catalogue. We tried to avoid some of the more obvious cover hits (like Alien Ant Farm's recent chart-topper "Smooth Criminal") and we stuck with actual recorded covers rather than including those only played in concert. You'll notice that most of these cover versions are pretty chilled-out, which is a byproduct of looking for tracks that were eclectic, odd and often very different from the originals.
posted by soundofsuburbia on Nov 28, 2006 - 31 comments

The true spirit of radio. It is hard to do Geddy Lee justice, but nothing is going to stop kids from trying. Some results better than others. [Youtube]
posted by fstutzman on Nov 4, 2006 - 50 comments

NYC via DC's The Walkmen have recorded a fourth studio LP, a "note-for-note reproduction" of Harry Nilsson's 1974 album "Pussy Cats," famously produced by musician and drinking-buddy John Lennon during his "Lost Weekend" days in Los Angeles. You can listen to the new album here gratis.
posted by bardic on Oct 26, 2006 - 10 comments

12xux12
posted by bardic on Oct 8, 2006 - 14 comments

Japanese Surf Versions of Classical Themes
posted by BuddhaInABucket on Sep 11, 2006 - 14 comments

Covers of your favorite Pixes songs, by other famous musicians!*

*All other famous musicians simulated. Your milage may vary. Please don't shoot the messenger.
posted by 40 Watt on Jun 1, 2006 - 77 comments

Lennon Letter Sells £12,000. In 1971, a New York Times article accused the Beatles, and other white artists, of imitating and exploiting American black music in their early cover records. Lennon responded angrily, "Many kids were turned on to black music by us. It wasn't a rip off, it was a love-in."
posted by three blind mice on May 25, 2006 - 71 comments

Yo La Tengo is Murdering the Classics (via). Spontaneous cover magic from the great YLT.
posted by bardic on Apr 27, 2006 - 12 comments

Bad acoustic cover songs with a French accent.
posted by Wolfdog on Jan 4, 2006 - 31 comments

NES Synth covers of classic songs by those goons at Something Awful. Previous NES music stuff: 8bitpeoples' "Axel F" and "The 8 Bits of Christmas", The Video Game Pianist and his famous videos, A Capella NES Themes, SMW Soundtrack, etc. On the Marimba, too, just a few minutes ago. (via BB...via waxy)
posted by BlackLeotardFront on Nov 21, 2005 - 35 comments

Pitchfork's Worst Album Covers of All Time. (Previous discussions of worst and best album covers)
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Nov 15, 2005 - 107 comments