Ten Pop/Rock Crossovers That Worked – Or Didn’t!
With the news that Mary J. Blige is doing a cover of Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven, Classic Rock takes a look at 10 other pop/rock crossovers. Some worked. Others…well, they’re best forgotten!
1. Michael Jackson – He might have been wacko, but Jacko knew the value of a great guitarist. So he worked with Eddie Van Halen, Slash and Steve Lukather. The best collaboration was probably with Van Halen on Beat It.
2. Chris Cornell – His last solo album, Scream, had great songs, fantastic vocals – and a dog of a production from Timbaland. All the latter did was sprinkle some urban chintz, which was wholly inappropriate! Still, at least it got Cornell back with Soundgarden.
3. Judas Priest – It seemed like an interested idea. Get the icons of metal to work with Stock, Aitken & Waterman, the high priests of pop. This happened at the end of the 1980s, but the results were allegedly so disastrous that the band won’t let anyone hear the tracks!
4. Duran Duran – It’s said that, under the influence of guitarist Andy Taylor, the new romantic pin-up lads decided to make Wild Boys a real hard rock slammer, with lots of geetar, The story goes that EMI, their label, almost went into convulsions when they heard the result. So, what was finally released as a single had almost all the guitar removed. Shame.
5. Puff Daddy – When the rap hellraiser did the song Come With Me for the soundtrack of the Godzilla movie in 1998, it was effectively a remake of Zeppelin’s Kashmir. Not only did Jimmy Page approve, he played on it! As did Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine. Nobody should be proud of the result.
6. Metallica – So, Metallica decided that they needed a female voice for the song The Memory Remains, from the ReLoad album. They got in the legendary Marianne Fathfull, and then proceeded to make her sound like a daft old bat. Right at the end of the song, they even appear to leave the studio, turn out the lights, lock the door, and she’s croaking away. Embarrassing.
7. Mariah Carey – In 2002, the diva covered Def Leppard’s Bringin’ On The Heartbreak. Talk about showboating. Joe Elliott might have approved, but few others did. It was released as a single and flopped. Sometimes the public does know best.
8. Sugababes and Girls Aloud – The two all gal groups combined in 2007 for a cover of Aerosmith’s Walk This Way. All done for Comic Relief. It’s best to treat this as a comedy record, actually.
9. Will Young – The Pop Idol idler covered The Doors classic Light My Fire in 2002. It’s so bad you wanna set him alight, and then set him free in a sea of petrol!
10. Diana Ross – The queen of Motown stunned everyone in 1981 by recording a rock single. Mirror Mirror even had an – ulp! – guitar solo. The fact she was dating Gene Simmons at the time could explain it all. But it was actually not too bad.
Know any other examples of pop/rock crossovers? Let us know your faves – or your hates – below!
I’m not a fan of Will Young but I think it’s a little unfair to criticise his take on ‘Light My Fire’ when it’s a cover of a cover. The version he’s covered being by Jose Feliciano originally, so maybe should have criticised that version instead.
Mariah Carey also covers Journey’s Open Arms – and does it justice. No – it’s not Rock and Roll, but it was from a truly great rock band. Would love to hear her do a duet on it with Steve Perry
Diana Ross Mirror Mirror, call that a Rock single ? to hear Diana Ross really rockin out take a listen to Fool For Your Love from the same (Gene Simmons) period , this is a full blown melodic rock track , balls out n everything
@ Flaming mane. sorry but you need to get your facts right. jose feliciano recorded the song in 1968, the doors recorded it in 1966..this is taken from wikipedia…. “They recorded the The Doors’ song “Light My Fire” in a Latin style and when released as a single, it reached #3 on the U.S. pop charts in late summer, 1968. Many subsequent recordings of “Light My Fire” by a multitude of artists took the arrangement from the Feliciano recording.”…there for, The Doors wrote the song.
The obvious one that springs to mind was Celine Dion and Anastacia murdering You Shook Me All Night Long.
@ guns0302: Read what Flaming Mane actually wrote. He said it was a cover of a cover, taking the arrangement from the Feliciano version. What you’ve quoted only backs up what he said. Besides which, any argument that hinges on Wikipedia automatically falls down.
@Grant: Thank you very much for the back up there and yes Wikipedia isn’t the best thing to base a constructive criticism upon.
@guns0302: I’m well aware that The Doors wrote ‘Light My Fire’ I’d have to have been living under a rock not to know this.
MARIAH CAREY BUTCHERED ANOTHER ROCK BALLAD THIS TIME FOREIGNERS ” I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS ” WHICH SEE’S HER CAVORTING IN A BLACK NIGHT DRESS AND SEE’S THE SONG ADOPT A PC APPROACH IF YOU SEE THE VIDEO FOR YOURSELF TO SEE WHY!
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Thunder. Gimme some lovin’
Judas Priest. Johnny Be Good
Deep Sabbath (or was it Black Purple?) Sabbath doing Smoke on The Water when Ian Gillan was vocalist.
Don’t forget Jacko worked with Steve Stevens too on Dirty Diana!
How about Janes Jackson’s BLACK CAT???
Anyone heard Paul Gilbert’s cover of 2 Become 1 orginally by tart group the Spice Girls? It’s very cheesy and tacky, as it was supposed to be, but actually quite good.
Surely one of the worst has to be Limp Bizkit’s cover of Behind Blue Eyes? They should be shot for that.
What about Gun famously rocking up a scorcher over Cameo’s “Word Up”.
Suffice to say that all rock/pop crossovers fall and worship at the altar of Jedward’s “Under Presssure”. Think I’m going to be ill now!
The worst of the worst cover must be Marty Friedman’s cover of his own thrasher Tornado of Souls, which literally leaves behind a wreck of your ears. Especially with that drummer/singer killing every verse and chorus, it’s a complete shame for the virtuoso. The only part not destroyed in the song is the solo, which is a definitive Marty tag. The guitarist couldn’t de-talent himself.
Mariah Carey also covered Foreigners I want to Know What Love Is….Let’s just say, its be f’ing tortured.
Am I missing something or has no-one mentioned Aerosmith / Run DMC – Walk This Way. Re-Kickstarted the ’smiths career
@Andrew I totally agree! I hated that!
Chris Cornell’s version of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jSrpn8ED74 – If nothing else it shows off the amazing pipes of the man.
I’m surprised no-one has mentioned Children of Bodom and their many strange covers.
Didnt Anthrax do a song with some hip hop band or somethin. Also Faith No More did “Another Body Murdered” with Boo Yaa Tribe.
Britney Speares covering the Stones Satisfaction…
I almost cried when I heard it it was so painful! She even changed the lyrics!
Hey, I thought the Metallica/Marianne Faithfull thing worked well! I suppose one man’s meat is another man’s aching butt,as Ian Gillan once said…