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- Michael Andrews & Gary Jules – Mad World. Original: Tears For Fears. Sometimes a cover can dwarf the original so much that it’s the first version that tends to get mistaken as the reboot.
- The Be Good Tanyas – When Doves Cry. Original: Prince. The most ear-catching covers are often when a band from a completely different corner of the musical spectrum take on a song from a genre far away from their own.
- Hot Chip – Dancing in the Dark. Original: Bruce Springsteen. Bruce Springsteen’s brand of blue-collar earnestness couldn’t be more distanced from the dorky, bedroom-dwelling, über-arch output of electro noodlers Hot Chip, so there was never any chance that their version of The Boss’ 1984 classic would sound even remotely similar.
- The Futureheads – Hounds of Love. Original: Kate Bush. There are precious few Kate Bush covers (I mean, who would even dare?) and even fewer ones that managed to prick the Top 10, with the unlikely exception being northern post-punks The Futureheads who scored a No.8 hit with this guitar-coated version of Dame Kate’s 1986 classic (which, somewhat outrageously, only managed a No.18 placing in the UK).
Jan 5, 2019 · Greatest Cover Songs 1980s. Legend: Song - Original Artist with first recording (year) | Great Cover Version/Remake (year) 1. Walk This Way - Aerosmith (1975) | Run-D.M.C. (1986) 2. I Love Rock 'N' Roll - Arrows (1975) | Joan Jett & the Blackhearts (1982) 3. Tainted Love - Gloria Jones (1964) | Soft Cell (1981) 4.
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- 20 The Communards – Don’T Leave Me This Way
- 19 The Housemartins – Caravan of Love
- 18 Run-Dmc – Walk This Way
- 17 Kim Wilde – You Keep Me Hangin’ on
- 16 Natalie Cole – Pink Cadillac
- 15 The Art of Noise – Peter Gunn
- 14 Tiffany – I Think We’Re Alone Now
- 13 Paul Young – Every Time You Go Away
- 12 David Bowie – China Girl
- 11 Robert Palmer – I Didn’T Mean to Turn You on
Jimmy Somerville tackled everything from Porgy And Bess showtune It Ain’t Necessarily So to Françoise Hardy’s Gallic pop classic Comment Te Dire Adieu under various guises. But his most triumphant cover was this Hi-NRG take on Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes’ Philly soul standard. In fact, Don’t Leave Me This Waywas the UK’s biggest-selling single o...
The fourth best band in Hull going a cappella on a squelchy synth spiritual from an Isley Brothers offshoot? Even in Norman Cook’s chameleonic back catalogue, Caravan Of Love still stands out as an oddity. Following in the footsteps of The Flying Pickets, this 1986 hit leaned firmly into The Housemartins’ self-described status as Christian Marxists...
Run-DMC’s take on Walk This Way revitalised Aerosmith, convinced MTV bosses hip-hop was a viable musical form and paved the way for everyone from Beastie Boys to Rage Against The Machine. Less impressively, it also gave us Limp Bizkit and the nadir of both Sugababes and Girls Aloud’s careers. The Adidas enthusiasts hadn’t even heard of Steven Tyler...
Tom Jones, Colourbox and Vanilla Fudge were just a handful of the artists who’d put their own spin on The Supremes’ Motown classic. But only Kim Wilde’s managed to repeat its US No.1 success. Swapping Holland-Dozier-Holland’s Morse Code-inspired guitars and proto-funk beats for shimmering synths and dramatic orchestral stabs, this version appears t...
Bruce Springsteen made Bette Midler a sworn enemy in 1983 when he kiboshed her recording of Pink Cadillac, a Born In The USA outtake later released as Dancing In The Dark’s B-side. The Boss believed its lyrics, in which the titular vehicle becomes a less-than-subtle metaphor for a certain part of the female anatomy, shouldn’t be uttered by the oppo...
The Art Of Noise went all couch potato for their first album since parting company with Paul Morley. 1986’s In Visible Silencenot only featured a collaboration with one of the decade’s quintessential TV creations, Max Headroom, it also covered the coolest theme tune of the 1950s. Spoofing the eponymous private eye drama, its video even gave a starr...
Had we been ranking the decade’s worst covers, then Tiffany’s massacre of The Beatles’ I Saw Her Standing There may have grabbed No.1. But her debut single updated a 60s classic for the shopping mall crowd with far more finesse. The teen queen was reluctant to record Tommy James And The Shondells’ tale of hormonal teens, believing its bubblegum pop...
Paul Young had already staked his claim as one of his generation’s finest song interpreters when Every Time You Go Away topped the US charts in 1985. He’d previously made tracks by Ann Peebles, Nicky Thomas and Marvin Gaye his own, of course, also reaching UK No.1 with his version of the latter’s Wherever I Lay My Hat. But he has a fellow blue-eyed...
A by-product of David Bowie and Iggy Pop’s self-imposed rehab years in Berlin, China Girl emerged on the latter’s The Idiot, as a gritty krautrock number recorded using a toy drum kit and piano. Six years later, and with a little spit and polish from Nile Rodgers, its co-writer transformed the track into something more suited to Studio 54. Bowie mi...
Robert Palmer was in recycling mode on the fourth single taken from Riptide. Its promo brought back the slightly uncoordinated group of mannequin-like models from Addicted To Love, and the song itself had been recorded two years earlier by Cherrelle. But while the original production was steeped in the synths of the Minneapolis sound, Bernard Edwar...
- Jon O'brien
Oct 15, 2020 · There were many hit cover versions in the '80s, some of well-known originals, and some that fans may be surprised are covers. By. Chris Gerard. / 15 October 2020. Animotion – “Obsession” (1984)
- Emilia Benton
- Contributing Writer
- "Fast Car" by Luke Combs. If you're partial to the original 1988 hit song by Tracy Chapman, you're not alone. However, Luke Combs managed to top the charts with his cover proving to rock and country fans that you can be a fan of both genres.
- "Africa" by Weezer. Weezer's 2018 Teal album was made up entirely of covers, with the band's take on Toto's "Africa" being one of its most popular.
- "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Exit Eden. Bonnie Taylor's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a fan-favorite and you'll want to play it more after you hear Exit Eden's version of the 1983 hit.
- "Heaven" by DJ Sammy & Yanou feat. Do. When Bryan Adams dropped "Heaven" in 1983, it was a slow romantic ballad. DJ Sammy and Yanou featuring Do jazzed things up with a faster cover released in 2002.
1. “Call Me” (Blondie, 1980) Blondie’s “Call Me” just barely makes the list of 80’s songs, released in the US in February 1980. It went on to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for six weeks, becoming the band’s biggest single. According to Billboard, it was the #1 song on the year-end charts for 1980.
Mar 8, 2019 · Jonatha Brooke, "Eye in the Sky". In the case of this stripped-down, emotive version of the Alan Parsons Project's 1982 hit, sometimes a great cover can newly reveal the brilliance of a song too long encased in precise production. Before you hear Brooke's stunning version of this song, you may have forgotten why the Eric Woolfson-sung original ...
