00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the musical interpretations
00:12that the original performer publicly denounced, or worse.
00:23Number 10. Elvis Costello, Linda Ronstadt.
00:27It's no surprise that versatile folk artist Linda Ronstadt is a fan of Elvis Costello.
00:37The surprise that the feeling wasn't mutual came out after she interpreted four of his songs.
00:44Ronstadt covered Allison in 1978, then Party Girl, Girls Talk, and Talking in the Dark for one 1980 album.
00:52She was even faithful to their new wave style.
00:54I miss talking in the dark when the parking and the body rolls through.
01:01Nonetheless, Costello told Record World that the covers were like sheer torture,
01:07and that the whole Mad Love album was a waste of vinyl.
01:10He later expressed regret for his harsh reaction to a more mainstream artist paying her respects.
01:16Don't come any closer, don't come any nearer.
01:19Ronstadt's Allison and Mad Love were ultimately successful,
01:24though she told Billboard that she understood Costello's frustration with someone else claiming his art.
01:30You say you don't lie.
01:34Number 9. Blinded by the Light.
01:37Manfred Mann's EarthBand.
01:39Bruce Springsteen arguably broke out with the underdog anthem Blinded by the Light.
01:44Mad man drummers, bombers, and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat.
01:50But it's better known as the signature song of Manfred Mann's EarthBand.
01:55In the dunce with a boss, as the adolescent bumps his way into his head.
02:01Unfortunately, the boss wasn't impressed with a drastic prog rock rearrangement.
02:07On VH1 Storytellers, he expressed his dismay over the cover commercially outpacing the original
02:13by mocking an infamous change to the lyric.
02:16While the original chorus boasted cut loose like a deuce in reference to a deuce coupe,
02:22many thought Chris Thompson sang something besides revved up like a deuce.
02:27Revved up like a deuce, you know the runner in the night.
02:30In a 2025 interview with Guitar Player, Thompson recalled Springsteen telling him directly
02:36that he hated EarthBands Blinded by the Light.
02:39Both versions are still considered classics, even if one visionary doesn't see it that way.
02:49Number 8. You're My Home.
02:51Helen Reddy.
02:52You can't help but sing along to a Billy Joel ballad.
02:55When you look into my eyes.
03:00Of course, he'd rather one particular gifted singer hadn't.
03:04Written for Joel's wife, the sincere piece, You're My Home,
03:08was given the full orchestral pop treatment by Helen Reddy.
03:11It always comes as a surprise.
03:15The original artist blasted this interpretation at a concert
03:18that he didn't realize was being attended by a representative of Reddy's.
03:23Oh, I'll never be a stranger, and I'll never be alone.
03:28Joel revealed this in a 1998 interview with Uncut Magazine,
03:33and that the incident nearly led to legal action.
03:36Reddy resolved the issue by promising Joel that she would never again cover his music.
03:41He hated to admit that his response was more enthusiastic than his feelings about the initial tribute.
03:47I need you in my house, cause you're my home.
03:52Number 7. If I Needed Someone.
03:55The Hollies.
03:56If any band should have thick skin for music covers, it's the Beatles.
04:00It was a very different story in 1965, especially as the world hadn't heard
04:07If I Needed Someone when the demo leaked to the Hollies.
04:11If I needed someone to love.
04:15They released their version as a single on the exact day the Beatles debuted the album, Rubber Soul.
04:22If I needed someone.
04:24George Harrison, the song's writer, dismissed the Hollies' cover and overall sound in an interview with NME.
04:32If I had some more time to spend, then I guess I'd be with you, my friend.
04:40This sparked a public feud between the two British Invasion favorites.
04:44The Hollies' Graham Nash later blamed the backlash for the single's commercial disappointments,
04:50but admitted in his autobiography that the circumstances of the cover were in bad taste.
04:56Thankfully, he and Harrison wound up becoming friends.
04:59If I Needed Someone.
05:03If I Needed Someone.
05:06Number 6. Where the Streets Have No Name.
05:09I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, Pet Shop Boys.
05:14It doesn't seem like Alt-Rock Pioneers U2 and synth-pop icons Pet Shop Boys would cross paths.
05:20Why not throw in Frankie Valli?
05:30The crooner never commented on Pet Shop Boys' mashup between Where the Streets Have No Name and Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You.
05:37I want to break down the walls that hold me inside.
05:43U2's Bono, however, put out a statement asking, what have we done to deserve this?
05:49Sure, this was a playful reference to another Pet Shop Boys song, but the sentiment was serious.
05:5512 years later, Neal Tennant told the tabloid The People that he and Bono had made amends.
06:08It took a long time for them to find their way out of this petty genre feud.
06:12Now we just need to know what Valli thought of the crossover.
06:15Number 5. Street Spirit. Fade Out. Peter Gabriel.
06:26Incidentally, the relationship between Radiohead and Peter Gabriel didn't fade out.
06:31It ended abruptly when Gabriel covered one of his fellow art-rock legend's most beloved songs.
06:37Rose of houses are burned down on me.
06:44Before his more solemn interpretation of Street Spirit was released, he told NME that he sent it to Tom York.
06:51I can feel their blue hands touching me.
06:58The band was set to, in turn, do Gabriel's wallflower for the Scratch My Back cover project.
07:05Well, he never heard back.
07:07Gabriel was later informed that Radiohead were not pleased with his interpretation,
07:12though they've never given their side of the story.
07:18All Gabriel can say is that he can understand their apprehension toward his artistic liberties.
07:29The bigger artistic loss is that the world missed out on Radiohead's version of Wallflower.
07:34Again.
07:37Number 4. Old 55. Eagles.
07:41It's one thing for Tom Waits to dismiss the particular way another artist adapts his music.
07:48Well, my time went so quick.
07:51I will lick it and split me.
07:54But his response to the Eagles' soft-rock twist on the jazz folk ballad Old 55 was just the beginning of the rant.
08:02In a 1975 radio interview, Waits harshly described the cover as a little antiseptic.
08:15A year later, he told NME that he just didn't like the Eagles in general.
08:19As exciting as watching paint dry were his exact words.
08:29Even if the Eagles' All 55 was technically more upbeat than Waits's, he felt that it lacked creativity.
08:37Granted, Glenn Frey once mentioned at a concert that the royalty checks helped him and Waits make peace.
08:43Number 3. You Really Got Me.
08:52Van Halen.
08:53The Kinks was an interesting way to follow the screaming guitar solo eruption on Van Halen's debut album.
08:59You'd think that the original artists would appreciate such maverick rock as much as anyone.
09:12Girl, you really got me now.
09:15You got me so like this bad night.
09:18But in 2010, Dave Davies told Classic Rock magazine that he found this rendition of You Really Got Me to be artlessly technical.
09:26He was further disheartened by a concertgoer believing that the Kinks were the ones doing the covering.
09:40At least Ray Davies found Van Halen's You Really Got Me to be good for a laugh.
09:45Considering that this version is as popular as the original, one could say that the Davies brothers just didn't really get it.
09:53You really got me.
09:55You really got me.
09:56You really got me.
09:58Number 2. Summer Breeze.
10:01Type O Negative.
10:02The soft rock icons Seals and Crofts are way off-key from Type O Negative.
10:08See the burdens hanging in the living room
10:10In the evening of Friday night
10:13As much as their doom metal cover of Summer Breeze sounds like a parody, it's still pretty toned down.
10:21The song was originally rewritten as an eight-minute-long, lyrically-lewd epic under the title Summer Girl.
10:28But when the demo reached Seals and Crofts, they were deeply offended.
10:40Thus, a shorter, more faithful version of Summer Breeze was recorded for the album Bloody Kisses.
10:47The Summer Girl demo was leaked shortly thereafter.
10:50This hidden gem is definitely not for soft rock enthusiasts, but it's nice to know that Type O Negative had enough respect for the original artists to more or less clean up their act.
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11:26Number 1. Dazed and Confused
11:28The Yardbirds slash Led Zeppelin
11:31Innovative songwriter and guitarist Jimmy Page has long-faced allegations of plagiarism.
11:37Even Led Zeppelin's debut album was tainted by a belated writing credit to Anne Breeden for Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You.
11:45Baby, baby, baby, I'm Gonna Leave You.
11:51But Dazed and Confused was an unprecedented scandal.
11:55In 1967, Jake Holmes performed the folk ballad while opening for Page's band, The Yardbirds.
12:01I'm dazed and confused
12:04As it stays, it goes
12:06They then adapted the song with just enough changes to credit Page as sole songwriter
12:12before Zeppelin made it a signature song.
12:20Holmes sued for copyright infringement in 2010
12:24and at last received an Inspired by credit.
12:28It was the ultimate statement about what a musician thought of a cover.
12:32Of course, we could never confuse what Holmes thought about being excluded from the classic he originated.
12:42Where do you stand on these and other covers?
12:48And on where the original artists stand on them?
12:51Give your interpretation in the comments.
12:53Every word you say
12:56Every game you play
13:00Hey!
13:03No!
13:06No!
13:08No!
13:10No!
13:11No!
13:11No!
13:11No!
13:12Just...
13:12No!
13:12No!
13:13No!
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