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When imitation isn't the sincerest form of flattery! Join us as we count down the musical covers that had original artists fuming. From Led Zeppelin's appropriation of "Dazed and Confused" to Limp Bizkit's take on "Behind Blue Eyes," these interpretations struck all the wrong notes with their creators. Which legendary artist called a cover "bloody awful"? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for music covers that most notably
00:12received backlash from the song's original performer.
00:2230. Hard Son, Eddie Vedder
00:26Gordon Peterson's brief music career under the stage name Indio yielded the 1989 one-hit wonder, Hard Son.
00:37Really, the folk ballad was mostly a hit in his native Canada.
00:41Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder did remember Hard Son fondly enough to contribute a cover to the 2007 film, Into the Wild.
00:48When I look to leave her, I always stagger back again.
00:53Unfortunately, Peterson was so irritated by this interpretation, complete with lyric changes, that he sued Vedder for copyright infringement in 2009.
01:02I see a pin of charm, she just throws it back at me.
01:07The case was dismissed on the grounds that Universal Music granted permission for the soundtrack cover.
01:12Thus, Peterson also sued the label, who settled for an undisclosed amount.
01:18These lawsuits may be perceived as petty, but Indio took the legal and artistic deception hard.
01:24In the beat, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.
01:32Baker Street, The Undercover
01:34The 1970s soft rock didn't get much more infectious than Jerry Rafferty's career-defining, Baker Street.
01:41The electro dance outfit Undercover adapted it to the 1990s with their debut single.
01:59Some took umbrage with the hit's rave-worthy reworking of such a sweeping and self-reflexive
02:04anthem, including Rafferty himself. He told The Sun in 2003 that he found the cover totally banal
02:11and even a sad sign of the times. His once-promising career was stunted by his disdain for commercial
02:24music, as well as the alcohol use disorder that inspired Baker Street. He wouldn't even let it be
02:30used in advertising. Ironically, Rafferty also expressed appreciation for the royalties that
02:36the song and its successful covers brought. Artistically speaking, though, he was underwhelmed by Undercover's
02:43big break.
02:5028. Leaving on a Jet Plane – The Baron Nights
02:54John Denver's career soared with the melancholy folk ballad Leaving on a Jet Plane.
02:59But the dawn is breaking, it's early morn. The taxi's waiting, he's blown his horn.
03:07One can imagine he wasn't amused when British comedy rockers The Baron Nights made the stomach-turning
03:12spoof, heathen on a jet plane.
03:22Well, neither Denver nor guitarist Peter Peanut Lankford left that to the imagination. The latter
03:28recounted to PA Media in 2020 that the Nights were once in Australia around the same time
03:33as Denver, who told a DJ that he hated the parody. Granted, he hadn't heard it. He was just
03:44so upset about the idea of the crass bastardization that he threatened to pull his music from a
03:48publisher if they aired Heavin.
03:5127. The Show Must Go On – Three Dog Nights
04:01Despite its festive style, Leo Sayer's breakout hit, The Show Must Go On, featured a thoughtful
04:06lyric about regret and showbiz.
04:08All the wild men mix the guns together cause, they're all laughing at me now.
04:14Three Dog Nights' version not only indirectly undermined the message with an even more boisterous
04:19and experimental sound,
04:21They dramatically changed the lyrics' climax, with the final refrain,
04:31In a 2016 interview with Rock Cellar, Sayer explained that he was in fact lamenting the
04:45artifice of a public persona. Three Dog Nights seemingly misinterpreted this, but Sayer politely
04:52commended them when they met. As it turns out, though, his initial praise of the cover was
04:58just for show itself.
04:5926. Under the Bridge – All Saints
05:08The funk rockers' Red Hot Chili Peppers found a transformative hit in a ballad about loneliness
05:13and substance dependency.
05:15Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner
05:20Six years later, the British girl group All Saints radically reinterpreted Under the Bridge
05:26with an R&B twist.
05:35They also showed Anthony Kiedis some respect by removing the most tragically personal passages.
05:40However, the RHCP frontman found this more crucial to the song than its iconic composition.
05:46In Jeff Apter's book Fornication, Kiedis slammed All Saints' version as superficial and void of grit.
05:59He plainly said,
06:00It looked like they didn't know what they were singing about.
06:07All Saints' personal urban experience may liven up under the bridge.
06:12But this take ironically isolates the original's confession and identity.
06:2125. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Roberta Flack
06:28Many recognize Roberta Flack's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face as one of the most romantic songs of the 70s.
06:43But the first time ever we heard the ballad was when Ewan McCall
06:47wrote it as a traditionalist folk number for future wife Peggy Seeger in 1957.
06:52The original singer mentioned in interviews that she was put off by Flack's slow, self-indulgent aggrandizement.
07:16Seeger came to embrace this interpretation, but her husband reportedly never did.
07:21McCall resented that Flack popularized such a personal piece and really didn't like anyone appropriating his work.
07:28He collected recordings of covers in an album dubbed The Chamber of Horrors.
07:40It's not exactly the most loving tribute to a lovely classic he, and Seeger, originated.
07:45Number 24. Oye Como Va – Santana
07:56One of the many staples that Tito Puente contributed to Latin music is the catchy 1962 masterpiece Oye Como Va.
08:03It then exploded into the global mainstream through Santana's sophomore album, Abraxas.
08:16Consequently, many assumed that the seminal Latin rock band originated the song.
08:21Already disgruntled by the genre shift, Puente encountered so many misconceptions from minor fans that he'd regularly announce at concerts.
08:35We don't play Santana music.
08:37Well, that resentment died down when the royalty checks started coming in.
08:41Puente then expressed gratitude to Santana for elevating his legitimacy with a composer credit and helping to popularize Latin music.
08:53Granted, he also would have appreciated more credit from those who didn't read the liner notes for Abraxas.
08:59Number 23. My Prerogative – Britney Spears
09:11After getting kicked out of New Edition for problematic behavior, Bobby Brown asserted his independence in 1988 with My Prerogative.
09:18They say I'm crazy. I really don't care.
09:23The premise of rising above the judgment of others surely resonated with notoriously scrutinized pop star Britney Spears.
09:30Sadly, her cover underperformed and was largely dismissed by critics, including Brown himself.
09:35They say I'm nasty, but I don't give a damn.
09:40In a 2025 interview for the podcast Club Shay Shay, he unpromptedly referred to Spears as my prerogative as a butchery.
09:48He further claimed that this convinced him to vet samples and covers of his work before permitting their release.
09:58Brown then faced backlash from fans given the personal struggles that made Spears a credible interpreter of the song.
10:04Whether this makes Brown a hypocrite, hey, it's his prerogative.
10:13Number 22. The Boys of Summer – The Ataris
10:17Don Henley has a reputation for being aggressively protective of his music.
10:26He's led much of the critical and even legal backlash against those who dip into the Eagles, never mind a solo catalog highlighted by the heartland rock anthem The Boys of Summer, which also immortalized the pop-punk outfit The Ataris in 2003.
10:40Of course, Henley hated their style so much that their original material was poisoned as far as he was concerned.
10:53This sparked a feud that has been linked to the band's subsequent commercial decline.
11:05At least Henley rather remarkably spared them a lawsuit.
11:08Still, The Boys of Summer making then breaking The Ataris is a sad testament to an otherwise respected artist's spiteful side.
11:16Number 21. Africa – Weezer
11:25Steve Lucather and Steve Porcaro have mixed feelings about Toto's biggest commercial hit but are more united on Weezer.
11:34The iconic alt-rockers covered Rosanna and Africa in 2018 in response to a social media push for the latter.
11:49Toto gave their blessing by promoting the single and making their own cover of Hash Pipe.
12:02But seven years after Weezer's Africa became its own massive hit, Lucather confessed to not being a fan.
12:08He and Porcaro had earlier mentioned in interviews that they suspected Rivers Cuomo of disliking the original and covering it only as a lucrative joke.
12:22While Porcaro hasn't confirmed his personal feelings about Weezer's Africa, there may be justice in it being so lucrative that Cuomo is stuck with it.
12:31Number 20. I'll Still Love You – Ringo Starr
12:45The Beatles were still fighting long after the band had broken up.
12:49In 1970, George Harrison was recording All Things Must Pass when he laid down a piece called Whenever.
12:56However, he only went as far as the demo and the song never made it to the finished album.
13:01He then tried giving the song to other artists and even produced a few versions himself.
13:06But nothing was ever released.
13:08Fast forward to 1976, when former Beatle Ringo Starr recorded the song for his album Ringo's Rotogravure.
13:15While details have never been made public, Harrison was reportedly not pleased with Ringo's iteration and even took legal action against his former bandmate.
13:30So much for that touching tribute.
13:32Number 19. I Will Survive – Cake
13:39A staple of late 70s disco, I Will Survive has endured thanks to its empowering lyrics and funky sound.
13:55And while Gloria Gaynor's version is soulful and powerful, Cake's is dry, sarcastic, almost cynical, featuring frontman John McRae's signature monotone vocals.
14:10Cake also replaces the disco instrumentation with a minimalist rock setup, stripping down the production and the bombast.
14:19It was a change to be sure.
14:21And while some may like it, Gaynor was not a fan.
14:24But not because it sounds so different.
14:26No, Cake actually altered some lyrics and even introduced an F-bomb.
14:30And it was this profanity that Gaynor did not enjoy.
14:34Number 18. The Rite of Spring – Fantasia
14:43When Igor Stravinsky wrote his ballet, The Rite of Spring, his purpose was, in his own words, to express primitive life.
14:50And so Walt Disney and his fellow artists have taken him at his word.
14:54Unlike other covers, orchestral works are often performed verbatim, with virtually zero alterations.
15:01That certainly wasn't the case with Fantasia.
15:04Disney's team adapted Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, but they rearranged the order of the movements and made substantial cuts to the original work, reducing it from 30 plus minutes to about 20.
15:17There's also the visual element to consider, as Disney changed the piece from a primitive and brutal pagan ritual to a story about dinosaurs.
15:38Suffice to say, Stravinsky was not a fan, which is especially painful, as he was the only composer from the movie that was still alive at the time.
15:48He called the new musical arrangement, excreble, and the accompanying visuals, unresisting imbecility.
15:54The man has a way with words.
15:56Instead of presenting the ballet in its original form as a simple series of tribal dances, they have visualized it as a pageant, as the story of the growth of life on Earth.
16:07Number 17.
16:08Elvis Costello, Linda Ronstadt
16:11It's no surprise that versatile folk artist Linda Ronstadt is a fan of Elvis Costello.
16:21The surprise that the feeling wasn't mutual came out after she interpreted four of his songs.
16:27Ronstadt covered Allison in 1978, then Party Girl, Girls Talk, and Talking in the Dark for one 1980 album.
16:35She was even faithful to their new wave style.
16:44Nonetheless, Costello told Record World that the covers were like sheer torture and that the whole Mad Love album was a waste of vinyl.
16:53He later expressed regret for his harsh reaction to a more mainstream artist paying her respects.
16:59Ronstadt's Allison and Mad Love were ultimately successful, though she told Billboard that she understood Costello's frustration with someone else claiming his art.
17:14You say you don't lie.
17:17Number 16.
17:19Mrs. Robinson, The Lemonheads
17:21It's a big ask to cover Mrs. Robinson, one of the most popular and celebrated songs ever made.
17:36It's an even bigger ask to make a grungy version of it.
17:39The Lemonheads were approached to do a cover of the song to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Graduate.
17:44With the band being quite hot at the time, thanks to the album It's a Shame About Ray.
17:49Paul Simon reportedly hated the cover, as did The Lemonheads' frontman, Evan Dando.
18:02However, Simon later appeared on The Howard Stern Show and claimed that it was so-so.
18:07He's coming around.
18:08What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
18:11Joe and Joe have left and gone away.
18:14Hey, hey, hey, hey.
18:17Number 15.
18:19No Man's Land
18:20Jawstone featuring Jeff Beck
18:22The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain.
18:29Reportedly a favorite of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, No Man's Land is a powerful anti-war song about a young man who dies in World War I.
18:38Though respectful of the dead, the song's message is clear.
18:41War is futile, and we shouldn't glorify it.
18:44This entire message was altered in Jawstone's cover, which was made as the official Poppy Appeal single for the Royal British Legion in 2014.
18:54You see, she completely omitted the back half of the song, which contains the core anti-war message.
19:05It's a sentimental tribute to war, rather than a poignant reflection on its futility.
19:10Many people, including the original songwriter Eric Bogle, were not happy with the alterations, and the singer even wrote an entire piece in The Guardian, expressing his disappointment.
19:22Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest?
19:29Number 14.
19:32My Little Red Book, Love
19:35I just got out my little red book the minute that you said goodbye
19:40This is one of those cases when a cover becomes even more popular than the original.
19:45My Little Red Book was written by Burt Bachrach and Hal David and recorded by Manfred Mann, but the single did not perform, failing to reach the Hot 100.
19:54Enter the band Love, whose cover reached number 52.
19:58This was a completely different version, transforming the song from Bachrach's jazzy lounge-pop origins into a raw garage-rock anthem.
20:11They also altered its signature chord changes, simplifying Bachrach's unusual progressions into a more straightforward rock song.
20:19Bachrach reportedly hated these changes, claiming that they played the wrong chords.
20:24However, he did concede that the song brought him some credibility in the world of rock and roll.
20:30Number 13.
20:36Blinded by the Light, Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
20:39Bruce Springsteen arguably broke out with the underdog anthem, Blinded by the Light.
20:44Madman drummers, bombers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat.
20:50But it's better known as the signature song of Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
21:02Unfortunately, the boss wasn't impressed with a drastic prog-rock rearrangement.
21:07On VH1 Storytellers, he expressed his dismay over the cover commercially outpacing the original by mocking an infamous change to the lyric.
21:16While the original chorus boasted, cut loose like a deuce, in reference to a deuce coupe, many thought Chris Thompson sang something besides revved up like a deuce.
21:31In a 2025 interview with Guitar Player, Thompson recalled Springsteen telling him directly that he hated Earth Bands Blinded by the Light.
21:39Both versions are still considered classics, even if one visionary doesn't see it that way.
21:45Number 12.
21:50You're My Home, Helen Reddy.
21:53You can't help but sing along to a Billy Joel ballad.
21:56When you look into my eyes…
22:00Of course, he'd rather one particular gifted singer hadn't.
22:04Written for Joel's wife, the sincere piece, You're My Home, was given the full orchestral pop treatment by Helen Reddy.
22:11It always comes as a surprise.
22:16The original artist blasted this interpretation at a concert that he didn't realize was being attended by a representative of Reddy's.
22:24Oh, I'll never be a stranger, and I'll never be alone.
22:30Joel revealed this in a 1998 interview with Uncut Magazine, and that the incident nearly led to legal action.
22:37Reddy resolved the issue by promising Joel that she would never again cover his music.
22:42He hated to admit that his response was more enthusiastic than his feelings about the initial tribute.
22:49The Sex Pistols burst onto the scene with Anarchy in the UK, a ferocious punk song that introduced a harder, faster, and grittier sound to the mainstream.
23:09Fifteen years later, it was covered by Motley Crue for their compilation album Decade of Decadence 81-91.
23:16It's a much glossier production, with a more polished sound and flashy guitar work.
23:21The band also altered the lyrics, substituting UK organizations and references for American ones.
23:28Oh, is this the CIA? Oh, I thought it was the USA!
23:34So, Anarchy in the USA, then?
23:36John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten, did not like these changes, telling NME they peppered it with the wrong words,
23:44cause they didn't know the full Monty. They lost the meaning somewhat.
23:48Somewhat.
23:5810. Life on Mars, Barbra Streisand
24:09Very few want to criticize Barbra Streisand. David Bowie didn't have a problem.
24:15Life on Mars is considered one of his most iconic songs, released as a single at the height of his Ziggy Stardust fame.
24:21It was also around this time that Barbra Streisand recorded a cover for her album Butterfly.
24:26As they ask her to focus on sailors fighting in the dance hall.
24:33She transforms the song from a glam rock ballad into a more theatrical and lush pop piece with sweeping orchestration.
24:40Many people hated Streisand's Broadway gloss, believing that it ruined the song's surreal and moody atmosphere.
24:47And that includes Bowie himself, who called it both bloody awful and atrocious.
24:51Hey, even the legends have a few missteps.
24:549. If I Needed Someone
25:03The Hollies
25:05If any band should have thick skin for music covers, it's the Beatles.
25:10It was a very different story in 1965, especially as the world hadn't heard If I Needed Someone
25:17They released their version as a single on the exact day the Beatles debuted the album Rubber Soul.
25:30If I Needed Someone
25:34George Harrison, the song's writer, dismissed The Hollies' cover and overall sound in an interview with NME.
25:41If I had some more time to spend, then I guess I'd be with you, my friend.
25:49This sparked a public feud between the two British Invasion favorites.
25:53The Hollies' Graham Nash later blamed the backlash for the single's commercial disappointment, but admitted in his autobiography that the circumstances of the cover were in bad taste.
26:04Thankfully, he and Harrison wound up becoming friends.
26:08If I Needed Someone
26:11If I Needed Someone
26:148. Where the Streets Have No Name
26:17I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You
26:19Pet Shop Boys
26:21It doesn't seem like alt-rock pioneers U2 and synth-pop icons Pet Shop Boys would cross paths.
26:28You know, I won't feel high
26:35Why not throw in Frankie Valli? The crooner never commented on Pet Shop Boys' mashup between Where the Streets Have No Name and Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You.
26:45I want to break down the walls that hold me inside
26:51U2's Bono, however, put out a statement asking, what have we done to deserve this?
26:57Sure, this was a playful reference to another Pet Shop Boys song, but the sentiment was serious.
27:0312 years later, Neal Tennant told the tabloid The People that he and Bono had made amends.
27:15It took a long time for them to find their way out of this petty genre feud.
27:20Now we just need to know what Valli thought of the crossover.
27:237. Street Spirit Fade Out
27:32Peter Gabriel
27:33Incidentally, the relationship between Radiohead and Peter Gabriel didn't fade out.
27:38It ended abruptly when Gabriel covered one of his fellow art-rock legend's most beloved songs.
27:44Before his more solemn interpretation of Street Spirit was released, he told NME that he sent it to Tom York.
27:59The band was set to, in turn, do Gabriel's wallflower for the Scratch My Back cover project.
28:12Well, he never heard back.
28:14Gabriel was later informed that Radiohead were not pleased with his interpretation, though they've never given their side of the story.
28:22All Gabriel can say is that he can understand their apprehension toward his artistic liberties.
28:36The bigger artistic loss is that the world missed out on Radiohead's version of Wallflower.
28:416. Old 55 Eagles
28:48It's one thing for Tom Waits to dismiss the particular way another artist adapts his music.
28:54But his response to the Eagles' soft-rock twist on the jazz folk ballad Old 55 was just the beginning of the rant.
29:09Out to my old 55.
29:14In a 1975 radio interview, Waits harshly described the cover as a little antiseptic.
29:22A year later, he told NME that he just didn't like the Eagles in general.
29:27Now the sun's coming up.
29:32As exciting as watching paint dry were his exact words.
29:36Even if the Eagles' Old 55 was technically more upbeat than Waits's, he felt that it lacked creativity.
29:44Granted, Glenn Frey once mentioned at a concert that the royalty checks helped him and Waits make peace.
29:51Three-way cars and trucks
29:56Number 5. You Really Got Me
29:59Van Halen
30:00The Kinks was an interesting way to follow the screaming guitar solo eruption on Van Halen's debut album.
30:06You'd think that the original artists would appreciate such maverick rock as much as anyone.
30:21But in 2010, Dave Davies told Classic Rock magazine that he found this rendition of You Really Got Me to be artlessly technical.
30:34He was further disheartened by a concertgoer believing that the kinks were the ones doing the covering.
30:47At least, Ray Davies found Van Halen's You Really Got Me to be good for a laugh.
30:52Considering that this version is as popular as the original, one could say that the Davies brothers just didn't really get it.
31:00You really got me
31:04You really got me
31:05You really got me
31:06Number 4. Behind Blue Eyes
31:08Limp Bizkit
31:09No one knows what it's like to feel these feelings
31:15Despite its scathing reviews, Limp Bizkit's cover of The Who's Behind Blue Eyes was a commercial success and is one of the band's highest charting singles on the Hot 100, released at the height of their fame.
31:27There was an attempt at vulnerability here, with stripped-down instrumentation and melodic vocals that were a far cry from the band's usual efforts.
31:36Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin'
31:41Regardless, the song was not received well by critics or Pete Townsend.
31:45In an interview with Uncut in 2005, Townsend referred to that Durst fellow and called his cover an embarrassing effort and one that discredits a fine song.
31:56To be the sad man behind blue eyes
32:02The idea of Megadeth covering Nancy Sinatra is just hilarious. They covered her seminal song These Boots Are Made For Walkin' for their debut album Killing Is My Business and Business Is Good, although they intended it more as a parody than a straight cover. As such, they included some, shall we say, raunchier lyrics.
32:30One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
32:36The song's writer and producer, Lee Hazelwood, called it a perversion of the original and demanded that the band omit it from future reissues of the album.
32:45Frontman Dave Mustaine later called out Hazelwood, saying that he happily collected royalties for a decade before issuing his complaint.
32:52Funnily enough, Megadeth later did a proper cover of the song with the correct lyrics for the 2018 remaster of the album.
33:01The soft rock icons, Seals and Crofts, are way off-key from Type O Negative.
33:16As much as their doom metal cover of Summer Breeze sounds like a parody, it's still pretty toned down. The song was originally rewritten as an eight minute long, lyrically lewd epic under the title Summer Girl.
33:39But when the demo reached Seals and Crofts, they were deeply offended. Thus, a shorter, more faithful version of Summer Breeze was recorded for the album, Bloody Kisses.
33:58The Summer Girl demo was leaked shortly thereafter. This 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.
34:13She sets me on fire, sets me on fire, fire.
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34:34Number 1. Dazed and Confused. The Yardbirds slash Led Zeppelin.
34:43Innovative songwriter and guitarist Jimmy Page has long faced allegations of plagiarism.
34:49Even Led Zeppelin's debut album was tainted by a belated writing credit to Anne Breeden for Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You.
34:57Baby, Baby, Baby, I'm Gonna Leave You.
35:02But Dazed and Confused was an unprecedented scandal.
35:06In 1967, Jake Holmes performed the folk ballad while opening for Page's band, The Yardbirds.
35:13I'm dazed and confused, as it stays ago.
35:18They then adapted the song with just enough changes to credit Page as sole songwriter before Zeppelin made it a signature song.
35:26Holmes sued for copyright infringement in 2010 and, at last, received an inspired by credit.
35:39It was the ultimate statement about what a musician thought of a cover.
35:43Of course, we could never confuse what Holmes thought about being excluded from the classic he originated.
35:50What do you think of these covers? Let us know in the comments below.
36:03Pardon me? Let us know in the comments below!
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