Originally posted on my previous blog, May 2009…

EW.com has a pretty fun list of famous, well known songs that are subsequently covered (and, in the readers’ opinion) destroyed by other artists:

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20219751,00.html

I have to agree with many of their choices, and my personal least favorite is the Madonna version of “American Pie”.  Just baffling.  On the other hand, I don’t have as much of a problem with No Doubt’s version of “It’s My Life” or Tori Amos’ version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.  To me, the former song wasn’t all that great to begin with (nor, I hasten to add, was it terrible), so I didn’t really mind the remake.  As for Ms. Amos, it certainly was dangerous (creatively anyway) to take on such a popular song and make her version.  I felt it was a decent enough job

Not included in the list is my least favorite remake coming from someone whose original music I consider among the best ever: David Bowie.  On the otherwise incredible album Aladdin Sane, Mr. Bowie does a cover of The Rolling Stone’s “Let’s Spend the Night Together”.  Mr. Bowie’s version is…well…bizarre.  I like the way the song begins, but by the time it reaches its mid-section…ho boy.  I suppose its not the worst thing Mr. Bowie’s ever done (in a career as long as his, there were bound to be ups and downs), but still.  Judge for yourself:

Moving away from the worst, how about some of the best?  Mr. Bowie may not have hit the ball out of the park (IMHO!) with “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” but his cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Waiting For the Man” is just as good -if not better!- than the original, again IMHO:

And the original Velvet Underground version: