Enough Already! Cover Album Cop Out
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 12:01AM I admit it! I am tired of the "album of cover songs" trend that bands have established over the past few years. Vince Neil's latest Tattoos & Tequila is just the most recent example of this, but off the top of my head, there is also Poison's Poison'd, Def Leppard's Yeah!, (Phil Lewis') L.A. Guns put out both Rips the Covers Off and Covered in Guns, and Stryper and Pretty Boy Floyd have both announced that their next efforts will be albums of cover songs. However, nothing tops the Kiss My Ass album put out by KISS a few years ago (an album that was simply other bands covering KISS classics...an example of KISS getting paid for doing next to nothing). In my opinion, a cover album is nothing more than a band taking a lazy approach to putting out a new product and it is always done under the guise of "paying tribute to the songs and music that influenced their careers."
Let's be honest...an album of covers is a cop out. The most difficult aspect of creating an album is removed from the equation, as there is no 'writing' involved. Now, this becomes a much more stream-lined approach to putting a product out. The bands simply have to walk into the studio and recreate works that others have already made famous. Sure, some artists will make some creative changes to the songs, but ultimately, the framework already exists. I am not against a band putting one or two cover songs on an album. In small doses, I think that it can definitely enhance an album. But, an entire album's worth of songs (or two in the case of L.A. Guns) not written by the band is just not something I am interested in, and I have to believe that overall, most fans agree with me. Sure, you may buy the album when it is released and you may initially think it is 'cool,' but after a month or so, do you really keep listening to it? How many of you listened to the Poison'd album this week? My guess is not many. Really, would you rather hear Grand Funk Railroad sing "We're An American Band" or Poison? To me the answer is clear, and that is most people want to hear songs performed by the bands that wrote them. In this regard, my hat goes off to RATT, who just put out an album of all original songs that were written in the true spirit of the songs that initially made them famous. They could have taken the easy route and recorded some classic rock songs, but instead they put some time and effort in and made an album that their fans will appreciate and enjoy. I will take Stephen Pearcy's goofy lyrics (i.e. "Rock steady/ your lost weekend/ I'm ready for big fun") over another re-recorded version of "Rock n Roll All Nite" any day.
So, what do you think? Are you sick of the cover album cop-out?
Reader Comments (24)
What I did find even more annoying about Vince's performance than phonily complaining about his "sound problems" at that show, was his blatant plug of his Tequila, etc. on his huge banner behind that great drummer of his. What a cheap sell-out, "only-in-it-for-the-money" move. How many steaks does this guy need to eat in one life time, anyway?!
Maybe the recent DUI in Vegas happened because his karma count has been so low because of all of his shenanigans of late. It's a shame because I love the early and also the big Crue stuff and I really liked that solo record he did with Steve Stevens, "Exposed". What the hell happened to this guy?
He did nail "Livewire" there, tho. I'll write more on his M3 escapades in Part III of my comments on Al's previous M3 post.
I realize this is about Lame-O cover albums. Poison, et al. Talk about mailing it in.
Still, there are some throughout Rock History that are genuine labors of love. John Lennon's "Rock and Roll", David Bowie's "Pin Ups", Todd Rundren's "Faithful" and Jeff Beck's "Crazy Legs" come to mind.
Granted that stuff is kind of off topic since we are more about Glam Metal here. The blatant formula by-the-numbers cover album is one thing, for sure, but the occasional cover on an album is actually pretty cool.
The funniest and most killer one of recent memory for me is actually something I just heard for the first time right before reading this post tonight -- a cover of K.C. & The Sunshine Band's "That's The Way I Like It" from a CD of 1990-ish Demos from fairly unknown underground Glam Metal legends, Brunette (Members later went on to AOR specialists, Hardline with Neil Schon -- argh!).
I like WASP's approach use covers as b-sides instead of using material from the album as fodder. Now of course b-sides are like tab these days being rare but feel a good and CREATIVE cover can be a good thing.
Though his new album isn't 100% covers (he's taken the formula approach of making it all covers except two new songs), it might as well be. I recently discovered "He's A Whore" is on it and I thought, "Man, wouldn't it be cooler to just play that in concert and not have it on an album?"
Still I must commend him on his cover selections on his latest effort... Sex Pistols, Cheap Trick, Scorpions ("Another Piece Of Meat" which he performed with Scorps at M3 helping out Klaus who complained of having the flu, though I really couldn't tell), etc...
There's an interesting subject to post and comment on... Cover songs seen by Al or Brian and then those seen by us in concert that are not a cover from an album. Obscure?, yes. Interesting?, h*ll yeah!
Over the years I've seen Cheap Trick perform Bob Dylan's "Please, Mrs. Henry" and the coolest (which I mentioned here recently) was in 2004 in Naples, Florida when they played a benefit for a local hospital to create a park adjacent to it for patients sponsored by Tommy Bahama.
During their show Cheap Trick found out the lighting guy was the former lead singer of Midwest Garage Band legends, The Shadows of Knight.
The Shadows of Knight, in case you didn't know, were a one hit wonder of sorts (Though Rhino put out a killer "Best Of" that makes you ponder how they only had one hit) with their cover of Van Morrison's "Gloria" (later a big punk anthem hit for Patti Smith).
Well, Cheap Trick comes out for their 1st of 3 encores, Nielsen tells the story, introduces the dude and they proceed to crank out a loud and ruckus version of "Gloria" with that guy on lead vocals.
It was the highlight of the entire show, which, if you know Cheap Trick's music, is a pretty grand statement. Pure Killer Rock'n'Roll!
p.s. And how cool is it that Cheap Trick let that dude relive his former glories and he got to do it fronting Cheap Trick, to boot!