You may not like the original for being too preachy and melodramatic, at least that song had something to say about the everyday lives of people in the early 80's as opposed to this track which is little more than a pity party for Shannon Noll not winning the first season of Australian idol. The sad thing is that this is his worst song as far as I'm concerned as his music greatly improved as the decade went on.
This is a song I feel doesn't do the original any justice for, granted this was originally rerecorded by Cliff for charity and admittedly it's not like the cast of the Young ones are here to claim the song as their own, however I feel both parties could've done a better job of updating the former's debut single for a (then) modern audience.
OK so calling this cover is a bit of a stretch as Jessica changed some of the lyrics, however I'm including it as it's close enough to the original that it would be sued for plagiarism otherwise. Normally Jessica is a great vocalist, however she seems checked out on this track which certainly doesn't help given how impactful the original was for Nancy Sinatra back in the mid 60's.
I don't necessarily hate this cover from UB40, however there's no denying that turning a beautiful Elvis Presley ballad from early on in his career into a generic cod reggae track this late into the band's career was a bit in poor taste to his legacy.
I know that this is a remix, however I'm including it as technically any cover of an instrumental would be a remix by default and there's no way I'm not allowing this track not to be on this list due to a technicality. This is one of those songs that leaves me with a bad feeling whenever I think about it due to how much I love the original theme from Beverly Hills cop, it's just plain irritating to me and clearly only made as a joke.
I've never cared for Peter Andre's music; his brand of pop reggae never did anything for me, and he wasn't exactly a vocalist who I found to be audibly appealing to listen to either. If you want to hear a version of this song that's much less dated and with richer, more powerful vocals, I'd highly recommend the original from Brenton Wood.
This is a cover of an obscure Italian track made famous by Cilla Black from exactly a decade prior to when Daryl Braithwaite made it his own. You can say what you want about Cilla's version, but Daryl just isn't cutting it for me on this track despite his best efforts to sound as sincere as he possibly can.
This is for Lee Harding's cover of "Eye of the tiger" as it's obvious this was meant to be his rendition of the Rocky III theme, of course he puts his own spin on the track by making it emo which of course was bound to make it a hit back in the day even if it makes it as dated as the worst the film franchise has to offer.
I'm sure this was funny at the time, however the joke has long since been lost with Ernie Sigley referring to Denise Drysdale as Paula. I mean the woman had the stage name of "Ding dong," so the joke is obviously that she doesn't realise he's talking to her which seems obvious as that's not her name.
While I'm not the biggest fan of the original version of this ballad, even I can admit that this is an abysmal cover of an untouchable classic that neither of these artists had any business in covering. I can only imagine how fans of Peter Gabriel and especially Kate Bush feel about this existing.
OK I know that this is more of a parody than a cover, however I can't get over the fact that the creators of Bob the Builder decided to take the original from Lou Bega and change the lyrics so that it's instead about Bob listing off all the tools in his shed rather than the German pop star listing off all of the women in his life.
Yeah, it turns out I'm a Tracy Chapman fan, meaning that I take serious offence towards this cover even though I'm also a decent fan of EDM (though not so much the tropical house sub-genre.) Don't even get me started on how I feel about Dakota as a vocalist compared to Tracy.
You better believe I have a bone to pick with this cover, especially considering how the original from Joni Mitchell was a big hit here in Australia back in the day, meaning we Aussies have always been familiar with that version and yet we still made this a hit for the Counting crows. It also turns out that Vanessa Carlton was only added on this track once it was decided this cover would be the theme to Two weeks' notice.
I'm sorry but I don't see the point of this song existing, if you desperately wanted to make a dance remix of the Bonnie Tyler track from twelve years prior, just take her version and hand it off to DJ's who could likely do a better job in creating a dance beat than whoever produced this inferior cover. Also, Nicki French can't hold a candle as a vocalist to that of the Welsh performer.
I know that these two do something new with the original version as does just about everyone on this list with their covers, however I feel that neither of these two performers holds a candle to that of the Righteous brothers who really sells the emotions of the original.
I may be no fan of the original from KC and the Sunshine band, but at least that came from an honest expression of love whereas this dance remix strips away the emotion of the original and replaces it with a dance beat meant to be danced to on and little else.
I mean at least the original from Los Del Rio added something with each remix that contributed to it becoming a cultural phenomenon, this on the other hand is an outsider looking to cash in off a trend they weren't originally a part of and somehow succeeding whilst the genuine article is still trending.
I know that "Ue o Muite ArukÅ" isn't the easiest thing to say in English, but would it have killed these guys to at least credit this song with its proper English translation? I might've been able to forgive this if the song itself wasn't boring and unnecessary, however there's no denying this only exists to piggyback off of the success of Boyz II men.
Look I don't hate Shannon Noll, however he's one of the very few artists to score multiple entries on this list as I don't particularly care for his rendition of the Mojo singers classic from 1979 any more than his entry at the start of this list.
In fairness with this duet, I wasn't that big on the original either as no matter who ends up singing this ballad, I find myself describing it as endless boredom. I guess this song is on here more because it does nothing to improve on the original more than anything.
I like the original ballad from the 80's, so you can imagine my frustration with this cover given how to me it's everything that people have said about the original and then some. It's songs like this that make me wary of RNB as a genre as these sorts of songs permeated my upbringing which left a bad taste in my mouth with the genre.
Yeah, this cover doesn't add anything to the original, I know that Quindon was only sixteen when he covered this track but that doesn't excuse it for being so bad as he should've known better than to desecrate a Prince classic.
Yeah, I'm one of those fanboys who doesn't approve of this cover from Five, I know Queen gave the boy band their blessing by covering it (and technically this is a remix since they provide the instrumentation on this track) however there's just certain acts that shouldn't touch the classics and Five (in my opinion) is one of them.
Well, this was a doozy, I know that Jimmy has his fans when it comes to his Motown covers, however his strengths have always been his pub rock tracks given that his vocals are far too harsh for smoother RNB jams.
Again, I'm only including the song on this double release that was the cover as even a non-fan of Simon and Garfunkel can recognise that Anthony Callea had no business covering what's arguably their signature track in order to boost the success of one of his own songs following the success of his rendition of "The prayer" (which also would've made the list had the original been a hit.)
Yeah, I'm not a fan of either of DJ Sammy's covers as I feel the original tracks from 1985 don't work well for the clubs due to their subject matter, also say what you will about Don Henley and Bryan Adams as vocalists, at least they're better than the singers the Spanish DJ got to cover these songs.
I'm kind of bending the rules with this one as the Everly Brothers original flopped here in Australia and this was popular around the same time as the Nazareth version, however that version was released two years prior to this track so I'm counting it. How can I not? It has to be one of the more useless covers to ever become a success down under.
I would say that Stevie Wright would be rolling in his grave with this misguided (but well intentioned) cover for charity, except he lived for over a decade after this cover came out and never had anything bad to say about it, so I guess this is just me thinking that it was an unnecessary rendition of the 70's classic.
Well, I said I wasn't a fan of this cover when I talked about this on my 2000 list, so let's get into why that is. First off, it's a dance cover of a song that's meant to be about the day the music died (February 3, 1959, for rock historians) secondly, it's supposed to be tied into a film about Madonna conceiving a child with her gay best friend (Rupert Everett) which even this cover has absolutely nothing to do with.
Rest assured that this was also going to make this list, again I just feel that taking a song as cheesy as the Bryan Adams original and turning it into a club banger doesn't do it justice. I guess haters of the Canadian legend can take comfort that many of his fans (me included) don't enjoy this track.
Sorry Kate Bush stans, but I don't see the point of this cover as it completely misses the point of the original. Lesley made the original as an anthem for teenagers who felt that they had no control over their lives even when they were meant to be the centre of attention, why these two felt they could make such an artsy cover of that premise is beyond me.
Just like its earlier entry, this remix of the Hot butter classic was also a shoe in on this list even though again, it's a remix albeit of an instrumental track.
I'm not the biggest fans of the original version of this ballad, but at least it was one of the more memorable RNB hits of the late 90's as opposed to this which sounds like a cheap imitation made to cash in off its success. It appears that this was the case as this was a much bigger hit for Blue worldwide than it was for Next.
I don't recommend judging these guys based on their biggest hit, mainly because they seemed to go out of their way to remove what little tempo the original had with their rendition of the Herb Alpert classic.
I feel like Collette's performance is the best thing about this cover as at least her juvenile vocals are a better suit to the lyrics which are about a young woman exploring the possibilities of a sexual encounter than the original. Add to that cheesy production that makes it sound like it came from a porno and you have one of the more embarrassing songs to become a hit over the years.
OK good intentions aside, why didn't anyone stop Michael from covering Otis Redding, or at least have him not release it on the twentieth anniversary of the late musician of colours death? This single handedly gave him a bad reputation for ruining classics made by musicians of colour, a reputation that got worse as we went into the 90's.
I personally have a soft spot for this cover, mainly because it was admirable that Gwyneth Paltrow decided to release her take on the Kim Carnes classic as a single here in Australia and for it to do so well in the process. Still, there's no denying that this is an awful cover as Gwyneth's voice can't hold a candle to that of Kim or Jackie DeShannon who was the original singer.
I'm no fan of the original, however it at least has its place as the sole cheesy ballad that Kool and the gang were able to score massive success with worldwide. Leave it to this Dutch singer (who apparently had a full-time gig as a chef) to ruin the classic by turning it into a generic RNB track that anyone could've replicated.
OK I know that this was made for charity, and admittedly the video does make this funnier than it has any right to be, however this is still a dire cover of an already annoying song from the 60's. At least Tommy Roe was known for his bright and upbeat bubblegum pop, the Wonder stuff on the other hand were meant to be a legit band and yet here they are teaming up with a comedian for a vanity project.
You've probably figured out that I'm not a fan of these guys, so of course any of their covers would be a shoe in for this list. Thankfully for them, my own rules prevented me from filling out this list with their covers save for this track which they took from Dusty Springfield from over a decade prior.
One of the more personal ballads to come from the 90's was the original version of this track from Anthony Kiedes, so to see these girls take that classic and turn it into yet another forgettable RNB ballad of the day must have been very upsetting for fans of the Red hot chili peppers. No wonder these girls didn't receive much respect back in the day.
Hey, you didn't think I'd forget their other dire cover from their debut album, did you? While this isn't as obviously terrible as their above entry, the fact they fancied themselves as funky divas from the 70's on here is beyond embarrassing.
I've heard people complain that the original from Billy Joel was one of his worst songs due to how annoying it is, I disagree because I never found it as such myself (despite not being a fan of doo wop.) This on the other hand is annoying and is completely robbed of the original's context as it's not like Westlife was dedicating this track to anyone in particular unlike the original.
Yeah, you can guess where I stand on this cover given its placement on this list, I do appreciate the band bringing attention to the works of Simon and Garfunkel, however this should've at best been a live performance that the band made rather than it being marketed as a single from their comeback album.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of these guys either, admittedly this was their only cover to qualify for this list as the Searchers had a huge hit with their version in the early to mid 60's here in Australia.
Sorry but I'm not a fan of this guy either, although admittedly rockabilly isn't among my favourite genres anyway so I'm perhaps being a bit unfair with putting this cover of the Jim Lowe classic on a list like this. Still, I don't hate rockabilly either and this guy could've done better to update the 1956 classic for the MTV era.
There's one positive I'll give this cover, it's much more upbeat than the original which I personally find to be one of Hall and Oates' weaker singles in their catalogue. That's the only nice thing I have to say about this cover as Selwyn is no Daryl Hall in the vocals department and I can't imagine him conveying these lyrics to someone who's as self-conceited as they make this person out to be.
Yeah, I was being nice when I said that the beat was the only difference between this and the original version, you can also add weaker vocals and it having no reason to exist as the reason why this song is inferior to the original in my opinion.
I've always had my issues with Kasey Chambers; however, it was this cover of the Cyndi Lauper classic that completely soured me on the Australian country star. Not instantly mind you as back then I wasn't a fan of Cyndi to begin with, however I've since grown to love the 80's pop star to the point where this and Novaspace's "Time after time" made me offended on her behalf by these covers.
Well, this is one of those covers of a more popular song that was prevalent throughout the 00's and was a hit here in Australia, you better believe this was a shoe in for this list even though I'm not the biggest fan of the Righteous brothers version or even the 50's ballad that it originally came from.
I know people have issues with the original from Donna Lewis, however at least that version is unique even for something that came out of the new age trend of the 90's. This on the other hand is your typical EDM track from the 2010's from a vocalist who gives a completely flat vocal performance to the point where it makes you wonder if she really wanted to cover this track at all or not.
I'm not sure what Kelly Osbourne was hoping to achieve with this cover of one of Madonna's most poignant songs in her catalogue, it's not like she was going through a teenage pregnancy at the time (that we're aware of, although that certainly would've made its absence on the show all the more curious.) I also feel that turning it into a punk rock track just further separates the message that Madonna was trying to convey with her song, and don't even get me started with her vocals.
I don't think I've mentioned this yet on this site, but I love the Bob Seger original and even felt that the Kenny and Sheena rendition was a nice touch as they at least due something new with the ballad. Ronan and Lulu on the other hand just copied the 80's rendition for what I can only assume to cash in on nostalgia which resulted in this snooze fest.
This is more for the Jasmine Thompson cover as the remix was merely what made it a hit, and also this counts due to Jaki Graham scoring a hit with this song in the 90's here despite the original flopping back in the day. Suffice to say, I'm not a fan of Jasmine's voice on this track, although to be fair she was only thirteen years old when she recorded this track.
I know this is a sacrilege cover of an untouchable classic, I don't hate these guys by any means but even I can acknowledge they had no right to cover the Pet shop boys especially from their debut album. That said, this likely was what sparked the duo's revival period in the 90's so there's some merit to this cover.
Well, I may not be a huge fan of doo wop, however I feel Dion deserved better than to have Leif Garrett ruin one of his bigger hits during the height of his popularity with this cover. Still at least Leif didn't steal the melody from the original, something that's becoming disturbingly common in recent years.
I'll give credit to this cover by doing something new with the Phil Collins classic, changing it to a duet means that there's more emphasis on the situation which is about a homeless person coming up to the narrator of the original for help with the narrator not knowing what to do. Aside from that, this song has no reason to exist as Brandy has no chemistry with Ray J and the production is fairly generic as well.
I'm not even sure why this was pushed as a single given how the scene it was used in was meant to highlight how weak Britney is as a vocalist, however it was, and it was a massive hit for her here in Australia as a result. At least this isn't as bad as her covers of "Satisfaction" from the Rolling stones and "And the beat goes" from Sonny and Cher, those were utter disasters that makes this look good in comparison.
Given how there's vocals on this track, I say this song counts as a cover even though it only has the chorus from the original track. Besides, I just know that fans of Freddie Mercury will come after me if I don't include this on the list even if I'm technically cheating by doing so.
I wasn't a big fan of the original, however at least you can't deny that it was an artistic expression from a band looking to avoid getting pigeonholed in one genre which arguably worked out for them (at least back in the day.) This on the other hand is one of those super serious covers that only exist to be placed in theatrical trailers over serious montages.
I don't care for any of the tracks from the Young Divas, however this was their only hit of theirs where the original was also a hit here in Australia which makes it the only song eligible for this list. Consider this a blanket entry for their entire catalogue as they do nothing to improve on the originals except maybe draw attention to their existence.
Ooh I don't like this cover of the Bee gees classic, granted I never liked Steps due to how overplayed they were at school (specifically their accursed debut single that we had to dance to for P.E) however even without the painful childhood memories I have of these guys, this is just a bad cover of a disco classic made to cash in off the nostalgia the parents of their fanbase would have for the original.
