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Goofball Answer:

Curious Party,

I love cover tunes—generally. There are so many gems out there, and stumbling across a new one brightens my day. It's so much fun to sing along to something you know in a slightly different way. In fact, if you spend enough time around me, you'll hear me diverging from "the script"—I almost always come up with my own little twist. So I try to "cover" stuff myself all the time.

But let's be honest. There's good material and bad material. So to answer your question as completely as I can, here are some of my thoughts on cover tunes, with examples:

1. Nearly any modern country band covering any song is a failure before birth. Example: Rascall Flats covering Life is a Highway by Tom Cochrane. FAIL! (I am willing to concede there's something sexy about the twang in the Dixie Chicks' rendition of Landslide by Fleetwood Mac, but this is a stretch, and I bring it up only to be forthright.)

2. It is possible, however, for non-country bands to cover country songs and make them kick ass. Example: Cake covering Kenny Rogers' Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town.

3. Some songs are simply covered too much. Examples: Brown Eyed Girl and Landslide. This isn't to say these songs can't be covered well; it's simply to say they're covered too much. Try something else.

4. Some old songs receive new energy and vigor when a band gives them a new twist. Examples: Reel Big Fish covering Come On Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners or Liz Phair covering Turning Japanese by The Vapors.

5. Sometimes bands ruin songs by trying to put a new interpretation on them. Example: Madonna covering American Pie by Don Mclean.

6. Just because a song is covered well once, doesn't mean other bands can do it, too. Example: The Goo Goo Dolls do an amazing job of covering INXS' Don't Change. But when Everclear tried to pull it off, it sounded horrible.

And this brings me to my next point.

7. Just because a band covers one song well, doesn't mean they're going to pull it off with other tunes. Example: I criticized Everclear in number 6, but Everclear does a great rendition of many, many other songs—Tommy Tutone's 867-5309/Jenny amongst them.

8. Sometimes, songs that are lesser-known or all-but-forgotten receive new life when a band does a kick-ass cover. Example: The Ataris covered Boys of Summer by Don Henley (and managed to make it strike a chord for a new age of rockers by replacing "Dead Head" with "Black Flag". Listen closely and you'll catch it.)

9. Sometimes bands get their own songs "right" outside of the studio. Examples: Fleetwood Mac's live version of Not That Funny is an amazing song. The album version is horrifically-boring. Better Than Ezra's live version of Sincerely, Me is also horrifically-boring on the studio album. But when they played it live, you'd almost want to go through a breakup just so you could sing this song to a woman. Almost.

So what are my favorites and least favorites? Here you go:

My favorite cover of all time is Everclear performing Tom Petty's American Girl, live. They nailed it! And I can't help but sing at the top of my lungs whenever I play it, especially when Art interjects a well-placed expletive near the end. (It's powerful.)

My least favorite cover of any time is any band that changes the lyrics to John Lennon's Imagine in an attempt to change the meaning of the song. If you don't agree with him, don't listen to the song. Or better yet, write your own damn song.

So what do I think of Tantric covering The Chain? It sucks. And when Shawn Colvin covered it back in the '90s, he sucked too. People, Rumours (1977) remains one of the best selling albums of all time. It absolutely kicks ass. It's about love and loss and the way we see ourselves and how others see us and about the role we play in one another's lives. It's classic rock and roll, done inimitably. Don't mess with that. Leave it alone. Why? Because if I'm suffering through a nasty breakup, and I need something to make me feel better, I'm going to sing along to Fleetwood Mac cranking through Second Hand News or I Don't Want To Know. They nailed it, and it doesn't require any improvement.

~ topher

Addendum (later in the evening, January 13th, 2010): I totally forgot to mention another of my favorite covers: Ben Folds performing Elton John's Tiny Dancer. Delightful.