Cover Songs

While we were talking about Elvis's "Hound Dog," which was essentially stolen from Big Mama Thornton, I started to think about how artists have been able to use cover songs to garner radio play and gain mainstream popularity.

Covers today are obviously not being stolen from the original artist, but it is still interesting how some artists have had more success on the release of a cover than they have on their own singles and albums. For example, The Ataris received very little attention prior to their cover of Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer," despite having released four LPs, two EPs, and four or five singles. The cover jolted their popularity, receiving significant airplay, and even allowing them to play at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago prior to the 2003 MLB All-Star game.

Personally, I enjoy covers, especially live, but I find it strange when the mainstream media pays little attention to a band's original music, and then picks up on a cover song. If I was in a band, I would definitely play a cover or two (probably not on a record), but I don't think that I would really want my band to be defined by our cover songs.