Favourite David Bowie covers

[suedehead]

As a way of filling in the gap between shireblogger’s geographical celebrations, I thought I’d try a different sort of celebration. It’s time to look at Haven’s favourite themed cover versions.

Any contest involving cover versions inevitably leads to a discussion of what songs should count. So, let’s keep things simple for the first contest. We are looking for Haven’s favourite cover version of a song by David Bowie. It’s as simple as that. If it was written by Bowie and is performed by someone else, it counts. Even if it was a one-off live performance, it counts as long as you can provide a link to a recording of that performance.

I’ll take two nominations from each person initially with a possible third to follow. All nominations will be included in the initial phase, so there is no need for duplication. Obviously, we can have multiple versions of the same song.

I’ll keep nominations open for two weeks, so the deadline is 23:59 on Sunday 21 February.


Nominations so far

The Man Who Sold The World - Nirvana
Under Pressure - My Chemical Romance & The Used
1984 - Tina Turner
Let’s Dance - Futureheads
John I’m Only Dancing - Vivian Girls
Ziggy Stardust - Bauhaus
Lazarus - Michael C Hall & Cast Of Lazarus
Tirbute Medley - Lady GaGa feat Nile Rodgers
Rebel Rebel - Bay City Rollers
All The Young Dudes - Mott The Hoople
Five Years - Arcade Fire
Fame - Duran Duran
The Man Who Sold The World - Lulu
Fashion 98 - Glamma Kid
Heroes - Oasis
Diamond Dogs - Beck
Sound And Vision - Franz Ferdinand

[raliverpool]

Do we post in this thread or PM you?

If you gave me a couple of hours I could come up with well over 100 cover versions of Bowie songs.

[Razzle Dazzle]

Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World

My Chemical Romance & The Used - Under Pressure

[Whitneyfan]

Tina Turner - 1984

The Futureheads - Let's dance

[suedehead]

Feb 7, 2016 15:00:13 GMT 1 raliverpool said:

Do we post in this thread or PM you?

If you gave me a couple of hours I could come up with well over 100 cover versions of Bowie songs.

Post in the thread. I assume not all of the 100 covers you could come up with are any good!

[raliverpool]

Feb 7, 2016 15:10:31 GMT 1 suedehead said:

Feb 7, 2016 15:00:13 GMT 1 raliverpool said:

Do we post in this thread or PM you?

If you gave me a couple of hours I could come up with well over 100 cover versions of Bowie songs.

Post in the thread. I assume not all of the 100 covers you could come up with are any good!

Well I'd say the three worst are:

Barbra Streisand - Life On Mars (On numerous occasions David Bowie himself has described it as the worst version of one of his songs)


The Krankies - Starman
William Shatner - Space Oddity

[vastar iner]

[suedehead]

Those three examples make me wonder whether I should have given myself a right to veto nominations 

[Shireblogger]

Feb 7, 2016 15:22:16 GMT 1 raliverpool said:

The Krankies - Starman
William Shatner - Space Oddity

Both considerably better than Jedward's version of "Under Pressure" or the X-Factor cringefest cover of "Heroes".

[Shireblogger]

Bauhaus - Ziggy Stardust
Iggy Pop - Lust For Life (although as Bowie co-wrote it with Iggy for Iggy, you might not deem this a cover)

[suedehead]

I would be inclined to disallow songs performed by a co-writer.

[Shireblogger]

Feb 7, 2016 15:35:42 GMT 1 suedehead said:

I would be inclined to disallow songs performed by a co-writer.

Fair enough.

[raliverpool]

Feb 7, 2016 15:31:08 GMT 1 Shireblogger said:

Feb 7, 2016 15:22:16 GMT 1 raliverpool said:

The Krankies - Starman
William Shatner - Space Oddity

Both considerably better than Jedward's version of "Under Pressure" or the X-Factor cringefest cover of "Heroes".

I was talking about "music", not "product".

And I've posted on this site what Bowie thought about Simon Cowell & X-Factor on more than a couple of occasions.

Seeing as David Bowie was all about the present and the future then:

Michael C. Hall And The Cast Of "Lazarus" - Lazarus
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_3mEWx2e_8

Lady Gaga ft Nile Rodgers - Bowie tribute medley (Grammy Awards 15th Feb 2016)

[ManicKangaroo]

How can you nominate something you've never heard yet? It could be terrible

[Crazy Don]

Bay City Rollers--Rebel Rebel

It's on their "It's a Game" album and Leslie sings the line "put on your dress" instead of "you've torn your dress."

[Whitneyfan]

Who is that singing John I'm only dancing?

[Earl Purple]

I don't know about the video posted, but I know the Polecats did a cover of "John (I'm Only Dancing)" and it may be on a TOTP 1981 episode soon.

Many of the Polecats ended up in Morrissey's backing band later.

[cally]

I nominate nirvana with the man who sold the world and Michael c. Hall with lazarus.

[Earl Purple]

I'm just going to be boring here and say "All The Young Dudes" by Mott The Hoople...

[cally]

Feb 7, 2016 21:57:35 GMT 1 Earl Purple said:

I'm just going to be boring here and say "All The Young Dudes" by Mott The Hoople...

But is it really a cover as it has been a Matt the hoople song written by Bowie before he decided to release it ?