Professor of Rock

A great cover song takes a track you thought you knew, turns it inside out, and makes you forget it ever belonged to anyone else. Today we're counting down the Top 10 greatest covers ever recorded and telling the jaw-dropping stories behind them… including one about Joe Cocker, who walked out onto the biggest stage in rock history, launched into a version of a borrowed Beatles song so primal and transcendent that he summoned a literal rainstorm in the process. And it was from the greatest band ever, who were deemed un-coverable. But even the Beatles conceded that it was better than theirs. Plus there’s the rock and roll pioneer who watched a rival Elvis steal his song while he was lying incapacitated in a hospital bed. And it became the definitive version, but his rival was actually just trying to help him. Plus a cover song that shocked us all. Johnny Cash recorded it because he knew he was about to meet his maker and captured a moment that broke our hearts and even made the original artist, Trent Reznor, admit the song no longer belonged to him…Let’s get into a great debate about the greatest cover songs ever recorded… ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Producer Brandon Fugal Honorary Producers Kimberley Rumburg, Brent Gephart, Glenn Beardmore, Jennifer Selvidge, Carl Curcuruto, Thomas Williams ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Professor of Rock Podcast Apple: https://apple.co/445fVov Spotify: https://spoti.fi/42JpfvU Amazon: https://amzn.to/44b5D6m iHeartRadio: https://bit.ly/444h8MO ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patreon: http://bit.ly/ProfessorofRockVIPFan Merch Store: https://professor-of-rock-lsn-shop.fourthwall.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/Instagram_Professor_of_Rock #classicrock #70smusic #vinylstory #onehitwonder Hey Music Junkies… We’re going to take a subject we’ve never covered before on this channel… No pun intended. Make sure to like, share, and comment. It’s time for the greatest cover songs in rock history. Let’s get the debate started. In at #10… a cover song that was banned because the singer mumbled the main lyric and many thought it was about a famine hygiene product… Bruce Springsteen has never had a #1 hit on the Hot 100. Unless you count a song he wrote that was performed by someone else. In that case, there is a #1 hit… Blinded by the Light, covered by Manfred Mann. Its origins go back to 1972. Columbia Records president Clive Davis heard a young Bruce and was convinced he'd found the next Bob Dylan. But Bruce wanted a rock band. So for his debut, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., a compromise was struck… and Bruce brought in his boys, future E Street Band members. The album was mostly autobiographical, a young Jersey songwriter setting out to conquer New York. But Clive didn’t hear a hit. So Bruce went back to work. And after busting out his rhyming dictionary, he wrote 'Blinded by the Light." He recorded the song in September 1972, and this time Davis was pleased with what he heard. However, when it was released, the song failed to chart, and the album tanked. Now, meet Manfred Mann. In the UK, Mann had 14 Top 20 hits between 1963 and 1969. In America, his two biggest US hits were both covers: "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" went to #1, and Dylan's "The Mighty Quinn" hit #10. By 1969, he'd lost interest in pop and started a jazz-rock group. But in 1971, he came back to pop and formed Manfred Mann's Earth Band, with Mick Rogers, Colin Pattenden, and Chris Slade. Their 1972 debut and early singles went nowhere in the US. But by 1976 Springsteen fever was in the air. And with a new singer, Chris Thompson, and a new guitarist, Dave Flett, the Earth Band released The Roaring Silence on August 27th. It went to #10 on the Billboard 200. And the reason was "Blinded by the Light.” Mann's take was a 7-minute ride into synthesized rapture. The first version was long and elaborate, and nothing like the end result. Mann also changed a key lyric… “cut loose like a deuce" became "revved up like a deuce." A deuce is a two-seater hot rod. However, the vocals sound like "wrapped up like a douche," and it became one of the most famous misheard lyrics. Mann’s American label called in a panic. "We can't get radio stations in the Bible Belt to play the record because everyone thinks you're singing about [a feminine hygiene product].” Mann blamed the misheard lyric on technical problems and said they couldn't remix it. People later told him the confusion was exactly why the song became a hit. Next up at #9, I’ve got a band that somehow outdid the rolling stones with a cover that was pretty much an afterthought as a B-side until DJ’s fell for it.