Great cover versions

[Martin Takamine]

Dream On - Postmodern Jukebox ft. Morgan James (Aerosmith Cover)

 

[Midnight Audiophile]

From the comments:

Caramello Bear
"Like a few other commenters, I didn't know it at the time, but the night I watched this performance by AC/DC on Countdown was the night Australia changed. It is impossible to overstate the effect of Bon appearing in drag before 7pm on the national broadcaster (the ABC) as a Catholic schoolgirl with a lit cigarette running around the stage without underpants on. Australia was very conservative back then. It still is TBH, but let me tell you, to be an adolescent girl growing up in 1970s Australia was not without its challenges. Especially if your father fought in World War2 and thought 'allowing' his daughters to finish Year 12 and go to university proved that he wasn't sexist. Which in the context of the times is true I suppose. And that was six years after this performance, which was the first time AC/DC appeared on national television, and is now recognised in Australia as genuinely historic (and broadcast by the ABC on Australia Day).

Backstory: the boys didn't know Bon planned to appear in drag. With seconds to go, he arrived late and ran onto the stage. This explains why Phil Rudd and Angus can't stop laughing. Countdown was broadcast live (on Sunday night), and there was nothing the producers could do to stop the performance, which got more outrageous as the set progressed.

Meanwhile at home, my siblings and I had tears rolling down our faces laughing. For the first and last time in her life, my mother - who always 'supervised' us watching Countdown for fear her precious brood might be 'corrupted' - was rendered speechless. My Dad was downstairs 'doing the books' - thank Christ because the television set would have been swiftly turned off if he had seen it.

The next day at school, AC/DC and Bon Scott was all we talked about. The whole nation was talking about it.

And that's how AC/DC was born and Australia was never the same. For a relatively short period, they were 'ours.' Songs like Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - those lyrics are decades ahead of their time. Bon sang out loud Australia's dirty little secret but took years to come out in Royal Commissions and police investigations into sexual abuse of school children. Long Way To The Top - how many people know that Bon and Malcolm asked the Rats of Tobruk Pipe Band to play the bagpipes in the recording that is usually attributed to Bon? For those who don't know who the Rats of Tobruk were, there's plenty out there in the public domain. In the famous Swanston Street film clip, the Rats of Tobruk Pipe Band are standing on the truck with the boys. Dog Eat Dog is a critique of crony capitalism and the way society treats so-called 'losers' at the bottom of the heap. Frankly I think Dog Eat Dog is Bon at his best. Every fibre of his being goes into that performance.

When Bon died, I was shattered. Absolutely shattered. It took me a long time to accept Brian Johnson. Now I am grateful that I experienced the joy of Bon Scott fronting AC/DC before he and they became world famous. I will always love you Bon. Thank you "

 

[Marc v E]

I always wanted this version of Empire State of Mind on cd/download.
Candy Dulfer is simply marvellous here (Forgive the very poor recording quality.)
Makes me want to learn and play a saxophone myself
Sadly it has never been released.

 

[DanielT]

Edit:
The last song with Blue Swede, the singer in that group is called Björn Skifs. A very well-known artist, musician and entertainer in Sweden. I ran into him a few years ago and spoke to him a bit at a restaurant/bar. A very nice and funny person. He was there with, some in Sweden, other famous artists and musicians. He was moderate with the booze. His fellow musicians, on the other hand, were more of the stereotypical rock and roll type, drunk as hell, fuck girls in the toilet. The typical rock and roll behaving in other words.

Besides that, it was summer, nice weather, good atmosphere, people were doing well. There were more than the musicians who entertained themselves, I should add.

 

[eddantes]

From the comments:

Caramello Bear
"Like a few other commenters, I didn't know it at the time, but the night I watched this performance by AC/DC on Countdown was the night Australia changed. It is impossible to overstate the effect of Bon appearing in drag before 7pm on the national broadcaster (the ABC) as a Catholic schoolgirl with a lit cigarette running around the stage without underpants on. Australia was very conservative back then. It still is TBH, but let me tell you, to be an adolescent girl growing up in 1970s Australia was not without its challenges. Especially if your father fought in World War2 and thought 'allowing' his daughters to finish Year 12 and go to university proved that he wasn't sexist. Which in the context of the times is true I suppose. And that was six years after this performance, which was the first time AC/DC appeared on national television, and is now recognised in Australia as genuinely historic (and broadcast by the ABC on Australia Day).

Backstory: the boys didn't know Bon planned to appear in drag. With seconds to go, he arrived late and ran onto the stage. This explains why Phil Rudd and Angus can't stop laughing. Countdown was broadcast live (on Sunday night), and there was nothing the producers could do to stop the performance, which got more outrageous as the set progressed.

Meanwhile at home, my siblings and I had tears rolling down our faces laughing. For the first and last time in her life, my mother - who always 'supervised' us watching Countdown for fear her precious brood might be 'corrupted' - was rendered speechless. My Dad was downstairs 'doing the books' - thank Christ because the television set would have been swiftly turned off if he had seen it.

The next day at school, AC/DC and Bon Scott was all we talked about. The whole nation was talking about it.

And that's how AC/DC was born and Australia was never the same. For a relatively short period, they were 'ours.' Songs like Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - those lyrics are decades ahead of their time. Bon sang out loud Australia's dirty little secret but took years to come out in Royal Commissions and police investigations into sexual abuse of school children. Long Way To The Top - how many people know that Bon and Malcolm asked the Rats of Tobruk Pipe Band to play the bagpipes in the recording that is usually attributed to Bon? For those who don't know who the Rats of Tobruk were, there's plenty out there in the public domain. In the famous Swanston Street film clip, the Rats of Tobruk Pipe Band are standing on the truck with the boys. Dog Eat Dog is a critique of crony capitalism and the way society treats so-called 'losers' at the bottom of the heap. Frankly I think Dog Eat Dog is Bon at his best. Every fibre of his being goes into that performance.

When Bon died, I was shattered. Absolutely shattered. It took me a long time to accept Brian Johnson. Now I am grateful that I experienced the joy of Bon Scott fronting AC/DC before he and they became world famous. I will always love you Bon. Thank you "

Thanks for sharing this. What a performance!

 

[Midnight Audiophile]

Thanks for sharing this. What a performance!

They're so young, so good, and having so much fun. Pure rock n roll.

 

[eddantes]

They're so young, so good, and having so much fun. Pure rock n roll.

Fuck yeah... Salve for the soul on a very dark day for me...

 

[TimF]

I'm a Cat Power fan. She's an odd one, maybe all musicians/magicians are. I saw her perform twice and one of those was a great success and the other....she shouldn't have come onto the stage.

 

[Zaireeka]

 

[JonK99]

This is on my mind since I'm going to see them this week in Boston.

 

[muza_1]

From Metallica's Blacklist Album.

 

[muza_1]

 

[Calleberg]

Free Fallin, John Mayer... Goosebump dial at 11

 

[DanielT]

Fairly cheap production. Low budget and lack of professionalism but still quite nice:

If you're blue, and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where fashion sits? Puttin' on the ritz
Different types of wear a day coat, pants with stripes and cutaway coat
Perfect fits, puttin' on the ritz

Dressed up like a million-dollar trooper
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper (super-duper)
Come, let's mix where Rockefellers walk with sticks or umbrellas in their mitts
Puttin' on the ritz

Have you seen the well-to-do, up and down Park Avenue?
On that famous thoroughfare with their noses in the air?
High hats and arrow collars, white spats and lots of dollars
Spending every dime for a wonderful time

"Puttin' On the Ritz" is a song written by Irving Berlin. He wrote it in May 1927 and first published it on December 2, 1929.[1] It was registered as an unpublished song August 24, 1927 and again on July 27, 1928.[1] It was introduced by Harry Richman and chorus in the musical film Puttin' On the Ritz (1930). According to The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, this was the first song in film to be sung by an interracial ensemble.[1] The title derives from the slang expression "to put on the Ritz", meaning to dress very fashionably. This expression was in turn inspired by the opulent Ritz Hotel in London.

Puttin' On the Ritz - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Lattiboy]

Who ever needed John Lennon for anything, certainly not Donny Hathaway!

 

[MaxBuck]

This one has to be the all-time greatest cover by anyone, of any song. Trent Reznor has said the song now belongs to Johnny Cash.

 

[MAB]

Don’t forget the favorite Finnish country band Steve’N’Seagulls’ reinterpretation of Thunderstruck:

 

[JaccoW]

"Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" is the second single by American singer-actress Cher from her second album, The Sonny Side of Chér. Written by her then-husband Sonny Bono and released in 1966 [...] Nancy Sinatra recorded one of the best-known covers of the song, for her 1966 album How Does That Grab You?

Wikipedia

and the original:

 

[Zaireeka]

 

[Sbrtoy]

I love the original but keep gravitating back to this one: