Another band that comes to mind that for a long time seemed to be big, yet uncovered is Megadeth. Sure, Dwell records released a tribute album, just like they did for just about every half decent metal band, but that's about it.

However, recently it seems to be changing. Maybe the disappearance of Megadeth from the metal scene a few years back caused it, I don't know. Especially in Scandinavia there seems to be a real Megadeth revival. Arch Enemy, Kalmah, Nightwish, Alghazanth and most recently Mors Principium Est. What's striking is that 3 of those 5 chose to cover Symphony of Destruction and none of them covered anything from the classic albums Peace Sells and So Far, So Good, So What. Strange! You'd think that those are the albums that most current metal musicians grew up with.

Come to think of it. When you look at the big bands of the thrash era, Megadeth and Anthrax stay far far behind Metallica and Slayer when you look at covers. Clear distinction between the real gods and the close but no cigar gods, I suppose. Number of covers and quality related? Perhaps, yes. When you look in metal, it certainly shows who were really the influential bands : Sabbath, Maiden, Priest, Metallica, Slayer, AC/DC, Venom. You have to wonder how things will look in 20 years from now. Will bands start covering Slipknot in the amounts Slayer's being covered now? Somehow I doubt it...

Marillion! Why are they hardly being covered? There's John Wesley, but he's semi-connected with his Under the Red and White Sky featuring almost the entire band.

Other than that, Kayleigh's been covered a few times (Vandenplas and Skin of Tears) and Brazil's Apocalypse did Lavender. Other than that, it's just the odd coverband doing Marillion.

I find it absolutely baffling that such a brilliant band isn't covered more than this. I'm inclined to think that many singers are afraid to take on the task of covering Fish' magnificent voice and presentation and that the post-Fish Marillion is....well, not very relevant in the grand scheme of things.

Speaking of the Scottish poet, his Songs From the Mirror cover album is great!

Not what I'm listening to at the moment, but a random thought that just came up. Tori Amos' version of Slayer's Reign In Blood must be the one cover that's over twice is long as the original song without actually doing anything different. I was shellshocked when I first heard it! It's haunting, it's hypnotising and it's slooooooooooooooow. Can't say I find it very good, but it's certainly something else.

Usually when you talk about Slayer covers they're actually faster than the original, which in most cases is quite an accomplishment. One that comes to mind is Luciferion's version of Chemical Warfare.

Listening to Bon Jovi doing Drift Away on some Slippery When Wet show back in 1986. Back then they played this song as a second cover after Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town.

That actually makes me wonder what they're doing nowadays in terms of covers. Setlist from their 2003 gig in Hyde Park shows they haven't forgotten about covers :)

The Kinks - Lola
Isley Brothers - Twist And Shout

and excerpts of
Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil
Martha & The Vandellas - Dancing In The Street (is there anyone who hasn't done that one?)
Neil Young - Rockin' All Over The World
Isley Brothers - Shout

Speaking of Sympathy covers. A very good one and a bad one spring to mind. The very good : Tiamat on their Skeleton Skeletron album. The bad one : Guns N Roses on the Interview With The Vampire soundtrack. The Tiamat version sounds soooo much more suitable for that film!

Back to Drift Away. The original was done by Dobie Gray back in 1973. Never heard of the man, but according to this site he wasn't exactly a steady force in the top of the charts. Love Jovi's rendition, though. Looking for when they stopped performing it, I just ran into a nice list of covers Jovi have done :) Beware for popups btw. Looks like they did it a few times up until 1996.

Just listening to Testament's album 'First Strike Still Deadly'. This is the band doing re-recorded versions of their own classics. Might be a nice discussion point for cover purists, I suppose. Over the years 2 of the bandmembers have changed. Personally I'd say not covers. Even more because the bandname is still the same.

I do recall a discussion some time ago when someone argued that New Order doing Joy Division songs was doing covers. Call me strickt, but I think that as long as (one of) the composers play, it's no cover. It's simple someone playing his old material with his new band.

Yes, I admit it. Coversongs interest me more than average, to the point that people around me think it's silly. Odd looks when someone mentions a song and I automatically blurt out "oh yeah, that's been covered by such and so". Anyway, here's my new outlet for thoughts on the covers I encounter. The good, the bad and the ugly, as they say :-)