10 Favorite Cover Songs of 2016

Cayetana at Brighton Bar in June.

Can't Really Think of a Punny "Cover" Title for This

Cover songs. They can be so much fun. There are the faithful covers and the new-take-on-a-classic covers. Some covers -- like "All Along the Watchtower" or "Because the Night" -- became even more famous than the originals.

And, hey, this is the Jersey Shore; so we love our covers!

In that spirit, here are 10 cover songs from 2016 that I really enjoyed.

10. Braid, "Next of Kin" (Alvvays)

This one is part of the Polyvinyl Plays Polyvinyl comp that celebrates the label's 20th anniversary. That collection includes Beach Slang covering Japandroids, covers by and of of Montreal, American Football, The Dodos, Xiu Xiu and more. I like this one, though.

It's pretty faithful. At least, it's as faithful as an emo / post-hardcore band covering a Canadian twee pop band can possibly be.



9. Yawn Mower, "Lust for Life" (Girls)

The opening track to Girls' 2009 Album. I love this song. I spent tons of time with Album when it came out. I went to see what ended up being the last-ever big, official Girls performance at Terminal 5 (with Real Estate) the day after my birthday back in 2012, before there ever was a CoolDad Music. "Lust for Life" is one of the songs I can kind of play on guitar.

So I'm pretty thrilled whenever Yawn Mower cover this one live. They bring their own style to it, roughing up some of the already pretty rough edges on the song.



8. Joyce Manor, "Mistaken for Strangers" (The National)

I was just having a conversation with someone the other day about how much I always loved The National's Alligator and Boxer. "Mistaken for Strangers" is the second track on the latter and contains some of Matt Berninger's trademark inscrutable yet evocative lyrics.

Joyce Manor covered the song as part of the great A.V. Undercover series. While this may seem like an odd pairing -- an emo / pop punk band covering the poster boys for "dad rock" -- I think this one ended up being one of the best of the year.

7. Cheap Trick, "She Said, She Said" (The Beatles)

Here, we get Cheap Trick's contribution to the Howard Stern-compiled 50th anniversary tribute to Revolver. One can pretty easily trace Cheap Trick's brand of hard rock / power pop straight back to the Fab Four, and this cover sounds like what you'd expect from Cheap Trick covering The Beatles.

6. Very Fresh, "Only Happy When It Rains" (Garbage)

Very Fresh put out a fantastic EP in 2016 called Hey, It's Me! Soon after that collection's release, Cindy Lou Gooden gave us this cover of Garbage's 1990s altpoprock classic. Here, Gooden and producer Ben Scherer play it totally straight, doing their best to mimic Butch Vig's production and Shirley Manson's delivery.



5. J. Mascis, "Waltz #2 (XO)" (Elliott Smith)

OK. This one is probably pretty controversial among Elliott Smith fans. As part of American Laundromat's Say Yes! A Tribute To Elliott Smith, J. Mascis flat out re-imagines one of Smith's most beloved and recognizable songs, applying his signature fuzz and *gasp!* almost totally changing the lyrical content.

Does that make it not even a cover? I'm not sure. I like it, though.

4. Kino Kimino / Son of Stan, "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" (Sophie B. Hawkins)

I think this one was one of the most-played songs of the early 90s. MTV banned the original video for "erotic content" at a time when (they thought) the world was less open to the idea of same-sex attraction. The song straddled 80s pop and 90s grunge, and this cover alludes to that with its little excerpt from Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."

3. Titus Andronicus / Craig Finn, "Bastards of Young" (Replacements)

This is a document of the final night of The Most Lamentable Tragedy release shows that took place at Shea Stadium in July of 2015. I was there for the penultimate night; so, of course, I missed this. Titus Andronicus released this one to help promote their "No Faith, No Future, No Problem" tour with Craig Finn this past spring.

I've seen lots of covers of "Bastards of Young" recently. In addition to this one, Beach Slang do the song live from time to time; and it showed up on the Katy Goodman / Greta Morgan Take It. It's Yours. compilation. This is my favorite.

2. Lowlight, "Heroes" (David Bowie)

Lowlight are some of my favorite people in the world, and I know that they took the loss of David Bowie pretty hard. That should be obvious as you watch Renee Maskin during this performance. This version of "Heroes," and its accompanying video, stand as one of the most moving tributes to Bowie that I have yet to see. 

1. Cayetana, "Age of Consent" (New Order)

One of the things that has always attracted me to this Philadelphia three-piece is the bass playing of Allegra Anka. As I listened (over and over and over and over) to their debut, Nervous Like Me, I kept hearing allusions to New Order in how big a part the bass played in Cayetana's sound. When they released their Tired Eyes 7" early this year; and it contained my favorite song by New Order, I was thrilled.

This version is maybe just a smidge slower than the original and a little more punky than synth-poppy, but it was one of my favorite things this year.