It’s a big responsibility to take over someone’s work and try to do it in your own voice. Those that have covered the Who have been able to do it with a lot of respect and humility thankfully and have known just what they were getting into. To cover a song by a great band it needs to be understood that they helped pave the way for others, including the band that’s covering them likely. That merits a lot more respect than just gaining permission to cover the song and doing it for the heck of it. That means that the band doing the cover really needs to feel it, to show as much respect as is humanly possibly and make it breathe in a way that hasn’t been heard yet.
So let’s see who could pull this off.
5. Van Halen-We Won’t Get Fooled Again
Van Halen is a band that had a lot of people up in arms when it came to parting ways with their front man David Lee Roth and then Sammy Hagar. They went through a downturn in their popularity after parting ways with Hagar but there have been enough fans that stuck around to make them into legends. Covering for the Who has been one of their many great decisions in the history of the band.
4. Limp Bizkit-Behind Blue Eyes
You either loved Limp Bizkit or you hated them, there wasn’t a lot of in-between with this group. They covered a few different bands and musicians in their time but it really seems like they got it right with this one since it wasn’t so out of control crazy that it left you wondering what the original artist thought. This song was all their style but it still kept it together enough to make it into a nice ballad that didn’t go nuts.
3. Green Day-My Generation
When it comes to Green Day there’s not a lot of people that will speak against them. There are those that won’t speak for them, but in turn won’t lash out against them for no reason. This band has been on fire for a number of years, even during the times when it seemed like their popularity had dimmed a bit. A lot of us can still remember when their popularity really started to surge, can’t we? When they decided to take on this song they were still one of the hottest bands around, but the respect they gave and received in return was just awesome.
2. Rod Stewart-Pinball Wizard
You’d have to ask the right person but often times you’d get the answer that Rod Stewart could do no wrong when it came to music. Keep in mind it’s all in who you ask and how you pose the question, but a lot of people have agreed that no matter if it’s his song or another band’s, Stewart is a professional that knows how to treat a song right and deliver it to the audience in a way that they’ll enjoy it.
1. Pearl Jam-Love Reign O’er Me
It can’t help but be said that the greatest use of the song in the recent past was for the movie Reign Over Me with Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. It was one of the powerful uses of this song to ever make it’s way into circulation and it’s still just as impressive.
It’s inspiring to see how well The Who’s songs have been treated over the years by other bands.
Follow Us
