Favorite obscure songs made famous by modern popular artists

[anetode]

You know those songs you hear and go "damn, that's a great cover!" only to be corrected by the nearest music snob that "no, this is the original." Or vice-versa.

Examples:
Spoon - I Turn My Camera On, original by Fre$hro
Sublime - Smoke Two Joints, original by the Toyes
A Perfect Circle - The Nurse Who Loved Me, original by Failure
Sixpence None the Richer - There She Goes, original by the La's

Caveat: No cover/tribute compilations or artists whose creative output is less than 50% their own (Richard Cheese, Cat Power, etc.).

 

[Laokid18]

The Clash - Police and Thieves , original by Junior Murvin

 

[Aslan123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by anetode /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sixpence None the Richer - There She Goes, original by the La's

I'll disagree a bit with this, as I always think of the La's version with this song, and it is what made them famous. However I will agree that since the Sixpence cover is newer, more people might of heard of it.

I think one example is 'The Man Who Sold the World' covered by Nirvana during their Unplugged appearance, and originally written and performed by David Bowie.

 

[SirDrexl]

"Got My Mind Set on You" by James Ray, made famous by George Harrison

 

[Gazza]

Strapping Young Lad - Room 429 (original by Cop Shoot Cop)

 

[Jeff Guidry]

nevermind I was wrong...

 

[JadeEast]

tainted love - M. Mansons cover of Soft Cell cover of an original by Gloria Jones.

YouTube - Gloria Jones - Tainted Love [short version]
YouTube - Soft Cell - Tainted Love: Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQuKo3SevVA&translated=1

 

[moogoob]

The Knife - Heartbeats, made famous by that indy guy, with the guitar... I'm too lazy to check Wikipedia.

 

[catachresis]

-Al Green's "Take Me to the River" covered by Brian Ferry and The Talking Heads
-The Louvin Bros. "Cash on the Barrelhead" covered by Gram Parsons and Emmy Lou Harris
-Brian Wilson's "Hang on to Your Ego" remade as a roaring guitar anthem by Frank Black
-"The Alabama Song" of Brecht und Weill from Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny that was utterly forgotten by the entire world and then miraculously recomposed word-for-word by that genius of American Beat poetry Jim Morrison.
-Some no-count bit of anti-American fluff by a coupla Manhattan hippy ding-dongs called "Mrs. Robinson" that it took Old Blue Eyes himself to transform into a swingin' tribute to one classy dame. Koo-koo-koo!

-Devo's raucous cover of "Satisfaction" by some obscure English skiffle act called The Rolling Stones