3 Classic Songs You Didn’t Know Were Covers

Most classic songs cannot be separated from the artists who made them famous. And unless a song is already popular, you might be surprised to learn that an artist’s biggest hit is a cover. Occasionally, the music business misses greatness hiding in plain sight. Or perhaps a track fails due to bad timing, poor promotion, or bad luck. Thankfully, the artists below discovered these hidden gems and then turned them into iconic covers.

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“Tainted Love” by Soft Cell

You can thank British hipsters for helping unearth obscure American soul music. In the late 1960s, DJs packed dancehalls during the Northern Soul movement by spinning rare American grooves. Gloria Jones’ recording of Ed Cobb’s tune “Tainted Love” was popular with the Northern Soul crowd, but it wouldn’t reach worldwide fame until Soft Cell released its cover in 1981.

Jones’ 1964 recording, the B-side to her single “My Bad Boy’s Comin’ Home”, also features Glen Campbell on guitar. But it’s hard not to think of Soft Cell’s skittering synthesizers as “Tainted Love” became a massive new wave hit.

“Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix

Before Jimi Hendrix recorded “Hey Joe”, the song was already something of a standard for 1960s rock groups, including The Byrds. The first credited recording belongs to The Leaves, a little-known garage band from Los Angeles that had a hit with it in 1965. Meanwhile, Hendrix heard folk singer Tim Rose performing it in Greenwich Village. Hendrix used Rose’s version as the blueprint and, with The Experience, recorded the definitive version of “Hey Joe”.

Rose said it was a traditional blues tune, but others have claimed authorship, including Billy Roberts, his ex-girlfriend Niela Halleck, and Dino Valenti, who falsely claimed to have written it. (Roberts registered the copyright in 1962.)

“I Love Rock ’N Roll” by Joan Jett And The Blackhearts

The Arrows first released “I Love Rock ’N Roll” as a B-side in 1975. The British group rereleased it as a single, but it would take six years and another artist to make it famous. Joan Jett discovered The Arrows’ tune while touring in the U.K. with The Runaways when she saw the band playing it on their weekly TV series.

In 1981, she released the song with her backing band, The Blackhearts, and it also became the title of her best-selling solo album. “I Love Rock ’N Roll” is a classic, Jett’s in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but The Arrows remain relatively obscure.

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