3 Times Artists Hated Covers of Their Songs

While it’s typically an honor for someone to cover your song, not all artists see it as such. Some artists are particularly stingy with praise and don’t immediately take a cover as a compliment. The three artists below hate popular renditions of their songs. Do you agree with their sour opinions?

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“Knocking On Heaven’s Door” (Guns N’ Roses version)

The simplicity of Bob Dylan‘s “Knocking On Heaven’s Door” is obliterated in Guns N’ Roses’ famous cover. Axl Rose gave it all he had in the recording booth, droning on and on with his impressive, but perhaps misused, vocal agility. Given how different this cover is from the original, it’s really no wonder Dylan isn’t the biggest fan of the band’s rendition.

“Guns N’ Roses is okay, Slash is okay,” Dylan once said. “But there’s something about their version of the song that reminds me of the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”

[RELATED: Neil Diamond on How The Beatles and Bob Dylan Changed His Career: “They Brought the Songwriter up to the Front”]

“Anarchy In The U.K.” (Mötley Crüe version)

Creating the perfect cover isn’t easy. On one hand, if you play it too by the book, you’re not really doing much for the listener. On the other hand, if you change too much, a song can lose its integrity. Mötley Crüe fell into the latter trap while covering the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy In The U.K.” The band decided to change some of the words to give it a more American perspective. Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon didn’t take kindly to their revamp of this track.

“They peppered it with the wrong words cause they didn’t know the full monty,” Lydon once said. “I would have quite happily told them what the real words were. They lost the meaning somewhat.”

“Kiss” (Maroon 5 version)

Artists often pay homage to their favorite artists with covers. It’s a sure-fire way to flex your inspirations or try your hand at your hero’s material. Maroon 5 tipped their hats to Prince with a cover of “Kiss.” While on paper, Adam Levine has the chops to sing this falsetto-laden song, his vocals weren’t enough to impress Prince.

“Why do we need to hear another cover of a song someone else did,” Prince once said in response to this cover. “Art is about building a new foundation, not just laying something on top of what’s already there.”

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