Spread the Social Love:
Some covers are legendary and go down to be remembered as even better than the original song versions. There is an art to creating the perfect cover; you have to pick a song that best fits your own individual sound and style; a song that has not already been covered to death and a track that is relatively well known by the music buying public.
What you don’t do is pick a song that really does not fit with your style, or a track that is so widely appreciated that to perform a good cover version is a real uphill challenge from the start. Should you choose to do so anyway then you can guarantee your cover will be remembered – but for all the wrong reasons! Just ask Limp Bizkit if you don’t believe me – their cover of The Who’s ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ has gone down in history as potentially the worst cover song ever recorded - according to music critics. And yet, the music buying public received it gratefully!
You what?
‘Behind Blue Eyes’ was written by The Who and released in 1971 as the second single from their album ‘Who’s Next.’ Originally written to be part of the band’s rock opera ‘Lifehouse’ – the performance never made the light of day as the band decided the songs written for the project would sound better on a proper album rather than on the stage. 'Behind Blue Eyes' was meant to be the theme song for the main villain of the opera, Jumbo. It is his solo song where he vents all his anger and pressure, revealing the dark side of the character.
The song is a trademark Pete Townshend release – which may be why Limp Bizkit (in critics' eyes) failed to emulate the original. It is essentially split into two sections with a reprise of the first section at the end – a song structure that Townshend became known for throughout his career.
OK, tell me about it…
It was 32 years after the original when Limp Bizkit chose to release their own version of ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ in 2003. Released as a single from the band’s ‘Results May Vary’ album, Limp Bizkit’s version is known for their use of an electronic music toy during the bridge – something which many thought was insulting to The Who’s original music craftsmanship Rather than representing a new way of making music, most critics saw it as damaging to the legacy of the original song. On the album, Limp Bizkit’s version is longer than The Who’s but only because it is followed by a hidden song called ‘All That Easy’, which was a popular feature of albums in the early noughties.
How did it fare?
When your cover version is panned ‘boneheaded’ by Allmusic you probably can’t expect an awful lot of chart success but that is bizarrely exactly what Limp Bizkit did achieve! The band enjoyed some small success with the cover, particularly in Australia where the song reached a chart position of number 4. Off-the-back of a whirlwind of affection for Limp Bizkit, the UK even welcomed the release at number 18 in the official top 40 but the love-in did not last long and in fact, once Limp Bizkit reached that position the song fell quickly and soon dropped out of the Top 40 altogether. There was a sense around the release that Limp Bizkit fans were embracing the group’s music once again, three years on from their early success of tracks like ‘Rollin’ but just as soon as ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ fell out of the UK charts, the band failed to make anything chart in the country again - you could easily say their chart hits went all limp!
Despite being slated by Allmusic and many other critics (what do they know?), Limp Bizkit’s version of ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ surprisingly enjoyed more success than The Who’s. Pete Townshend and his motley crew failed to chart with the single in the UK and only managed number 34 in the US chart. However, you could argue that The Who’s version has always been more remembered as a classic album track rather than a stand-out single release. Looking back, general consensus seems to be that Limp Bizkit’s version was loved by the fans but hated by the so-called music experts - who do you agree with?
Who else covered it?
A lot of artists have covered ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ but none have been slated for their versions quite as much as Limp Bizkit. Interestingly, few have also had the success that Limp Bizkit had with their cover! Some of the artists to have put their own spin on the track include Bryan Adams, Sheryl Crow, Suzanne Vega, Ian Stuart Donaldson and Elf.
Give me a listen then…
Hear Limp Bizkit’s version in all its controversial glory
What you don’t do is pick a song that really does not fit with your style, or a track that is so widely appreciated that to perform a good cover version is a real uphill challenge from the start. Should you choose to do so anyway then you can guarantee your cover will be remembered – but for all the wrong reasons! Just ask Limp Bizkit if you don’t believe me – their cover of The Who’s ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ has gone down in history as potentially the worst cover song ever recorded - according to music critics. And yet, the music buying public received it gratefully!
You what?
‘Behind Blue Eyes’ was written by The Who and released in 1971 as the second single from their album ‘Who’s Next.’ Originally written to be part of the band’s rock opera ‘Lifehouse’ – the performance never made the light of day as the band decided the songs written for the project would sound better on a proper album rather than on the stage. 'Behind Blue Eyes' was meant to be the theme song for the main villain of the opera, Jumbo. It is his solo song where he vents all his anger and pressure, revealing the dark side of the character.
The song is a trademark Pete Townshend release – which may be why Limp Bizkit (in critics' eyes) failed to emulate the original. It is essentially split into two sections with a reprise of the first section at the end – a song structure that Townshend became known for throughout his career.
LISTEN // 'Behind Blue Eyes' (The Who)
OK, tell me about it…
It was 32 years after the original when Limp Bizkit chose to release their own version of ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ in 2003. Released as a single from the band’s ‘Results May Vary’ album, Limp Bizkit’s version is known for their use of an electronic music toy during the bridge – something which many thought was insulting to The Who’s original music craftsmanship Rather than representing a new way of making music, most critics saw it as damaging to the legacy of the original song. On the album, Limp Bizkit’s version is longer than The Who’s but only because it is followed by a hidden song called ‘All That Easy’, which was a popular feature of albums in the early noughties.
How did it fare?
When your cover version is panned ‘boneheaded’ by Allmusic you probably can’t expect an awful lot of chart success but that is bizarrely exactly what Limp Bizkit did achieve! The band enjoyed some small success with the cover, particularly in Australia where the song reached a chart position of number 4. Off-the-back of a whirlwind of affection for Limp Bizkit, the UK even welcomed the release at number 18 in the official top 40 but the love-in did not last long and in fact, once Limp Bizkit reached that position the song fell quickly and soon dropped out of the Top 40 altogether. There was a sense around the release that Limp Bizkit fans were embracing the group’s music once again, three years on from their early success of tracks like ‘Rollin’ but just as soon as ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ fell out of the UK charts, the band failed to make anything chart in the country again - you could easily say their chart hits went all limp!
Despite being slated by Allmusic and many other critics (what do they know?), Limp Bizkit’s version of ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ surprisingly enjoyed more success than The Who’s. Pete Townshend and his motley crew failed to chart with the single in the UK and only managed number 34 in the US chart. However, you could argue that The Who’s version has always been more remembered as a classic album track rather than a stand-out single release. Looking back, general consensus seems to be that Limp Bizkit’s version was loved by the fans but hated by the so-called music experts - who do you agree with?
Who else covered it?
A lot of artists have covered ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ but none have been slated for their versions quite as much as Limp Bizkit. Interestingly, few have also had the success that Limp Bizkit had with their cover! Some of the artists to have put their own spin on the track include Bryan Adams, Sheryl Crow, Suzanne Vega, Ian Stuart Donaldson and Elf.
Give me a listen then…
Hear Limp Bizkit’s version in all its controversial glory
![Review & Photos: We Are The In Crowd & Never Shout Never [Live]](http://hangout.altsounds.com/altthumb.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fhangout.altsounds.com%2Fgeek%2Fgars%2Fimages%2F2%2F1%2F5%2F8%2F1%2Fwe_are_the_in_crowd_as1.jpg&h=75&w=75&zc=1&q=70)
