Coverdale's Covers, Vol. 1

One of Rock Turtleneck’s closest confidantes is Whitesnake singer/Poor-Man’s-Robert-Plant David Coverdale. One night over appletinis and fondue, David expressed how amusing it was that his name was Coverdale and he loved cover versions of songs. Thus our new periodic feature “Coverdale’s Covers” was born. Take it, DC.

“For my first installment of Coverdale’s Covers, I thought I’d draw some connections between rock and easy listening. Like Jagermeister and crystal meth, interesting things start to happen when you mix them together.”

Radiohead, “Nobody Does it Better.” Carly Simon's theme song for the Bond flick The Spy Who Loved Me sounded like a standard the minute it came out in 1977. In 1995, Radiohead introduced it live as “the sexiest song ever written.” They proceeded to transform this dentist-chair favorite into a stadium-rocking alterna-anthem. Who knew Radiohead had a sense of humour? Well done, boys.
MP3: "Nobody Does it Better"

Pearl Jam, “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” The grunge torchbearers take the Elvis Presley ballad and give it a rocking, punkish update in this live track from 2000. Too bad the singer blew his brains out. Wait, that was the other bloke.
MP3: "Can't Help Falling in Love"

Alan Copeland, “Mission: Impossible Theme/Norwegian Wood.” The previous two covers turned easy listening classics into full-blown rockers. This track attempts to do the opposite: it takes The Beatles’s “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” and fuses it with the theme from Mission: Impossible and gives it an easy-listening sheen. Before I heard this track from the out-of-print Rhino Records compilation Golden Throats 4: Celebrities Butcher Songs of the Beatles, I’d always wondered how these two songs would sound together. Now that I know, I wish I didn’t. This actually won a Grammy in 1968. Yet the Coverdale mantle is Grammy-free. Bollocks.”
MP3: “Mission: Impossible Theme/Norwegian Wood”