Following on from yesterday's post, here's the remainder of Jesse Kimball's selection of his favourite pop punk cover versions.....
13) Crumbs - Sheila
This is the first Tommy Roe song on here but not the last. This Lubbock-sound Buddy Holly sound-a-like tune was number 1 for 2 weeks in 1962. This song came out on The Crumbs great 10" EP before they signed to Lookout! They are one of my favorite 90s pop-punk bands and have been around for 2 decades, but I still think they might be underrated.
12) Groovie Ghoulies - Funny Funny
from back when The Sweet had that great bubblegum sound. The Ghoulies filter it through the Ramones and turn out this classic 45 that shows how great this genre can be.
11) The Donnas - Wig Wam Bam
I considered their version of The Crystals "Da Doo Ron" (written by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry - who come up again in #7 and covered by the Beach Boys and Dave Edmunds - also #7) but I had to go with the flip side of the Gearhead 45 with "Wig Wam Bam" because these are two of my favorite Sweet songs! Metal Mike also does a kick-ass version of this tune, and he does "Little Black Egg" by The Nightcrawlers, which was covered the next year (1966) by The Music Explosion, turned into PUNK by Cleveland's the Pagans and Joey Ramone's brothers band The Rattlers, and then covered by the Cars, who then replaced Ric's vocals with Bebe Buell's who released it as a single! The Lemonheads also cover it! But somehow it didn't make my list because none of those versions are really pop-punk, nor is The Lemonheads cover of "Strange" by Patsy Cline, that I wanted to include, even though it sounds a hell of lot more like the Smoking Popes, then it does Screeching Weasel covering Ms. Cline. WIG WAM BAM!!! oh yeah Metal Mike number 10...
10) Angry Samoans - Beat Your Heart Out
OK here are the Samoans with their 90s (suck) version of the Zeros hit that might as well be a blueprint for this pop-punk genre. I'm also including The Muffs version because it is an actual cover, unlike the Samoans "adaptation". Angry Samoans version of "Laughing At Me" is great too!
9) The Muffs - You Can Cry if You Want To
is an awesome Troggs cover on "Groin Thunder" an album full of Troggs covers, and the best tribute record I have ever heard, and also features Flamin' Groovie Roy Loney covering "With a Girl Like You" that the Queers would later cover. And to come full-circle, The Queers cover of The Muffs "End it All" also RULES, OK!
8) The Queers - I'll Be True to You
The Monkees "I'll Be True to You" was actually a COVER of The Hollies 1965 hit "Yes I Will" written by Gerry Goffin. This is the first time Joe King showed off his amazing taste in music, which would come up in many more covers throughout the bands career. They would even record an album side of covers called "Acid Beaters" a reference to the Ramones covers album. This sincere love song should be a first dance at pop-punk weddings!
7) The Hard-Ons - And Then I Kissed Her
The Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me" re-worked as "And Then I Kissed Her" is a pop-punk gem along the lines of The Ramones cover of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance". Both songs might have been Beach Boys covers as they got to them first! The Crystals hit, written by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, was also covered by the pre-The Boys glam band The Hollywood Brats, then retitled "Then She Kissed Me" by another glam band Hello, which Kiss and Gary Glitter in turn covered. The Swedish Hurriganes had a go at "Do You Wanna Dance" as did T. Rex, Dave Edmunds, Darlington and The Queers!
6) Rivals - Here Comes the Night
Once again here is a band taking a classic and making it their own. The Rivals version is as aggressive as the beautiful Them song is low-key.
5) Forgotten Rebels - Dizzy
Another great Tommy Roe cover! There's gotta be a pop-punk cover of "Sweet Pea" somewhere too, but I haven't heard it, or can't remember it anyway. This snotty offensive pop-punk band turn Roe's bubblegumesque "Dizzy" into a great pop-punk song even though I'm not sure the rock video helps my case any.
4) The Ramones - Lil Bit of Soul
was originally by the Little Darlings, but was made into a HIT by The Music Explosion, an Ohio garage band, produced by bubblegum gods Kasenetz and Katz. The Ramones version also sounds like the junkshop glam arrangement of the song by Iron Cross. The song led off the Ramones 7th album Subterranean Jungle, which also featured their cover of the Chambers Bros "Time Has Come Today", also done by the Angry Samoans, whose cover I prefer (and has a great video).
3) Stiv Bators - It's Cold Outside
Another Ohio garage song was given the pop-punk treatment by fellow-Ohioan Stiv Bators, during the Dead Boy's power-pop career. This one was by the 60s garage band The Choir, a band that included future Raspberries members. There were some great punk covers coming out of these hit garage songs, Undertones "Let's Talk About Girls", The Pointed Sticks "Shape of Things to Come", many of them comped on Lenny Kaye's "Nuggets", a compilation released on Elektra records (home of the Stooges), that was so influential on punk rock it was reissued on Sire records alongside some of the first punk records. The Hard-Ons also do a great cover of this song, as do the Queers, but Stiv did it best.
2) Paley Brothers and Ramones - C'mon Let's Go
The movie Rock 'n' Roll High School was one of my introductions to punk rock, and the Ramones version of this Ritchie Valens song, with the Paley Brothers singing was my favorite song in the movie. The Ramones recorded this song with Tommy in 1977 and it the perfect combination of power-pop and punk making it just about my favorite pop-punk song.
1) Redd Kross - Heaven Only Knows
Redd Kross's "Teen Babes from Monsanto", an album consisting mostly of cover songs features this Shangri-Las B-Side written by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, their second on the list. I think this is the cover song that all pop-punks should strive for! It is perfect!
NO #1!!!:
I dream about you all the time, yes I do
When I can't sleep at night
Heaven only knows
I dream about makin' you mine, yes I do
Whe I'm holding you tight
Heaven only knows, mm hmm
Never been sure 'bout a girl before
But i want you to know
Heaven only knows, mm hmm
Given you my heart and my soul and my love
Cause I trust you so
Heaven only knows, mm hmm
Heaven only knows that I want you baby
Everytime I see you it drives me crazy
Coz you're the only girl that my heart wants to know
Whoah yeah
Tell me what you want and i'll do it for you
Baby let me show you that i adore you
Baby let me go everywhere you go
Never been sure 'bout a girl before
But i want you to know
Heaven only knows, mm hmm
I'm givin' you my heart and my soul and my love
Cause i trust you so
Heaven only knows, mm hmm
Heaven only knows that I love you baby
Heaven only knows that I hate you baby
Heaven only knows that I despize you baby
Heaven only knows that I idolize you baby
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