Cover Songs

I have a request for whatever the regulatory body that deals with music is. Specifically, I want them to make it illegal for someone to release a cover song as their first single, mostly because I'm sick and tired of "artists" getting famous on the back of someone else's music. I realize this is slightly iffy, as there's the whole deal of people who write/people who perform, so maybe there has to be some kind of deal like stuff that's written by the person who didn't perform it is cool, but if it's written by the actual person who performed it, that's a no go. Or at least they should get strict permission from the writer/artist, instead of some A&E dude selling the rights.

What spurred me on is this. This is the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Under The Bridge' as covered by Brit girl "R&B" quartet All Saints. Now, as most people will know, 'Under The Bridge' was written by Anthony Keidis about his heroin addiction, specifically when he used to go to meet people under a bridge in LA to buy and take smack. It's an amazing song musically, but lyrically it's haunting. However, All Saints, in their infinite wisdom, took it upon themselves to turn it into a hip love song, and removed the crucial lyrics in the track, as follows:

Under the bridge downtown
Is where I drew some blood
Under the bridge downtown
I could not get enough
Under the bridge downtown
Forgot about my love
Under the bridge downtown
I gave my life away

When I first heard this, I found it pretty reprehensible, and still do. Thus begins my crusade against cover songs. Not to say all cover songs are bad, some amazing songs have been completely changed for the better. FYI, I don't include sampling, either. Anyway, here's some cover song rules:

1. No version of Cohen's 'Hallelujah' shall ever be recorded, cause let's face it, you're never going to beat Jeff Buckley.

2. No more ironic cover songs. I don't ever want to hear another fucking Richard Cheese song ever again.

3. Stairway To Heaven shall never be touched. Oh no (fuck you, Rolf Harris).

4. McFly should never be let near any musical instruments again, let alone any cover songs.

Some great covers:

- Rage Against The Machine, 'Beautiful World' (Devo)
- Radiohead, 'Nobody Does It Better' (Carly Simon)
- Slayer, 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' (Iron Butterfly)
- Tool, 'No Quarter' (Led Zeppelin)
- Santa Esmerelda, 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' (The Animals)
- Ramones, 'Baby I Love You' (Ronettes)
- William Shatner, 'Common People' (Pulp)

Some bad covers:

- Puff Daddy, 'Every Breath You Take' (The Police)
- Joe Cocker, 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood'
- Sugababes, 'Freak Like Me' (Adina Howard)
- The Beautiful South, 'Blitzkrieg Bop' (Ramones)
- Leonard Nimoy, 'Everybody's Talkin'' (Harry Nillsson)