Bands Recording Other Bands Unreleased Demo Tracks

I stumbled across a Guns N Roses demo for Crash Diet last night and I knew I had heard it before, but not by them.  Sure enough, it turns out that Wildside covered it and so did Asphalt Ballet.  Wtf?!!!







I think Wildside's version is the winner here.

That got me to thinking of other instances of this such as Racer X (with future priest drummer Scott Travis) covering Priest's unreleased track "Heart Of A Lion."  Halford also released a version of this on Live Insurrection.  Priest finally released it as part of their Metalogy box set.



 



I prefer the Halford version, but I think all of these are good.  

Are there any other demo tracks that you can think of that another band covered?  Please list them.

Ha! Just thought of another one. Zoetrope covering Megadeth's demo of New World Order.





I like the Megadeth version, but I believe they have recorded several different versions of this.

Atrocity covered the Death song Archangel; it's the bonus track on their album Todessehnsucht.

Always loved the Bangalore Choir version of this Autograph song:



And this great Kiss tune was covered by both Bonfire and Loverboy's Paul Dean in the late '80s. What were they thinking when they decided not to release a proper version themselves?

TheGreatDuck wrote:

And this great Kiss tune was covered by both Bonfire and Loverboy's Paul Dean in the late '80s. What were they thinking when they decided not to release a proper version themselves?

Sword and Stone is a great song!

X-Wild took to recording this one...

..the original demo


X-Wild's:



I don't know what a skulldozer or a skybolter is, but skulldozer sounds infinitely cooler

Witchfinder wrote:

TheGreatDuck wrote:

And this great Kiss tune was covered by both Bonfire and Loverboy's Paul Dean in the late '80s. What were they thinking when they decided not to release a proper version themselves?

Sword and Stone is a great song!

Yeah it is. I always knew it was a KISS song but this is the first I've heard it done by them. I never knew Paul Dean had done it also.

Yeah man, I really wish KISS had recorded Sword and Stone. That Bonfire version on the Shocker soundtrack is so good, and I've always enjoyed listening to the crappy KISS demo versions on youtube. Really wish it would have made a record. KISS have quite a few good demos on youtube that I wish had been properly released at the time--but I'd even settle for them recording the songs now and releasing a new album that way. The songs are already written...minimal effort with a lot of profit to be made.

And this doesn't really count, since the original was not a demo, but just a scrapped track when the album got the major label release, but Pretty Boy Floyd smokes on their cover of Crue's Toast of the Town. For a very long time, I didn't even know it was a cover. And then after I learned it was a cover, I never heard Crue's original until the reissues came out and it was a bonus track. Still prefer PBFs version, because for me that is the "original" since I lived with it for so long.

And good thread topic, by the way!

ZombieHavoc wrote:

Yeah man, I really wish KISS had recorded Sword and Stone. That Bonfire version on the Shocker soundtrack is so good, and I've always enjoyed listening to the crappy KISS demo versions on youtube. Really wish it would have made a record. KISS have quite a few good demos on youtube that I wish had been properly released at the time--but I'd even settle for them recording the songs now and releasing a new album that way. The songs are already written...minimal effort with a lot of profit to be made.

And this doesn't really count, since the original was not a demo, but just a scrapped track when the album got the major label release, but Pretty Boy Floyd smokes on their cover of Crue's Toast of the Town. For a very long time, I didn't even know it was a cover. And then after I learned it was a cover, I never heard Crue's original until the reissues came out and it was a bonus track. Still prefer PBFs version, because for me that is the "original" since I lived with it for so long.

Toast of the Town is one of my favorite Crue songs. I wasn't aware that PBF had done a cover of it

Witchfinder wrote:

Toast of the Town is one of my favorite Crue songs.  I wasn't aware that PBF had done a cover of it

Whether you like PBF or not will determine if you like the cover (they are one of my favorite bands ever, but I know a lot of people look down their nose at them):

ZombieHavoc wrote:

Yeah man, I really wish KISS had recorded Sword and Stone. That Bonfire version on the Shocker soundtrack is so good, and I've always enjoyed listening to the crappy KISS demo versions on youtube. Really wish it would have made a record. KISS have quite a few good demos on youtube that I wish had been properly released at the time--but I'd even settle for them recording the songs now and releasing a new album that way. The songs are already written...minimal effort with a lot of profit to be made.

And this doesn't really count, since the original was not a demo, but just a scrapped track when the album got the major label release, but Pretty Boy Floyd smokes on their cover of Crue's Toast of the Town. For a very long time, I didn't even know it was a cover. And then after I learned it was a cover, I never heard Crue's original until the reissues came out and it was a bonus track. Still prefer PBFs version, because for me that is the "original" since I lived with it for so long.

I bought that PBF on vinyl just to hear their cover of the Motley Crue tune back in the day. That was the only tune I liked on the album. This was during the pre-internet days, so I was very curious to hear it.

manny wrote:

I bought that PBF on vinyl just to hear their cover of the Motley Crue tune back in the day. That was the only tune I liked on the album. This was during the pre-internet days, so I was very curious to hear it.

I bought it on cassette without ever hearing a note from the band as well. There was an article in a Metal Edge or something about them, and I was obsessed with the way they looked. When I saw it at Sam Goody or wherever, I grabbed it.

Remains a favorite 23 years later. Heh. I did get some serious making-fun-of from people for the PBF pictures taped up in my locker though.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

Yeah man, I really wish KISS had recorded Sword and Stone. That Bonfire version on the Shocker soundtrack is so good, and I've always enjoyed listening to the crappy KISS demo versions on youtube. Really wish it would have made a record. KISS have quite a few good demos on youtube that I wish had been properly released at the time--but I'd even settle for them recording the songs now and releasing a new album that way. The songs are already written...minimal effort with a lot of profit to be made.

And stuff like Let's Put the X in Sex or Crazy Crazy nights got released with music videos and eyerything. Go figure.

Wendy f*&king rules!   

Ahh, I knew there was some other Kiss song that fits here.

Someone notify Gene Simmons of this thread. Sounds like a nice cash-in album waiting to happen. And yeah, I'd be the first one to buy a Kiss re-recorded demos album.

I'll second Zombie's love of PBF. I bought it for the title of the album and it remains a favorite to this day.

Shake City recorded the Warrant demo "Game of War" that was eventually added as a bonus track to the Expanded Edition of Cherry Pie. The history here is complicated though, as SC's vocalist Adam Shore had been in Warrant prior to Jani Lane, and a number of the tracks feature combine writing credits from both bands.

The Japanese female glam band SHOW-YA recorded Cinderella's pre-Night Songs demo "Keep Me In Your Heart." Only a live version is on Youtube, but it did make their 1988 album Glamour.

Kane Roberts covered the unreleased Bon Jovi Demo "Does Anybody Really Fall in Love Anymore:

Now that you mention Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper's House of Fire also comes to mind:

Kiss is totally owning this thread!

Trixter recorded a Skid Row demo on their most recent album:

TheGreatDuck wrote:

Now that you mention Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper's House of Fire also comes to mind

Desmond Child wrote that song tune.

Some songs walk the line between cover and artist using their songwriter's song. Child wrote the song. So when Bon Jovi didn't use the song on the record, I guess he tossed it Alice's way. I guess that's how it works?

Either way, it's definitely interesting to hear Bon Jovi's version.

Unfortunately, it's a too shitty recording to warrant more than one listen.

Anyway, even if it wasn't written by BJ, it still has their sound. Always thought it was somewhat close to Livin' on a Prayer.