Ahead of this weekend’s virtual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Amazon Music has released a collection of covers of the inductees. This year’s class consists of Depeche Mode, Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G. and T. Rex. Performers on this covers collection include St. Vincent, Real Estate, The Kills, Jehnny Beth and Eyelids.
For her part, St. Vincent provided a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Piggy;” Jehnny Beth also covered Nine Inch Nails, choosing their song “Closer.” Meanwhile, Real Estate covered the Doobie Brothers “What a Fool Believes,” The Kills covered T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer” and Eyelids performed Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence.”
To honor Notorious B.I.G., rather than including a cover, Amazon Music re-released The Birth of Biggie, “an audio-documentary celebrating Ready To Die, the landmark debut album from the Brooklyn rapper.” (Quote via press release.) The press release also added: “To honor Whitney Houston, R&B legend Brandy will release a brand-new Amazon Original cover of a Whitney Houston song in 2021.”
“Current artists paying tribute to their heroes and influences has long been a staple of the Amazon Originals program and has produced so many great covers,” said an Amazon Music’s artist relations rep Stephen Brower (via press release). “To honor this year’s wonderfully eclectic list of Rock Hall inductees with an equally distinctive group of some of our favorite artists seemed only natural, and we’re thrilled with the results.”
“[‘Piggy’] remains one of my favorite Nails songs to this day,” said St. Vincent (via press release). “I am obsessed with the slinky tambourine that is just a little lazy in feel. And when I took this song apart to cover it, it took me a long time to really understand the immensity of the groove. It’s a dark, industrial reggae. Muscular, but never as distorted as you imagined it when you think of it in your head… They made a complicated thing seem easy and made big, bold sonic choices.”
“The Doobies’ hits are ubiquitous as any other music I’d hear playing in the Orthodontist’s office in New Jersey while waiting to get my retainer adjusted. They are absolute classics, and deservedly so,” said Alex Bleeker of Real Estate (via press release). “We explored the Doobie Brothers catalog pretty thoroughly before finally settling on ‘What a Fool Believes. Of course, it was an obvious choice, but it’s also one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded, which was totally intimidating. Once we decided to go for it, it was really fun to get in there and discover each individual part and what makes the song so timeless and incredible.”
Listen to the new covers here!


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