Songs you thought were by someone else

I cant find a thread like this, so I figured I'd start, what are some songs that when you first heard them, you thought they were by a different artist? Here's an example, when "No One Knows" by Queens of the Stone Age first got airplay, I thought it was a new ZZ Top song, I was surprised when the DJ announced the band name.

Two examples I can think of:

I originally thought "Turn To Stone" was by Queen, as opposed to Electric Light Orchestra. Re-listening to the song again, I'm not really sure why I thought it was Queen before... I certainly can't detect Fred's vocals at any point.

I originally thought "Summer Breeze" was by Phil Collins, when it's actually by Seals & Crofts. Unlike the above example, it still kinda sounds like Collins to me.

Edited by Brandon on Jun 5th 2020 at 11:48:29 AM

For some reason, I thought Valerie by Steve Winwood was by Peter Gabriel for a while

x 3 never thought of any similarities but I kinda see it- now I'd like to hear QOTSA cover ZZ Top or vice versa.

You Shook Me All Night Long was the first AC/DC I heard and I thought it was Rod Stewart - it was the raspy singing, and maybe I'd heard "Hot Legs" and knew Rod did some more rockin' songs sometimes.

I first heard "Epic" by Faith No More in the 90's and thought it was some old Red Hot Chili Peppers song. Ironic considering the two bands had a feud with each other for a while, which seemed to spark Fandom Rivalry.

I thought "Touch, Peel and Stand" was Alice in Chains, not Days of the New. Vocals are pretty similar to Layne Staley, and while Days of the New stood out from other Post-Grunge by using more acoustic instruments, AIC have two largely softer and gentler EP's that make use of acoustic guitar (Sap and Jar of Flies), and they had just recently released an unplugged album.

In general it took me a while to grasp that The Who weren't The Guess Who - I learned about both through classic rock radio and thought The Who was a cool, shorthand way to refer to The Guess Who, like calling The Rolling Stones "The Stones". Even when I noticed that they sounded different I thought they'd changed styles and possibly singers over the years.

Edited by MikeK on Sep 27th 2022 at 2:34:43 AM

Yeah, 'bout that...

Today, just learned that this song "You Say" is not Adele.

Based on Youtube comments, I wasn't alone in thinking it was.

I always thought Crazy Little Thing Called Love was an Elvis song, but can you really blame me?

I had trouble finding the song "Titanium" before I knew who Sia was. Thought that was Rihanna.

Rockabilly isn't otherwise normally associated with Queen, so that's understandable. I kinda went from thinking it was The Stray Cats or someone like that to finding out it was Queen but thinking they covered some obscure early 60s rock and roll track.

Sia wrote some Rihanna songs, and on those particular songs Rihanna even kinda sings like Sia (perhaps she's imitating the original demos or something).

I was just recently reminded that I was one of those people who was convinced that System of a Down did that song about the Legend Of Zelda.

Edited by MikeK on Nov 10th 2020 at 9:24:57 AM

That's ok, I fell for the "Phish did a cover of Gin and Juice" rumors as well (to be fair, I've never seriously listened to Phish, so I wasnt able to tell it wasnt them).

For a long time, thought this version of Frosty The Snowman was by Cyndi Lauper.

It's The Ronettes.

I just remembered one- so on the Justice song "The Party" there's a guest vocalist named Uffie who kinda talk-raps about how cool she is and how much she likes to party in a semi-Valley Girl voice over the beat. A few years later i heard "Tik Tok" on the radio for the first time and I thought this was also Uffie, either solo or guesting on another artist's song - similar delivery and subject matter, plus both beats have some blippy quasi-chiptune synthesizers in them.

Edited by MikeK on Nov 25th 2020 at 9:04:03 AM

While looking up the song "Who Can It Be Now" for the Original Vs. Cover thread, I realized that song is by Men At Work.

I honestly thought that song was by Huey Lewis this whole time.

Truth be told, before I listened to the actual song and only heard “It’s coming up...” I thought DARE was made by Eminem of all people.

...don’t ask why Eminem, I don’t know either.

Recently heard the oldie "Lazy Day", which I haven't heard in years. Initially I thought it was by The Seekers, but apparently it's by Spanky and Our Gang.

I thought "Free Fallin'" was a Foo Fighters song for ages; it wasn't until just last year that I learned that it was actually by Tom Petty.

I thought Rain Will Fall by I Mother Bone was by Jane's Addiction at first, or at least one of their side projects like Porno For Pyros. The resemblance to Perry Farrell's vocals is pretty uncanny.

Edited by YouSitTightBuddy on Aug 27th 2021 at 7:48:15 AM

Just learned that "Sister Golden Hair" is actually by the group America.

Thought it was Paul Simon.

Every time I heard "Our House" on the radio, I assumed it was a Talking Heads song. Instead, it was performed by a band named Madness.

I just recently learned that "Lonesome Loser" is by Little River Band, not the Eagles - Something about the production and harmonies just gave me an Eagles-like vibe, plus lyrically it sounds like something they would have written.

I thought that song was by Steely Dan.

To me the choruses sound like Perry but the verses are lower than I'd expect from him - maybe a side project with a guest singer doing the verses? Then again I can remember thinking "No Rain" was Jane's Addiction. It's softer than JA usually is, but Shannon Hoon had a similar vocal range to Perry, and if you play "No Rain" and "Jane Says" back to back there's some stylistic similarities.

Always thought "Rebel Rebel" sounded like a Neil Young song, even Bowie's tone of voice is kind of there but gruffer.

I haven't ever associated the two, but I can kinda picture a Neil cover of it - it'd probably end up sounding a bit like "Downtown".

I used to think that the sci-fi sound design trailer music track "Wirecrosser" was by Daniel Lenz due to the distinctive distorted hits; it was actually by Chris Hurn.