10 Greatest Cover Songs In Rock Music History
6. Summertime Blues - The Who
Towards the end of the '60s, we were still getting introduced to the concept of heaviness in rock and roll. Though people like the Doors were taking us into unchartered territory at the time, they still fit pretty neatly into the realm of psychedelic rock than hard rock back then. If we were going to get a proper education, we would have to go back to the band that were already known for volume.
After making their magnum opus with Tommy, the Who's next course of action was to release Live at Leeds, which became one of the first instances of hard rock to come out at the time. Though a lot of these songs are Who live staples on steroids, what really separates it from its counterparts is what they did to Eddie Cochran's classic Summertime Blues.
Being a rock and roll staple for decades at that point, the Who took it to unheard of levels on their version, with Pete Townshend making his guitar squeal across every minute. Though you wouldn't find this kind of playing on any proper recording, this was the sound of hard rock sharpening its teeth before the real heavyhitters came out a little further down the line. Now rock had something that actually sounded like it was made for stadiums.