10 Greatest Rock Music Cover Songs Of The 1990s
7. Last Kiss - Pearl Jam
In 1999, a group of artists got together to record a charity album for victims of the ongoing Kosovo War. The likes of Alanis Morissette, Korn, and Neil Young contributed to the record, which was bookended by two songs from everyone’s first-, second-, third-, or fourth-favourite grunge band, Pearl Jam.
The opening song was a cover of a track originally released by Wayne Cochran all the way back in 1961. The original Last Kiss was an upbeat rocker about… a man whose girlfriend dies in a tragic car accident? Seriously? No wonder this thing didn’t sell.
Eddie Vedder’s sombre vocals are way more suited to this subject matter than Wayne’s, as is the band’s tastefully restrained arrangement of the backing track. 90s fans were much more receptive than those in the 60s, as this version of Last Kiss ended up as a number two single on the Billboard charts.
The contrast between these two versions is stark, with the alternative icons understanding the brief way more than the guy who originally sang it.
Cochran would retire from music in 1972 to become an evangelical minister, which is fun.