Music Break - Lesser-Known Originals

With some popular songs, the original version is not as well known as a later cover version.  This is often the result of an American act covering a song first recorded by a British act, thus bringing the song to the American public, while the original is heard mostly back in Britain.  One fairly well-known example is Black Magic Woman, made famous in America by Santana, but originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac, written and sung by the band's founder, Peter Green.

Quiet Riot had a huge hit in 1983 with Cum On Feel The Noize, which was written and recorded ten years earlier by the English band Slade.  At the time, their lineup was Don Powell on drums, Dave Hill on lead guitar, Jim Lea on bass (and sometimes keyboards or violin), and Noddy Holder on lead vocals and guitar.

In 1991, the Marcy Brothers (Kevin, Kris and Kendal) recorded their second album, which included a song written by Don Von Tress called Don't Tell My Heart.  A year later, Billy Ray Cyrus released his cover version under a different title.

In another change of title, the Scott English song Brandy was renamed Mandy by Barry Manilow, to avoid confusion with the song Brandy by Looking Glass.  English's version was a hit in Britain in 1971, but Manilow's cover went to #1 in the United States in 1974.  Even so, this is not another example of a song by British artist being successfully covered by an American, because English himself is American.

Another cover version that topped the American charts was I Love Rock 'n' Roll by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, released in 1982.  Like most of the songs above, it was first released in the U.K.  As the story goes, Jett was touring England with her earlier band The Runaways in 1976, when they saw the group Arrows perform the song on television.  Although based in England, Arrows included American bassist-vocalist Alan Merrill and Israeli-born American guitarist Jake Hooker, along with English drummer Paul Varley.  They later added English guitarist Terry Taylor, but were still a trio when they performed the song in this video.