10 Rock Cover Band Epic Fails

Why does it always have to be ‘Enter Sandman?’ Couldn’t some band massacre ‘Creeping Death,’ 'For Whom the Bell Tolls?' or 'Master of Puppets' -- 'Master' would be so easy to mess up. The guitarist isn't half bad on the intro, but when the synths (synths on a Metallica song?!) come in totally off key, it's already beyond saving. By the time he starts singing, it's off to never-never land, indeed.

It takes a while for this Dio cover band to get going, but once they do ... actually, they never really do get going. It takes forever for this Swedish two-piece to actually get on the stage and another eternity to tune up ... and for what? To stand around, fumble uncomfortably with their instruments and attempt to play the song a handful of times, all for naught. At least the crowd seems to be laughing with them, not at them.

First off, this guy really should learn how to tune a guitar before her tries to play it. Next, he should learn how to tune his voice. We're not sure exactly what's going on in this video -- is he break-time entertainment during a timeshare sales pitch at a Holiday Inn in Cancun? -- but whatever it is, those bouquets of balloons are way more entertaining than his performance. Look at all the pretty colors!

It takes well over a minute for this one to kick in, and then at least another one for the feedback to die down so you begin to realize what the hell they're playing. Whatever it is, we wouldn't call it rock 'n' roll. Luckily, much like their heroes, their business and marketing skills translated much better -- we hear they nearly sold all of the Kiss-branded hippie headbands and solid black T-shirts they were shilling in the lobby. Just don't even get us started on their face paint.

Don't let the opening 20-second duel-guitar riff fool you -- that's the tightest this group is all song. Once the singing comes in, the guitars fall insanely out of tune, the drummer loses the ability to keep a steady beat and, well, the singer (where is the singer, anyway?) continues trying to sing, if that's what you want to call it. The smoke machine is pretty cool, though. If only they had smoke machines that could cover up sound...

"Are you ready to rock?" the singer shyly asks after the curtains open on this performance, sounding more like he's checking in with his bandmates than pumping up the crowd. Unfortunately, they are most definitely not ready. The guitarist's amp is about the size of a shoe box (and sounds like one), the bassist plucks in no particular rhythm and the drummer ... well, there is no drummer. "This is going on YouTube," someone off-camera can be heard saying at one point. 250,000 hits later, it's still there.

Let's rank what we see on stage in terms of effectiveness, from most to least, shall we? 1. The drummer 2. The bassist. 3. The guitarist 4. The American flag 5. The singer. It’s certainly not easy playing the challenging music of this SOAD song, and this band does a halfway decent job –- until the singer comes in. On second thought, maybe the flag should rank higher.

This clip, which features a high school band rushing through a sloppy version of the Chili Peppers' 'By the Way,' is a sight to behold. The drummer can hold the beat down, the bassist actually has a little bit of a funk thing going on, the guitarist is tuned up and capable, and the frontman -- well, he certainly is energetic. Perhaps he has a little too much energy as sings off key and hops around the stage, doing his best Anthony Kiedis dance moves and generally looking silly. In fairness to him, he's singing in a foreign language, and Kiedis himself isn't known for his pitch-perfect vocals. That still doesn't make things right.

We don't know what it is, but there's definitely something about 'Smell Like Teen Spirit' makes it ripe for terrible cover attempts. With more than 350,000 views, this 'Teen Spirit' take seems to be YouTube's favorite, but this version without a drummer and this mistake-ridden take aren't far behind. Our pick features a band called My Voodoo Nightmare performing on "jam night" with a guest singer reading off a lyrics sheet -- and he still manages to bungle the lyrics. 

It was hard to pick between this band’s version of Eric Clapton's Cocaine’ and 'Numb,' but this stab at the Floyd classic wins out. They're actually a band from Georgia called Hush that's definitely gotten some notoriety -- and 1 million-plus YouTube hits -- for being so awful. "At least we had the guts to get onstage and try," says the guitarist. We love that they’re playing below a sign that says “MUSIC” when what’s going on is anything but.