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Nov 05, 2020 By Joey Arnone Nine Inch Nails

St. Vincent and Jehnny Beth have both covered Nine Inch Nails, Real Estate have covered The Doobie Brothers, and The Kills have covered T. Rex for Amazon Music in honor of this year’s Rock & Roll Hall Fame inductees.

On Saturday, November 7th, a new class of artists will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Fame, including Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G., and T. Rex. In honor of this year’s new class of inductees, Amazon Music has brought together several artists to cover iconic songs by these legendary performers. “Current artists paying tribute to their heroes and influences has long been a staple of the Amazon Originals program and has produced so many great covers,” says Stephen Brower with Artist Relations at Amazon Music. “To honor this year’s wonderfully eclectic list of Rock Hall inductees with an equally distinctive group of some of our favorite artists seemed only natural, and we’re thrilled with the results.” Listen to the covers below.

St. Vincent performed a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ classic song “Piggy.” She states in a press release: “[‘Piggy’] remains one of my favorite Nails songs to this day. I am obsessed with the slinky tambourine that is just a little lazy in feel. And when I took this song apart to cover it, it took me a long time to really understand the immensity of the groove. It’s a dark, industrial reggae. Muscular, but never as distorted as you imagined it when you think of it in your head… They made a complicated thing seem easy and made big, bold sonic choices.”

“The Doobies’ hits are ubiquitous as any other music I’d hear playing in the Orthodontist’s office in New Jersey while waiting to get my retainer adjusted. They are absolute classics, and deservedly so,” says Alex Bleeker of Real Estate on his band’s cover of a classic Doobie Brothers song. “We explored the Doobie Brothers catalog pretty thoroughly before finally settling on ‘What a Fool Believes.’ Of course, it was an obvious choice, but it’s also one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded, which was totally intimidating. Once we decided to go for it, it was really fun to get in there and discover each individual part and what makes the song so timeless and incredible.”

“Recording T. Rex’s ‘Cosmic Dancer’ during these strange and dark times in lockdown, transported us to, for all intents and purposes, way way way better times,” states rock duo The Kills on creating a reworking of the iconic T. Rex song. “It was a joy to explore the guts and heart of this song, pull the curtains on the world outside, and get lost in Marc Bolan’s mind for a day. Music is medicine and this song was a much needed dose.”

Frontwoman of Savages, Jehnny Beth, performed a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ ubiquitous hit “Closer”, and indie rock group Eyelids did a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence.”

In honor of The Notorious B.I.G., Amazon Music has re-released the audio documentary The Birth of Biggie, which celebrates his seminal 1994 album Ready to Die. R&B singer Brandy will also be covering a Whitney Houston song which is set to release in 2021. Amazon Music is also releasing a new set of [RE]DISCOVER Playlists for each Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, where each artist will have songs from across the span of their respective catalogs put into a comprehensive playlist that highlights their most iconic work.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2020 Induction Ceremony airs Saturday, November 7th at 8 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Max, and it will feature guests including Luke Bryan, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Miley Cyrus, Billy Gibbons, Dave Grohl, Don Henley, Jennifer Hudson, Billy Idol, Iggy Pop, Alicia Keys, Adam Levine, Chris Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brad Paisley, Bruce Springsteen, St. Vincent, Ringo Starr, Gwen Stefani, Charlize Theron, Nancy Wilson, and more.

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