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This Day In Music: Celine Dion Covers AC/DC
On this day, June 26, 2008, Total Guitar magazine voted Celine Dion’s version of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” the worst cover of all time. We here at Beacon can hardly dispute this assessment and certainly we agree with Stephen Lawson, editor of Total Guitar, that the only word for such a cover is “sacrilege.”
What we want to know, though, is how did such a thing happen? And why? There’s nothing in Celine Dion’s music that would suggest she was, in any way, remotely influenced by the Kings of Power House Rock N’Roll, AC/DC. Nor would we have even guessed that she was a fan. So we find it curious that this was even attempted, let alone recorded and produced, staged and performed.
Were they all on drugs? Were they high? Because that would go far and away to explaining the utter absurdity that was this cover.
In the years since, the only cover we can think of that exceeds the sheer desecration of Celine Dion doing “You Shook Me All Night Long” is Miley Cyrus’ cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” a live version that makes you want to commit suicide out of all encompassing despair.
The Celine Dion version isn’t quite that bad. Mostly it’s just weird. It’s like watching your grandmother rock out to Iron Maiden. We’ve included the video here so you can see for yourself.
Celine Dion: Lita Ford she definitely ain’t.