I read some scary stuff on the MTV News website the other day. Forget those detached fingers, this was worse. Apparently Mary Kate and Ashley Olson, those “Full House” twins who have built themselves an impressive straight-to-video empire, have recorded a version of Weezer’s “Island in the Sun.”

Now that’s just wrong.

Cover songs have long been a staple in music. For some it is a chance to pay homage to their idols. For others it is a useful tool to help get their names in the spotlight while others use them because they don’t have enough original material of their own.

One of the best loved sources for cover songs is The Beatles. Unfortunately, 90 percent of those who even try to record their own version of a Beatles song end up butchering it. Only Joe Cocker has made an actual improvement on a Beatles’ song when he did “With a Little Help From My Friends.” The Bee Gees keep trying, but they always fail with flying colors. Even Oasis, a band that often prides itself on its Beatle-wannabe status, can turn “I Am The Walrus” and “Helter Skelter” into something that sounds like a dying animal.

There are some artists who know when to do a cover and how to do it. Alien Ant Farm scored a big hit with their take on Michael Jackson’s”Smooth Criminal.” Travis has a reputation for doing unique versions of songs. Its recording of Britney Spears’ “(Hit Me Baby) One More Time” has become the stuff of legend. Meanwhile its version of “Killer Queen” is almost dead on.

Then there are the kings of cover songs. The name UB40 might not ring any bells, but starting back in the 1980s they had success with an endless stream of cover songs like “Red Red Wine.” Can anyone out there name a hit song by UB40 that was not a cover?

The only real benefit from cover songs really comes to the person who wrote the original song in the first place. They get all that nice royalty money. I remember watching “Badfinger, Behind the Music” in the wee hours of the morning. (That’s another story.) They were the ones who originally recorded “Without You.” (That’s the one that goes “I can’t live/ If living is without you.”) Harry Nilsson got his hands on it and made it a piece of 1970s pop music glory.

It might even give the original artist who performed the song an added boost to their career, too. A classic example of this is the Guess Who, who were recently in the area. Lenny Kravitz’s version of “American Woman” helped the band gain new fans, who might not have heard of the band unless their parents listened to them.

The one issue with cover songs is this: sheer laziness. My mother has a copy of one example of overdoing it, Michael Bolton’s cover album. Did you not have the time or energy to come up with new material? One cover is fine, but when you start doing them every other album, it looks bad. Remixes and B-sides on a single are a different matter, but it worries me when artists have to turn to a cover song to get the audience’s attention.

Artists might also want to find new sources for cover songs. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones have enough money and they know how great they are. Look for that hidden gem by that little known artist. You never know what you might find.

Waiting at least a decade before a song gets covered is nice, too. It’s a little early to be cranking out covers of Weezer songs.

For all that is holy, get creative, and leave the Beatles catalog alone.