Best Rock Cover Songs of All-Time
Published July 19, 2005
Uncle Tupelo "Effigy" (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
These guys paved the way for what would eventually become Alt-Country. By adding a little punk rock to The Carter Family, The Flying Burrito Brothers etc. they reminded us that Country was Punk all along. The pounding guitars and drums on this one are perfectly juxtaposed with minimalist breakdowns and twangy harmonies.
Morgan Clendaniel:
Uncle Tupelo covering the Carter Family's "No Depression"
It's pretty indicative of lots of things about America at the end of the 20th century that it made sense for Uncle Tupelo to take the Carter Family's song about the Great Depression and make it about being depressed. It also gave a name to an entire musical movement. It's also really good.
Los Lobos covering the Eagle's "Hotel California"
The original version is long, plodding and filled with lyrics that don't make any sense. So why not listen to a better version that is long, fast, and still filled with words that don't make sense?
The Clash covering Lee "Scratch" Perry and Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves"
Brimming with tension about to boil over, the Clash add anger and volume to an already good song. From the falsetto backing vocals to the ire in the vocals, this version is brilliant in every way. It's a brilliant distillation of the mood during punk's beginnings on the street on London.
William Shatner covering Pulp's "Common People."
Many (especially Pulp fans) despise this cover, and with good reason. But if you can't take joy in the sneer in Shatner's voice as he spits "you'll never fail like common people," then you are certainly not cynical enough.
David Schultz:
Respect - Aretha Franklin covering Otis Redding
After hearing Aretha's revamped version of Respect, Otis Redding knew exactly what had happened, declaring "that girl done stole my song." Improving on the original in every way, Aretha created a feminist statement while cementing her reputation as the Queen of Soul. No cover song has been as intimately associated with its singer as Respect and Aretha. Without question, the best cover song ever.
Hey Joe - Willy Deville ostensibly covering Jimi Hendrix
The Hendrix version of Hey Joe is a cover itself but it is the seminal version of the song and any version that followed must out of necessity be compared to it. While most artists covering Hey Joe try to put their spin on the signature guitar riffs, Deville goes in another direction - he employs a Mariachi band. Replete with horns and a Tijuana beat, Deville's version works on a different level from all of the other versions.
Gloria - Patti Smith covering Them
On her debut album, Horses, Patti Smith turned the Van Morrison sing-along into a growling punk anthem. Smith's super-cool poetry backed by Lenny Kaye's thundering guitar robbed the song of all its innocence. This is definitely not the stereotypical sing-along version.
- Best Rock Cover Songs of All-Time
- Published: July 19, 2005
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Rock
- Writer: Earvolution
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I'll throw in Dynamite Hack's cover of Easy-E's "Boyz in the Hood." Brilliant, funny, and compulsively listenable. Stark old school rap converted to harmonious folk-pop.
yes its very cool when folks from competely different genres cover songs.
i haven't heard that Dave Mathews version of The Maker but it had better be ultra-fatastic to unseat the reference standard: Emmylou Harris on the record "Spyboy".
Some cross-genre covers....
-Zebrahead's cover the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" (from pop to punk)
-Toad the Wet Sprocket's cover of KISS's "Rock And Roll All Nite" (rock to folk)
-Limp Bizkit's cover of George Michael's "Faith" (pop to heavy metal/rap)
-Anything by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (ex. Mandy, Rocket Man, Sweet Caroline, etc) (70's Adult Contemporary to Punk)
OK, perhaps I'm showing my age here, but I'd certainly say the Beatles covers of "Twist And Shout" and "Long Tall Sally" are worthy of consideration as great covers.
thumbs up to all of those too. SRV rocked. Pretty much anything the Beatles did was great in my book.
I also like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers version of "Higher Ground" and forgot to add that in.
Rob Zombie's versions of Brickhouse, I'm Your Boogeyman, and Blitzkrieg Bop are fantastic!
I submit that the greatest Dylan cover of all time is The Byrds' version of "My Back Pages." It was radiant with the joy of rebirth, in a way that even the acoustic original couldn't quite muster.
The Beatles covers were great, too, and what about Elvis? "That's All Right Mama," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and "Hound Dog," among others, were covers and who can imagine anyone else doing them now?
Oh, for the best genre crosser I've ever heard . . .
Eels cover of "Get Your Freak On" by Missy Elliot
You guys are coming up with some cool stuff! And, some stuff I haven't heard.
Marilyn Manson's cover of "Sweet Dreams" is pretty creepy/great.
That is true, Eric!
How about Anthrax (w/PE) Bring the Noize?
Sepultura's Black sabbath cover of Children of the Grave.
Type O Negative's cover of Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl
Oh, speaking of Type O Negative:
They do a simply fabulous, kind of hardcore goth version of The Doors' "Light My Fire."
It's not too widely known, but the Foo Fighters did a phenomenal cover of the 70's classic "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty. The original had sax solos and disco synth, but the Foos reworked it all to guitar and bass. It's the B-Side to the UK "My Hero" single.
Mark -- That is a great cover, absolutely. It played on the radio for a bit around five years ago.
Oh, how could I forget--- Rage Against The Machine's cover of Springsteen's "Ghost of Tom Joad". Those lyrics were meant to be screamed. Heh.
I'd pick several RATM covers over Tom Joad. How about Dylan's "Maggie's Farm" or "Renegades of Funk" by... African Bambaata, I believe?
Mission Impossible Theme - Larry Mullen, Jr. & Adam Clayton covering Lalo Schifrin
sucked.
They took a really cool 5/4 riff and dumbed it down to 4/4 for the brainless dance crowd.
A recent cover that is pretty damn great it Caesar's cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." It was released on Six Feet Under: Everything Ends, Music from the HBO Original Series - Vol. 2. Read more and listen to the song at http://musiccapitol.blogspot.com/2005/07/six-feet-under-everything-ends-music.html
And for the record, I think that Scissor Sisters' cover of Floyd is off-the-charts great. It's rare when a great song is reinvented into an equally great (or greater?) tune while not being at all derivative of the original.
For the record: what is NOT off-the-charts great... I flipped on MTV this morning and caught Jessica Simpson's cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walking."
My fingers walked right over to the remote and flipped over to Headline News.
Here's a few -
Natalie Merhcant doing the Stones Sympathy for the Devil (Jane's Addiction, David Byrne, and GNR do sweet versions as well)
Marilyn Manson - Soft Cell's Tainted Love
The Eels - Sophie B. Hawkins Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover
GNR - Wings live and Let Die
Alice Cooper - Jimi's Purple Haze
Johnny Cash - NINs Hurt, Soungarden's Rusty Cage
There are more - I just can't think of them right now....
Roy Buchanan's cover of "Sweet Dreams" - unbelievably evocative guitar work.
Soft Call's "Taited Love" wasn't a bad cover version itself.
Red House Painters doing Kiss's "Shock Me."
Yo La Tengo doing "Be Thankful for What You Got."
White Stripes doing Burt Bacharach's "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself."
Nirvana doing the Velvet Underground's "Here She Comes Now."
Ironically: Low doing "Open Arms."
There are a ton of wonderful obscure and not obscure covers out there. This list scratches the surface.
Type O Negative do an awesome version of "Summer Breeze"
Love and Rockets' "Ball of Confusion"
Two good covers: Van Halen and Oingo Boingo on The Kinks "You Really Got Me"
Almost the entire Zeppelin catalogue is a blues cover
NIN on Dead Souls
Coltrane's "My Favorite Things"
Cream's "Crossroads"
VH's You Really Got Me is a good one, as is their version of Pretty Woman.
Have you heard the Zep tribute cd with STP, Hootie, and others?
The Pretty Woman video was a classic. It wasn't shown on MTV back then, but is so tame.
Anthrax: Ball of Confusion
Anthrax: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Pantera: Planet Caravan
Powerman 5000: Let the Good Times Roll
Wow, kudos to great choices within the post and the comments.
'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' Warren Zevon cause he was honestly was knockin as he was dying of cancer when he recorded the song.
'You Really got Me' as covered by VH on a more upbeat bent.
Some great ones, El B. A jazz expert friend of mine and I were just rapping about "My Favorite Things" last week (I'm not a huge jazz guy but that one just knocks me on my ass).
Another Nirvana... which I'm pretty sure didn't make the box set but definitely should have: "Seasons in the Sun," a haunting and beautiful version.
Would the Metallica/Megadeth pair of The Four Horsemen/Mechanix count?
Or maybe Megadeth's censored version "These Boots Were Made for Walking"?
Best (ever) cover of Boots Were Made for Walking / One of These Days:
Operation Ivy
I second Chris' comment about Megadeth's censored "Boots" cover. It absolutely MUST be heard with the bleeping. It's hilarious.
Megadeth's Anarchy in the UK. Mustaine sings "possibly" instead of "passerby."
While RATM's "Maggie's Farm" is my favorite Dylan cover, two of the best live perfromances were by The Grateful Dead due mainly to the audience participation.
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" with its refrain of "Everybody must get stoned." brought out more lighters than any sappy ballad.
"Quinn the Eskimo"
"But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here,
Ev'rybody's gonna doze." Changed to "dose" by tens of thousands of mad, grinning faces.
For sheer oddness I have to give honorable mention to Devo's "Satisfaction"
SRV performing Voodoo Child (slight return) To hear the next great guitar slinger, check out Robert Randolph
i listen to music at work alot and if i found a peice of paper and it had all kinds of stuff about gay people on it but was laying on the floor i would go to the file cabinet and put the peice of paper in the folder that says "documents to be reviewed" and i would tell a manager or my freind ron
I aggree with the Bonnie Raitt cover choice of the Talking Heads song
"Burning down the house"...saw Bonnie
perform that one live at Mansfields
Tweeter Center in Mass, wow! blistering
slide guitar action, and ROAD TESTED
version is hot!, why this song wasn't on the radio?????????? Jeff Buckley-Tom Waits also do great cover songs mentioned in the article.
How about:
"Hard To Handle", the Black Crows version. They did a great take on Otis Redding.
"I'm a Man", Chicago's version. They really were a great band until the 70s and 80s watered them down to the Easy Listening crap you hear today.
"Lovers in a Dangerous Time", Barenaked Ladies' version. They did a great job of making Bruce Cockburn's song their own.
Good call on the Foo Fighters covering Baker Street, in addition to the B-Side it is also on a very hard to find EMI tribute record. EMI artists cover songs by older EMI artists including a haunting version of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" by Sparklehorse featuring Thom Yorke.
In addition to Bonnie Rait's "Burning Down the House" if you are looking for a version with a little more kitch, there is a solid reworking by the Cardigans featuring Tom Jones.
There are tons of amazing covers out there, it was hard to whittle it down to ten.
Cibo Matto did a funky, pseudo-bossa-nova version of 'About A Girl' that's definitely worth checking out...
And Sleater-Kinney does a bitchin version of 'Fortunate Son' live.
Forgot to mention Tori Amos' Strange Little Girls disc - chock full of amazing covers, from Eminem to Slayer; she also does a sweet version of Nirvana's Teen Spirit.
Tool - Zepp's No Quarter on Salival
Faith No More did a funny version of NKOTB The Right Stuff live (complete with Patton doing the Roger Rabbit). This was when everyone wanted them to do War Pigs and they went to this song onstead.
Speaking of War Pigs - The Dresdin Dolls do a fabulous version live.
Pearl Jam's Crazy Mary is an amazing cover as well...
Speaking of Stevie Wonder, I saw a video of him and Bobby Darrin doing a cover of "If I were a Carpenter". It was awesome.
On the obscure side, a band out of Boulder, CO in the 80s (the Little Women) did a version of the Stone's "Bitch" that just rocked so well it blew trees. A band from Seattle during the proto grunge era did a cover of Joy Division's "Means to an End" that was the biggest rock I have ever heard.
peaceloveguidance
Maurice Ravel's version of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" has certainly stood the test of time.
Odd, no mention yet of my favorite Sabbath cover: Type O Negative's version of "Black Sabbath"
Tori Amos does a great version of Slayer's "Raining Blood"
Van Halen's version of John Brim's "Ice Cream Man" worked pretty well. I also have a soft spot for their cover of Linda Rondstadt's version of Clint Ballard, Jr.'s "You're No Good".
Also, UFO's cover of Love's "Alone Again Or" (awesome guitar work!).
Jeff Beck doing Stevie Wonder's "Cause We've Ended As Lovers".
Rammstein's version of Depeche Mode's "Stripped".
Led Zeppelin's version of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You".
Miles Davis/Gil Evans doing the adagio movement from Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concerto de Aranjuez".
Iron Maiden's version of Jethro Tull's "Cross-eyed Mary".
The Doobie Brothers' cover of the Art Reynolds Singers' "Jesus Is Just Alright".
Brian Setzer Orchestra doing Duke Ellington's "Caravan".
Charlie Hunter Quartet covering Bob Marley's "Revolution".
Jefferson Airplane's version of David Crosby's "Triad" (having a woman sing it puts a whole new perspective on the original).
Jethro Tull's cover of Roland Kirk's "Serenade for a Cuckoo".
Jethro Tull's remake of J.S. Bach's "Bouree".
Norah Jones doing Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You".
The Bad Plus covering Black Sabbath's "Iron Man".
Ronnie Montrose's version of Gene Pitney's "Town Without Pity".
Stevie Ray Vaughan playing Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing".
Luther Wright & The Wrongs remake of Pink Floyd's "The Wall".
ZZ Top's cover of Isaac Hayes' "I Thank You".
And of course all the best Michael Jackson covers are by Al Yankovich.
I've heard of Little Women friends of mine in an even more obscure band from York, PA played with them!
JR, good call on Luther Wright & The Wrongs. I forgot about their take on The Wall.
Clem Snides cover of Christina Agulera's "Beautiful" is a great one too..
More for the list:
KD Langs version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" I find it much sweeter than the Jeff Buckley version as mentioned in the post.
Grateful Dead doing Morning Dew, turning an obscure folky song about nuclear holocaust into an apocolyptic monstrostity that makes you feel the bombs a blowin.
Alison Krauss doing the Beatles I Will. Beautiful, stretched out version that I played at my wedding.
Keith Richards is on record stating that Otis Reddings version of Satisfaction is done the way he wanted it done. It smokes.
Townes Van Zandt doing the Stones classic Dead Flowers. The original is a close to perfect a song as you'll get in pop music, but Townes makes it sadder.
Bonnie Raitt doing John Prine's Angel From Montgomery the version on the Prine box set with Prine himself is one of my all time favorite versions of any songs anywhere. If you don't cry when she sings "how the hell is a person go to work in the morning/come home in the evening/and still have nothing to say" you just don't have a heart.
And more...and more.
Oh I forgot the Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings version of Townes Van Zandts Pancho and Lefty.
I heard a live punk/trash version of John Prine's Sam Stone from Truckadelic once that was pretty stellar as well.
See how all these connect?
i must fling a nod in the direction of Bobby, being a fantastic cover of Bobby Brown's My Prerogative by Selfish Cunt. beats Britney's version into the dusty ground.
Erma Franklin (Arethas sister) doing Light My Fire
Nick Cave and Shane McGowen doing What A Wonderful World
Troubled Mind (60's NZ band) doing Under My Thumb (stones)
Ramones doing Somebody to Love (J Airplane)
Johnny Cash doing Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
The Muppets covering Pierro Umilliani Mah Na Mah Na
Devo covering Satisfaction
Harry Nillson covering Fred Neil's Everybodys Talking
to add just a few
what about...
Jose Feliciano - shes a woman
Spanky Wilson - sunshine of your love
Watts 103rd st band - can't get no satisfaction
Cedric Im Brooks - Shaft (reggae version)
Mongo Santamaria - Louie louie
Both Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" and Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" have been mentioned here as sources for cover songs (even though they're actually covers of earlier songs). This makes me think that they deserve to be on the list of best cover songs themselves.
Other songs that I think have been claimed from the original artists:
"Summertime Blues" - The Who
"Back Door Man" - The Doors
"Piece of My Heart" - Big Brother & the Holding Company
"Woodstock" - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
"The Letter" - Joe Cocker
"Cotton Fields" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
"(I Know) I'm Losing You" - Rod Stewart
"Stormy Monday" - The Allman Brothers Band
"Call Me the Breeze" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Act Nice and Gentle" - The Black Keys
"It's All Over Now" - The Rolling Stones
"Money" - The Beatles
My all-time favorite cover: "American Woman" by the Butthole Surfers.
Freakwater do a great acoustic version of "War Pigs."
What? No mention of Hendrix covering "All Along the Watchtower"?
BTW Eric, I think 7 Seconds' version of "These Boots Were Made for Walking" is better and punker than OpIvy. It's almost as punk as the Jessica Simpson version.
Honorable mention: A band called the Warlock Pinchers do a 7+ minute version of "I Think We're Alone Now." Slow and painful.
The Supersuckers did a fine cover of "Dead Homies" by Ice Cube, too.
FINALLY, how come no one has mentioned Jet covering their entire early-70s record collection?
"Nights in White Satin" by the Dickies.
enuf said...
"Hurdy Gurdy Man" by the Butthole Surfers I thought was quite well done.
Here's an obscure one - Guadalcanal Diary doing the campfire classic "Kumbahyah." Sanctified or sacreligious, depending on your point of view.
R.E.M. covered Aerosmith's "Toys In The Attic".
...though it was not particularly, uhm...REM-ish.
What about the Sex Pistols' version of "No Fun," originally by the Stooges? The Pistols took that song and made it their own. Also, the Pistols did a fine job transforming the Monkees' "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone."
Oh yes - a couple more:
The Clash's "I Fought the Law" (Bobby Fuller Four)
Devo's "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (Rolling Stones)
Patti Smith's "Hey Joe"
Oh gosh, how could I forget, anything by the Residents!!!! Oh man, their album, "Third Riech and Roll" sure mutilated any pop hit that existed.
Deep Purple's version of "Hey Joe" is also pretty great... and trippy!
The Residents also had a cover of "Heartbreak Hotel" that is actually pretty good. They capture the essence of the sick heart.
Hendrix does a bunch of fantastic covers: Hound Dog, Day Tripper, and of course, All Along the Watchtower, which has some of the best guitar work in the history of the planet.
And really, really trippy/groovy versions of Wild Thing and Gloria.
Here's some great ones that come to mind:
Dinosaur Jr. "Just Like Heaven" (The Cure)
Crooked Fingers "Under Pressure" (Queen w/ David Bowie)
Tom Jones with Art of Noise "Kiss" (Prince)
Johnny Cash "Rusty Cage" (Soundgarden)
Cheap Trick "California Man" (The Move)
Earth Wind & Fire "Got to Get You Into My Life" (The Beatles)
Judas Priest - Diamonds and Rust (Joan Baez)
PJ Harvey and Bjork - Satisfaction (The Stones)
Placebo - 20th Century Boy (T-Rex)
Powerstation - Bang a Gong (T-Rex)
David Bowie - Cactus (The Pixies)
Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World (Bowie)
NIN - Get Down Make Love (Queen)
onandonandonwego...
Big Daddy "A Day in the Life"
You've never really heard this song until you've heard it Buddy Holly style. Honest.
Ultravox doing Brian Eno's "King's Lead Hat".
"Iron Man" done by (The Cranberries?)(Sort of lounge jazz version)
"Harlem Nocturne" by the Lounge Lizards.
"Heatwave" by James White and the Blacks.
801 doing "You Really Got Me" on 801 Live
Wow, I'd love to hear that version of Iron Man.
There's a ton of great lounge covers of rock songs out there. I was obsessed with the Ultra Lounge series for years -- they have a lot of comp albums. The retro-lounge act Lounge Brigade is also outstanding (one album holds really great, cheese-groove covers of Nirvana, The Dead, Beck... "Where is it at? There it is!" and so on).
Husker Du did a blistering version of the Byrd's "Eight Miles High", turning all the psychedelic guitar work into deconstructed post-modern breakdown fuzz. It's amazing.
Nick (comment #80), I think you're talking about the version of "Iron Man" that the Cardigans did on First Band on the Moon. I personally wouldn't say it's better than the original, but they put a unique spin on it that works. For me anyway.
I'm very interested in the idea of jazz vocal versions of rock songs, but I haven't heard it pulled off that much. Rene Marie has done nice versions of Suzanne, Ode to Billie Joe, and Hard Day's Night, but I can't think of too much else that worked for me. Anything else that people liked? I'll add that I'm not nuts about Cassandra Wilson's pop covers, and that I'm more interested in artsy fartsy type lyrics.
Of course, Bad Plus's versions of Smells Like Team Spirit etc. are fun, and unusual in that they actually rock, but, again, I'm more interested in vocal stuff. Anything?
Howsabout Ray Stevens doing "Misty"? - an oldie but a goodie. Also there was a cover of the theme from Wonder Woman out a few years ago (on a compliation maybe) not sure who did it (does anyone know who it was?) but it rocked.
Oh I just retrieved part of my brain, Wonder Woman done by Tricky+Flea+John Frusciante rocked.
"AFTER MIDNIGHT"
Original Artist: Eric Clapton
Cover Artist: JJ Cale
Alien Ant Farm - MJ's "Smooth Criminal". An overall improvement.
Ugly Kid Joe - Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle".
Metallica's Garage, Inc. is all covers.
Nick Cave "Disco 2000" (Pulp)!!!
Beast of Burden (Bette Midler - Rolling Stones)
I have just created a site for the topic cover songs. There you can vote, if you like the cover or the original better. Here is the link:
Cover Song vs. Original
Not so many songs yet, but you can make new proposals.
i'm mostly a rock/metal maniac so here are my additions
Powerman 5000 - Relax
Orgy - You spin me
Deftones - If only tonight we could sleep
Deftones - No ordinary love
Placebo has a whole bonus cd with covers in addition to "Sleeping with ghosts"
Mushroomhead - thirteen is a cover of Seal's "Crazy"
Gun and Korn have both covered "Word up"
and of course my favourite - POD's cover of U2 "Bullet the blue sky"
add the following to the list:
CARPENTER'S SUPERSTAR covered by SONIC YOUTH - need to say more, the best covered song of all time
also include:
the clash' cover of "i fought the law"
john mraz cover of "lovesong" by the cure
shonnen knife cover of "top of the world" by the carpenters
U2's coverd of "dancing queen" by abba
Oh, how could I forget. Deep Purple did a cover of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman". Quite an interpretation. Gosh, it shredded...
Also, way back in the 50's Eugene Ormandy (my fave, very 'in your face')and the Philadelphia Orchestra did a cover of Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 w/ Sibelius's "Finlandia" and "Valse Triste" also Alfven's "Swedish Rhapsody". Great interpretations!!!! Eugene was the most rockin' conducter out there.
Hey, orchestras do alot of covers, right?
Picture - by Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow - I know it is a cover - but who was the original artist/songwriter
great list! I was on vacation when it was published. A few of my faves are "Wendy" by the Descendents, "Knights in White Satin" by the Dickies, "Everlasting Love" by U2, "Just Like Heaven" Dinosaur Jr, "Sheer Heart Attack" Metallica, "Purple Haze" The Cure
korns versions of "word up" is awesome and "brick in the wall" isnt half bad either...i didnt think that song could get anymore chilling but it did
and also ben harper does a version of "lets get it on" on his Live from Mars cd.....qualityand nirvanas "the man who sold the world" is sick but i think its already on here
Goldfinger's version of 99 Red Balloons is pretty good.
I like the Dynamite Hack song mentioned early on as well.
And I haven't really heard a bad version of Easy Like Sunday Morning yet. But I am sure there are some out there.
Oh I forgot. Fiona Apple and Rufus Wainwright both have quite good remakes of "Across the Universe".
And Rufus Wainwright also had a good version of "Hallelujah" (it's the one on the Shrek Soundtrack).
Anyone that happens to turn on MTV and sees Viva La Bam knows that Bam is a big fan of HIM. Thier cover of Chris Isaac's "Wicked Game" is amazing.
Everybody here might hate Jessica Simpson's cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walking" but if you want to here a great version of that song you must hear KMFDM's version. It's only available as a single. The CD single is titled "BOOTS". The CD only costs about $5 so you should buy it, it's really great.
I hate to admit this, but the only Jessica Simpson song I've ever, ever liked was her first hit single years ago where she borrowed that riff from John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane." I guess I'm a sucker for that ruff, but it was a very pleasant song. It's technically not a cover since she has her own lyrics and vocals, but that song wasn't unpleasant when I saw her cute lil teenaged self on MTV.
Her cover of "Boots" is horrible, but it's not about the music, it's about the skanky video. I agree with Berlin that OPIV did the best cover, but 95% of you reading this have never even heard of that band, which is a shame.
20 cents and a biscuit for anyone who can guess what the only Britney Spears song I've ever liked is.
I agree with most of Olsen's choices, except U2's "Everlasting Love." They drained the soul right out of Motown. Hell, they even drained the soul out of Elvis with "Angel of Harlem" amidst Bono's preachifying moral opportunism.
Husker Du covered everything well, including "Sheena is a Punk Rocker." Good call on "Dead Souls" -- for those of you who remember industrial, 1,000 Homo DJs (which was Trent Reznor + various members of Ministry) did a smashing cover of "Supernaut."
Natalie Merchant did a couple of good covers, including "Because The Night" with 10,000 Maniacs.
I agree on "Man Who Sold the World" and especially on "I Fought the Law" by the Clash, which is probably the greatest cover of all time. They completely re-interpreted the song and made it speak to the politics of their time. Goldfinger does the BEST punk covers, including "99 Red Balloons" and "Just Like Heaven."
Some other good ones:
"Mrs. Robinson" by the Lemonheads
"California Sun" by the Ramones
I've never heard the Ramones' version of "Somebody to Love," but I'd like to. That's one of the few guilty pleasure songs I have for classic rock.
I love the Pixies' version of "Head On," already a great song to begin with, but it's way, way better live than on record.
That is all.
Everybody here might hate Jessica Simpson's cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walking" but if you want to HEAR a great version of that song you must hear KMFDM's version. It's only available as a single. The CD single is titled "BOOTS". The CD only costs about $5 so you should buy it, it's really great.
But Vincent, what about the KMFDM cover? You forgot to mention the KMFDM cover and how much it costs! Can we possibly, possibly buy it anywhere and is it great? Inquiring minds want to know!
That is all.
Wait a minute. Ignore what I said about "Angel of Harlem" being an Elvis song. I got up in the middle of the night and I was cracked out when I wrote that.
Look away from the curtain! The rest of my comments are still credible.
That is all.
Tori Amos' "Strange Little Girls" record which has the wonderful Joe Jackson remake of "Real Men" and Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". I also love her version of the Cure's "Love Song", REM's "Losing my Religion", and "You Belong to Me" (unsure of original).
Emm Gryner's two cover albums, "Girl Verions" (lovely version of Stone Temple Pilots' "Big Bang Baby") and "Songs of Love and Death" (she covers Horslips "Dearg Doom").
I love Nirvana's cover of "Oh Me" I think originally done by the Meat Puppets but I'm actually not certain.
Pearl Jam is great with their covers. "Dock of the Bay", "Keep on Rockin in the Free World", "Leavin' Here", and so many others.
Also Jennifer Nash covers Pearl Jam's "Black" and it's heart breaking.
Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams" is scarily good.
Aerosmith's "Come Together" I enjoy highly (originally done by the Beatles)
I like A Perfect Circle's cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" ... it's a new twist.
Chantal Kreviazuk's version of "Leaving on a Jet Plane".
Alana Davis' version of Ani DiFranco's "32 Flavours" is enjoyable as long as you're not bias against her because you love Ani too much.
Guy Pearce does a great cover of Ron Sexsmith's "Dirty Windows".
The Ramones also did a great cover of "Do You Wanna Dance." As long as we're talking pop-punk, the Queers do a great cover of "Mirage" by Tommy James.
That is all.
Any and EVERY ska band has covered "Take on Me," including Reel Big Fish, with mostly predictable results.
Screeching Weasel does a great pop-punk cover of "Johnny R U Queer?" from the Valley Girl soundtrack as well.
But I've yet to hear a good cover of "Melt With You."
That is all.
Great post!
Just don´t forget
Bauhaus' cover of Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust"
Galaxy 500's cover of Joy Divison's "Ceremony".
Jonas - Edge of seventeen (Stevie Nicks) Best cover in years by a new comer named Jonas. This guy is the next Morrison, simply amazing on a stage. Unfortunately it's hard to capture that energy in the studio but this is without a doubt a kick ass rendition of a classic song. True to the original with lots more energy and feeling.
Tina & Ike Turner - Proud Mary (CCR) Just gotta love the arrangements and the soul of this version I agree
Joe Cocker - With a little help from my friends (Beatles)... Amazing, is the word!!!
the cure just like heaven covered by afi and taking back sunday is a bad ass cover to a bad ass song
Johnny Cash, Hurt and Personal Jesus are amazing, I am also a huge fan of his version of U2's One... brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. that man was amazing, he owned hsi songs because he meant them.
I am a huge Prince fan, but Nothing Compares 2 U became Sinead O'Connor's song the second she started singing it.
I think that Him covered Wicked Game? i love the Chris Isaac version (went to see him for my 12th birthday.. found the ticket the other day, it's lasted 15 years!), but the new version is pretty good too!
Clem Snide-Beautiful by Christina Aguilera
Cake- Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps by Doris Day
Weezer - Hit me baby one more time by Britany Spears
Elbow-Independent Women by Destiny's Child
...as a few
I found this classical guy while looking for the Live 8 Sgt. Pepper version in USA iTunes Store.
The whole Sgt. Pepper on a classical guitar? You have to hear it to believe it! I suggest you to start with "A day in the life" :). My iPod was never so happy :):)
Quiet riot do a great version of Slades 'Cum on feel the noise'
Several people have mentioned Bonnie Raitt's various covers of John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery." Susan Tedeschi does a version on Just Won't Burn that is absolutely fabulous.
Spooky Tooth's cover of "I Am the Walrus" was far darker and more belligerent than the original.
Johnny Winter has done great covers of many Stones tunes.
U2 did "Maggie's Farm" by Dylan
Husker Du "Eight Miles High" by the Byrds
Marilyn Manson's version of "I Put A Spell On You" from Lost Highway is fraking fantastic
Ever hear of Apocalyptica? Four cellos covering Metallica. Absolutely Brilliaat!
Husker Du's cover of the "theme from the Mary Tyler Moore Show"(!)
Coil's cover of "Tainted Love". (mp3 here) Peter Christopherson, a veteran of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, along with his 'partner' and several other musicians turned the song into a dirge, as a commentary on the AIDS crisis of the mid-80s. As if the song wasn't creepy enough, Coil produced a video (with a cameo by Marc Almond)that drives home the point. Christopherson has reported that he once had it played at a gay disco in London, and all the patrons stopped what they were doing, went dead silent, and stared at the screen. If you can track it down, it's worth seeing.
Off Topic: Dullest Cover: Brian Eno doing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".
Eno in one-man-band mode. A by-the-numbers remake, he brings nothing of his idiosyncratic style to it.
QuickTime movie (6.63 MB) of Coil's "Tainted Love" here.
Nick, yeah that was a great Husker cover.....Another favorite - Cassandra Wilson absolutely stealing "Love is Blindness" from U2...and don't steal it back Bono!
the who did a cover of saturday night's alright for fighting (elton john) that's pretty awesome.
I looked and looked through all this list, and didnt see a mention of A Perfect Circle's version of Imagine by John Lennon, that song is amazing.. Maynard took lennons lyrics and ran with them. he turned the song from almost a cheerful melody, to an anti-war, almost darker version... Everyone should check this tune out
-Orgy's cover of New Order's "Blue Monday"
-Dope's cover of Dead or Alive's "You Spin me 'round"
-Disturbed's cover of Tears for Fears's "Shout" (really amazing)
Nouvelle Vague has a great cover of "Making Plans for Nigel"... they also have "Melt with you". It's an entire album of covers. Fantastic.
link
postal service - against all odds (phil collins)
smashing pumpkins - landslide (nicks)
tv on the radio - mr. grieves (pixies)
great spin on an amazing song
chili peppers - brandy (looking glass)
oasis- help! (beatles)
oasis- youve got to hide your love away (beatles)
oasis- my generation (the who)
stereophonics- angie (rolling stones)
stereophonics- heart of gold (neil young)
stereophonics and oasis- im only sleeping (beatles)
aerosmith,oasis, u2- helter skelter..all great covers
A couple absolute gems I haven't seen mentioned...
Peter Rowan - No Woman No Cry (a must!)
A Perfect Circle - Imagine
Fuel - Daniel
Apocalyptica - Fade to Black
System of a Down - Metro
The White Stripes - Jolene
Radiohead - Wish You Were Here
my list would be:
goldfinger - 99 red balloons (nena)
rage against the machine - renegades of funk (afrika bambaataa
richard cheese - nookie/break stuff (limp bizkit)
me first and the gimme gimmes - i believe i can fly (r kelly)
the living end - tainted love (soft cell)
reel big fish (live) - so lonely (the police)
reel big fish - take on me (aha)
jack johnson - badfish/boss dj (sublime)
frenzal rhomb - we built this city (jefferson starship)
pennywise - land down under (men at work)
my list
damien rice - i still haven't found what i'm looking for (U2)
damien rice - creep (radiohead) extremely hard to do a cover of radiohead, damien rice is unbelievable on this cover
Ben Harper - Sexual Healing (marvin gaye) this version i feel is better then the original
Jack Johnson - garden grove (bob marley)
Sublime - no woman no cry (bob marley)
Joe Cocker - with a little helps from my freinds (Beatltes) the woodstock version is fantastic
sorry folks! but Hendrix's live monterey version of like a rolling stone beats all motherfucking hands down.
Slayer - In a Gadda-Da-Vida
Nuclear Assault - Good Times Bad Times
At Vance - S.O.S.
Metal Church - Highway Star
Ugly Kid joe - Cats in the Cradle
WASP - Easy Living
Iron Savior - This Flight Tonight
Realm - Elanor Rigby
Coroner - I Want You
Anthrax - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Anthrax - Pipeline
Nevermore - Sounds of Silence
Dark Angel - Immigrant Song
Iced Earth - Highway to Hell
Anthrax - I'm Eighteen
Overkill - Frankenstein
Flotsam and Jetsam - Saturday nights all right for Fighting
Fear Factory - Cars
Sanctuary - The White Rabbit
Type O Negative- Cinnamon Girl
Wrathchild Am - Time
Krokus - Schools Out
Sam Kinison - Under my Thumb
Nirvana - My Sharona
1000 Homo DJ's - Supernaut
Coroner - Purple Haze
Set Me Free - Heathen
Iced Earth - Creatures of the Night
Judas Priest - Johnny Be Good
Scatterbrain - Sonata #3
Laaz Rockit - Holiday in Cambodia
Testament - Nobody's Fault
RJ, who could follow that? Bo Bice doing "Vehicle". Had to do it. I am one of those sad, sad Bo Bice fans... Check out my site of Bo Bice worship!
:)
Seriously; you've done your homework.
I would definetly call Smashing Pumkins cover of Dancing In the moonlight (thin lizzy) one of the best covers I´ve heard
Nirvana never really covered "My Sharona," did they?
And why am I not surprised to see RJ is a metalhead? :)
That is all.
they DID cover "Seasons In The Sun". sort of.
One of my favorite songs of theirs is when they have the distorted, mocking refrain from "Get Together" by the Youngbloods to open the wonderfully ferocious "Territorial Pissings."
In a nutshell, that is the punk critique of the insincerity and naivete of the 60s and all hippie/classic rock.
That is all.
How about a "worst cover"? Ever hear the Dead do "Hey Jude"?
Nirvana "Man Who Sold the World" (Bowie)
The Byrds "Mr Tambourine Man" (Dylan)
Marty Casey "Baby One More Time" (Britney!) ---a FANTASTIC performance, part of the reality show Rockstar: INXS. Simply stunning---I was completely floored. I can never hear that song again without seeing him screaming into the mic "my lonliness... is KILLING ME"...
HOLY CRAP. I almost forgot:
Elton John "Pinball Wizard" (The Who)
EVERYONE!!! Do yourselves a favor and listen to a group called The Gourds covering Snoop Dogg's Gin n Juice. When listening to this bluegrass group, banjo and all, what first seems like a total joke soon becomes a remake/cover song unlike any you've ever heard before. It's a blast to listen to whether you like bluegrass or not, and trust me, I don't, but this is one of my faves!
some of my favorite covers are wilson phillips - hotel california paul young - dont dream its over Gloria Estafan - everlasting love Richard Marx - cant help falling in love frente - bizzare love triangle madonna - dont cry for me argentina Human Nature - eternal flame The corrs - old town Inoj - time after time Cliff richard - true love ways AAron neville - crazy love Britney spears - my perogative
Frank Zappa:
whipping post
hayseed dixie
feel like making love
I just discovered Muddy Water's psychedelic album Electric Mud, with Pete Cosey AND Phil Upchurch on guitar! I cannot freaking beLIEVE how cool this album is!. And it's got both.
Oh, yeah, it's got a cover of Let's Spend the Night Together, which is actually the weakest cut on the album, but still pretty damn cool, cool enough for this list.
OK, 1 more, Soul Kitchen by X, eXpecially the demo version on Anthology album.
ever heard of Stereophonic's live performance of "nothing compares to you"
try to hunt it down. refreshing
Ever hear a cover of "The Bed's Too Big Without You." (The Police) by Gretchen Lieberum on her album 3. a.m. ? Amazing to hear a woman sing it. check www.gretchenmusic.com for the lead to it...
Almost everything by Rage Against The Machine from the Rengades album is good, especially Maggie's Farm (Bob Dylan) and The Ghost Of Tom Joad (Bruce Springsteen).
Also, wasn't Deep Purple's Hush a cover? I forget who originally performed it. Same with Hendrix's Hey Joe.
Back Door Man and Whiskey Bar are both excellent covers by The Doors.
Anthrax's version of Parasite (Kiss) is really good, too.
Elbow covering Destiny's Child's "Independent Women"
OK - gee this is fun!
Some great stuff on The Chieftains, The World Over :
Chieftains with Diana Krall and Art Garfunkle covering "Morning has Broken"
Also - Chieftains with Ziggy Marley covering Bob Marley's "Redemption Song"
Next -
The soundtrack to I Am Sam. It's all Beatles being covered by the likes of Aimee Mann and Michael Penn covering "The Two of Us", or Sheryl Crow doing "Mother Nature's Son". Good stuff!
Finally - Recently released is the Tribute CD - Back Against the Wall. I'm preparing the BC review currently. It'd go smoother if disk One wasn't currently stuck inside my car stereo. I'm SO mad about that!!! Anyway..(calming down) It's a good take, this one. Greats like Ian Anderson, Tommy Shaw, Ronnie Montrose, Billy Sherwood, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and on and on. Hopefully I'll get the review done soon, but so far...I like it.
oops.I forgot to mention, Tribute of the original The Wall by Pink Floyd.
who as done an alt version of the Deads Truckin? Meat puppets?
who as done an alt version of the Deads Truckin?
Dwight Yoakam.
who as done an alt version of the Deads Truckin?
TESLA! hahahahaha
What do the words "and it's got both" mean in my post above? Mean I forgot to delete them.
Dope covers - Spin Me Round and Fuck Tha Police
Smashing Pumpkings - Landslide
Korn - Another Brick in the Wall
Twiztid - Joker, People Are Strange and A Very Twiztid Xmas
Evanescence - Heart Shaped Box
Jumpsteady - Battlefield
Zug Izland - Cry
ICP - Posse On Vernor
i would like to ask for your help, if anyone still checking this article out - there is a cover of "Word Up" by Cameo performed by a woman with the help of an acoustic guitar only, i've been seeking for it since i heard it once about half a year ago, and i failed at every search attempt...any ideas?
there are lots of covers of The Beatles' "All my loving" and anybody say anyone but heres my favorite:
"All my loving" played by Helloween its great
anothe great cover is Helloween's "I want Out" played by Sonata Artica
My all-time favorite cover is Kentucky Woman, by Deep Purple. Neil Diamond called it 'pretty radical'
Also, how about the Animals trilogy by David Johanson (We Got to Get Out of this Place, Don't Bring Me Down, and Its My Life). I'm just an old 60's fan at heart
How about senor coconut's covers of all those kraftwerk tunes, + smoke on the water, and smoothe operator. That guy has some seriously merengue talent...nina gordon's version of straight outta compton, and just for good measure how about snake river conspiracy's version of lovesong. I am done.
My Top 20 favourite covers of all time:
1.Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie - Yngwie Malsteen
2.Pictures of Home - Yngwie Malmsteen
3.Gates of Babylon - Yngwie Malmsteen
4.Am I Evil - Metallica
5.Blitzkrieg - Metallica
6.Wasted years - Helloween
7.Detroit Rock City - Racer X
8.Detroit Rock City - Helloween
9.Take A Chance on Me - Rugh Silk
10.Children of the Grave - Racer X
11.The final countdown - Children of Bodom
12.Aces High - Children of Bodom
13.Rebel Yell - Children of Bodom
14.Burn - TM Stevens
15.Money - Velvet Revolver
16.Hammerfall - Breaking the Law
17.I want out - Sonata Artica
18.99 Red balloons - Goldfinger
19.Godzilla - Racer X
20.Back in Black - Def Leppard (?)
These 20 covers will blow you away!!! You must hear them if you are big fans of the original artist, or fans of the cover artists! Serious man, these cover FUCKING RULE!!!
This is a great thread - lots of cool ideas I need to go off and listen to.
Let me second the vote for Scatterbrain's version of Mozart's Sonata #3, and let me add Sonata #11 from their next album.
The Toy Dolls have a great version of Bach's Fuge in Dminor.
Anyone have any other good examples of punk covers of great classical music? (Not Yngwie or the Great Kat, for some reason their classical covers just don't seem to do it for me.)
And while we're at it, here are some more I didn't see above:
We Got the Beat - Poison Idea. Poison Idea in and of themselves are (/were?) a great band, but their covers are really out of this world.
Motorhead - Poison Idea. The original verson by Lemmy's pre-Motorhead band Hawkwind was great in its time, but the big boys in P.I really kick this one up a notch.
The Harder They Come - Poison Idea once again. See a pattern? Ok, admittedly not every one of their covers are great, but most of them are good, and some are truly sublime. Check out the "Pajama Party" CD, which has a bunch of these all on one.
Ok, moving on from P.I...
Leaving on a Jet Plane / Phantom of the Opera - Me First and the Gimme Gimme's . Much of what this all-cover band does is not really my style, but these ones are definitely worth listening to.
Ring of Fire - Social Distortion. They remain true to the original, but make it their own. I like this one a lot.
Fortunate Son - Circle Jerks. No commentary, I just like it.
THE best cover ever is Helloween's "Guardians" performed by rhapsody :)
Last Kiss by J.Frank Wilson &the Cavaliers, covered by Pearl Jam
Come Together, Beatles covered by Aerosmith
Paul Anka's Rock Swings album is all covers and they are pretty solid, sometimes funny.
if anyone has heard john mayer do patience, by GNR, they will know it should be up there.
same for Adam sandler doing werewolves of london (orig. Warren Zevon).
and just for arguments sake, i think we need to remember that although NIN performed Hurt before Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash did write it. So is it really a cover song, if he wrote it himself?
A few (slower) great covers:
Everything But The Girl - Downtown Train (Tom Waits) - much better than the Rod Stewart version!
Darren Hayes (from Savage Garden) - In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel)
im a big fan of PanterA and black sabbath and planet caravan is the best cover in the world
Here are a few not mentioned:
"Stone Cold Crazy" by Metallica (Queen)
"Nothing Else Matters" by Bif Naked (Metallica)
"Radar Love" by White Lion (Golden Earring)
Leo Sayer's 'I'm the Walrus' id definetelt one of the best Beatlesä covers of all time.
Reel Big Fish - There is nothing like a dame.
---Part ska, part disco, all parts party.
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - What I did for love
---Punk rockers doing broadway. "Cant forget, wont regret what I did for love."
check HIM doing Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper."
Elvis Costello doing Bob Dylan's "I Threw It All Away."
Replacement's cover of "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy I Got Love In My Tummy." Okay, probably doesn't count because it wasn't recorded--I saw them do it in concert. Okay, "saw" might not be appropriate since I think by that time Paul Westerburg was drunk and flat on his back. Okay, "best" is a bit strong--a bad cover of a bad song might be more on target. Never mind.
all apologies - herbie hancock
she blinded me with science - john monopoly
love without anger (devo) - aquabats
darling nikki - foo fighters
whole lotta love - moog cookbook
day tripper - bad brains
in between days (cure) - ben folds
jealous guy - elliot smith, also Donny Hathaway
shame on a nigga (wutang)- system of a down
fat bottomed girls - hayseed dixie
happiness is a warm gun - the breeders
The Residents cover of "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones is one of the most intense and extraordinary covers ever. Scary stuff!
a few more I don't recall seeing on this list:
Black Label Society - Heart of Gold
Deftones - Simple Man
Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes
Kid Rock - Country Boy can Survive
Creed - Riders on the Storm
Godsmack - Sweet Leaf
Ramones - Ever see the Rain
Motorhead - Enter Sandman & Louie Louie
Iggy Pop - Louie Louie
311 - Love Song
Staind - Nothing Else Matters
Metallica's album Garage, Inc has one CD full of covertunes: Tuesday's Gone, Lover Man, Turn the Page, and Die, Die My Darling to list a few
Here's my three picks:
Ra - Everything She Does is Magic (Police)
Disturbed - Land of Confusion (Genesis)
Also, not sure who does it, but I have a reggae cover of Land Down Under (Men at Work). That is the all time best cover I've heard..
Not sure if it's been mentioned already or not:
"I Hung My Head" - Johnny Cash (covering Sting)
i heard the Cash version first, loved it and thought it was the kind of song he'd have written himself. Heard Sting's original and, not being much of a Sting fan, hated it. Cash's seemed more real and emotional....great song!
There is a German band called Emil Bulls that do a brilliant cover of Take On Me.
Erm....NOt all rock covers, but here are some of my fav's:-
Green day - I fought the law
The Corrs - Everybody Hurts
Stereophonics - NOthing Compares to you
feeder - everybody hurts
Jack Johnson - PLastic Jesus
Artic Monkeys - Love machine (live Loungue)
Jamelia - Numb (Live Loungue)
Green DAy - Knowledge
Foo Fighters - Baker Street
Feeder - So Lonely
Fallout Boy - Love Will Tear us Apart
JOhnny Cash - Cats in the Cradle
Coldplay - merry christmas
Less Than Jake - Surrender
Bowling for Soup - Summer of 69
Johnny Cash - One
thrusday - ever fallen in love?
Placebo - Johnny and MAry
Presients of the USA - Video killed the radiostar
Yellowcard - everywhere
Pinhead Gunpowder (or green day) - Big Yellow taxi
Lost Prophets - Cry me a River
Lost Prophets - Sweet dreams my LA-ex (RARE)
Rise Against - Anyway you want it
Hope u like.
Slayer: Disedent Aggressor last song on South of Heaven is a Priest cover
The lists have been great
here is a few to add,
The Mad Caddies - S.O.S. (Abba) Amazing!
Rockapella - Save Tonight (Eagle Eye Cherry)
Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal
Cake - I will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)
Scissor Sisters - Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand)
Powerman 5000 - Relax (Frankie Goes to Hollywood)
I collect punk covers (very seriously actually), here's few recent favorites:
Suicide Machines - It's the End of the World as We Know it (REM)
F-Ups - All the Young Dudes (Mott the Hoople)
Dumpweed - Son of a Preacher Man (Dusty Springfield)
Manges - Surrender (Cheap Trick)
Earth Crisis - Wanton Song (Led Zeppelin)
Blood for Blood - Runaway (Del Shannon)
Stretch Arm Strong - Express Yourself (NWA)
No Use for a Name - Turning Japanese (Vapors)
More recent songs ;
David Gray - Smile like you mean it (Killers)
The Kooks - Crazy (Gnarles Barkley)
Jason Mraz - One Love (Marley)
Maroon 5 - Dont look back in anger (Oasis)
The ordinary boys - All the things she said (tatu)
The lost prophets - Cry me a river (Justin Timberlake)
Embrace - How Come (d12)
Maximo park - Shiver (natalie imbrulia)
Fall out boy - Love will tear us apart (Joy Division)
Guillemots - Never went to church (The streets)
Also there are some good covers on the NME warchild album inc.
Starsailor - All or nothing (small faces)
Feeder - Power of love (Frankie goes to Hollywood)
Muse - House of the rising sun (the animals)
Manic street preachers - out of time (farlowe/rolling stone)
few I didn't see mentioned:
VADER - Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
SEPULTURA - Orgasmatron (Motorhead) KICK ASS HEAVY SONG!!!!!! Great to drive on a highway.
SOUR - AM I Evil (Metallica)
MOBY - New Dawn Fades (Joy Division) Brilliant interpretation!!!! Powerful! Get it if you dare!
THE PALE - Walking on the Moon (The Police)
ALALBAMA 3 - Hotel California
RONDELLUS - whole CD of Black Sabbath tunes sung in Latin and done with medieval instruments - great stuff if you're a sabbath head
and for smooth times - CHRIS BOTTI - No Ordinary Love (Sade). J'adorable.
Trivium - Master Of Puppets (Metallica)
Bowling For Soup - I Ran (Flock Of Seagulls)
HIM - Wicked Game, ~Don't Fear~ The Reaper (Chris Issak, Blue Oyster Cult)
Dream Theater - Master Of Puppets, Hey You (Metallica, Pink Floyd)
Trivium does a decent job on Master of Puppets...The only real problem with it is that Matt tries to hard to imitate James, which is impossible.
Bowling for Soup brought a good song to the ears of modern kids. For the record...I hate this song done by the Seagulls... The lyrics are good, so I can tolerate it.
HIM....What can I say....They're my favorite band and if you listen to Wicked Game you'll understand why. They gave life to a song that, while good, was dead in every way. Chris Issak is a horrible performer and singer, but writes damn good songs. HIM gave Wicked Game wings and let it fly. Their version of The Reaper could have been done better, but it's still a good cover. At least worthy of mentioning....Ville's voice is amazing.
Dream Theater. Like HIM there's nothing that I can really say about them...They took a song from two of the greatest bands to ever grace Rock music and made something beautiful out of them. Don't get me wrong, I'd still much rather listen to Metallica or Floyd when it comes to these songs, but Dream Theater did a great job.
Love this thread......took me a year to find it.
Although very mellow, The Trinity Sessions from the Cowboy Junkies is one of my favorite CDs when I'm in a mellow mood or need help falling asleep.
Cowboy Junkie covers:
Sweet Jane (Lou Reed)
Blue Moon "Revisited" (Richard Rogers, Lorenz Hart)
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams)
red hot chili peppers cover of Higher Ground from stevie W
RICHARD CHEESE!!!
Local H - Toxic (Britney Spears)
As mentioned earlier, Britney Spears is given well written songs to perform but it's her style that makes them unbearable. This version by the best remaining grunge band proves that the song surprisingly rocks.
Excellent choices, all. Aerosmith hasn't been mentioned yet, I don't think - Milkcow Blues, I'm Down, Train Kept a Rollin', and most of Honkin' on Bobo.
Without question the ultimate cover of all time is Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley!!!!
dreams by whiskeytown (original fleetwood mac)
how soon is now by snake river conspiracy (original the smiths)
people are strange by echo and the bunnymen (original the doors)
secret heart by feist (original ron sexsmith)
all surprisingly good.
you guys have definitely given me a lot to DL. Good picks! Here are some of my favorites that people haven't already mentioned:
Ben Folds - Golden Slumbers (The Beatles)This is my favorite from the I Am Sam soundtrack, but there are other good Beatles covers on there that are worth checkin out
Muse - House of the Rising Sun (The Animals)
Muse - Feeling Good (Michael Buble)I'm kind of obsessed with this song lol
Ewan McGregor - Your Song (Elton John) That one is from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack so don't laugh, but his voice is just so good. I mean Elton is awesome, but I think that this version is way more powerful if you like love songs haha.
Gary Jules - Mad World (Tears for Fears) This is from the Donnie Darko Soundtrack. So much better than the original!
The Fugees - Killing Me Softly (i don't remember who sings the original) I am surprised no one has mentioned this one yet
Jem - Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney)
Matchbox 20 - Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper)
Nada Surf - If You Leave (The Cure)
Ben Harper - In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel)
Rockapella - Under The Bridge (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) I am not saying this is better, because seriously the RHCP version is awesome. I just think this one is interesting, and the guy's voice is kinda like Eagle Eye Cherry
Smashing Pumpkins - Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
I just have to say that my fav cover is a tie between Johnny Cash's version of Hurt and Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah. I know that everyone has mentioned these but I had to put it out there myself lol.
Jeff Scott Soto - Frozen (Madonna)
Jeff Scott Soto - Shot In The Dark (Ozzy)
Wig Wam - I Turn To You (Melanie C.)
Mariah Carey - Bringin' On The Heartbreak (Def Leppard)
pearl jam - sunday bloody sunday (U2 cover)
korn - another brick in the wall (pink floyd cover)
Metallica - Smoke On The Water (Deep Purple Cover)
Pretty much anything the Me First and the Gimme Gimme's has done. Something about Broadway and 60's protest music done punk just fits.
Johnny Cash's cover collection is amazing as well. "Personal Jesus"(Depeche Mode), "Thirteen" (Danzig), "Rusty Cage" (Soundgarden), "Hurt" (NIN). Just amazing stuff.
Nirvana's "Lake of Fire"
Dope's cover of "Fuck tha Police" is wicked
Dandy Warhols do a cool cover of "Hell's Bells"
Nouelle Vague cover some cool stuff like the Descendants "Too Drunk to Fuck"
And any cover by Johnny Cash rules, he makes those songs his own
Jack Off Jill - Touch Myself
The Misfits - Monster Mash
just listen to The Cardigans playing "sabbath bloody sabbath" once... great!
Reciently I have just bought a CD with, as I think, the best soft cover song I have ever heard. It is done by a band called Shinedown and they covered Lynard Skynard's "Simple Man." The lead singers voice is absolutly amazing and the song is done acousticly. I have to say it is quite a bit better then the original, please go download that song!
u guys heard Limp Bizkit's cover of Sanitarium(Metallica)? Man! Do they sound great!!
No one mentioned: The Locomotion.
Original: Little Eva
Remake: Grand Funk RR
I think there was another remake after that.
I Am The Walrus by Oingo Boingo...that's some good stuff right there...
Also, was there a cover version of the song Jet by Paul McCartney done recently? I seem to remember hearing it, but can't remember who did it...
Nada Surf - If u leave is a cover from OMD
Martin
mindy smiths cover of jolene by dolly parton is really good. the white stripes cover it too but smiths version is better, a little more understated but with all of the emotion
Speaking of Nada Surf.....their cover of Where is My Min? (The Pixies) is awesome
M.Ward's cover of 'Let's Dance' by David Bowie breaks my heart
One of the best covers i've ever heard...Deadsy - Tom Sawyer.
No one has suggested this yet - Everything - "Father Christmas"
It's rare and I doubt you can find it, but it's awesome.
Just came across this by accident - great list so far - Here are a few good ones that I don't think anyone's mentioned yet - in no particular order.
1. Please Come Home For Christmas - Bon Jovi (Eagles) .. good live version
2. More Than This - Norah Jones or 10000 Maniacs (Roxy Music)
3. Summertime - Anjelique Kidjo (Gershwin) .. beautiful and original
4. Your Song - Billy Paul (Elton John) .. try this if you havent heard it. was very popular in ski resorts for a while in 90s
5. Light my Fire and California Dreaming - Jose Feliciano .. try these as well !
6. As Tears Go By - Nancy Sinatra (Rolling Stones)
7. Somebody to Love - George Michael (Queen) .. live tribute
8. Moon River - Morrissey (Audrey Hepburn etc.) .. original better I gues but he does an ok job
9. Something Stupid - Robbie Williams/Nicole Kidman (Frank and daughter) .. same as original but slicker
10. Dream a little Dream of Me and Everybody's Talkin - Beautiful South (Mamas and Papas/Harry Nillsson)
11. Inside and Out - Feist (Bee Gees ) .. fantastic this one. must hear.
12. Across the Universe - Fiona Apple (Beatles) .. beautiful. also a must play
13. Rock el Casbah - Rachid Taha (Clash) .. cool
14. Dear Prudence - Siouxsie and the Banshees (Beatles) .. oldie
15. Girlfriend in a Coma - Joshua Radin (Smiths) .. lovely take on smiths song
16. Desafinado - Bebel Gilberto and George Michael (Tom Jobim)
17. Alone Again Naturally - Vonda Shepherd (Gilbert O'Sullivan) .. for ally mcbeal fans
18. I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Elvis Costello (Burt Bacharach) .. from austin powers
19. All By Myself - Jamie O'Neal (Eric Carmen) ... for bridget jones fans
20. How Deep is Your Love - Take That (Bee Gees) .. get the original with acapella harmonies. Love them or hate them but they could sing.
21. You've got a Friend - Housemartins (James Taylor)
22. Love Song - Tori Amos (Cure)
23. Make Me Smile - The Wedding Present (Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel) .. good although original had better guitar
24. Billie Jean - Shinehead (Michael Jackson) .. a bit of fun
25. Here Comes The Sun - Richie Havens (Beatles)
26. Money - Velvet Revolver (Pink Floyd)
27. Love will Tear us Apart - Cure (Joy Division)
28. Little Wing - the Corrs (Hendrix)
29. Windmills of Your Mind - Sting (dont know but famous)
30. Brown Eyed Girl - Shaggy (Van Morrison) .. to go with Israel whatsisname's somewhere over the rainbow on beach bar playlist.
31. Baby its Cold Outside - Steve Tyrell (standard) .. his album a bit pottery barn but very good
32. Faith - Limp Bizkit (George Michael)
33. I'm in the Mood For Love - Jamiroquai (standard)... on later with Jools Holland, reggae beat .. very good
34. Signed Sealed Delivered - Jamiroquai (Stevie Wonder)
35. High Tide or Low Tide - Ben Harper and Jack Johnson (Bob Marley) .. great live duet
... enjoy
I didn't see it earlier, but "Sympathy for the Devil" by Janes Addiction (originally Rolling STones) is one of my favorites.
You have to listen to Frank Bennett - Aussie crooner that covers modern songs in the style of Frank and Tony. songs include creep, the way you make me feel, under the bridge. Very talented and entertaining. Check out the website for mp3 downloads if you can't get the CDs
You can't forget:
1) David Bowie's cover of "Waiting for the Man" by The Velvet Underground
2) Nirvana's cover of "The Man Who Sold the World" by David Bowie