This is the Spanish version of Hotel California that the world was clamoring for. The Gipsy Kings retain the iconic intro to the song but on Flamenco guitar it is only slightly familiar. It is only when the "dark desert highway" is in an unfamiliar language that you realize what you are listening to.
. . . Baby One More Time – Travis covering Britney Spears
Britney Spears is a wonder of the music industry's marketing "genius." One of the main reasons for her success though is that she has been given well crafted songs to work with. Travis proves that point here with an acoustic rendition of her debut tune that leaves you marveling at what lies underneath the lavish studio overproduction of Britney's throwaway pop.
Sweet Leaf – Galactic covering Black Sabbath
Who knew that Black Sabbath tunes were just jazzy classics waiting to bust forth. Utilizing their superb horn section, Galactic brings the funk out of this heavy metal standard. Danceable Sabbath? What's next, an adult contemporary version of Crazy Train – oh wait, never mind.
Try A Little Tenderness – Andrew Strong/The Commitments covering Otis Redding
As proven by the numerous horrendous renditions of the song, Try A Little Tenderness is a difficult one to sing well. The song’s structure exponentially magnifies the weakness of any singer and the artist who tries it risks being exposed. For decades Otis Redding was the only one who could sing it – until Alan Parker made The Commitments. Andrew Strong, who was only 16 at the time, nails the song. In fact, that’s the secret to the movie: the tragedy of the band's failure was that they were SO GOOD they could play Try A Little Tenderness.
Gin and Juice — The Gourds covering Snoop Dogg
Rap has always borrowed heavily from rock, country and soul but this time the roles are reversed. The Gourds, a group of bluegrass musicians, tear into this Snoop classic with abandon. With its banjos, steel guitars and country twang, this is the definitive hillbilly rap song.
Alex Padalka:
Flaming Lips doing Kylie Minogue's Can't Get you Out of My Head
Talk about overdramatizing something, jeez. What started out as a sweet song about lustful obsession turns into an all-lost this-is-farewell anthem. An acoustic guitar replacing the cymbal and violins taking it one step further into serious heartbreak - who knew a dance track can belong on a breakup mix?
Sex Pistols doing Frank Sinatra's I Did It My Way
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Elizabeth
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
2 - JD
those are good ones too!
3 - Eric Berlin
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.
4 - JD
yes its very cool when folks from competely different genres cover songs.
5 - Mark Saleski
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".
6 - JD
I haven't heard the Emmy Lou version.
7 - steve
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)
8 - andy marsh
how about SRV doing Stevie Wonder?
9 - The Proprietor
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.
10 - Jeff Davidson
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.
11 - Chris Beaumont
Rob Zombie's versions of Brickhouse, I'm Your Boogeyman, and Blitzkrieg Bop are fantastic!
12 - Mike
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?
13 - Elizabeth
Oh, for the best genre crosser I've ever heard . . .
Eels cover of "Get Your Freak On" by Missy Elliot
14 - Jeff Davidson
You guys are coming up with some cool stuff! And, some stuff I haven't heard.
15 - Eric Berlin
Marilyn Manson's cover of "Sweet Dreams" is pretty creepy/great.
16 - Chris Beaumont
That is true, Eric!
How about Anthrax (w/PE) Bring the Noize?
17 - Chris Beaumont
Sepultura's Black sabbath cover of Children of the Grave.
Type O Negative's cover of Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl
18 - Eric Berlin
Oh, speaking of Type O Negative:
They do a simply fabulous, kind of hardcore goth version of The Doors' "Light My Fire."
19 - Mark Sahm
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.
20 - Eric Berlin
Mark -- That is a great cover, absolutely. It played on the radio for a bit around five years ago.
21 - Mark Sahm
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.
22 - Eric Berlin
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?
23 - JR
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.
24 - Elizabeth
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
25 - Eric Berlin
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.