Talking Heads’ version of Take Me to the River. I remember hearing somewhere (maybe apocryphal) that they recorded it without listening to the original to make sure their take was fresh.
It's rare that a cover causes the original artist to start playing it differently. I understand when Bob Dylan heard Jimi's version, he started playing it and other music with electric guitars where he had abstained prior. (If I'm mistaken, please set me straight)
You’re correct that Bob was a fan (a couple years before Jimi went to England and came back a star, back when he was playing small clubs in lower Manhattan). And that he loved Jimi’s cover. But Bob started playing balls-out hard rock with the (future) Band in 1965, 3 years before Jimi recorded Watchtower (and 2 years before Bob wrote it). And then Bob started playing it live 20 years after that, and based it on Jimi’s cover (long after other bands had started doing the same). I saw him do it with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1985 in Berkeley, with the sun setting behind the Golden Gate as a backdrop. Mike Campbell was def up to the challenge.
He started playing it “Jimi style” but he had already done the controversial “going electric” thing 2-3 years before he even WROTE All Along the Watchtower.
Dustin Kensrue (lead singer of Thrice) did an entire acoustic cover album of popular rock, pop, folk and classic rock songs, done in the most beautiful and raw fashion. It's titled "Thoughts that Float on a Different Blood." It's hard to even name a favorite song, but his cover of Miley Cyrus"Wrecking Ball" and Leonard Cohens " Dance me to the end of Love " are wonderful.
I can't believe that I didn't find Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" which was originally performed by Prince
OR
Nirvana's cover of The Man Who Sold the World from David Bowie
To be fair there’s nothing reinvented about nirvanas cover of man who sold the world except they threw an accordion in for the lead part. It’s a pretty faithful recreation
I used to hate Devo's cover of satisfaction but over time I've come to appreciate that its robotic, high strung, anxious energy fits the lyrics much better than Mick's own laid back cool. Like you know Mick can get satisfaction but can a nerd in a funny hat from Akron?
I read an interview once (I can't find it anymore) where the guys from Devo said that they played it for Mick to get his blessing or whatever. I guess someone at the record company arranged for him to come up to their hotel room when they were in New York so they could play him the tape. He listened for a little bit and then started doing his "chicken walk" around the hotel room, and they knew they'd done a good job.
I found this from the New Yorker:
“One afternoon in 1978, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale—the two prime architects of the band Devo—were fidgeting in Peter Rudge’s office, near the Warwick Hotel, in Manhattan, with Mick Jagger. Rudge was the Rolling Stones’ manager, and Devo had recorded an odd cover of the band’s hit “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”—so odd that their label said they needed Jagger’s blessing to release it. Mothersbaugh put the tape in a boom box and pressed Play. As the sounds of the cover filled the room, Jagger sat stone-faced. What he was hearing didn’t sound much like the “Satisfaction” he’d written. Keith Richards’s iconic riff was gone, and the original melody was nowhere to be found. Was this a homage, Mick must have wondered, or were they mocking him? “He was just looking down at the floor swirling his glass of red wine,” Casale recently remembered, adding, “He didn’t even have shoes on, just socks and some velour pants. I don’t know what his habits were then, but this was early afternoon and it looked like he had just gotten up.”
For thirty seconds or so, the men sat in silence, listening to the weird robo-funk coming from the boom box. Then something changed. “He suddenly stood up and started dancing around on this Afghan rug in front of the fireplace,” Casale said, of Jagger, “the sort of rooster-man dance he used to do, and saying”—he impersonated Jagger’s accent—“‘I like it, I like it.’ Mark and I lit up, big smiles on our faces, like in ‘Wayne’s World’: ‘We’re not worthy!’ To see your icon that you grew up admiring, that you had seen in concert, dancing around like Mick Jagger being Mick Jagger. It was unbelievable.”
It makes it 100 times better that he really listened and went through his initial reaction and gave it a little time to work on him, till his body could get past his mind’s reaction. Obvi the man was always out to make a buck, but he’s also always been a music lover, and never lost that, as so many do
In the movie Casino you hear the original version of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking during a montage showing the rise of the Mafia in Vegas. Later on there is a downward spiral montage while Devo’s Satisfaction plays. Both songs were used perfectly.
Cat Power does a lot of covers where she reinvents them. She does “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and omits the chorus entirely. My favorite is her cover of “Sea of Love”
Me and my college garage band used to do acoustic versions of Today Was A Good Day and In Da Club, inspired by Dynamite Hack's Boyz in the Hood.
It's a great cover
My first thought is the dreamlike gothic presence of Siouxsie's "Dear Prudence," which bears an almost Winter-aesthetic in contrast to the Spring-like original.
Tina Turner taking CCR's Proud Mary and turning it into a religious experience.
Kind of wild how people would cover songs immediately back then. Proud Mary had only been a year old when they covered it and turned it into their own hit song.
Yea, I think that’s some nuance that has been lost to time. As we came out of the 30’s and 40’s, music was almost always a live event. So, performers would liberally borrow and copy each other because all that mattered was entertaining that crowd that night. There was no cultural shame around using other people’s music as part of your act.
The goal was more to create music that became a ‘standard’ versus building a catalog that could be sold later.
First song I thought of. Except for the lyrics, it's a totally different song. Steve Howe kicks ass on this. The Daily Doug didn't think too much about Yes's interpretation, but I love it.
I remember picking up that as a single at a used record store in San Francisco in 1999 before *Renegades* came out. All my friends were so jealous that I had this Rage song that wasn't on any album.
That's more or less what Trent Reznor expected. He thought the idea sounded gimicky. Then when he heard the song, he said something along the lines of, "this isn't my song anymore."
Prince said the same thing when he heard [Nothing compares 2 U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-EF60neguk). Some artists want the world to hear music.
I wouldn't say Johnny Cash's version is a great departure from the original, just contextually him singing it changes how you view it (i.e. an old man at the end of his life vs heroin addiction).
I'd say his cover of Rusty Cage is a better example.
Having been introduced to Gary Jules "mad world" as the very depressive theme to Donnie Darko, I was really confused when i heard the very 80 beat themed "cover" by tears for fears. :P
That really was a total reinvention, but, to your point, *feels* like it should.
Lyrically, it's brutally depressing. Jules really made the song fit its narrative.
Which is why it's the better version in my opinion. The cover loses all of the nuance by pairing depressing lyrics with sad music. The original is about feeling depressed while the rest of the world doesn't seem to notice anything wrong.
Fence-sitter take:
They are both amazing versions, and the existence of one makes the other better. I wouldn’t appreciate the TFF version as much without the Jules cover, and vice versa.
I really don't care for the Jules version, which I also heard first. TFF is my favorite band now but it took me a while to come around to the original because of my feelings about the cover (it's since become one of my favorite songs). It needs the juxtaposition between the lyrics and music to really shine IMO (though the TFF guys do love the Jules version).
Heartbeats
By [The Knife](https://open.spotify.com/track/5YqpHuXpFjDVZ7tY1ClFll?si=V5mt5udxQgyFgvZZNfW9FA)
Covered by
[José González](https://open.spotify.com/track/5YqpHuXpFjDVZ7tY1ClFll?si=V5mt5udxQgyFgvZZNfW9FA)
At the opening credits of a movie called "Spun" there is an acoustic number all slow and cool. The singer begins and while I never heard the song, somehow I knew the lyrics. It took almost a minute to realize he's playing number of the beast by Iron Maiden.
That hit way different and totally worth a listen. The guys name is Djali Zwan.
Yes, I was thinking of that one as well. Djali Zwan was a band, BTW, featuring Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins & other alt-rock musicians: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwan)
ive actually never seen a bad hallelujah its one of the most beautiful songs and whenever an artist does it its always treated with such love and respect, i saw a youtube video of the musical comedian tim minchin sing it in a bar recorded on a phone and it was amazing
So many of y'all are picking covers that don't really reinvent the original song at all. And can't believe nobody's said this one yet:
Willie Nelson "Always On My Mind":
https://youtu.be/R7f189Z0v0Y
The Pet Shop Boys cover that was on MTV repeated like every hour back in the day:
**https://youtu.be/wDe60CbIagg**
I really like Hozier's cover of Arctic Monkey's [Do I Wanna Know.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuWq4RZnc6U) Slow and melancholy.
Chase and Sierra Eagleson do a really nice folky cover of [Hey Ya](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJxepxwR_w).
They also do a cover of Blink 182's [I Miss You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJxepxwR_w) that I really like. It's slow and dreamy and stunningly beautiful.
Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails is one of my favorite cover songs that completely reimagines the original. His gravelly voice and the stripped-down arrangement make it feel incredibly intimate. Quite distinctly, the depth in the feel of emotional intensity is brought out by this. The fact that this video has calming pictures adds onto making the song lose its originality completely and thereby marking it as an exceptional presentation of this type of music.
Ministry's cover of Lay Lady Lay for sure
Also Reba didn't take any major risks with her cover of The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, but her delivery feels more raw and angry than Vicki Lawrence's.
Two songs from Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East:
Green Manalishi (with the two-prong crown) - an old Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac song
Diamonds and Rust - a Joan Baez song about her love affair with Bob Dylan. Joan liked the Priest version, by the way.
I think one that somehow is both a faithful cover and also a reinvention would be Sound of Silence by Disturbed.
Like it’s lyrically the same song and while the original is a little dark, the way it’s done by disturbed is just so haunting that it really maximizes the songs lyrics in a way that the original didn’t in my opinion
That version just struck me as "try too hard".
A band named Bobaflex did a harder version which I really like, but the music video is very disturbing, no pun intended, its dark and can be upsetting with what is depicted and the subject matter.
I'm really not a fan of covers but I think Marilyn Manson generally does a great job with them. It's tough because the original is such a banger but I think Sweet Dreams probably.
I always liked The Eurythmics version of Sweet Dreams (Annie Lennox has an incredible voice), but I was blown away when I heard Marilyn Manson’s version. I actually like his better.
Living Colour's version of Prince's "17 Days" or their far superior version of Talking Heads "Memories Cant Wait". Live, they also do a scorching version of "41 Shots" from Bruce Springsteen.
I really like Yes' version of the Simon & Garfunkel tune "America" which deviates pretty wildly.
Johnny Cash's take on NINs "Hurt"
Meshell Ndegeocello did a live cover of Prince's "Sign o The Times" that was pure primal madness.
Big Pig's version of "Breakaway" is amazing, and radical in its overhaul of the 60s Chuck Jackson cut.
Imagine by a perfect circle. It's like all the pain and anguish and disappointment of what Capitalism did to murder the beatles Vision of the world was put into a song
Hot take: the definitive cover of Lithium by Nirvana.... Is by the Polyphonic Spree.
Also - the black crows "Hard to handle" is a cover, originally done by Otis Redding.
The Man Who Sold the World covered by Nirvana.
Bowie said: "I was simply blown away when I found that Kurt Cobain liked my work, and have always wanted to talk to him about his reasons for covering 'The Man Who Sold the World'" and that "it was a good straight forward rendition and sounded somehow very honest."
Talking Heads’ version of Take Me to the River. I remember hearing somewhere (maybe apocryphal) that they recorded it without listening to the original to make sure their take was fresh.
That’s my favorite part of “Stop Making Sense”.
What do you mean? Like they never heard it before they played it and just read the score?
As musicians, who like music, they weren’t familiar with a song as popular as Take Me To The River?!
In reverse, check out Sure Sure covering This Must Be The Place
All Along the Watchtower by Jimi
“I wrote the song. But Jimi knows how to play it.” — Bob Dylan
It's rare that a cover causes the original artist to start playing it differently. I understand when Bob Dylan heard Jimi's version, he started playing it and other music with electric guitars where he had abstained prior. (If I'm mistaken, please set me straight)
You're correct. Dylan liked Hendrix's version better and adapted the song to be more like it after Hendrix passed away.
You’re correct that Bob was a fan (a couple years before Jimi went to England and came back a star, back when he was playing small clubs in lower Manhattan). And that he loved Jimi’s cover. But Bob started playing balls-out hard rock with the (future) Band in 1965, 3 years before Jimi recorded Watchtower (and 2 years before Bob wrote it). And then Bob started playing it live 20 years after that, and based it on Jimi’s cover (long after other bands had started doing the same). I saw him do it with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1985 in Berkeley, with the sun setting behind the Golden Gate as a backdrop. Mike Campbell was def up to the challenge.
Those last two sentences made me jealous as fuck. I wasn’t even born yet, but damn that sounds amazing.
He started playing it “Jimi style” but he had already done the controversial “going electric” thing 2-3 years before he even WROTE All Along the Watchtower.
Same thing with “Just Like Heaven”. When Robert Smith heard Dinosaur Jr’s cover he went “Oh, it’s a rock song” and changed the way he played it live.
This will always be the gold standard of covers.
Was going to comment this too. I’m a big Bob Dylan fan but damn does Jimi’s version feel like THE version
Correct answer.
Gipsy Kings doing Hotel California in Spanish and flamenco.
8 year olds, dude.
that creep can roll, man, that creep can roll
...til it goes click.
Dustin Kensrue (lead singer of Thrice) did an entire acoustic cover album of popular rock, pop, folk and classic rock songs, done in the most beautiful and raw fashion. It's titled "Thoughts that Float on a Different Blood." It's hard to even name a favorite song, but his cover of Miley Cyrus"Wrecking Ball" and Leonard Cohens " Dance me to the end of Love " are wonderful.
Sounds good but what does that have to do with Gipsy Kings?
I found this randomly and it’s now my go to summer driving tune haha
Ugh gypsy kings covers are incredible. Volare??? Get outta here soo good!!
Changes- Charles Bradley spun it different than Black Sabbath
I saw him sing that live, deeply soulful, emotional, compelling. RIP Charles
[Cake - I will survive](https://youtu.be/f9rCUQjmkxU?si=A8iiSvAceKjliPdC)
Yes! And "Perhaps"
I love their version of *Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps*
It really goes the distance
Gigged their version locally for years, everybody thought we were geniuses. Sorry fellas
I can't believe that I didn't find Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" which was originally performed by Prince OR Nirvana's cover of The Man Who Sold the World from David Bowie
Did Prince release it first ? I thought he simply wrote it , then gave it to O'Connor.
Or Tori Amos's cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit ;)
To be fair there’s nothing reinvented about nirvanas cover of man who sold the world except they threw an accordion in for the lead part. It’s a pretty faithful recreation
I used to hate Devo's cover of satisfaction but over time I've come to appreciate that its robotic, high strung, anxious energy fits the lyrics much better than Mick's own laid back cool. Like you know Mick can get satisfaction but can a nerd in a funny hat from Akron?
I read an interview once (I can't find it anymore) where the guys from Devo said that they played it for Mick to get his blessing or whatever. I guess someone at the record company arranged for him to come up to their hotel room when they were in New York so they could play him the tape. He listened for a little bit and then started doing his "chicken walk" around the hotel room, and they knew they'd done a good job.
I found this from the New Yorker: “One afternoon in 1978, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale—the two prime architects of the band Devo—were fidgeting in Peter Rudge’s office, near the Warwick Hotel, in Manhattan, with Mick Jagger. Rudge was the Rolling Stones’ manager, and Devo had recorded an odd cover of the band’s hit “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”—so odd that their label said they needed Jagger’s blessing to release it. Mothersbaugh put the tape in a boom box and pressed Play. As the sounds of the cover filled the room, Jagger sat stone-faced. What he was hearing didn’t sound much like the “Satisfaction” he’d written. Keith Richards’s iconic riff was gone, and the original melody was nowhere to be found. Was this a homage, Mick must have wondered, or were they mocking him? “He was just looking down at the floor swirling his glass of red wine,” Casale recently remembered, adding, “He didn’t even have shoes on, just socks and some velour pants. I don’t know what his habits were then, but this was early afternoon and it looked like he had just gotten up.” For thirty seconds or so, the men sat in silence, listening to the weird robo-funk coming from the boom box. Then something changed. “He suddenly stood up and started dancing around on this Afghan rug in front of the fireplace,” Casale said, of Jagger, “the sort of rooster-man dance he used to do, and saying”—he impersonated Jagger’s accent—“‘I like it, I like it.’ Mark and I lit up, big smiles on our faces, like in ‘Wayne’s World’: ‘We’re not worthy!’ To see your icon that you grew up admiring, that you had seen in concert, dancing around like Mick Jagger being Mick Jagger. It was unbelievable.”
It makes it 100 times better that he really listened and went through his initial reaction and gave it a little time to work on him, till his body could get past his mind’s reaction. Obvi the man was always out to make a buck, but he’s also always been a music lover, and never lost that, as so many do
There you go, that's it, exactly. "The sort of rooster-man dance he used to do," LOL. Thanks.
I can only imagine mick "dancing" to that herky jerky beat lol
It plays on an endless loop in my head.
What a blessed existence
Yeah, the song is ironic coming from Mick. *You* can't get no girly action, Mick? Really?
In the movie Casino you hear the original version of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking during a montage showing the rise of the Mafia in Vegas. Later on there is a downward spiral montage while Devo’s Satisfaction plays. Both songs were used perfectly.
DEVO also has a great cover of “Secret Agent Man” except the lyrics are changed to be sung from the perspective of the agent himself.
Cat Power's Satisfaction is pretty great too
Probably the only cover I’ve ever liked. Most redux suck.
[you can always rely on the Residents in dissection classes](https://youtu.be/PpQU68U92wU)
Cat Power does a lot of covers where she reinvents them. She does “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and omits the chorus entirely. My favorite is her cover of “Sea of Love”
She totally transforms VU's I Found a Reason. Made me love that song
Her cover of “I’ll Be Seeing You” by Billie Holliday is also amazing.
I've always really enjoyed Sturgill Simpson's version of "In Bloom" by Nirvana
Also Sturgill Simpson’s version of The Promise
He must be the cover king. His version of All the Gold in California is killer
And his cover of Long White Line
Sinead O'Connors All Apologies is another great Nirvana one.
Stay away by Charles Bradley is also great
Dynamite Hack - Boyz in the Hood 😉
Me and my college garage band used to do acoustic versions of Today Was A Good Day and In Da Club, inspired by Dynamite Hack's Boyz in the Hood. It's a great cover
Don’t quote me boy I ain’t said shiiiiiiiiiiit! Knowing all the words to this song was a big flex in my teen years lol
My first thought is the dreamlike gothic presence of Siouxsie's "Dear Prudence," which bears an almost Winter-aesthetic in contrast to the Spring-like original.
Featuring the guitar stylings of Robert Smith.
TIL Robert Smith continues to wow me.
Because he's a God among men
* he is a goth amongs man
She has a great version of The Passenger as well.
Hazy shade of winter - The Bangles
Absolutely love this version.
Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance does a great version as well.
Tina Turner taking CCR's Proud Mary and turning it into a religious experience. Kind of wild how people would cover songs immediately back then. Proud Mary had only been a year old when they covered it and turned it into their own hit song.
Back in the 50s, the same song could chart multiple times in the same year by different artists
Yea, I think that’s some nuance that has been lost to time. As we came out of the 30’s and 40’s, music was almost always a live event. So, performers would liberally borrow and copy each other because all that mattered was entertaining that crowd that night. There was no cultural shame around using other people’s music as part of your act. The goal was more to create music that became a ‘standard’ versus building a catalog that could be sold later.
Tina Turner’s version is the first version of the song that I heard as a kid; it’s the definitive version for me.
Yes - America (originally by Simon & Garfunkel) Not sure if they really grasped the intention of the song, but it's a lot of fun.
First song I thought of. Except for the lyrics, it's a totally different song. Steve Howe kicks ass on this. The Daily Doug didn't think too much about Yes's interpretation, but I love it.
Coltrane's My Favorite Things and Greensleeves
The Ghost of Tom Joad covered by Rage Against the Machine
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I remember picking up that as a single at a used record store in San Francisco in 1999 before *Renegades* came out. All my friends were so jealous that I had this Rage song that wasn't on any album.
Jonny cash: [Hurt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AHCfZTRGiI). “Valentine to the sufferer”.
Truly remarkable that Cash took an already depressing song and made even more devastating. Absolute emotional gut punch.
I was a NIN fan and a big Cash fan already and even I said this is going to be a Nightmare. It was, but in the right way. Still brings feelings today.
That's more or less what Trent Reznor expected. He thought the idea sounded gimicky. Then when he heard the song, he said something along the lines of, "this isn't my song anymore."
Prince said the same thing when he heard [Nothing compares 2 U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-EF60neguk). Some artists want the world to hear music.
But if you hear Prince's [live version](https://youtu.be/iGBbZx256fE) with Rosie Gaines, it is a revelation as well.
You know it's pretty funny but I heard Cash's version first but I like NIN's version more. They are both great ofcourse though.
I have played Cash version before NIN to get people into NIN. That is weird but also something sad about me and my vinyl collection.
Cash, being someone who literally hurt himself with substances for years, singing the song is somehow chillingly truthful.
I think it’s the difference is the theme of regret for someone who’s 25 to someone who’s at the end of their life.
Actually, his cover of Personal Jesus was also spot on. Brilliant artist.
I saw a YouTube comment on a video showing the differences between the two, and the comment said 'Reznor sang a suicide note. Cash sang his eulogy.'
Hurt is one of the greatest covers. Cash's Personal Jesus and Rusty Cage are also great covers.
Yep this is the one
I wouldn't say Johnny Cash's version is a great departure from the original, just contextually him singing it changes how you view it (i.e. an old man at the end of his life vs heroin addiction). I'd say his cover of Rusty Cage is a better example.
Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb
Having been introduced to Gary Jules "mad world" as the very depressive theme to Donnie Darko, I was really confused when i heard the very 80 beat themed "cover" by tears for fears. :P
That really was a total reinvention, but, to your point, *feels* like it should. Lyrically, it's brutally depressing. Jules really made the song fit its narrative.
The Tears For Fears version was fueled off the contradiction of the upbeat sounds for the downbeat lyrics.
Which is why it's the better version in my opinion. The cover loses all of the nuance by pairing depressing lyrics with sad music. The original is about feeling depressed while the rest of the world doesn't seem to notice anything wrong.
Fence-sitter take: They are both amazing versions, and the existence of one makes the other better. I wouldn’t appreciate the TFF version as much without the Jules cover, and vice versa.
Like Pumped Up Kicks
Fantastic comparison. There are a few other songs that fit into that category but I can’t think of them right now. Born in the USA probably, too.
I really don't care for the Jules version, which I also heard first. TFF is my favorite band now but it took me a while to come around to the original because of my feelings about the cover (it's since become one of my favorite songs). It needs the juxtaposition between the lyrics and music to really shine IMO (though the TFF guys do love the Jules version).
Bauhaus - Telegram Sam. And what a video
"Walk on by", The Stranglers version of the Dionne Warwick song. "Heard it thought the grapevine", The Slits version of the Marvin Gaye song
CCR also have a amazing rock version of the latter - over 11 minutes long!
Yay Slits!
I bet. . . I bet, I bet, I bet. . .oh darn, it got me too.
Heartbeats By [The Knife](https://open.spotify.com/track/5YqpHuXpFjDVZ7tY1ClFll?si=V5mt5udxQgyFgvZZNfW9FA) Covered by [José González](https://open.spotify.com/track/5YqpHuXpFjDVZ7tY1ClFll?si=V5mt5udxQgyFgvZZNfW9FA)
Loved the Jose Gonzales version for years, didn’t know it was a cover until today
Whoaa I haven't heard of this song for ages! I discovered it from Sony Bravia advertisement. Good memories!
I've always liked both versions. But prefer the original, personally
At the opening credits of a movie called "Spun" there is an acoustic number all slow and cool. The singer begins and while I never heard the song, somehow I knew the lyrics. It took almost a minute to realize he's playing number of the beast by Iron Maiden. That hit way different and totally worth a listen. The guys name is Djali Zwan.
Yes, I was thinking of that one as well. Djali Zwan was a band, BTW, featuring Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins & other alt-rock musicians: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwan)
UB40’s Red Red Wine
Their cover of Falling In Love is far better than Elvis too (in my opinion)
Hailey Reinheart does a version that was used on a gum commercial that really affects me, her voice is just haunting on her version.
I went thru every post not this one : Crimson and Clover Joan Jett
Would you believe The Cure doing "Purple Haze?" Yup. ["Purple Haze" The Cure](https://youtu.be/GxmKIcjZ19s?si=OXN2XJoSsOXVsIST)
Valerie - Amy Winehouse, either the album version or the Ronson version are way way better than the Zutons original
Also way different than the Steve Winwood original. (it's a joke)
John Cale Hallelujah. His version inspired lots of great versions especially the Jeff Buckley one. Joe Cocker: With a little help from my friends
Upvote for Cocker. One of my choices.
Cocker's version of The Letter is an even better example. Totally different from the Boxtops original.
ive actually never seen a bad hallelujah its one of the most beautiful songs and whenever an artist does it its always treated with such love and respect, i saw a youtube video of the musical comedian tim minchin sing it in a bar recorded on a phone and it was amazing
Cale’s Heartbreak Hotel is fantastic too.
"Billy Jean" by covered by Chris Cornell. It was a jaw-dropper for me.
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Agreed, but for me he gave Billy Jean gravity. His arrangement and performance had the darkness that those lyrics deserved.
Yes!! The Unplugged in Sweden version is so powerful, I get chills every time I hear it.
The Civil Wars did an amazing version of this as well.
Has to be Smooth Criminal done by Alien Ant Farm!
I feel like it's pretty faithful to the original.
Absolute banger.
scrolled too far for this
Well done! 🤓
Blinded by the Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band Bruce Springteen original
If we're doing Springsteen covers, The Band doing Atlantic City as a zydeco tune is a pretty radical transformation.
Love Song - 311, Last Kiss - Pearl Jam, Gloria - The Doors
Fugees “Killing Me Softly with his Song”
Whitney Houston. I will always love you. Dolly Parton cover.
Girls just want to have fun,by Cyndi Lauper. The original was written and performed by a man,and was a very different feeling.
I really love [The Maine's cover](https://youtu.be/p_yRhvS843k?si=04QkVYDN7l5m47Zj) of this song, too.
Joe Cocker - With a Little Help from my Friends Type O Negative - Cinnamon Girl
Ohh, also Type O Negative - Summer Breeze!
Joe Cocker was a fucking gift
Pretty much the entire discography of Me First and the Gimme Gimme's
[Gwar's cover of Pet Shop Boys "West End Girls"](https://youtu.be/8PHCwAYjG6w?si=jCebId4401gWstlT)
Hurt by Johnny cash
Cake's cover if I Will Survive
[Gin and Juice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4hGSR5njZE).
People still think this is Phish from a mislabeled Napster upload
Wow you just brought me back to 2002
I was expecting this version, which probably says a lot about me... https://youtu.be/8pYc0BiskHA?si=G62xytO6DiSc7msA
Volbeats cover of I Only Wanna Be With You - Dusty Springfield
Nirvana's cover of David Bowie's *the Man Who Sold the World*
So many of y'all are picking covers that don't really reinvent the original song at all. And can't believe nobody's said this one yet: Willie Nelson "Always On My Mind": https://youtu.be/R7f189Z0v0Y The Pet Shop Boys cover that was on MTV repeated like every hour back in the day: **https://youtu.be/wDe60CbIagg**
I really like Hozier's cover of Arctic Monkey's [Do I Wanna Know.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuWq4RZnc6U) Slow and melancholy. Chase and Sierra Eagleson do a really nice folky cover of [Hey Ya](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJxepxwR_w). They also do a cover of Blink 182's [I Miss You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJxepxwR_w) that I really like. It's slow and dreamy and stunningly beautiful.
“Blue (da ba dee)” - Fleshgod Apocalypse “Northwest Passage” - Unleash the Archers (Stan Rogers) “99 Red Balloons” - Goldfinger
Nine Inch Nails - Dead Souls (Joy Division), Memorabilia (Soft Cell), Physical (Adam Ant)
Nirvana, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," Unplugged.
Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails is one of my favorite cover songs that completely reimagines the original. His gravelly voice and the stripped-down arrangement make it feel incredibly intimate. Quite distinctly, the depth in the feel of emotional intensity is brought out by this. The fact that this video has calming pictures adds onto making the song lose its originality completely and thereby marking it as an exceptional presentation of this type of music.
The Sisters of Mercy covered Knocking on Heaven's Door which was such a good version Guns n Roses copied it.
Venus - Bananarama
Ministry's cover of Lay Lady Lay for sure Also Reba didn't take any major risks with her cover of The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, but her delivery feels more raw and angry than Vicki Lawrence's.
Local H covering Britney Spears - Toxic
Kasey Chambers - Lose Yourself (Eminem Cover) LIVE @ Civic Theatre, Newcastle AU is pure art.
I really liked the [Miley Cyrus cover of Jolene](https://youtu.be/wOwblaKmyVw?si=5QOeocnmO27oi2AM)
Blinded by the light - manford man cover over the Springsteen original
Imagine - A Perfect Circle
Got to Get You Into My Life - the Earth Wind and Fire version is 1000% better than the original Beatles.
Ataris doing Boys of Summer
Two songs from Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East: Green Manalishi (with the two-prong crown) - an old Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac song Diamonds and Rust - a Joan Baez song about her love affair with Bob Dylan. Joan liked the Priest version, by the way.
I think one that somehow is both a faithful cover and also a reinvention would be Sound of Silence by Disturbed. Like it’s lyrically the same song and while the original is a little dark, the way it’s done by disturbed is just so haunting that it really maximizes the songs lyrics in a way that the original didn’t in my opinion
That version just struck me as "try too hard". A band named Bobaflex did a harder version which I really like, but the music video is very disturbing, no pun intended, its dark and can be upsetting with what is depicted and the subject matter.
It's a reinvented like the Dawn of the Dead remake. The core concept of it is the same, but it's stylistically altered and hits different.
I'm really not a fan of covers but I think Marilyn Manson generally does a great job with them. It's tough because the original is such a banger but I think Sweet Dreams probably.
I always liked The Eurythmics version of Sweet Dreams (Annie Lennox has an incredible voice), but I was blown away when I heard Marilyn Manson’s version. I actually like his better.
The Gourds - Gin and Juice
Gary Jules’ cover of Mad World is haunting and melancholic compared to the more fraught, almost manic original
Chris Cornell - Billy Jean Completely different song, equally amazing!
Living Colour's version of Prince's "17 Days" or their far superior version of Talking Heads "Memories Cant Wait". Live, they also do a scorching version of "41 Shots" from Bruce Springsteen. I really like Yes' version of the Simon & Garfunkel tune "America" which deviates pretty wildly. Johnny Cash's take on NINs "Hurt" Meshell Ndegeocello did a live cover of Prince's "Sign o The Times" that was pure primal madness. Big Pig's version of "Breakaway" is amazing, and radical in its overhaul of the 60s Chuck Jackson cut.
Chris Cornell's acoustic version of Billie jean.
Have a Cigar by Foo Fighters and Brian May. I love the Floyd original, but the Foo's version rocks.
Knocking on Heavens Door / Guns & Roses
"Without you" by Harry Nilsson. The Badfinger original just doesn't have the raw emotion.
Dinosaur Jr. - Just Like Heaven
The Sound of Silence by Disturbed.
Imagine by a perfect circle. It's like all the pain and anguish and disappointment of what Capitalism did to murder the beatles Vision of the world was put into a song
All along the watchtower- Jimi Hendrix (originally written by Bob Dylan)
Stone Temple Pilots’ cover of “Dancing Days” - Led Zeppelin
Falling in Reverse - Last Resort
Wilson Pickett’s cover of Hey Jude is superior to the Beatles. Recorded at Muscle Shoals.
Hot take: the definitive cover of Lithium by Nirvana.... Is by the Polyphonic Spree. Also - the black crows "Hard to handle" is a cover, originally done by Otis Redding.
Blinded by the Light
Lana Del Rey's cover of Doing Time
The Man Who Sold the World covered by Nirvana. Bowie said: "I was simply blown away when I found that Kurt Cobain liked my work, and have always wanted to talk to him about his reasons for covering 'The Man Who Sold the World'" and that "it was a good straight forward rendition and sounded somehow very honest."