Greatest Covers of All Time

As one who is almost violently opposed to doing any sort of cover, I thought I'd step outside of myself for a moment and list what I consider to be some of the most important covers in modern music.

An artist can't just use contrived irony or a cute approach to win me over, he or she has to do such a good job that no one can even remember who originally wrote the song. I've decided to list five such songs -- I'd be interested in seeing what the rest of you think, since there should be plenty of options left. I have listed the original artists in parentheses.


5) Joe Cocker - With a Little Help from My Friends (The Beatles)
4) Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
3) Patsy Cline - Crazy (Willie Nelson)
2) Aretha Franklin - Respect (Otis Redding)
1) Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan)

/tn.




[edit on 1-4-2008 by teleonaut]

Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jayne (Velvet Underground/Lou Reed)
(One of those great groups that get little press. They did a lot of great covers early in their career, and released a whole album of them not too long ago.)

Johnny Cash - Hurt (Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor)
(It's almost as if Trent wrote this song with Johnny in mind.)

Metallica - Stone Cold Crazy (Queen)
(Metallica and Queen? Yep, and when you hear both versions they perfectly compliment each other.)

Pixies - Head On (Jesus and Mary Chain)
(I'm not sure Francis Black does anything really different with this song other than giving it the typical Pixies punch. I like it though.)

Machine head covering Metallicas battery
Chimaira covering Slayers reign in blood
Chimaira covering Metallicas disposble heroes
Faith no more covering Black sabbaths war pigs
Skinlab covering Smashing pumpkins bullet with butterfly wings
And i have to agree that Johnny cash cover of hurt is awesome

Killswitch Engage: Holy Diver (Dio)
This cover is absolutly amazing and really does the original justice!

Megadeth: Paranoid (Black Sabbath)
The original is fantastic, but I think this one does it justice as well.

AC/DC: School Days (Chuck Berry)
A better version than the original, in my opinon, and a great ode to one of thier major influences.

Limp Bizkit: Behind Blue Eyes (The Who)
I really thought this brought out the essence of the song in the newer version. I love the original, but with what Fred Durst did to this, it's amazing, in my opinon.

Originally posted by Azador
Faith no more covering Black sabbaths war pigs

Another great Faith No More cover is Easy by the Commodores. What's great about is they did it "straight", and didn't try to do their post-punk grunge thing.

Faith No More is a great band. It's difficult for Mike Patton to do anything wrong .

Another one that just missed the cut on my list:

TV on the Radio - Mr. Grieves (The Pixies)

For the person who mentioned Killswitch Engage -- I've heard that one and it is pretty good.

/tn.

I'm not really a fan of Covers, but there are a few that I really like...

Lenny Kravitz - cover of "American Woman" by The Guess Who
Cat Power - cover of "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones
Janis Joplin - cover of "Me and Bobby McGee" by Kris Kristofferson
Eric Clapton - cover of "Cocaine" by JJ Cale
Dixie Chicks - cover of "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac
Marilyn Manson - cover of "Five to One" by The Doors *was a little leary about this one, but after listening to it, I like the spin he put on it...**
The Doors - cover of "Gloria" by Van Morrison (Them)

and wanted to add:
HIM - cover of "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult
(the added female vocals add a really nice sound)

[edit on 1-4-2008 by CA_Orot]

reply to post by LordInfamous


You've either got a serious love of homonym based jokes or you misunderstood the thread . Nevertheless, I was amused.

To clear up any potential confusion, this thread is for songs made famous by artists who did not originally record those songs.

/tn.


[edit on 15-4-2008 by teleonaut]

reply to post by teleonaut


ahhhhhhhh ok..i thought you were talkibg about actual covers

well either way..its still a badass cover..lol

i'm agree with toromos here

johnny cash's cover of NIN 's 'HURT' is awesome!

it's like the song was written just for johnny.. one of the few cover songs i like better than the original