when covers are better than the original.

[Jowy]

Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fregObNcHC8)

Guns N' Roses - Sympathy For The Devil - Lyrics (Last Song For Slash, Duff, Matt in Guns N' Roses) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgT8FpJbPY)

Prove me wrong and also feel free to contribute your opinions. :aimsun:

[The Man]

TLV4_xaYynY

Dylan has as much as admitted Hendrix's version was better than his and now performs the song in Hendrix's arrangement rather than his own.

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Don't get me wrong, I love Dylan, but some of his arrangements are a bit too simplistic for the material he's performing. Some of the other Byrds covers of Dylan I could go either way on.

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I mean duh.

Probably a few others but I'm too tired to think of more.

[Pheesh]

Karnivool - Sleeping Satellite [HQ] (Themata bonus track) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZLliumYrQ8)

Just... so, so, soooo much better. That's not even the band's singer singing either, it's the guitarist. I hate how talented they are.

[Denmark]

Birdy - Skinny Love [Official Music Video] - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNzCDt2eidg)

Birdy - Fire and Rain - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQa0_-ztGDU)

LANA DEL REY - BLUE VELVET (MUSIC VIDEO) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP2ymIryDKc)

don't feel like thinking of more right now

[Shorty]

Bauhaus - Ziggy Stardust (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWCQBtRzNJQ) (David Bowie)
Save Ferris - Come on Eileen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzfCFFCSnLE) (Dexy's Midnight Runners)
Cat Power - I Found a Reason (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEApf_FT25M) (The Velvet Underground)
Arcade Fire - Naive Melody/This Must Be The Place (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No_rEntvRKs) (Talking Heads)

And I stand by Brie Larson's cover of Black Sheep (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWCQBtRzNJQ) (Metric). Haters.

[NeoCracker]

No mention of this?

Johnny Cash Hurt - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go)

[Laddy]

Jeff Buckley's covers are pretty much almost entirely better than the originals.

Also, to be honest, I find most covers of Bob Dylan songs to be superior to Dylan's originals.

[Lonely Paper Star]

Save Ferris - Come on Eileen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzfCFFCSnLE) (Dexy's Midnight Runners)



Jeff Buckley's covers are pretty much almost entirely better than the originals.

Also...

Jamie Cullum - "Don't Stop The Music" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYhT7oCDoqM) (Rihanna cover)
Olivia Ong - "All Out Of Love" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbcO_86P250) (Air Supply cover)
Olivia Ong - "Love Fool" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnCaTmaSBTg) (The Cardigans cover)
Pearl Jam - "Last Kiss" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0B-hJ_gotc) (original ...?)
The Ataris - "Boys of Summer" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI93w0OV6D8) (Don Henley cover)
The Fray - "Heartless" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBTdJHkAr5A) (Kanye cover)

[Sephex]

I don't care if you guys think I am lame for this, but to me this is the ultimate example. However, I do love the original a lot.

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[Pheesh]

I don't care if you guys think I am lame for this, but to me this is the ultimate example. However, I do love the original a lot.

0hU6heeOrOI

Also this

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[Sephex]

Oh man, I forgot how hilarious that video was. It's also a great reminder that no one truly got that Marilyn Manson showed that he was a parody in general, but no one ever got that (hence, why the people who hated "Mechanical Animals" are idiots).

[Burtsplurt]

Therapy? - Diane (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md7SJ1kDE24)

Better than the Husker Du original, albeit very creepy! And they released it as a single...

[Shoden]

Motorhead - Whiplash (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zucK_h2zYwk) Originally by Metallica

Judas Priest - Diamond and Rust (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OHJP1BSVgM) Originally a Joan Baez song

Judas Priest - The Green Manalishi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgnOJXIvu6s) Always causes debate but it was originally a Peter Green song.

[Shorty]

Also, to be honest, I find most covers of Bob Dylan songs to be superior to Dylan's originals.

Andrew Bird - Oh Sister (Bob Dylan) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjNSzlXBlWk)

Yep.

[Shiny]

Brie Larson is good. I like Metric too, but I definitely prefer her voice over Emily Haines' in Black Sheep.

[Night Fury]

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Don't know if I like it more than the original, but it's still a pretty damn fine cover.

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More Bastille, they're bloody class.

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Aqualung cover that I think is miles better.

[Loony BoB]

Can't find the YouTube link at work, but James Arthur's remake of Sexy And I Know It is like a completely new song. Needless to say, better than LMFAO.

Hurt & Hallelujah have already been mentioned, which are the first thoughts.

Don Henley's Boys of Summer is great, but I always liked the remakes by DJ Sammy and The Ataris.

Mad World redone by Gary Jules is better than the original by Tears for Fears.

Respect by Aretha Franklin is a cover, the original is by Stax (I think?). Aretha Franklin's trumps it.

Tricky to say which is the best of an abundance of covers of I Fought The Law, but I'm personally partial to the Greenday cover.

Hound Dog by Elvis is a cover. Big Mama Thornton sang the original.

I really like Guns N' Roses' cover of Wings' Live and Let Die.

I'll possibly get a bit of flack for this, but I do really, really like Stevie Ray Vaughan's cover of Hendrix's Voodoo Child.

[NeoCracker]

Here we have an alternative Rock band covering Blondie using a Black Sabbath intro.

Franz Ferdinand - Call me (Blondie cover) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sfgJGFNwww)

The awesome is overflowing.

[Iceglow]

The Johnny Cash cover of Nine Inch Nail's Hurt is amazingly epic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go

I love NiN but Johnny Cash smashes this song so well that you won't believe.

Metallica covering Flogging Molly's Whiskey In The Jar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boanuwUMNNQ

Flogging Molly's original is still an ace song but fuck me if this song wasn't almost written for a Metallica cover from the outset.

30 Seconds to Mars did a couple of stints on BBC Radio One's Live Lounge. Their first stint produced this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1X7Je9OEZE

Kanye West covered a Daft Punk song which in turn got covered by 30STM and they frankly changed the tone and made the song a lot darker than anything by either of the predecessor artists.

Their second stint on the Live Lounge produced a Lady Gaga cover much in a similar style to the Stronger cover they brought it down and made it darker I'll just post the video and you guys can decide if it's better or worse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ga_pr0vuHA

Though anyone who doubted Jared's singing ability was kinda proven wrong by the two videos above.

Justin Timberlake's cover of Cry Me A River got the Rock Scene cover treatment too, this time by Welsh Metal band Lost Prophets (and criminal investigations against lead singer Ian Watkins aside afterall they've not found him guilty of the crimes yet) they've had a fair few awesome moments in music with some of the catchiest nu-metal songs released ever. Their cover of Cry Me A River is simply amazing, just hang in there for the guitar solo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5yQhJCanB4

Finally for this post since I'm running out of time and the post is getting long. Rise Against covered a song by the band Jawbreaker as an accoustic. The Tour Song is a great one for smiling as you sing along:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ9G-v7Xa1Y

[Skyblade]

Van Canto's cover of Fear of the Dark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyHcIHssdHA)

[Loony BoB]

Steve: Just a heads up, Whiskey in the Jar is actually a folk song in Ireland, made famous first by the Dubliners. Flogging Molly just do it really bloody well... haven't heard the Metallica version, mind you, will have to check that out sometime. I'm assuming the Daft Punk song you're referring to is Stronger (Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger). Love the Kanye West version of that, haven't heard the 30STM version though.

[The Man]

Metallica are covering Thin Lizzy's version of Whiskey in the Jar, anyway, not Flogging Molly's.

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Also Little Wing is the superior Hendrix cover by SRV. He actually made it sound like a complete song, and it has some of his best guitar playing in it.

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Dead Kennedys' version of I Fought the Law is definitely the best.

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[Calliope]

Blur totally reworked Song 2, it's quite interesting, and I like it (duh).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-keHXnVQlM

And here's their cover of Oliver's Army.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6RwLmFBTiE

[escobert]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDl9ZMfj6aE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNc5o9TU0t0

[The Man]

Best Stairway to Heaven cover

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I especially like the guitar solo being played on the horn section

[escobert]

Yes Zappa is the man.

[Rantz]

Awesome cover of Ruby Tuesday. Discovered it just the other day even though it's been around forever.

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[Night Fury]

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[sharkythesharkdogg]

Vision of Disorder - Don't Let Me Down (Twisted Sister cover) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XluV0bDEX8A)

[Yerushalmi]

Van Canto's cover of Fear of the Dark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyHcIHssdHA)

Van Canto's cover of anything.

[chionos]

Great thread.


I'm not a big fan of the Beatles, but this is a great great cover of Hey Jude.

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[Forsaken Lover]

Megadeth - Paranoid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_7E9YETMHs)

It's a speed metal song and Megadeth does speed better than Sabbath.

Pantera - Electric Funeral (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--icdKMbCOo)

Yeah, I just don't like Ozzy's vocals and I really like Phil's. Sue me.

Blondie's "The Tide Is High" is one of their best songs and it's a cover but nobody cares about the original anyway,

[The Man]

This is my favourite cover of "Paranoid":

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Manages to be completely different from the original but still recognisably the same song. Also, fun as hell.

Another Sabbath cover that possibly eclipses the original:

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[Shoden]

Megadeth - Paranoid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_7E9YETMHs)

It's a speed metal song and Megadeth does speed better than Sabbath.


IMO Megadeth didn't do too well that song, sorry XD the offkey vocals and the generic guitar tone does no love to it, sounds like a garage jam band first starting out covering it. Raw speed alone doesn't make a song better really.
Plus those tones. ARGH XD

Blind Guardian - Don't Break the Circle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYaAdQmBrh8)

Superb cover of a song from NWOBHM band Demon

Sanctuary - White Rabbit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AUOAGlASRQ)

I love the psychedelic elements of the original but the power, the vocals and the overall sound of this cover just sings to me in a way that outshines even the original!

I'll think of more in a bit.

[Unbreakable Will]

Obadiah Parker - Hey Ya [HD] - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ejeEBlDESc)

[krissy]

Straight Outta Compton - Nina Gordon - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2EGOB9-lc)