And I’m not saying that the original is bad. You have to have a good song to have a good cover in my opinion. But sometimes the cover artist just understands the mission and takes what the original song did and expands on that a hundred times over.

What’re some of your guys’s favorites?

  • slazer2au
    link
    fedilink
    English
    12 months ago

    Zebrahead did a cover of Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne.

    It’s an amazing music clip too.

    • Libra00
      link
      fedilink
      English
      152 months ago

      Great choice. That was done by Gary Jules, btw.

    • moonlight
      link
      fedilink
      32 months ago

      Both versions are good, but I still prefer the original. I love sad songs that sound happy.

      Also it’s funny how everyone including myself initially thinks that the original is the cover.

    • classic
      link
      fedilink
      22 months ago

      This is almost the gold standard for me, when this question comes up

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    132 months ago

    A Perfect Circle’s version of Imagine by John Lennon is my favorite cover song. They add so much groove, atmosphere and melancholy to the song. It’s beautiful.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    32 months ago

    The Lovemongers version of Battle of Evermore catches me the right way sometimes. I prefer the original, but their version is excellent as well

    • @[email protected]
      cake
      link
      fedilink
      English
      32 months ago

      This was one of the first that came to my mind as well. It wasn’t till a couple years ago that I learned it was a cover, and I really can’t decide whether I prefer APC’s or Failure’s version.

      There is a live recording of Thirteenth Step, where they play it much closer to the original, and it’s the absolute best of both worlds IMO.

  • moonlight
    link
    fedilink
    172 months ago

    A weird one:

    “Sludgefest”, an old Alvin and the chipmunks pop record slowed back down to the speed the vocals were recorded.

    The result is unironically good – a grimy, moody sound, with deep growling guitar.

    • will
      link
      fedilink
      English
      42 months ago

      Yea, that song+video might be the origin of the phrase “goes hard”.

    • Michael
      link
      fedilink
      English
      222 months ago

      Or Disturbed’s cover of Sound of Silence

      • thisisbutaname
        link
        fedilink
        42 months ago

        I grew up listening to the original and I still like it very much, but that cover is one of the greatest songs I’ve ever listened to

  • Martin
    link
    fedilink
    182 months ago

    Whitney Houston’s “I will always love you”. I love Dolly Parton but Whitney slayed this song.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      22 months ago

      I think this is the main one. That song (as performed by Whitney) is absolutely iconic and absolutely transcendental. The Dolly version is good, but if it weren’t for Whitney it would be just another Dolly Parton song.

  • Skua
    link
    fedilink
    52 months ago

    Vines’ version of MGMT’s Kids

    Her style is a super stripped-down one with almost all instrumentation just being her voice through a vocoder. This cover includes a bit more traditional instrumentation than usual for her work, but it’s still quite stark next to the original. It comes across as very pensive, which I think works nicely with the lyrics

  • tover153
    link
    fedilink
    English
    22 months ago

    Alabama 3’s (A3 in some places) cover of John Prine’s “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness”. This is the song before “Woke up this Morning” on the album “Exile on Cold Harbour Lane”, and the two together tell a story.