Ask Lemmy

"Am I Evil" by Diamond head, covered by Metallica, and done so much cleaner and better that I got into a full-on argument with somebody (pre-google) about it it not being an original Metallica song.

Also, I have nothing but respect for Roberta Flack and think "Killing Me Softly" was a fantastic song when she performed it, the Fugees absolutely crushed that song. Listening to the original shortly after makes it fall a little flat.

In the reverse of this, when I mention "Wagon Wheel" and somebody mentions Darius Rucker I get upset. Oh, you took a solid song with great harmonies and instrumentation, and you swapped it out to be a generic country song? Way to make it "your own" bud.

By no means do I think she did it better than Joplin. But Pink's AOL Sessions performance of Me and Bobby McGee has stuck in my head for decades now. (And for what it's worth, both are better than the original from Kristofferson)

https://youtu.be/wwmUMvhy-lY

Second choice, and another one that I legitimately think is better than the original, *Tweeter and the Monkey Man" by The Headstones.

https://youtu.be/eLEvl_uplUk

Edited: Honourable Mention, because no one ever actually tops The Clash. But Captain Tractor did a version of London Calling that is one of my favourites.

https://youtu.be/giJa-66OBNI

Edited: Okay...one last one. Specifically for the Saskies. Captain Tractor's version of the Arrogant Worm's "Last Saskatchewan Pirate".

https://youtu.be/8G_L9tXEwmc

For a bit of context, back in the 90s, my then girlfriend and I were decent friends with the band. Enough so that whenever they would come to Saskatoon they'd crash at our place and we'd go hang out backstage at their shows. Weird because the reason we knew them in the first place was because the drummer was my girlfriends ex....but hey...it was the 90s.

Just an all around bar-band all about drinking songs. Something young people don't do anymore. Was talking to a buddy of mine the other day about how every bar we used to go to in the 90s has been demolished.

Two stick out for me.

Skye Edwards - Feel Good Inc

Lily Allen - Mad World

Bruce Springsteen - Staying Alive

Bare Naked Ladies - Lovers in a Dangerous Time (original by Bruce Cockburn)

Metallica - Turn the Page (original Bob Seger)

I genuinely prefer Ronan Keating's version of Words

I have the Bee Gees original on vinyl, yet I always go back to Keating.

I will survive by cake.

My first high school dance freshman year they played the original and i belted out every word from memory because i spent all summer listening to Fashion Nugget.

Kind of the opposite but "As the World Caves In". Most people know the cover by Sarah Cothran , but I think the original by Matt Maltese is way, way better.

It's a song about two people together at the end of the world, and while Sarah sings it mourning the loss of everything, Matt sings it as a love song. To me that's the much more powerful message, that when everything is burning down, the only thing that's left and all that really matters is being together with the person you love, and the only thing to mourn is that you won't have more time with them.

Muse did a great job of converting Feeling Good. It was a bold choice and they smashed it.

Killswitch Engage - Holy Diver (Dio)

Leo Moracchioli - Thriller (Michael Jackson)

Nonpoint - In the Air Tonight (Phil Collins)

Within Temptation's cover of Radioactive by They Might Be Dragons. Much better. That said, nothing can beat the hilarious acid trip that is the original's music video.

Against All Odds by The Postal Service

my mind was blown when I learned that was Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie on vocals

Happy Together by Slothrust

this live version is especially fantastic, from an album of covers by them, I think the Baby One More Time cover is more popular but I prefer the recontextualization of this one

Changes by Charles Bradley

ridiculously emotional, can really feel his pain in it. I would never have thought this was a Black Sabbath cover had it not been mentioned at the top of the video

I Will Survive by Cake

no notes. perfect cover.

Billie Jean by The Civil Wars

never would have thought this would work as a duet but it's perfect, 10/10

Someday I Suppose by Drug Church

Boston.

I love a good cover, the best covers recontextualize the meaning of the song imo

• Louie Louie - Toots & The Maytals (originally recorded by Richard Berry, popularized by The Kingsmen) https://youtu.be/BlFGvTtGMBI

• Walk on By - The Stranglers (originally recorded by Dionne Warwick) https://youtu.be/WYkqLm9cM3Y

• Maybe I'm Amazed - Faces (originally recorded by Paul McCartney) https://youtu.be/SLhoLkTyNkM

• Black Steel - Tricky and Martina Topley-Bird (originally recorded by Public Enemy) https://youtu.be/9ZJTM03UByU

• Everything is Everything - Booker T. Jones (originally recorded by Lauren Hill) https://youtu.be/A61c4FgxZz8

• Ohio/Machine Gun - The Isley Brothers (originally recorded by Crosby, Still, Nash & Young) https://youtu.be/XC6qOvfgDJI

Very common opinion, but "Hurt" originally by NIN covered by Johnny Cash. He really puts his mark on it, especially considering how old he was when he did the cover.

Jimi Hendrix's version of All Along The Watchtower by Bob Dylan. It's likely to be the only version of the song most people have ever heard.

I prefer Van Halen's versions of Pretty Woman and California Girls - to some this is sacrilege but I like Eddie's guitar work.

Quite a few famous songs people think are the originals were actually covers of songs by musicians who never got famous. Some of Elvis Presley's hits were older blues songs. "I Love Rock & Roll" by Joan Jett was originally done by a group called The Arrows. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was originally recorded by a guy named Robert Hazard. Who?? Yeah, exactly lol.

Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley

Covering Leonard Cohen. This song is one of two (the other being Grace) that got me obsessed with Jeff Buckley back in my early to mid 20's.

It's just beautiful.

Nirvana did a bunch of great ones during their brief time together.

The Man Who Sold The World has already been mentioned, but their versions of Turnaround by Devo, Plateau and Lake of Fire by Meat Puppets, and Where Did you Sleep Last Night and They Hung Him On A Cross by Leadbelly are all beautiful renditions in their own ways.

Of those, I'd say that Where Did You Sleep Last Night and both of the Meat Puppets covers are just as distinctly re-stanked by that Nirvana magic as their Bowie cover was. I like their version of They Hung Him On A Cross more than the original too, but tbh it always made me feel a bit weird hearing a white man singing that one. I get that it came from a place of reverence and compassion, but....idk man. I am both mixed race and have mixed feelings on that one lol. At the same time though, if any white man was to cover that one, I'm glad it was him since the hurt inherent to Kurt's voice was a perfect match for the vibe and tone.

My personal favorites that I like better than the originals and I LOVE the originals:

Whiskey in the Jar - Metallica

Take On Me - Reel Big Fish

99 Red Balloons - Goldfinger

Land of Confusion - Disturbed

La Isla Bonita - Twilight Guardians

Spaceballs - Majestica

Black Betty - Spiderbait

Thriller - Scandroid

Electric Avenue - Skindred

"Every time we touch" by Electric Callboy

Nirvana's version of The Man Who Sold the World.

The Donnie Darko (slowed down version) of Tears for Fears, Mad World.

I love Avantasia's "Lay All Your Love on Me" (Originally by ABBA). Metal covers can sometimes feel lazy, but this is an excellent rendition. It feels like the perfect coming together of two distinct parts of me: the me that daubs myself in rainbows to dance to ABBA at the gay club; and the metal/punk energy of the majority of my style and music taste. It always goes down well at parties.

Edit: I am having more songs coming to mind, but a weird one I can't help mentioning is Edmund Welles cover of "Hallowed Be Thy Name".. It's a clarinet quartet (+vocals) cover that I didn't know I needed until I heard it. So delightfully weird, and it has no right to go as hard as it does

Karmastition by Alicia Keys.

Stevie Wonder's original was awesome, but the mash up is just chefs kiss.

Save Ferris' cover of Come On Eileen, by Dexy's Midnight Runners.

Another New World by Punch Brothers

Goldfinger version of 99 red balloons absolutely nails it in my opinion

faith no more’s easy

The Disturbed cover of Land of Confusion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV4oYkIeGJc