Really good covers:
All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix (orig. Bob Dylan)
It's All Right - Social Distortion / Mike Ness (orig Bob Dylan)
Brand New Cadillac - The Clash
Stange Fruit - Nina Simone
Crossroads - Cream (orig. Robert Johnson)
Love in Vain - Rolling Stones (Robert Johnson)
Alone Again or - The Damned
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Jeff Beck
Absolutely Sweet Marie - Jason and the Scorchers
Bouree' - Jethro Tull
Gloria - Patti Smith
Beware of Darkness - Concrete Blonde
Dear Prudence - Siouxie and the Banshees
Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad covers out there.
Disturbed's cover of Sound Of Silence is probably one of the better covers out there,for those of you who havent heard it yet,i suggest you do,its worth listening to,even though the lyrics have been somewhat modernized to fit today's world,rather than the 70's when Simon & Garfunkle originally released the song
Some covers are better but it's up to personal taste and often it simply depends on on which version you heard first. Also if the cover matches the style of music you're into at the time makes a big difference.
A few good ones mentioned above. And a couple more off the top of my head in vastly different styles...
Higher ground, Chilli peppers, originl steppenwolf.
Can't get used to loosing you, the Beat (or british beat or english beat) original popularised by Andy Williams - not sure who wrote it)
Voodoo People, Pendulum, original prodigy.
Queens of the Stone age did a decent version of Tom Waits Going out West though I still prefer the original and with all the other covers of his definitely. But Tom Waits is a good example of preference, his voice is very much an individual preference and lots of people prefer the covers.
Also lots of trip hop out there that grabs a kernel of a song and turns it into something totally new. Sometimes they almost lift the entire song and put some layers over it, change it around a bit, speed it up - whatever - to turn it into something totally new.
Chinese Man - I've Got That Tune - grabbed an old jazz number (Washboard Rhythm Kings Hummin' to Myself (1932)) and transformed it.
Kid koala on 12 bit blues sampled lots of old scratchy blues and gave them a modern feel but still keeping the old scratchy feel.
I love covers!!
Totally agree with everything you have said Nia - covers have the ability to appeal to people on a whole new level. Perhaps merely reviving classics and creating accessibility, or maybe brought into a different genre, or infused with some sense of originality and the song made the artist's own.
To be honest, I think it is still encouraging some appreciation for the original artist - well at least in my case, as if I enjoy a cover I will always listen to the original to see what nuances there are that I enjoy from both.
Some of my favourites off the top of my head are:
- Knockin' on Heaven's Door ~ Guns n Roses (original Bob Dylan)
- Proud Mary ~ Tina & Ike Turner (original Creedence Clearwater Revival) - seriously I LOVE THIS.
- It's All Over Now, Baby Blue ~ Graham Bonnet (original Bob Dylan)
- 99 Red Balloons ~ Goldfinger (original Nena - German and English versions)
- Fortunate Son ~ Foo Fighters & John Fogerty (original also CCR, love this cover WITH Fogerty of CCR fame).
- Landslide ~ Bush / Gavin Rossdale (original Fleetwood Mac / Stevie Nicks)
- Tainted Love ~ The Living End (original... well I always though it was Soft Cell, but it's actually Gloria Jones)
- Turn The Page ~ Metallica (original Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band)
- Hallelujah ~ Jeff Buckley (original Leonard Cohen)
- Boys of Summer ~ The Ataris (original Don Henley)
And my band crush of the moment Halestorm, I love a lot of their ReAnimate releases.
- All I Wanna Do (Is Make Love To You) ~ originally Heart
- Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover ~ original Sophie B. Hawkins
- Heathens ~ original Twenty One Pilots
