Ask Lemmy

I'm not sure Last Kiss by Pearl Jam is actually better than the original but it definitely deserves honorable mention.

U2's With or Without You cover by April Meservy and Aaron Edson. It infuses the original with raw emotion - you can feel the pain and exhaustion.

Edited to add: And Marilyn Manson's version of Tainted Love. It sounds sickening and toxic, making the song about much more than a breakup.

Dave Stewart covering Zombie by The Cranberries https://youtu.be/1iDTYnxCNXM

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

• 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

Killswitch Engage - Holy Diver (Dio)

Leo Moracchioli - Thriller (Michael Jackson)

Nonpoint - In the Air Tonight (Phil Collins)

Bruce Springsteen - Staying Alive

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.

My absolute favorite is Hailstorm doing Daft Punks Get Lucky.

I also really like The Interrupters doing Bad Guy.

The Cleverlys have a lot of really good, over the top, bluegrass covers but I think my favorite might be Party Rock Anthem.

I could keep going on this subject for a while. I have a 12+ hour and growing playlist of nothing but covers that I really enjoy.

Jefferson Airplane- Wooden Ships

Ghost- If You Have Ghosts

I genuinely prefer Ronan Keating's version of Words

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

Pilotredsun "Warsaw" Jazz fusion Cover by poruu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW9Mk7DXPcI

The original is great, it takes simple Chiptunes and manages to convey a stunning range of emotion and movement.

This cover is fantastic because it takes what's at the core of the original and explores it even more, with varying loudness, instruments, ect.

It feels like the last warm august evening before going back to school.

It sounds like moving to a far away place in the search of opportunities.

It conveys the nostalgia of remembering your childhood friends with happiness, but also realizing that there's a great and unknown road ahead of you.

It gives you the comfort of knowing that every moment will pass, so you should enjoy it while it lasts and be hopeful for the future.

It's change, it's movement, it's nostalgia, it's hope, it's happiness, it's a bitter sweet end and a fresh beginning.

This cover gave me a lot of comfort and peace during difficult moments in my life and I can say with confidence that it far surpassed the original.

Joshua Ray Walker "Cuz I love you", his whole cover album really. The way he makes that Cher song into a country 2 step dance song is amazing.

Bob Schneider's cover of Running on Empty is haunting.

It's not so different but God I love the 9 minute November Rain by Connor Christian and the Southern Gothic.

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.

Spanish Love Songs - Smile Like You Mean It

Another New World by Punch Brothers

Karmastition by Alicia Keys.

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

Two stick out for me.

Skye Edwards - Feel Good Inc

Lily Allen - Mad World

"Every time we touch" by Electric Callboy

Zebrahead did a cover of Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne.

It's an amazing music clip too.

Love roller coaster covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, originally by the Ohio players I think, unsure because there’s been a few covers, but RHCPs is the best. The problem is they did it for the movie Bevis and Butthead do America, and I’m now there are weird license rights so you can’t stream it, but can be found on you tube.

Small town boy by Paradise Lost. https://open.spotify.com/track/0jfNgP8sP2tnOloYDw0HoM?context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A1lvVqodR4aT3R8WemeIgDN

The original is iconic, and there are almost too many covers of it to take it in. But Paradise Lost takes it in a different direction.

Same as Wicked Game by HIM. https://open.spotify.com/track/5XenUjG7cRnTkUe8AVuuMX

For as long as I've known it I've preferred the version of Ghost's Cerice done by Saint Raven, a much less known band out of Utah.

Do mashups count? Chris Cornell's One (Metallica and U2) https://youtu.be/uTJxAdrnkP4