Covers that are better than the original

[Saint of M]

At this point, its probably cheating to bringing up Johnny Cash's take on Hurt or Disturb's Sound of Silence. The former is hauntingingly powerful, and a song that only a life as experienced as Mr. Cash's could just make you feel the feels for. THe latter also immensely potent in its power, both audio and the visuals in the music video. However that one also has double duty of trying to live up to if not surpass the originals glory and and it did just that. My Mom hates heavy metal and she likes the Disturb verstion ALOT.

I am partial to the Lacuna Coil covers of Depechmode's Enjoy the Silence


And their cover of REM's Losing My Religion


and Earlyrise's take on Korn's Narcissistic canible.

 

[Silvanus]

THe latter also immensely potent in its power, both audio and the visuals in the music video. However that one also has double duty of trying to live up to if not surpass the originals glory and and it did just that. My Mom hates heavy metal and she likes the Disturb verstion ALOT.

Surpasses Simon & Garfunkel? That's mad, I couldn't disagree more emphatically. I like the Disturbed version a great deal, but it's nowhere near as haunting, melodic, or touching as the version on "Sounds of Silence".

(I don't say "the original" above, of course, because the original original version is that on "Wednesday Morning 3am", which isn't quite as good for lacking most of the guitar).


OT: Gary Jules' version of Mad World (originally by Tears for Fears).

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

No such list would be complete without Jimmy Hendrix's version of "All along the watchtower". It's so famous, most people don't even know that it's originally Bob Dylan's song:

I'd say quite a few Dylan cover ended up arguably becoming more famous than his original version. All Along The Watchtower, obviously, but there's also these:
I suppose that's only inevitable when you're the simple most covered artist in the world, after The Beatles (and technically traditional folk, but that's not just one artist/band, is it?)

 

[Ravinoff]

I'm rather partial to the Sabaton version [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cDa7yZeci8]of Twilight Of The Thunder God, though what I really like is the combination of the cover and the original Amon Amarth version. Their cover of All Guns Blazing is pretty solid too, but nothing and I mean nothing competes with the original. Painkiller is a goddamn masterpiece beginning to end.


And while it's not too different from the original Cactus version, Clutch nails it (as always) with Evil.


This one's just kind of hilarious to be honest, though I'm not sure if "better" is the exact word I'd use.

And finally, if we count random versions from Youtube, this one is excellent and I'm absolutely in love with her voice.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

While I still enjoy the original version, I feel like this cover does a better job of supporting the lyrics. The original sounds somewhat disappointed in the state of affairs, while this cover is flat-out angry about it.

 

[Ravinoff]

While I still enjoy the original version, I feel like this cover does a better job of supporting the lyrics. The original sounds somewhat disappointed in the state of affairs, while this cover is flat-out angry about it.

You missed the best part about that, the Disturbed version comes with the edgy but great music video that I'm 99% sure was animated by the same guy (Todd McFarlane?) who did the '90s animated Batman series and the undeniably excellent video for Pearl Jam's "Do The Evolution".

 

[Agema]

A cliched choice perhaps but while Reznor's original is great, the song's lyrics take on a completely new and poignant meaning when sung by Cash, a visibly and audibly frail old man on his way out who is acutely aware of that fact.

Cliched perhaps, but only because it's so incredibly true that it's better than the original. Although I've noticed that seems to really annoy some NIN fans.

I much prefer this...


To any of the early versions (Elvis's being the most famous), although this perhaps reflects my being a child of the 80s, liking lots of electronic music. The PSBs were at their peak at the time, which helps.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

You missed the best part about that, the Disturbed version comes with the edgy but great music video that I'm 99% sure was animated by the same guy (Todd McFarlane?) who did the '90s animated Batman series and the undeniably excellent video for Pearl Jam's "Do The Evolution".

Yes on Todd McFarlane and the Pearl Jam video. No on BtAS, McFarlane had nothing to do with that. Tho he did work as an artist on Batman and Spider-Man comics, McFarlane is best known for Spawn (which did also get an animated series).

Cliched perhaps, but only because it's so incredibly true that it's better than the original. Although I've noticed that seems to really annoy some NIN fans.

Reznor himself seems to agree tho. He's apparently gone on record saying the song "isn't mine anymore".

 

[WindKnight]

Lunatica's cover of Ultravox's hymn

 

[twistedmic]

Not a huge Linkin Park fan, and I usually don't bother commenting when I see something like this, but I am truly in awe of how absolutely fuckin' horrible this was. How can anyone prefer this to the original is beyond me. It's boring, lazy and pathetic in every way imaginable. Completely misses the point of the original. All they did was sing a boring version of the song. No effort whatsoever into crafting something unique. Any talentless hack with rudimentary musical skills could have accomplished the same thing.

Her version felt very wrong to me, but I thought that might have been because I was a big Linkin Park fan when the first came out (Meteora was the first CD I ever bought) and Numb was one of my favorite songs. I'm glad to see that it was not a personal bias (or not just a personal bias) that made me dislike it.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

'Waiting For The End' cover done by Chase Holfelder with Linney (Don't know her last name), made in tribute to Chester Bennington after he took his own life.


I've been a fan of Linkin Park since their debut but while I've grown less fond of their typical works I still like listening to their more sad or quiet songs like 'The Little Things Give You Away' and this cover takes one of their more rock style songs and makes it like their introspective ones.

The song is sad but also a bit uplifting, I guess like mourning a lost loved one but then getting up and moving on. It's a good tribute to him. It also makes me think on how Bennington went through a lot of terrible things and the music he worked on with the rest of the band came from actual pain and yet for so many years people would only reference Linkin Park as the punch line of a joke.

Chase Holfelder actually has a lot of very interesting covers, mostly changing major key songs to minor key ones, some of my favorites being his cover of 'She Used to be Mine', 'I Want You To Want Me' and 'House of the Rising Sun'.

 

[bluegate]

For heaven's sake, put your embeds in spoilers.

Standard internet etiquette for threads like this, people.

 

[Baffle]

I'll go a weirder route and suggest Personal Jesus as covered by Marilyn Manson


He takes a song that's generally pretty good, with a side of "I'm a sex symbol", and takes it a couple steps further, which seems to be all that needed to happen for it to go to creepy town.

I find Manson's covers good, but I bought a greatest hits album a bit ago, and THREE of the songs are covers. That ain't right, man.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Great covers are fun. But you know what's even more fun? Really, really bad covers! Case in point:

Evanescensce - The Chain (Fleetwood Mac cover) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMRLFJh0TVs]

Since I've been watching videos of covers a lot, Youtube decided to recommend this. Gave it a listen, and since this is the internet, now I need to complain about it. Cuz fuck me, this imo is just horrendous! I don't even like The Chain that much, I think Fleetwood Mac has way better songs. But still ... What The Fuck was Evanescensce thinking when they turned it into this bland McMetal that, despite the big power chords and added string orchestra to make it sound grand and epic, manages to come across as so piddly weak compared to the original vocal harmonies.

For heaven's sake, put your embeds in spoilers.

Standard internet etiquette for threads like this, people.

Embedded videos don't work when you put them in spoiler tags. Well, they used to work, then not as the site started borking from lack of a tech team. Then it worked again for a few days a little while ago, but now they're once more borked. You're right tho, the thread is getting a little bandwidthcrushy.

I blame Cross.

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

Someone already mentioned Disturbed's version of Land of Confusion, so I'll second the sentiment. I do not like Disturbed. I like Genesis. Disturbed still did it much better.

So my contribution, both by Iced Earth.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I'm rather partial to the Sabaton version [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cDa7yZeci8]of Twilight Of The Thunder God, though what I really like is the combination of the cover and the original Amon Amarth version. Their cover of All Guns Blazing is pretty solid too, but nothing and I mean nothing competes with the original. Painkiller is a goddamn masterpiece beginning to end.


And while it's not too different from the original Cactus version, Clutch nails it (as always) with Evil.


This one's just kind of hilarious to be honest, though I'm not sure if "better" is the exact word I'd use.

And finally, if we count random versions from Youtube, this one is excellent and I'm absolutely in love with her voice.

Sabaton?s cover of Twilight of the Thunder God is better than Amon Amarth if only because I can understand the Sabaton version. All Guns Blazing was a pretty sick cover though.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Not to beat on Bowie, but...



Also honorable mention must (in all cover threads) go to Lzzy Hale because, well, she's Lzzy fucking Hale!

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Never liked the original, was always bewildered by its prominence when any other song the same band did was better, so of course its shamelessly validating when the band admits to not liking it too. That's not to say there's nothing to salvage however;

 

[Ravinoff]

Oh, another one. The REM version is just a liiiiittle bit too slow, turning it up to 125% speed works almost as well as this version though.

Sabaton's cover of Twilight of the Thunder God is better than Amon Amarth if only because I can understand the Sabaton version. All Guns Blazing was a pretty sick cover though.

Oh yeah, their version of All Guns Blazing isn't bad by any means. It's just the original is unmatched both because of Rob Halford's amazing vocals and the fact that Painkiller is one of the few albums I'd rate as 10/10. It's 51 minutes of the greatest face-melting, airguitaring speed/thrash metal ever recorded.