Favorite/Worst Cover Songs

There are a lot of good covers of older rock songs by Bluegrass bands. I am currently listening to Last Dance with Mary Jane covered by Keller & the Keels.
 
About all of my favorites have been covered already but what the hell:

1. Hurt-Johnny Cash
2. Hallelujah-Rufus Wainwright
3. Bad Company-5 finger Death Punch
4. Back where I come from-Kenny Chesney
5. Personal Jesus-Johnny Cash
6. You and Tequila -Kenny Chesney
7. The Ballad of Curtis Loewe- Eric Church
8. Call me the Breeze- Lynrd Skynrd
9. Cocaine- Eric Clapton
10. Black Magic Woman - Santana
 
You can start by going to ths list. Couldn't disagree with any....
Rolling Stone Readers Choose the Worst Cover Songs of All Time Pictures | Rolling Stone

It's never a good idea to do a recording of a true classic. Some pull it off (Live and Let Die by GNR or All Along the Watchtower by Hendrix) and others fail miserably (those on this list and so many others).
Holy ****!!! I wasn't aware of #1 on the list....but I think they got it right. That goes way beyond brutal....flat out ear rape.
 
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There are a lot of good covers of older rock songs by Bluegrass bands. I am currently listening to Last Dance with Mary Jane covered by Keller & the Keels.
Agreed... I was just listening to Ricky Scaggs cover of "Super Freak" a couple of days ago.
 
Disagree with this. Finger Five Death Punch is awesome and I like this so much more than the original. Best cover without a doubt is Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt by Trent Reznor.

Worst Cover Last Kiss by Pearl Jam

Say what?? That is a fantastic cover. You sir, are crazy.
 
Most of my favorite covers have already been mentioned. All Along the Watchtower by Hendrix is my favorite. I loved APC's cover of Imagine by John Lennon. One I haven't seen listed that I personally enjoyed was Aaron Lewis' cover of Black by Pearl Jam. It is similar to the original, but I still thought it was a solid cover.
 
The hands down best for me is Hurt by Johnny Cash.

I've got a huge list of Pearl Jam favorites and I'm not sure where to begin. I'll just list Crazy Mary, Sonic Reducer and Throw Your Arms Around me to start.

For me the worst by far is when Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page redid Khasmir. They renamed it Come with Me (heh heh Beavis they said come with me) so maybe it doesn't count, but I remember them doing it on SNL or some late night show and wanting to break my TV. How can someone take their own song and do that to it?
 
I hate Hurt by Johnny Cash.

NIN's is one of my favorite song and I think Cash ruined the emotion of the song. Just my opinion.
 
Most of my favorite covers have already been mentioned. All Along the Watchtower by Hendrix is my favorite. I loved APC's cover of Imagine by John Lennon. One I haven't seen listed that I personally enjoyed was Aaron Lewis' cover of Black by Pearl Jam. It is similar to the original, but I still thought it was a solid cover.

Huge negative rep from a Pearl Jam fan.

Slightly different context, but I'm pretty sure this sums up Eddie's thoughts on the subject.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB_9GB3G86A]Tribute To Layne Staley (Pearl Jam - 4/20/02) - YouTube[/ame]
 
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Good:
"Bad Company" 5FDP's version is better.
"Behind Blue Eyes" with Limp Bizkit is better than the original.
"Smooth Criminal" being covered by Alien Ant Farm helped it.
"Land of Confusion" is solid by both Genesis and Disturbed.

Others:
"You Shook Me All Night Long" being covered by Big & Rich (IIRC) is ******* terrible.
"Satisfaction" being covered by Devo was terrible (And I'm not a Stones fan).

No way...the original is a classic.

Some of my favorites -

Disturbed - Land of Confusion
311 - Love Song
AAF - Smooth Criminal
Aerosmith - Come Together
 
Tough to narrow down my favorites, but my top three at the moment would be:

1. Johnny Cash - "Hurt" (Nine Inch Nails)
2. Jeff Buckley - "Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen)
3. Wye Oak - "Mother" (Danzig)

By far my least favorite is A Perfect Circle's cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" - just terrible.
 
Worst: all of the songs Guns'n'Roses covered...Knocking on Heaven's Door, Live and Let Die, the entire Spaghetti Incident album, etc. I know I'll take heat for this, but their versions are just awful.

Best:

Led Zeppelin - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (originally Joan Baez)
David Bowie - Sorrow (originally The McCoys)
The Band - I Shall Be Released (originally Bob Dylan)
Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U (originally Prince)
Soft Cell - Tainted Love (originally Gloria Jones)

And my personal favorites, the Flying Burrito Brothers' covers of "Do Right Woman" and "Dark End of the Street" by Moman and Penn. These two songs were Motown tunes that got wonderfully countrified, and appear back-to-back on their first album. They go great with a glass of neat bourbon.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8mqq1x0rQU]THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS /// 3. Do Right Woman - (The Gilded Palace Of Sin) - (1969) - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovorTymu-1A]THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS /// 4. Dark End Of The Street - (The Gilded Palace Of Sin) - (1969) - YouTube[/ame]
 
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I like 99 Red Balloons by Goldfinger...

Mad World by Gary Jules/Michael Andrews. (Donnie Darko version)

All Along the Watchtower Jimi Hendrix or Dave Matthews Band, or Grateful Dead (I just really like the song, Bob Dylan was one of the greatest song writers of all time.) (Hendrix's is the best version)

Also with Hendrix, his cover of Johnny B. Goode was decent (vocals bad, guitar great), his star spangled banner is classic (is that a cover?), and Blue Suede Shoes is bad, but has another Hendrix solo in it.

I like Robert Glasper's version of Smells Like Teen Spirit... it is different, but really peaceful and relaxing.

Linkin Park did a good job with Rolling In The Deep, really shows off Chester's voice.

Against All Odds by Postal Service

Wanksta by Eminem is fun, but not really a cover more of a remake.
 
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