Cover songs, sometimes better than the originals?

Have you ever listened to a beautiful song and found out it was actually a cover? I have, and to be honest, sometimes the cover is just better. Here are a few of mine:

Queens of the Stone Age- Christian Brothers (Elliot Smith original)

Johnny Cash- Hurt (Nine Inch Nails original)

Jeff Buckley- Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen original)

What are yours?

NINs Hurt is so much better.DrSponge

I disagree, their version sucked. Trent's voice ruins the song and Cash's acousitic sounds much better than the NIN instrumentals in the song.

NINs Hurt is so much better.DrSponge

[QUOTE="DrSponge"]NINs Hurt is so much better.Film-Guy

I disagree, their version sucked. Trent's voice ruins the song and Cash's acousitic sounds much better than the NIN instrumentals in the song.

I have a few that come to mind:

Toto - While My Guitar Gently Weeps (originally by the Beatles)

Aerosmith - Train Kept a Rollin' (originally by Tiny Bradshaw)

Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower (originally by Bob Dylan)

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Voodoo Child (Slight Return) (originally by Jimi Hendrix)

Jeff Healey's cover of Geroge Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

May he rest in peace.foxhound_fox

Holy crap, I never knew Jeff Healey did a cover of that song. I love Jeff Healey's stuff so much; that's an awesome find.

NINs Hurt is so much better.DrSponge

Yep.

Not much to say here.

NIN just did it better.

Not that Johnny Cash's cover was BAD or anything, but it wasn't even a pimple on the ass of the original song.

Brand New Love - Deadsy (originally done by Superchunk)

Gin and Juice - Garth Brooks, Tim Mcgraw, and Kenny Chesney (originally done by Snoop Dog) hahahahaha

Fall Out Boy's cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It."Bioshockraptor

[QUOTE="Bioshockraptor"]Fall Out Boy's cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It."sAndroid17

I actually liked the solo in that version more than the one in the original, but that was John Mayer, not Fall Out Boy. :P

[QUOTE="DrSponge"]NINs Hurt is so much better.MrGeezer

Yep.

Not much to say here.

NIN just did it better.

Not that Johnny Cash's cover was BAD or anything, but it wasn't even a pimple on the ass of the original song.

Agreed. NIN's version was better. (didnt we even have a massive thread on it?)

Angra's version of Wuthering Heights, (originaly by Kate Bush)sAndroid17

I do not agree with the Christian Brothers being better than the original. No way in hell.AAllxxjjnn

[QUOTE="AAllxxjjnn"]I do not agree with the Christian Brothers being better than the original. No way in hell.I_pWnzz_YoU

[QUOTE="MrGeezer"]

[QUOTE="DrSponge"]NINs Hurt is so much better.freek666

Yep.

Not much to say here.

NIN just did it better.

Not that Johnny Cash's cover was BAD or anything, but it wasn't even a pimple on the ass of the original song.

Agreed. NIN's version was better. (didnt we even have a massive thread on it?)

I don't know but you just gave me a great idea ;)

[QUOTE="Bioshockraptor"]Fall Out Boy's cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It."sAndroid17

[QUOTE="DrSponge"]NINs Hurt is so much better.Film-Guy

I disagree, their version sucked. Trent's voice ruins the song and Cash's acousitic sounds much better than the NIN instrumentals in the song.

I disagree.

Tent Reznor sounded like Trent Reznor, and the instrumentals worked.

Johnny Cash did a straight and actually lazy cover, and all he did was sound like Johnny Cash and play the same instruments that he always does.

I'm not saying that the Johnny Cash cover was BAD. It was just a standard and lazy cover that didn't really do ANYTHING to take the material to new heights. Johnny Cash didn't actually ADD anything. He merely subtracted Trent Reznor's pained vocals, and subtracted all of the other instrumentals that contributed to the mood.

Bottom line is this...it sounds exactly like a goddamn cover song done by Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash didn't really ADD anything to the song. All he did was make a lazystraightforward cover that was simplified to fit hs style of music, and what he took away was exactly the stuff that he couldn't do.

He surely SIMPLIFIED the song, and he made it work for him. But in simplifying it, he lost the goddamn CONTEXT of the original song. If he were to remake the entire album "The Downward Spiral", and then the cover of "hurt" was the final end to that cover album, THEN I might be impressed. But The Downward Spiral is more than the sum of its parts, and by picking out one single song to cover you lose a HELL of a lot of the context. Every song on that album is stage of life on a person's road to ruin, and NIN did that PERFECTLY the first time.

And that's why NIN ultimately wins. Originally, "Hurt" was the PERFECT ending to such an album and relied on all of the previous songs. "The Downward Spiral" is NOT an album in which the songs are independent of each other. You take the songs as individual song and you lose the impact of the goddamn album.

But that's what Johnny Cash did. He took the last song from "The Downward Spiral" and did a lazy and straightforward cover that was limited by Johnny Cash's sonic prowess. All context was removed, and it ends up becoming "just another cover".

So in that regard, I still think that Trentm Reznor did it better.

[QUOTE="I_pWnzz_YoU"][QUOTE="AAllxxjjnn"]I do not agree with the Christian Brothers being better than the original. No way in hell.AAllxxjjnn

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"]

[QUOTE="DrSponge"]NINs Hurt is so much better.MrGeezer

I disagree, their version sucked. Trent's voice ruins the song and Cash's acousitic sounds much better than the NIN instrumentals in the song.

I disagree.

Tent Reznor sounded like Trent Reznor, and the instrumentals worked.

Johnny Cash did a straight and actually lazy cover, and all he did was sound like Johnny Cash and play the same instruments that he always does.

I'm not saying that the Johnny Cash cover was BAD. It was just a standard and lazy cover that didn't really do ANYTHING to take the material to new heights. Johnny Cash didn't actually ADD anything. He merely subtracted Trent Reznor's pained vocals, and subtracted all of the other instrumentals that contributed to the mood.

Bottom line is this...it sounds exactly like a goddamn cover song done by Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash didn't really ADD anything to the song. All he did was make a lazystraightforward cover that was simplified to fit hs style of music, and what he took away was exactly the stuff that he couldn't do.

He surely SIMPLIFIED the song, and he made it work for him. But in simplifying it, he lost the goddamn CONTEXT of the original song. If he were to remake the entire album "The Downward Spiral", and then the cover of "hurt" was the final end to that cover album, THEN I might be impressed. But The Downward Spiral is more than the sum of its parts, and by picking out one single song to cover you lose a HELL of a lot of the context. Every song on that album is stage of life on a person's road to ruin, and NIN did that PERFECTLY the first time.

And that's why NIN ultimately wins. Originally, "Hurt" was the PERFECT ending to such an album and relied on all of the previous songs. "The Downward Spiral" is NOT an album in which the songs are independent of each other. You take the songs as individual song and you lose the impact of the goddamn album.

But that's what Johnny Cash did. He took the last song from "The Downward Spiral" and did a lazy and straightforward cover that was limited by Johnny Cash's sonic prowess. All context was removed, and it ends up becoming "just another cover".

So in that regard, I still think that Trentm Reznor did it better.

Firstly, I lol'd at "Tent Reznor"

Secondly, well put. Can't add anymore to it.

.[QUOTE="sAndroid17"]Angra's version of Wuthering Heights, (originaly by Kate Bush)freek666

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"]

[QUOTE="DrSponge"]NINs Hurt is so much better.MrGeezer

I disagree, their version sucked. Trent's voice ruins the song and Cash's acousitic sounds much better than the NIN instrumentals in the song.

I disagree.

Tent Reznor sounded like Trent Reznor, and the instrumentals worked.

Johnny Cash did a straight and actually lazy cover, and all he did was sound like Johnny Cash and play the same instruments that he always does.

I'm not saying that the Johnny Cash cover was BAD. It was just a standard and lazy cover that didn't really do ANYTHING to take the material to new heights. Johnny Cash didn't actually ADD anything. He merely subtracted Trent Reznor's pained vocals, and subtracted all of the other instrumentals that contributed to the mood.

Bottom line is this...it sounds exactly like a goddamn cover song done by Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash didn't really ADD anything to the song. All he did was make a lazystraightforward cover that was simplified to fit hs style of music, and what he took away was exactly the stuff that he couldn't do.

He surely SIMPLIFIED the song, and he made it work for him. But in simplifying it, he lost the goddamn CONTEXT of the original song. If he were to remake the entire album "The Downward Spiral", and then the cover of "hurt" was the final end to that cover album, THEN I might be impressed. But The Downward Spiral is more than the sum of its parts, and by picking out one single song to cover you lose a HELL of a lot of the context. Every song on that album is stage of life on a person's road to ruin, and NIN did that PERFECTLY the first time.

And that's why NIN ultimately wins. Originally, "Hurt" was the PERFECT ending to such an album and relied on all of the previous songs. "The Downward Spiral" is NOT an album in which the songs are independent of each other. You take the songs as individual song and you lose the impact of the goddamn album.

But that's what Johnny Cash did. He took the last song from "The Downward Spiral" and did a lazy and straightforward cover that was limited by Johnny Cash's sonic prowess. All context was removed, and it ends up becoming "just another cover".

So in that regard, I still think that Trentm Reznor did it better.

Megadeth's cover of I Ain't Superstitious

Megadeth's cover of These Boots

Sodom's cover of Surfin Bird

Megadeth's cover of I Ain't Superstitious

Megadeth's cover of These Boots

Sodom's cover of Surfin Bird

Juggernaut140

I never liked Megadeths covers. I'd be listening to Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? and I would get to I Ain't Superstitious and just skip it to get to My Last Words.

[QUOTE="MrGeezer"][QUOTE="Film-Guy"]

I disagree, their version sucked. Trent's voice ruins the song and Cash's acousitic sounds much better than the NIN instrumentals in the song.

DrSponge

I disagree.

Tent Reznor sounded like Trent Reznor, and the instrumentals worked.

Johnny Cash did a straight and actually lazy cover, and all he did was sound like Johnny Cash and play the same instruments that he always does.

I'm not saying that the Johnny Cash cover was BAD. It was just a standard and lazy cover that didn't really do ANYTHING to take the material to new heights. Johnny Cash didn't actually ADD anything. He merely subtracted Trent Reznor's pained vocals, and subtracted all of the other instrumentals that contributed to the mood.

Bottom line is this...it sounds exactly like a goddamn cover song done by Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash didn't really ADD anything to the song. All he did was make a lazystraightforward cover that was simplified to fit hs style of music, and what he took away was exactly the stuff that he couldn't do.

He surely SIMPLIFIED the song, and he made it work for him. But in simplifying it, he lost the goddamn CONTEXT of the original song. If he were to remake the entire album "The Downward Spiral", and then the cover of "hurt" was the final end to that cover album, THEN I might be impressed. But The Downward Spiral is more than the sum of its parts, and by picking out one single song to cover you lose a HELL of a lot of the context. Every song on that album is stage of life on a person's road to ruin, and NIN did that PERFECTLY the first time.

And that's why NIN ultimately wins. Originally, "Hurt" was the PERFECT ending to such an album and relied on all of the previous songs. "The Downward Spiral" is NOT an album in which the songs are independent of each other. You take the songs as individual song and you lose the impact of the goddamn album.

But that's what Johnny Cash did. He took the last song from "The Downward Spiral" and did a lazy and straightforward cover that was limited by Johnny Cash's sonic prowess. All context was removed, and it ends up becoming "just another cover".

So in that regard, I still think that Trentm Reznor did it better.

Yeah, I think the original version of HURT is way better than the cover. And I really like Johny Cash. His cover of the song was novel, but not as good as the original.

On another note, I'm a huge fan of Eliott Smith. And I like QotSA a lot...I don't necessarily think their cover was better, but they did do a really good job.

[QUOTE="Juggernaut140"]

Megadeth's cover of I Ain't Superstitious

Megadeth's cover of These Boots

Sodom's cover of Surfin Bird

freek666

I never liked Megadeths covers. I'd be listening to Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? and I would get to I Ain't Superstitious and just skip it to get to My Last Words.

[QUOTE="freek666"][QUOTE="Juggernaut140"]

Megadeth's cover of I Ain't Superstitious

Megadeth's cover of These Boots

Sodom's cover of Surfin Bird

Juggernaut140

I never liked Megadeths covers. I'd be listening to Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? and I would get to I Ain't Superstitious and just skip it to get to My Last Words.

Lord's cover of "On a night like this" (by Kylie Minogue) < one of the best covers ever:P

Vision Divine's cover of "Eagle fly Free" (by Helloween)

Vision Divine's cover of "The Final Countdown" (by Europe)

and there is one more but i cant remember the name, or the song:P

but its crazy good!

[QUOTE="Juggernaut140"][QUOTE="freek666"]

I never liked Megadeths covers. I'd be listening to Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? and I would get to I Ain't Superstitious and just skip it to get to My Last Words.

freek666

[QUOTE="freek666"][QUOTE="Juggernaut140"] Dude, that's like my favorite song :?Juggernaut140

Some covers seem to improve on the originals but not most of the time.

One song which has been covered by so many is the song, House of the Rising Sun.

The first official rock version was Bob Dylan's who also claimed writer's credit on the song even though the original was probably sung during the early 1930's as a folk song. Hendrix has covered it. Josh White and Nina Simone has done their version but the one and only definitive version of this song has to be by early 60's British blues-rock band The Animals.

House of the Rising Sun

Good topic, guys you should try out this song:

Milow - Ayo Technology

Its a cover (own improvisation) on Ayo Technology from 50 cent. I really like it.

Death - Painkiller (Judas Priest cover)BeepBoop16

huge list right here of pretty much any song i can think of

http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_coversongs.html

two of my favorite covers are megadeth's versions of these boots ( nancy sinatra ) and i aint supersticious.

funniest cover is sodom's cover of surfin' bird

EDIT : dam freak we are soo similar.. my last words = exstacy.. anybody play? anybody? ...

ALSO freak you havn't used WHAT since u first got on.. it makes me cry with sad. put it to good use :(

huge list right here of pretty much any song i can think of

http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_coversongs.html

two of my favorite covers are megadeth's versions of these boots ( nancy sinatra ) and i aint supersticious.

funniest cover is sodom's cover of surfin' bird

EDIT : dam freak we are soo similar.. my last words = exstacy.. anybody play? anybody? ...

ALSO freak you havn't used WHAT since u first got on.. it makes me cry with sad. put it to good use :(

nimatoad2000

Dayum, forgot all about that. I favourited it but it must be down the bottom of the list. How long have I got this for, like a month or something?

metallica's Am i evil is bttr than diamond head hands downnimatoad2000

idno man the orig is kind of a NWOBHM sound, and metallica thrashed it up a bit farther. i like diamond heads vocals better, but the punch of the guitars and production of metallicas version is superior. i find the actual playing almost the same except as i said the 'tallica version just sounds more powerful and better. kirk hampster actually dosn't dissapoint here. also the mercyful fate medley is pretty good, tho i absolutely prefer the actual fate songs, kind diamond 4 lyfe. all hail the kind. also freak i just finished watching get thrashed, have u seen it? it was pretty good.. except when it got to the nu metal part at the the end i cried cuz everyone was like " downflall of thrash" and then they showed limp biscut and nirvana ( before that ) and i was like WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

EDIT : of course the bass is going to be bad, this is metallica, the most basshating band of all time.. poor jason , you got to turn your EQ bass to max just to hear the faintest resemblance of a bassline.. listen to the mercyful fate medley, i forgot which fate song it is but theirs a part where the guitars stop and theirs a steve harris kind of gallop with the drums and the guitar does like a single not every few seconds, that part is awesome for the real mercyful fate song ( i think its evil but i could be wrong ) and on the metallica medley it sounds soo bad like jason is soo quiet.

metallica had, i think its safe to say the best thrash metal bass player ( thrash cuz steve harris is bttr) and even on KEA u gotta listen close for him, on RTL he is distinct in only a few songs, bell tolls anc cthulu of course, but the others u gotta listen, same with MOP minus orion. and poor jason man he was rly a smart guy, i mean his work in flotsam and voivod is pretty boss and they just kiled the guy, i think they kept him around just to harrass him as a way to recover from cliff's death, if they didnt need him for soothing purposes, they might as well have not had a bass player, i mean bass was soo much unimportant to them that they had that fool bob rock play bass on st anger lol.

^ read above edit + do you think i should put this patch on my jacket freak, or will i get ownd by a group of people who would find it offensive ?

http://www.oneposter.com/patches/slayer/slayer-slaytanic_14223.html

^ read above edit + do you think i should put this patch on my jacket freak, or will i get ownd by a group of people who would find it offensive ?

http://www.oneposter.com/patches/slayer/slayer-slaytanic_14223.html