Twisted Sister’s version of Oh Come All Ye Faithful is quite good, too.
There’s a guitar solo about half way through that briefly turns into We’re Not Gonna Take It, which amuses me a lot.
A few days ago, I heard Gun’s cover of Cameo’s Word Up for the first time. I was shocked and rocked 
Didn’t we do this exact thread just a week or two ago?
Wouldn’t that make this thread a cover? 
Johnny Cash’s Hurt is completely different, and IMO, much better than NIN’s.
I will try and come up with a cover, but just popped in to add another comment about Eva Cassidy. I heard her on NPR a few years ago and was among the blown away and instant fans.
For all those of you who just discovered Eva Cassidy, here’s the closest thing to an official website for her:
I own nearly everything available by her, and it’s all great.
Jane’s Addiction Ripple. Also ** Jane’s Addiction** Sympathy For the Devil/
Tivo has a Podcaster, I regularly listen to Coverville. The most recent great cover I heard was the Delgados doing Mr Blue Sky…great. In fact, it was part of an hour or so of all ELO covers. Unfortuantly I tend to fall asleep after the first one or two songs (I listen to it when I go to bed), so I have to remember to get it started about 15 minutes before I go to bed so I can hear the next few songs.
Is this the second time you’ve made a Postman reference? If so, then it’s the second time I’ll say, you’re officially my favorite Doper ever.
My vote for greatest cover of all time: Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen, recorded by Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy. Seriously, if you haven’t heard this, do it - you’ll be amazed. They take the original upbeat, triumphant Springsteen song and turn it into an eerie, down-tempo number in a minor key.
Thanks, I enjoyed looking around there. Sting’s comments were interesting. I’ve often been surprised by his humility with respect to other singers. You know, one thing that blew my mind was the Amazon ratings for her. Most of her albums are 5 stars after literally hundreds of reviews. All are at least 4-1/2. When you toss in the inevitable malcontents and the no-accounting-for-taste troglodytes, that’s simply amazing.
It took me halfway into my first hearing of Laibach’s Geburt Eine Nation before realising it was a cover of Queen’s One Vision. Great stuff. They do wonderful covers.
Another one that did surprise me was the Cash cover of NIN’s Hurt. I had heard much around these parts about how great it was, and not heard it yet, when it came on in my local Goth club. After blinking, then wondering where the piss-sozzled wino was, who the DJ was letting do karaoke NIN, I clicked and realised this must be the cover everyone here (and Trent himself, FTM) was raving about. I was hurt, alright. Suffice to say, I’m always independently checking anyone’s music advice from the 'Dope in future. That cover sucked balls compared to the original.
Although you guys were right about Shatner’s Common People. A pleasant surprise.
Warren Zevon did an interesting cover of Prince’s Raspberry Beret. It was a fairly straight-ahead rendition of the song, but hearing his raspy baritone sing it definitely surprised me.
This is probably old news to everyone, but when I first heard Richard Cheese’s “swankified” cover of the Peanuts’ TV Special song, Christmastime is Here, I burst into appreciative laughter.
Hootie & The Blowfish’s cover of Orpheus “Can’t Find the Time to Tell You”- surprising in that in anyone remembered this classic, which only peaked at about #80 on the pop charts. Great song, good cover.
I am not only not a fan of him, but his whole genre of music (whatever its called). But I have to say that, as a usual fan of hard rock, my biggest guilty pleasure is…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Tom Jones’ (and Art of Noise’s) cover of Prince’s Kiss. The guy freakin’ smokes that song!
I feel so dirty. The dirts not coming off!!
For a band that prided itself on playing a ton of goofy covers on tour, Phish surprised me with a simple, poignant instrumental rendition of “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” It was at the Virgina Beach amphitheatre just after the sun had set. The mood was simply one-in-a-million perfect and I was struck by the gentle beauty of that performance.
That night, three years to the day after the death of Jerry Garcia, they also pulled out (for the first time I had ever seen) a Dead Cover, encoring with “Terrapin Station.” That was pretty surprising, and cool, too
Who else thought that Tesla’s 5 man acoustic jam performance of “Signs” was surprisingly respectable?
Dynamite Hack’s cover of “Boyz in the Hood” is pretty interesting considering the original is by deceased NWA rapper Easy-E.
Done with the Hindu Love Gods - Zevon backed by Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry. The album they did also had ‘Battleship Chains,’ done very well. I’m a big cover fan for some reason. Some of my faves:
-
Strutter by Kiss, covered by the Donnas.
-
Toys in the Attic by Aerosmith, covered by R.E.M. (note: this live vid not near as good as their studio version, imho).
-
Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty, covered by the Foo Fighters.
So is Bernie Taupin (Elton John’s lyricist, for the younger folks). In his Two Rooms interview, he said he loved listening to covers, including those of his own songs. It was the differences in interpretation that turned him on. He said he hated covers that are basically retakes of the original. I feel the same way.
Working Class Hero - Original by John Lennon
I heard Marianne Faithful’s version; her voice had substantially changed in the 1970s due to various addictions and health issues; really blew me away. Very powerful and strange/exotic sounding.
Many other covers since then by others but none with the same shock or impact.
If you think that’s bad, check out Celine Dion singing “You Shook Me All Night Long”.
It’s on YouTube. I double-dog-dare you to listen to it.
Although I guess it’s not exactly a surprise that this would suck.