# Great rock versions of classical compositions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2020, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423 "2020-06-11T01:38:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/1 "2020-06-11T01:38:55Z")
I absolutely loved (and still do) [SRC’s version of Hall of the Mountain King](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sva9snQiGU). The lead guitar still sounds perfect more than 50 years later. Another rock take of a classical composition that still blows me away half a century later is (the long version of) [Love Sculpture’s ‘Sabre Dance’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W04zBkz0Kqg). I was impressed back then and remain impressed today. Are there other great rock versions of classical stuff out there, especially less appreciated ones? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/2 "2020-06-11T01:45:38Z")
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, best exemplfied by _Pictures at an Exhibition_. The album also includes their kickass version of “[Nutrocker.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiRBQ_hSNt0)” ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/3 "2020-06-11T04:28:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, best exemplfied by _Pictures at an Exhibition_. The album also includes their kickass version of “[Nutrocker.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiRBQ_hSNt0)” I was gonna report you to a mod had you linked to the crazy psychedelic video of ELP’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Man, the 70s were weird! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/4 "2020-06-11T05:03:53Z")
A famous one is [Jethro Tull’s version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2RNe2jwHE0) of J.S. Bach’s [Bouree in E Minor.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APNI2CC0k6A) Blood Sweat and Tears did [Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie based on Trois Gymnopedies.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APNI2CC0k6A) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/5 "2020-06-11T05:07:04Z")
Electric Light Orchestra did a cover of [In the Hall of the Mountain King](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS5h8OXl0Q), as well, which I like quite a lot. While not rock, Glen Campbell’s cover of the William Tell Overture was [a staple of his live shows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bhuxkzjuQc), and it was [the B-side](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD3YemN2tnk) of his hit _Southern Nights_. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/6 "2020-06-11T05:22:03Z")
[Flight of the Bumble Bee by The Surf Coaster](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukCPOL9A_mA&feature=share) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/7 "2020-06-11T05:56:18Z")
[Tina S rocks Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata 3rd mvmt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6rBK0BqL2w) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/8 "2020-06-11T06:15:34Z")
1956 LP album, “[Will Success Spoil Rock-Maninoff?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXCCs8W9cQY)”. Pianist Rosa Linda smokes the keyboard with jazzed-up selections from Rachmaninoff and others. (Note for example the track titled “Carmen has a Bizet day”.) (I posted this also a few days ago in the thread about album with puns in their titles.) ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/9 "2020-06-11T06:20:11Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, best exemplfied by _Pictures at an Exhibition_. The album also includes their kickass version of “[Nutrocker.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiRBQ_hSNt0)” ELP also recorded Aaron Copland’s [Fanfare for the Common Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2zurZig4L8) (not “classical”, but orchestral) and the hymn [Jerusalem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9TbiIEpZJ8). Classically trained Yes keyboardist (trained to be a concert pianist) Rick Wakeman performed a number of classical pieces, including [Clare de Lune](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRApVLLJjQM) and [Swan Lake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc9mFucbxHo). ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/10 "2020-06-11T06:26:31Z")
Any such list has to include “Joy” by Apollo 100. Based on Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”: And let's not forget Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven," based on, as you might guess, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MFbn8EbB4k) ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/11 "2020-06-11T06:57:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, best exemplfied by _Pictures at an Exhibition_. The album also includes their kickass version of “[Nutrocker.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiRBQ_hSNt0)” [I’m gonna go with the old-school version by B. Bumble & The Stingers.](https://youtu.be/Op2U-qGUDkg) [Some Toccata and Fugue, by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.](https://youtu.be/XOANxP5ZvuY) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/12 "2020-06-11T09:22:26Z")
ELO’s _Roll Over, Beethoven_ begins with an orchestra playing a few measures of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/13 "2020-06-11T10:54:52Z")
Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s [“Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHioIlbnS_A). I presume “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is considered ‘classical’, but I don’t know about “Shchedryk”. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/14 "2020-06-11T11:39:56Z")
[quote=“Spoons, post:10, topic:855423”] Any such list has to include “Joy” by Apollo 100. Based on Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”: And let's not forget Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven," based on, as you might guess, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony: [/QUOTE] If we’re including these as “rock,” not that I’m complaining mind you, then I’m gonna nominate Deodato’s version of “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” [YouTube link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJK3eUP5Hvg) The use of this song behind Chance’s first trip into the outside world in _Being There_ is, IMHO, one of the most inspired examples of music in the movies ever. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/15 "2020-06-11T12:03:28Z")
Blackfoot Sue - 1812 overture [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-XkdqyHCu_s/maxresdefault.jpg "1812") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XkdqyHCu_s) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/16 "2020-06-11T12:19:34Z")
It’s not rock, but “[Please Don’t Play Your Violin At Night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_nGZM3O-5Y)” is Beethoven’s Wig’s take on Mozart’s _Eine Kleine Nachtmusik_. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/17 "2020-06-11T15:42:51Z")
If ska counts, there’s Madness’s [Swan Lake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y94klcdpojQ) and Bad Manners’s [Can Can](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91UM4n0ukqc). ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/18 "2020-06-11T16:50:40Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Blood Sweat and Tears did [Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie based on Trois Gymnopedies.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APNI2CC0k6A) I had totally forgotten that. Great piece. > [@Tibby](#): > > ELP also recorded Aaron Copland’s [Fanfare for the Common Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2zurZig4L8) (not “classical”, but orchestral) . . . Another excellent one I had forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/19 "2020-06-11T17:20:08Z")
Deep Purple did a live version of [Ode To Joy](https://youtu.be/jvttUn7cqv0?t=133) with Ritchie Blackmore leading the way and a laser-light animated Beethoven looking on and conducting. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423/20 "2020-06-11T17:38:05Z")
James Gang did an awesome take on Ravel’s Boléro in the middle of “The Bomber.” [JAMES GANG -The Bomber: Closet Queen / Boléro / Cast Your Fate to the Wind - YouTube](https://youtu.be/byemtlXKTYU?t=210) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-rock-versions-of-classical-compositions/855423.md?page=2)