Chantel Kreviazuk’s cover of ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’ is staggeringly good - to take a really cliched song like that and give any sort of meaning is worth note but hers is great.
Quite why its on the ‘Armageddon’ soundtrack is beyond me though, we only hear Ben Affleck sing it AFAIK
Travis’ “Baby One More Time” is pretty good.
I second Cake - I will survive
also, Howie Day had a live performance of Karma Police that was one of the best covers I have ever heard.
If you can find it online… download it… he uses a loop box to record the guitar, bassline, drums, and then solo at the end of the song… it is awesome.
and of course Dave Matthews Band - All along the Watchtower
Anything by Me First and The Gimme Gimmes
I like Tom Jones’s version of Kiss, myself.
Jason Falkner does a great up-tempo ‘Both Sides Now’ that I find more pleasant than the weepy-ballad versions. Smashing Pumpkins made Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide’ absolutely awesome.
Phish are famous for doing a Halloween show where they ‘dress up as’ another band. One year it was the White Album, another year, Quadrophenia. And the Gimmes are awesome all around, but my two favorites of theirs are ‘Science Fiction Double Feature’ and ‘Rocket Man’.
Aztec Camera’s cover of Van Halen’s “Jump” as a down-tempo acoustic guitar ballad.
Pat Boone’s versions of “It’s a Long way to the Top (if You Want to Rock and Roll)” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” were pretty good.
Also Dokken’s version of “From the Beginning” (ELP) was surprisingly good.
Kronos Quartet does a weird and lovely Purple Haze, ending in simulated electric guitar feedback. Not to be missed.
I far prefer Tori Amos’ quiet, reflective Smells Like Teen Spirit to the original.
Once on This American Life, a female vocalist sang a spare, '70’s-style punked-out version of the Mary Poppins song in which the children list their demands for a nanny. Good stuff!
And then there’s always Mr. Yankovic’s polka medleys of pop music hits…
Daniel
In my DJ days I used to play the song “Blue Moon”.
The one I played was a slow version sung by Cybill Shepherd from a CD that was tied to her old TV show, Moonlighting, with Bruce Willis.
Other people enjoyed it enough to come up to me after the song and ask who the singer was and what album the song was on.
Bruce also sang a few blues songs on the CD and didn’t do to well with it.
U2’s cover of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is awesome, too. My favorite christmas song.
I have to second the Tom Jones’ Kiss version.
I heard the Ausie pop duet Savage Garden sing “What if God was one of us” in a concert (no idea if they recorded it) and it was out of this world.
When Failure was still around I heard them play Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence live as an encore. I nearly pee’d my knickers it was so good, seeing as how I love both groups.
Then, lo and behold, a few months later For The Masses: An Album of Depeche Mode Songs (tribute album) came out.
[Cartman] Sweeeeeeeeeet![/Cartman]
Dr. Evil covering “What If God Was One Of Us” (“Mhmm, I wrote that”) and “Just the Two of Us”, of course.
Ozzy and Dweezil Zappa did a suprisingly cool cover of “Stayin Alive”. I have it somewhere in MP3 format but don’t know if it was ever released.
A band named Sanctuary did a cover of Jefferson Airplanes “White Rabbit”, with Dave Mustaine handling the solo section, that is awesome.
Slee
Page or Plant (I can’t remember which one) said Dread Zeppelin’s cover of “Your Time is Gonna Come” was superior to the original.
A Perfect Circle did a cover/medley of The Cure’s Love Song and Black Sabbath’s Diary of a Madman. Souds bizarre but the result is amazing, I wish I had a studio version of it instead of just live.
Nine Inch Nails’ Dead Souls (originally by Joy Division) is great, as his version of Adam Ant’s Physical.
I love Revolting Cocks’ version of Do You Think I’m Sexy.
Er, actually it was allegedly Robert Plant who said he preferred Dread’s version of “Your Time is Gonna Come.” I like 'em both.
Edie Brickell’s cover of “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” on the Born On the Fourth of July soundtrack is better than the original.
Dolly Parton’s version of “Shine”? Are you serious? I nearly pulled an Elvis on my TV when I heard her perform it on Letterman.
H20 does a punk rendition of “Like a Prayer” and it’s fantastic.
And I saw Guster do Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” in concert once and it was practically the song of the night. It was that good. There’s also an MP3 of them doing “Sympathy For the Devil” floating around. The quality isn’t great, but the song isn’t bad.
And put me down for seconds to both “Landslide” and “Hurt.” In my eyes both are superior to the originals.