A while back I was greatly amused by Alanis’ Tori Amos-like slow emo piano cover of Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps”. More recently my brother found two new gems - a typical Ben Folds style cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit” and Milow’s popular cover of 50 cent’s Ayo Technology.
Anyone have some more examples? Ironically softer versions (folk, piano, acapella) of harder songs (rap, R&B, punk) is best but I’ll open it up to any cover whose musical style is in radical opposition to the original including going from soft to hard… Or other covers that are extremely noteworthy or unique.
The best known example is Dynamite Hack’s pop rock cover of “Boyz in the Hood”. I’ve also heard a very good piano ballad arrangement of Tool’s “Stinkfist”, but that was just something that some random person did, so I can’t point you towards it.
The single biggest genre change I’ve ever heard is Arcturus’ remix of their own “Master of Disguise”. The original is a dark, carnival-influenced operatic piece. The remix, on the other hand, is a straight up rap track. Both versions feature the same vocalist.
It’s not shareable, but I have an mp3 of Lou Barlow (of Sebadoh and the Folk Implosion) singing an acoustic version of Foreigner’s “Cold As Ice” like it was the saddest, most poignant love song in the world.
More in the “unique” covers category, I love the Afghan Whigs’ bluesy cover of “If I Only Had a Heart” from the Wizard of Oz. Greg Dulli makes the Tin Man sound like a complete psychopath, and it’s awesome. You can hear a middling-quality live recording here, or find a much better studio recording on their “Honky’s Ladder” EP (and you can hear it here on Last.fm).
The Afghan Whigs were infamous for their unusual covers (old Motown songs, modern R&B, showtunes, popular rock hits that you’d never think of covering yourself, etc.) – YouTube has a bunch of them.
Unfortunately, I could only find that rather untypical version of their Freebird with Naomi Judd which, in itself, might meet your OP’s criteria. The real concert experience usually involves a White Grand Piano, Men in dresses, and a free flowing, 30 minute, blues improv, of Freebird a la The Grateful Dead.
All the Small Things was a British television drama in which pop and rock songs were sung by a choir. Here is “What’s my Age Again?” originally by Blink 182
