I actually don't think the original is bad, but this version feels way more roots reggae. The horn section fills it out and the busy guitar work is really cool. Definitely on a whole different level than the original.



The Dirty Heads totally nail this one, the tone and vibe totally change.

The Reel Big Fish version of Take On Me beats the hell out of the original.

Michael Jackson- Come Together

free falling by john mayer

I've always just loved Bonnie Raitt's version of this song by the great Joni Mitchell

Heather Headley - Super Woman

Peter Gabriel's cover of "The Book of Love" is just so much more heartrending than the original by Magnetic Fields. A truly beautiful song.

Barry Manilow - Mandy
Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons
13th Floor Elevators - It's All Over Baby Blue
Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends
Pantera - Planet Caravan
Bad Company - Ready For Love

I can't believe how these guys actually managed to turn "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback into a good song.

I prefer Nico's cover of Jackson Browne's These Days.

Not sure if these have been mentioned yet. I favor both to the originals.

How do you make a song substantially heavier?
 

Slow it down. By half. It is unbelievably hard to keep the meter at this tempo...

Perfect Day


Scala - Perfect Day - YouTube

I just don't find Lou Reed a good singer.

Although George certainly had chops, I believe this was what he was trying to achieve:


The Jeff Healey Band - While My Guitar Gently Weeps (HQ Audio).wmv - YouTube

Taylor Swifts "Trouble" by Walk off the Earth and KRNfx

Wow, I'm interested that someone prefers Nico's These Days to Jackson Browns! I was listening to them the other day and thought it was totally the other way around and assumed most would agree. I just think her register doesn't suit it and the arrangement isn't as nice as his. Very interesting...

I heard Nico's version years before Browne's so I'm certainly more familiar with it but apart from that I find Browne's version rather middle of the road.

Rush is probably my favorite musical group and "La Villa Strangiato" from their Hemispheres album is one of the songs that made me want to play music in the first place. Greg Howe does a cool version with shred guitars that I enjoy quite a bit:

This is one of those cases where I never liked the original song. This is an excellent cover, its so mellow and hes a damn good singer.

'Sing For Me' - Ginny Blackmore (written by GB for Christina Aguilera and then recorded by her for her new album)

Swim Until You Can't See Land covered by Benjamin Francis Leftwich. So much nicer than the original by Frightened Rabbit

Girls just want to have fun by the maine

All along the Watchtower by Hendrix. Dylan is great but Hendrix version is even better if thats possible

Add me to the list of people who prefer Stevie Ray Vaughan's versions of Hendrix tunes over the Hendrix originals. Not that Hendrix wasn't great, but somehow, SRV's takes seem to make more sense.

The Clash - Police and Thieves and Wrong Em Boyo (But I prefer most of their cover versions to the original versions)
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Happy Mondays - Step On

Joe Cocker, "With a Little Help from My Friends"
Joe Cocker, "The Letter"
Joe Cocker, "Cry Me a River"
Hendrix, "Like a Rolling Stone"
Hendrix, "All Along the Watch Tower"
Brian Setzer, "Sleepwalk"
Los Lobos, "La Bamba"
Ozzy's entire cover of his Black Sabbath songs on the Speak of the Devil album beat out many versions of the originals and I love Black Sabbath.
Alice Cooper "Hello, Hooray!"
Watson Twins "Just Like Heaven"

Let's dance - the ramones cover.

The man who sold the world - nirvana cover

Most originals are better than the covers :p

For Jeff
 

Macy Gray's Radiohead "Creep" cover

Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) - The Strokes
I'm Shakin' - Jack White
Twist and Shout - The Beatles
Hurt - Johnny Cash

Had no idea that Buckley had ever covered this Elton John song til today.

Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower (a given)
Clash - I Fought the Law
The Who - Summertime Blues (the live version really) (as much as I like Cochran)
The Commitments - Try A Little Tenderness (sheepishly)

Put Your Dukes Up John pretty much the same but Alex Turner's voice suits the song better than Eva Petersen's

William Shatner - Common People

No this isn't a joke. Thanks to Bon Iver this song become something so much more than what Pulp did with the original.

Have you ever heard the live version of APC covering/fusing Ozzy's Diary of a Mad Man with The Cure's Love song?
It's pretty damn epic.

Anyway, I think Puscifer's (MJK again)cover of Elton Johns Rocketman is way way better than the original.