What songs have had covers that were better than the original?

[ADDLibrarian]

Alice Cooper's Poison. It's decent, but I heard a techno cover by a female singer that was pure gold.

You mean this one?
Hell yeah.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UERhijB_TiM

Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies have done some great covers
Their cover of Cat Stevens "Wild World" is great
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu0HTIuihy8
as is their cover of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThgByEDzc8g

The Turtles "Happy Together" gets a nice update from Buck Wild
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmx0nKhbZNY

And I always thought that Queen was sacred from remixes. Until Jonathan Coulton. I LOVE his tribute/folk remake of We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions (vid's only the We Will Rock You Part)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AEiOS3ZOzc
Not better than the original, but it is good. Very nice.

 

[tehweave]

Original Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk

Much better version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNqBsQiNoAU

I feel like the original one is a fine song, but it's got too much instrumental. The drums are unnecessary, the distortion guitar overpowers the vocals, if it was toned down, a little slower and more minimalistic, it would be better.

In comes the cover. Simple. A choir with just a piano backing it, with a quiet electric guitar at times. It's beautiful and flowing.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

We Came As Roman's version of My Love:

Also Miss May I's version of Run This Town:

A resounding FUCK YES to both of these.

Umm... I'm gonna say A Day to Remember's cover of Over My Head (Cable Car) by The Fray.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS7YUnDV3n8

And also Make Me Famous' cover of Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuFGuW_0uYM

Ah yes ADTR did a good cover of that song. I also get to see MMI, WCAR, and ADTR on Saturday .

OT: Here's another good cover:

Wait I also get to see TDWP as well...sweet!

 

[Krinku]

Madeon's Deadmau5 remix of Raise Your Weapons. I don't actually enjoy dubstep too much in the first play so... meh.

 

[Purple Shrimp]

the original version of all along the watchtower was way better

 

[Aetera]

I usually hate Manson for being such an attention whore, but I have to admit, I love his covers. I like his covers MUCH more than any of his original songs. Particularly Personal Jesus, Sweet Dreams(are made of this), and This is Halloween.

Seriously, if you haven't heard his cover of This is Halloween, it's awesome.

Spoiler

 

[Toriver]

I'm another one on the Johnny Cash - Hurt bandwagon. Absolutely nailed the tone and mood of the material. It was also a song through which the aging Cash could reflect on his life and express how he truly felt about his life and legacy. The video was a powerful testament to that, a sort of musical memoir that only a man of his wisdom, dedication and sheer talent could make. Even to his dying days, he was a musical master, and he, and music such as his, are sorely missed.

As for other covers, though Michael Jackson's version was good, I prefer Alien Ant Farm's version of Smooth Criminal. The more powerful bass line and harder-rock feel were nice improvements. And you have to hear Aaron Lewis' solo acoustic covers of Staind (his band) and various other rock artists. They're amazing. Lastly, there's Apocalyptica's Metallica covers done entirely on the cello. They're bold re-imaginings of metal that work wonderfully. I'm not sure if I would say Apocalyptica is better, but the covers are well worth a listen.

 

[Aetera]

I posted about this in another thread, and while it can't be called better by any means, but rather awesome in it's own totally unique and incomparable way, there's this string quartet that covered a bunch of Tool songs. They're AMAZING. Here:

Spoiler: Sober

Spoiler: Schism

Spoiler: Pushit

 

[Fenix7]

I liked Alien Ant Farm's version of Micheal Jackson's Smooth Criminal so much better than the original.

This.

Also, as weird as it sounds, I like Apocalyptica's "Play Metallica by Four Cellos" more than the original Metallica songs.

 

[elbrandino]

This is the very first thing I thought of:

 

[MrStab]

Cover of "Swing" - Miss May I

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz0RjFMAhXY

Cover of "Since You've Been Gone - A Day To Remember

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRlWdPvJUjQ

Personally I think these are both a hell of a lot better than the originals along with the cover of "I Kissed A Girl" done by Attack Attack and the cover of "When I Grow Up" done by Mayday Parade.

 

[DVS Storm]

Ill Nino's cover of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", Jimi Hendrix's cover of "All Along The Watchtower", Disturbed's cover of "Land of Confusion", Muse's cover of "Feeling Good" and maybe some others that I just can't remember at the moment.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

...What I will mention is his cover of Soundgarden's Rusty Cage. As good as the Soundgarden version is, Cash's kicks so much moe ass.

Didn't know he did one until I saw this post.

Just Youtubed it, and its AWESOME. Thanks a bunch : )

 

[SonofaJohannes]

Anything covered by Richard Cheese becomes awesome.

Spoiler: Last Resort

The original The cover

Spoiler: Chop Suey

The original The cover

Spoiler: People=Shit

The original The cover

that's the guy that did the down with the sickness cover in dawn of the dead 2000 didn't he? or was that someone else?

I never saw the remake, but according to wikipedia, yup, that's him.

 

[Vindestructable]

Alien ant farm's cover of "smooth criminal"
disturbed's cover of "land of confusion"

 

[Hauntghost20]

I fought the law done by the clash was better than the country version.

 

[Griffolion]

I'm not saying it's better but Pendulum's cover of Linkin Park's "The Catalyst" is very very good.

 

[Tharwen]

Black Betty

There's also a cover by SOiL:

Spoiler

Shout 2000 and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.
Both covered by Disturbed. Both significantly better than the originals.

'Significantly better' doesn't necessarily mean much when it comes to I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

However, on that note:

Spoiler

Much better. And finally...

Spoiler

 

[TornadoFive]

Bit of a random one, but oh well!

The Passenger by Iggy Pop. Part of it was done by George Ikediashi for the T-Mobile ad a while back and I loved it.

Spoiler: Here's the original

Spoiler: Here's an extended version of Georges part in the ad

Just my personal preference, but I love George's voice!