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

[Sacman]

Not by a long shot but the Dinosaur Jr. cover of Just Like Heaven by The Cure...

IMO a lot more passion to the song...

Hurt by Johnny Cash
All the covers Nirvana did

also this...

Edit: also Sonic Youth's cover of Superstar by The Carpenters...

I found that it just expressed and explored the emotion and tone of the song a lot better through both the singing and instrumentation...<.<

 

[deakin_j]

Rise Against's version of "any way you want it" is pretty good, as is Motorhead's cover of "enter sandman".

 

[Zachary Kramer]

I liked Alien Ant Farm's version of Micheal Jackson's Smooth Criminal so much better than the original. So glad they added the correct one to Rock Band.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower is pretty much the top of my pile, though Hurt is very good too. I also quite enjoy the Sucker Punch version of Sweet Dreams as it strikes a great balance between the electro pop original and the crazy menace of Manson's version, but I love the original so while I'd say it's a great version of the song I'm not sure I'd say it's better than the original.

Nirvana's cover of the man who sold the world

Gah.. that's actually what I would personally call a bad example of a cover. It's basically just doing the song exactly the same as the original was done but with less heart. It's not a terrible quality cover per se, but if you're going to cover a song you should at least be doing something interesting with it.

 

[William Dickbringer]

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?

 

[Alphakirby]

About half or more of the songs from Elite Beat Agents count,excluding Without A Fight by Hoobastank. (It's disqualified for not being finished. PLAY THE GAME TO KNOW WHY!)

 

[zero14777]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxleH60hDJY

least something good came out of "Friday"

 

[zero14777]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxleH60hDJY

least something good came out of "Friday"

 

[emeraldrafael]

Heavy "in my opinion" usage here.

I always preferred Smashing Pumpkins Landslide to the original.

Pearl Jam's Last Kiss to the original (and its more popular cover)

...

There's a lot more I cant think of at the moment. But there's a lot that I like as much or more.

 

[Tim Mazzola]

 

[Breaker deGodot]

I'd say that Scala and Kolacny Brother's "Creep" is possibly better than Radiohead's original.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axrqVfuGHh0

 

[bojac6]

This topic was done not that long ago, and i'll give the same answer




Original Topic: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.283513-Covers-Which-You-Prefer-to-Originals?page=3#11287321

I thought this was universally considered the best version of Take On Me

 

[hailfire]

wavin flag by k'naan was redone by a little known girl on youtube with an amazing voice. and no, I'm not talking about the girl on the htc commercial either, I'm talking about this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SISUujjn53Y

yeah, you know she has a beautiful voice...

 

[CarlsonAndPeeters]

Jimmy Wong's cover of a certain Disney song springs to mind:
Actually, all of his pop music covers are good examples, too. Stupid Lady Gaga...

 

[Duck Sandwich]

I consider this....
To be an improvement on this.

 

[Major_Tom]

Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower is pretty much the top of my pile, though Hurt is very good too. I also quite enjoy the Sucker Punch version of Sweet Dreams as it strikes a great balance between the electro pop original and the crazy menace of Manson's version, but I love the original so while I'd say it's a great version of the song I'm not sure I'd say it's better than the original.

Nirvana's cover of the man who sold the world

Gah.. that's actually what I would personally call a bad example of a cover. It's basically just doing the song exactly the same as the original was done but with less heart. It's not a terrible quality cover per se, but if you're going to cover a song you should at least be doing something interesting with it.

Yeah, even Lulu's version was better than Nirvana's. Oh, and Emily Browning's Sweet Dreams was awesome, it really fits in that scene in the movie.

 

[Shock and Awe]

Hurt, it was originally performed by Nine Inch Nails, but it was covered by Johnny Cash. It was pretty good in the original, but Cash just made it his own and incredibly superior to the original.

Spoiler: Original: Nine Inch Nails

Spoiler: Cover: Johnny Cash

 

[Warlord211]

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

 

[Yarkaz]

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

Listening to Disturbed's ISHFWILF cover... This is.... Just bad. Just plain bad. And I normally like Disturbed. And I'm a HUGE U2 fan.

Anyways, Muse's cover of Feeling Good. And, since I haven't seen anyone else mention it yet, Alien Ant Farm's Smooth Criminal.

 

[That One Six]

I know I might get some hate for this, but I prefer Ayreon's cover of "No Quarter" to Zeppelin's.