Cover songs are a divisive topic in music, at once celebrated for their ability to bring new life to old material while also being criticized as the origin of tribute acts or wedding singers. Yet Covers have been an integral part of rock and roll since the beginningwith many early rock stars relying heavily on old blues standards.
There is certainly no formula for what constitutes a good cover song. Some are great because they distill the essence of a song into a stronger form of itself, relying on the artist’s talent and passion to stand out from what came before, even if there aren’t many changes to the arrangement. Some are transformative, playing with genre and instrumentation to create something that would otherwise never have existed. Here, then, are ten rock covers that rocked much more than the originals.
Honorable Mention: The National – “Sailors in Your Mouth” (Originally from the cast of Bob’s Burgers)
One of several songs from the hit Fox animated series that received a full cover by the band under the name Bob’s Artiststhis cheesy, innuendo-laden Thanksgiving song turns corny in the hands of parent rock stars The National. Featuring Matt Berninger’s mournful singing over the Dessner brothers’ guitar and piano work, the song genuinely transforms into an unforgettable ballad that will earn a spot at any discerning Thanksgiving table.
Special congratulations to the music video, animated by Bob’s Burgers team, which treats us to the genuinely disturbing visual of Berninger and crew, soaked in sauce, making the long, solemn journey from Bob’s plate to his throat. This song really is the theme song for Thanksgiving.
10
Love Spit Love – “How long will it be now?”
Originally by The Smiths
Love Spit Love is the side project of Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler, who formed the post-grunge quartet while the Furs were on hiatus in 1992. Although their first album was a flop, it caught their attention enough that were approached to do a cover of this. Smiths classic for the 1996 soundtrack The craft. Their cover was also later used as the opening theme of the equally wizarding fantasy drama. Enchanted.
Although the version of Love Spit Love is a direct cover of the original, changing little in terms of instrumentation, this in itself is a notable achievement, as Johnny Marr’s original guitar work is considered one of the most lasting contributions to the song. rock. Smiths already done.
The most important difference between the cover and the original is Butler’s vocals, which manage to to turn the line”I am human and I need to be loved“in a plaintive declaration of genuine emotioncontrasting sharply with Morrissey’s flippant interpretation at best.
9
The Ataris – “Boys Of Summer”
Originally by Don Henley
Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer” is a radio rock classic that, perhaps by virtue of its lyrics, always seems to be playing loudly in convertibles in early August. Henley’s original version, released shortly after the Eagles first disbanded in 1980, has the kind of arpeggiated synths, fast backbeat and slowly plucked guitar chords that allowed it to reach number five on the billboard Hot 100. The Ataris version is at the same time a rejection and an embrace of the original music.
Ataris’ cover of “The Boys of Summer” was the band’s hottest single when the album See you soon, Astoria was released in 2003, but while this version is an excellent track, it’s the re-recorded version, released with minimal fanfare in 2019, that is the real gem. The additional sixteen years of recording experience are a huge help here.
Vocalist Kris Roe’s slightly compressed vocals cut through the distorted guitars like a hot knife through butter in a way that makes it impossible not to want to get up and mosh like it’s Warped Tour 2000 all over again.
8
Hot Water Music – “Radio”
Originally by Alkaline Trio
Gainesville, Florida punk rockers Hot Water Music have been tearing it up for 30 years and their cover of Alkaline Trio’s “Radio,” released in 2002, is just one gem among dozens in their catalog. Hot Water Music is no stranger to coversas is often the case with punk bands; “Radio” was released as a split EP with Alkaline Trio, who covered Hot Water Music’s “Rooftops”.
Although it’s an instrumentally simple cover, there are a few details that allow Hot Water Music’s version to overshadow the original. First, Alkaline Trio’s sound is generally cleaner, while Hot Water Music is slower, driven here by Jason Black’s exaggerated, blues-inspired basslines. Second, Hot Water Music brings one of its greatest strengths to play here, with absolutely incredible vocal harmonies as frontman Chuck Ragan and backing vocalist Chris Wollard close out the chorus by singing perfectly crisp octaves.
7
Lucy Dacus – “Dancing in the Dark”
Originally by Bruce Springsteen
While it may seem strange to suggest that anyone could sing a Springsteen song better than the Boss himself, if anyone could, it would be indie rock legend and Boygenius member Lucy Dacus. Released on September 12, 2019 to honor Springsteen on his birthday, Dacus’ cover has stunning production qualitywith crystal clear guitar and an intense rhythm section that leaves the listener wanting to dance, in the dark or not.
Originally written by Springsteen in a single frustrated night, “Dancing in the Dark,” as originally recorded, is an ode to finding inspiration while alone. Dacus’s cover is all that and more, as she takes the implicit strangeness of Springsteen’s original—the overarching themes of frustration, social ostracism, and longing so intrinsic to Boss’s songwriting—and turns subtext into text by adding its own weirdnessinfusing the vocals with the same kind of melancholic longing seen in his original songs like “Kissing Lessons.”
6
Hindu Gods of Love – “Raspberry Beret”
Originally by Prince
If saying that someone covered Springsteen seemed strange, claiming that a cover of a Prince song is better than the original may seem downright heretical, but when viewed specifically as a rock song, there is no doubt that Blues-rock supergroup Hindu Love Gods accomplished the impossible and I did it with style. Hindu Love Gods was essentially an 80s REM side project, with criminally underrated Los Angeles rock legend Warren Zevon behind the microphone rather than REM’s own Michael Stipe.
As the story goes, Zevon recruited other members of REM – guitarist Peter Buck, drummer Bill Berry and bassist Mike Mills – as his backing band for the recording of his 1987 album. Sentimental Hygiene. One session in particular that reportedly lasted all night resulted in nine blues covers and a particularly crunchy four-minute version of “Raspberry Beret.” These songs finally saw the light of day in 1990 as the album Hindu Gods of Loveand “Raspberry Beret” as a single that reached #23 on the Modern Rock charts.
The track is a perfect distillation of the blues-fueled alternative rock that REM were releasing at the time, with Buck’s guitar and Mills’ bass cutting in and out of each other while Zevon’s vocals echoed almost grandly as he sang his own version. of Prince’s classic sexual fantasy. More bar rock bands should take a page from the book Hindu Love Gods and try to cover Prince, as long as its singers have something close to Zevon’s charisma.
5
The Sword – “Cheap Sunglasses”
Originally by ZZ Top
ZZ Top’s modest “Cheap Sunglasses” is a rollicking blues-rock anthem, and this cover was an unexpectedly excellent bonus track on the 2012 release of stoner metal quartet The Sword Apocryphal.
Although Sword’s original music is significantly heavier than ZZ Top’s, metal’s roots are deeply tied to the blues, and here Sword shows that their punishingly sharp riffs and harmonies create a direct line from the modern metal scene to when T-Bone Walker recorded the first electric guitar solo in 1940.
4
Warren Zevon – “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”
Originally by Bob Dylan
While Warren Zevon’s previous appearance on this list highlighted his more frenetic era as an artist,her cover of the Dylan classic shows her more vulnerable side. In 2002, Zevon was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a lung cancer likely caused by childhood exposure to asbestos, and given a grim prognosis; he publicly revealed this diagnosis in October of that year and began recording what would be his last album, The Wind.
Although Zevon was never a commercial success, he has been an integral part of the Los Angeles rock scene since being roommates with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in 1975, and on the recording The Wind he found support from everyone whose careers he touched along the way. With his voice breaking repeatedly until the end, this cover showcases Zevon’s weary vulnerability as his vocals creak under the weight of his impending mortality.
The Wind it would prove to be one of Zevon’s most commercially successful albums, although he did not live to see much of this success, as he passed away on September 7, 2003, just two weeks after the album’s release. The album was certified gold in December of that year and nominated for five Grammys, winning two – the only ones in Zevon’s three-decade-plus career. “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” was an integral part of Zevon’s swan song which, like the man himself, it never received the attention it deserved when it was released.
3
Women Screaming – “Shake it Off”
Originally by Taylor Swift
Recorded as part of The AV Clubit’s gone-extinct-for-a-while-but-back-now AV undercover YouTube series, this absolutely unhinged performance is nothing like the original, totally transforming Swift’s song from pop diva bragging rights to a disgruntled statement of queer frustration. The brainchild of New Jersey’s prodigal daughter and guitar virtuoso Marissa Paternoster, the Screaming Females sadly disbanded in 2023, but it’s worth diving into their robust discography (eight studio albums, two EPs, two singles compilations, and one album live).
The Screaming Females’ cover of “Shake it Off” is an absolutely gut-busting reinvention of Swift’s song, with Jarret Dougherty’s relentless drumming maintaining a beat that initially feels similar to the original, but then Paternoster’s unique guttural vocals appear as a small and furious reincarnation of Etta James. The highlight of the track is certainly the guitar solo thatwith just eight bars, it quickly demonstrates (pun intended) why Rolling Stone called Paternoster one of the greatest guitarists of all time in 2023.
2
The Protômen – “There is no easy way out”
Originally by Robert Tepper
The original version of “No Easy Way Out” was first released on the film’s soundtrack Rocky IV in 1985. It is essentially Rocky music, with intense synths and an anxious insistence that the only way out is through. In addition to being appropriate for the film, however, Tepper’s version of “No Easy Way Out” is eminently forgettable, as just another generic piece of 80s synth-rock.
Enter Protomen, an eclectic group of Tennessee musicians who burst onto the nerd rock scene in 2005 with their self-titled debut album, which served as the first act of a still-incomplete rock opera based on Mega man video game franchise from which they took their name. With a style that combines the likes of Styx and Meat Loaf and a generous helping of cosplay pomp Protomen took this forgotten 80s ballad and made it their own.
The instrumentation on this track, like all of Protomen’s work, can best be described as bombastic.and completely destroys Tepper’s version. Synths now provide moody background strings beneath bold trumpets and jangly guitar that wouldn’t look out of place in an Ennio Morricone score. Vocalist Raul Panther III effortlessly switches between a shy tenor eager for the verses and belting out the choruses like a powerhouse. There is no doubt who knocked out who in this match.
1
Murder by Death – “Howl”
Originally by Florence + The Machine
Florence Welch is one of indie-pop’s greatest vocalists and songwriterswith his debut album Lungs having long since passed double platinum status. However, while Lungs contained several hit singles, notably “Kiss with a Fist” and “Dog Days Are Over”, the album’s fourth track “Howl” is a lyrically brilliant but musically unimpressive pop song, awkwardly juxtaposing dark lyrics over a frenetic beat.
In the hands of Murder by Death, however, this awkwardness disappears completely and the song reaches its full potential. These Indiana balladeers, who describe their sound as “whiskey devil music,” covered “Howl” on their second album. As you wish compilation, a series of albums that were crowdfunded through Kickstarter, with the songs selected by backers. Whoever put “Howl” on the list was clearly prescient, because the song fits Murder by Death’s style better than it ever did Florence’s style.
At the heart of “Howl,” as it is at the heart of every song on Murder by Death, is the beautiful interplay between vocalist Adam Turla and cellist Sarah Balliet. The band’s two founding members often perform together as a duet, and on “Howl” that unity echoes like the reverb of Turla’s guitar. With a vocal range that can go from a plaintive scream to a dark growl that resonates as if possessed by the specter of Johnny Cash, Turla howls with the kind of bloodlust that leaves you shaking even when you’re desperate for more.
Sources: Montreal Gazette, Rolling Stone