What are some of the more "creative" covers versions you've heard?

YouNaughtyMonsters@beehaw.org to Music@beehaw.org – 35 points –

Here are a few to get things started:

Don Henley's The Boys of Summer as an 80s synth tune

Bossa nova version of Crowded House's Don't Dream It's Over

Reggae-ish version of Aretha Franklin's Respect

A capella men's ensemble version of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance

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Cake - I will survive
They have other great covers too

I came hear to say this.

The Sting is great in context of the album as well, 'fashion nugget' is one big fuck you too a failed relationship.

Gloria Gaynor said it was her least favorite cover, due to the use of profanity.

Dub Side of the Moon, a reggae cover of Dark Side of the Moon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dub_Side_of_the_Moon

Joke answer: Disturbed's "The Sound of Science" cover because it's fucking horrid and ruins the point of the original's meaning.

I once got to see The Easy Star All Stars playing Dub Side, and it was magnificent. Such a great band.

Bantamweight's haunting cover of Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box is sorely underrated in my opinion.

ERRA's versions of Audioslave's Light My Way and Muse's Stockholm Syndrome.

Art vs Science's psychedelic-funk cover of Enter Sandman featuring a sweet as keytar solo.

And finally, Denzel Curry's supercharged version of Bulls on Parade. I didn't think the track could sound angrier but he's gone and done it.

Bonus: Andrew Hulshult's Hell March, featuring chainguns as percussion.

And finally, Denzel Curry’s supercharged version of Bulls on Parade. I didn’t think the track could sound angrier but he’s gone and done it.

Holy christ, this is magnificent.

Two very different examples:

Modest Mussorsky's "Pictures at an exhibition" was originally written for piano (that was all the poor guy had available), and it took Maurice Ravel to turn it into an orchestral version and make it popular world wide. Both versions are great and have their own qualities, but I far prefer Ravel's version (Although Khatia Buniatishvili's rendition here is so really really good).

Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay". The original is... well... it's a Bob Dylan song. There is a really good cover version by Ministry that, althought technically is the same song, takes it to a whole other level. Love it.

Yes -- America (original by Simon and Garfunkel)

Anthony Vincent -- Chop Suey in the style of Ghost (original by System of a Down)

Dr Pez & Marc Papeghin -- The soundtrack of Ocarina of Time, but its a prog rock concept album (not sure it technically counts as a cover)

Brass Against -- The Pot (Original by Tool)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience -- All Along the Watchtower (Original by Bob Dylan)

Also, not sure how widely known this is, but Arethra Franklin's Respect is itself a cover (and certainly one of the best covers of all time, up there with All Along the Watchtower and Johnny Cash's rendition of Hurt)

Aretha Franklin's cover of the Stones' Satisfaction is also fantastic.

Aretha's version of Respect is so good that it's essentially the de facto original, to the point that Otis commented "that a girl took away from me, a friend of mine, this girl she just took this song".

To be fair, it makes so much more sense from a woman's perspective.

Disturbed’s cover of The Sound Of Silence is so much better than the original.

and the Conan performance is the best performance of it (that can be easily found), the studio version doesn't have quite the same vibe.

Thank you for mentioning this! I just listened to it and it gave me goosebumps. It's a brilliant cover.

Postmodern Jukebox ft. Haley Reinhart - Creep (original by Radiohead), jazz/big band style

Novena - Bury a Friend, progressive metal Billie Eilish. Starts out like the original and gets progressively heavier.

Polysics covering My Sharona by The Knack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXHEVcYTZYQ

Goddamn it why am I just learning about Japanese DEVO today? Why has no one told me? Thanks for sharing, this cover is a banger and I must listen to Polysics' entire discography now!

I've always found Faith No More do absolutely spot on cover versions.

Pipilotti Rist covering Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game: I’m a Victim of this Song

The screaming starts somewhere around 3 minutes.

I like jack black's take on this, too

Okay, that was really lovely, thank you!

Rist slays. Pepperminta is my favorite modern surrealist film.

I actually know almost nothing about her, but I found this song on a music blog (maybe stereogum?) probably at least 15 years ago and I never get tired of it. I will have to look at some of her other work.

She's primarily a filmmaker.

The bit in a Beyonce video of walking down the street, smashing every car window you pass, was taken from a Rist film.

I do adore a cover version that brings something new to the song;

Orkestra Obsolete play Blue Monday

Gotye - Somebody that I used to know - Dutch choir

Not quite a cover, but more of inspiration taken from Paper Planes - 'Paper Plates' by Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer

Brass Against cover Sabotage

Lorde - In The Air Tonight

Umbrella - Manic Street Preachers

Aurora - Life On Mars

Faith No More - Easy

Toy Dolls - Nellie The Elephant

Siouxsie And The Banshees - The Passenger and Dear Prudence

Cornershop perform Norwegian Wood

I could go on for ages. Might add some more later. Hope somebody enjoys at least some of these?

FNM's cover of Easy is fantastic. It's a pretty straight cover, but Patton sells it.

`````Perpetuum Jazzile's Acapella cover of Toto's` is pretty neat. It's with it for the simulated rain sound at the start alone (and the beatboxing):

https://youtu.be/yjbpwlqp5Qw

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes cover of All My Loving

Their version of Straight Up is genuinely one of the best things I've ever heard.

As for their cover of Goodbye Earl, the only criticism I have is that it's too damn short.

I love the Gimmes immensely, and am disappointed that I had to scroll down so far to find any mention of them. Their guitarist is in one of the world's biggest bands ffs!

Viagra Boys and Amy Taylor's cover of In Spite of Ourselves is an interesting take on the original by John Prine and Iris Dement.

I love seeing Viagra Boys mentioned here.

Love them! This song in particular is pretty meaningful for me. My dad has always had a bit of a narrow conception of what "good" music is, so while we could bond over stuff he liked, he's never been particularly receptive when I've shown him new stuff. John Prine was his favourite artist, though, and this cover got him to open up a little.

I'm currently re-ripping my entire CD collection, and when I came to Revelations by Fields of the Nephilim, I realized that one of the tracks is their cover of "In the Year 2525" 🤣 It's not even that bad, either!

I just started the rip of Dimmu Borgir's Enthrone Darkness Triumphant... And the next disk in the stack is Hanson. Yes, that Hanson. I'm not entirely sure if the correct term for my taste is "eclectic" or "insane" 😅

I'm sorry, why has nobody mentioned the Jeff Buckley cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah yet? Bunch of heathens 🙂

Pretty much anything by Leo https://youtube.com/@leolego

Imho, Leo is so overrated. All he does is change the instruments used to play the song, and everything else remains the same, including his voice, tempo, lyrics, style, etc.
Now this guy here, is actually impressive, and delivers the cover in different styles.

Don't know about creative. Sometimes a minor change makes a big difference.

I can't find my other favs right now

`````Perpetuum Jazzile's Acapella cover of Toto's` Africa' is pretty neat. It's with it for the simulated rain sound at the start alone (and the beatboxing):

https://youtu.be/yjbpwlqp5Qw

The Persuasions - Anyway the Wind Blows by Frank Zappa

Kind of a pretty straight cover, but I think by stripping it down to just melody and vocals shows just how good and faithful to the genre the original was.

The whole Persuasions album of Zappa songs is terrific. Definitely recommend.