And don’t get cute and do songs people don’t know are covers like I Will Always Love You or Torn
Pet Shop Boys, Always on my mind, IMHO much better than the Elvis Presley original.
Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal
Cake - I will Survive
This is my answer. Such a fine album, too.
The cake version slaps hard. I love it
Soft Cell — Tainted Love
The Coil version is cool (coil?) as well.
ZOMG, no one has mentioned this version of What’s up by 4 non blondes
Its sung by he-man and friends and is catchy AF, even in 2026
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
Came here for this
Thank you, cultured netizen
All along the watchtower covered by Hendrix.
Cool but disagree
There’s no way you actually like Dylan’s version better. It’s shit compared to hendrix’s version.
Even Dylan preferred Hendrix’s version.
Eric Clapton — I Shot the Sheriff (original by Bob Marley)
Disturbed — Sound of Silence (original by Simon & Garfunkel)
Manfred Mann — Blinded By the Light (original by Bruce Springsteen)I love all of the original artists, but someone else did the definitive version of all of these. Disturbed is probably debatable, but I do think it’s better.
The disturbed song soured on me after the singer signed bombs for use against Gaza. I don’t care what your political motivations are, signing bombs meant for killing people is bad. Fuck that band.
Politics aside, I also think the cover just sucks. This isn’t about the band, I think the covers for Shout and Land of Confusion are ok, but I really don’t understand why people like the cover for Sound of Silence.
Remember the good ol’ internet, where you just LimeWired their music, without ever knowing what shitheads they really are?
Godsmack was another like that for me.
I’m baffled by how much people like the Disturbed version. I find it to be considerably worse than the original.
Johnny Cash did a good job with “Hurt”
Trent Reznor himself admitted that it’s Cash’s song now.
And Cash had been skeptical about covering it.
I’m not saying you’re wrong but I do think the love of this cover is one of the most insane popular opinions in all of music. I will die on the hill that if it was anyone other than the man in black, everyone would agree.
It sounds so, so bad to me. People say you can really hear the hurt in his voice but he sounds no different than any old man who used to sing but hasn’t kept up the practice. It’s warbly and honestly sounds like shit. The instrumentation is equally boring
People (not you) say there’s more emotion than the original but Trent Reznor sounds like he’s actively going through withdrawals, expressing several different emotions as the song evolves.
Sorry for the rant. I’ll cap it off by saying it’s equally dumb to me that the song is about pain and regret but Cash’s music video just…aggrandizes his life with a montage of classic Johnny Cash moments.
You’ve just said what I’ve been thinking all these years. Except the video. I think that might be why people praised it. They knew he didn’t have long to live and the video is pretty heartbreaking when you think he might have chose the song because he was bitter about losing everything he ever worked for.
IMHO, the cover sucked but I do think it was from the heart.
I went back and watched the video and ehhh I dunno, it’s footage of old shows and concerts mixed with some really on-the-nose imagery. Though I don’t disagree with your final point.
I haven’t listened to it in awhile and I forgot the mix is pretty bad, too lol
Social Distortion did a good job with Johnny Cash.
Good for anyone who likes that version, but I could never get into it. It is okay, but will always pale in comparison to the raw emotions of the original, in my opinion.
I recently learned that the guitar on the original is actually a synth, blew my mind
Cash’s version has the same emotion but it’s coming from a completely different place.
NiN has Something I Can Never Have for the feels. Give Johnny’s ghost this one.
I dunno, I think Cash is just as rawly emotional, it’s just a different expression of a slightly different emotion. Reznor is expressing bleak despair in the midst of a Downward Spiral of self abuse, Cash is expressing bleak regret bearing the weight of decades of decisions.
Maybe it’s just because I have a soft spot for old, tough men expressing vulnerability, but
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
.
What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
hits way more raw coming from an old guy.
Mad World
I was shocked when I finally heard the original after hearing like 3 or 4 covers of it first. Tears for Fears’ original version is just… It’s not bad, but it’s the least good version of that song. Lol.
Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World
Orgy - Blue Monday
Chris Cornell - Nothing Compares 2 U
I’m going to save this for later, but then never check my saved threads
Here’s your reminder!
Hallelujah
Written and originally sung by Leonard Cohen:
But it was Jeff Buckley’s hauntingly beautiful cover of it that made the song known to the world:
I’m pretty sure it was pretty big by Cohen and Cales version (the one Jeff would use) and I don’t think it was before Jeff’s death his version really exploded and then subsequently through Shrek did it become everyone’s song.
But Jeff really revitalised the song with hiss masterful voice. Leonard was a master in many areas but his voice wasn’t his big strength.
Fun trivia: In the movie it’s Cales version but on the official soundtrack it’s Rufus Wainwright performing it, who happens to have a child with Cohen’s daughter.
It may be a trite answer for this question, but I still gotta go with Gary Jules’ cover of Mad World by Tears for Fears from the Donnie Darko soundtrack. I appreciate both versions, but the cover is truly haunting. I also heard that version first, and I was at the right age when Donnie Darko came out for it to make a lasting impression on me.
