Covers that are - in your opinion - better than the original song? I think it's kinda cool to see these instances, it sometimes gets me into songs I wouldn't have expected I'd be into cause the cover just slaps so much.
My personal fave is this Smooth Criminal cover by Alien Ant Farm - it just has somm to it that tickles my brain like the original couldn't.
Definitely this one. The original is not my style at all.
Rise - Katy Perry (Rock cover by Fame on Fire)
I can't decide if I like the original or the cover more on this one. They're both good in their own ways.
Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons (Cover by Joel James)
Original
Both of them I actually heard the covers first then went to listen to the originals.
A cover of Childish Gambino's Redbone, which pushes a 10/10 song into 11/10 territory.
Also SiIvagunner as a whole is very good at improving OG songs but I don't really feel like hunting down some of my favorite examples.
Also there were a zillion Utattemita (iirc that's what they were called) from several years ago that covered V1-V3 Vocaloid songs that were about guaranteed across the board to be better than the originals. I used to love a guy that went by the name Clear. I especially enjoyed his covers of Y to Y and Fire Flower.
I'll lay out some of my favorites:
Dead Kennedys' I Fought The Law (originally by Bobby Fuller). They reinvented the song to call out the murderer of Harvey Milk for getting away with...Yanno, murder. And it just sounds good! Jello Biafra probably has one of my favorite voices in all of music ngl and he does it well here. I could also put in there cover of the theme to Rawhide, though that'd mostly be because Jello sounds so excited to be a cowboy!
DEVO's cover of Satisfaction (originally by the Rolling Stones). They straight up made it their own and it feels so distinctive and...Different. It's awesome, and there was even a story told by one of the lead singers of DEVO, Jerry Casale, who claimed that when Mick Jagger heard their cover, he straight up danced it out! Of course, the account changes each time and the validity of the statement could be argued but I believe it because I mean...Listen to it. It gud.
Oingo Boingo's Violent Love (originally by Willie Dixon I think?). I actually didn't know it was a cover of theirs, like the lyrics and way they did it seemed so fitting for them. Good song, yo!
Lard's cover of They're Coming To Take Me Away (originally by Jerry Samuels). Jello is back and is going insane, as he should be. Not much more to say, other than this song fits Jello like a glove.
Jack Off Jill's cover of Lovesong (originally by The Cure). I LOVED the original song so when I first heard JOJ's cover, I was blown away! It's got the same heart, yet it feels so different. I dunno, it just screams "bad girl falls in love with you" vibes~ Then again, I was in high school so it's also nostalgic to me. Just like how The Cure's original is nostalgic to me, albeit for different reasons.
I probably have more but my brain don't work good at the moment so that's all I came up with. Also if parodies of songs count then Weird Al is a good contender, but then it'd be like half his discography and it'd never end lol
This is a controversial song but Nina Simone´s cover of Strange Fruit made by Billie Holiday.
TW/// H-nging/Lynches, Gore, Racial Injustice
Original Rendition ---------- Nina Simone´s cover
I´ve been listening to Simone´s cover for the past couple of hours in spurs, and just...
¨For the leaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaves to drop...¨
Like I just imagine, in this moment, pictures of the event this song is based off of flashing on screen and... its chilling. Nina Simone is very talented.
the music opinion haver is Here
I don't think there's a better example of this than Yes' cover of America, which was originally done by Simon & Garfunkel. To each their own but the original is really... bleak sounding and uncomfortable. The cover turns essentially a song about an existential crisis to something more upbeat and optimistic. + All the prog stuff is a bonus LMAO
Even if Mr. Gira hates it I still think his cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart is pretty much perfect, with the original done by Joy Division. He resents it enough to remove it from places to buy digitally but man....... It sounds so much better working as a goth oriented song. Almost sounds like The Cure? Rarely hear this man so reigned in
Probably a popular take but I prefer Nirvana's cover of The Man Who Sold The World, the original by David Bowie... Which I prefer him 100x in every other situation, but a shit ton of people don't even know he originally did that song and with that cover I feel there's a reason. Completely different feelings are conveyed and when it comes to the song's lyrics, the grounded sound of the cover works more than his usual space-y sound.
I'm not sure if Utaite covers of Vocaloid songs really count here, but pretty much all of Glutamine's covers are better than the original IMO. Listening to the originals now just sounds extra vacant. Top ones are Tengaku, Babylon, Lynne, Shotgun Lovers, and Bye Baby Sayonara. Be warned he's a very loud man