Cover songs are a divisive topic in music, at once celebrated for their ability to bring new life to old material while also being decried as the provenance of schlocky tribute acts or wedding singers. Yet covers have been an integral part of rock and roll ever since the beginning, with many of rock’s earliest stars relying heavily on old blues standards.
There’s certainly no formula to what makes a good cover song. Some are great because they distill a song’s essence into a stronger form of itself, relying on an artist’s chops and passion to stand out from what came before, even if not much changes in the arrangement. Some are transformative, playing with genre and instrumentation to create something that would never otherwise have existed. Here, then, are ten rock covers that rocked way harder than the originals.
Honorable Mention: The National – “Sailors in Your Mouth”(Originally by the cast of Bob’s Burgers)
One of several songs from the hit Fox animated series that received a full-band cover under the name Bob’s Buskers, this whimsical and innuendo-laden Thanksgiving carol turns maudlin in the hands of dad-rock superstars The National. With Matt Berninger’s mournful crooning over the Dessner brothers’ guitar and piano work, the song genuinely transforms into an unforgettable ballad that will earn a place at any discerning Thanksgiving table.
Special kudos to the music video, animated by the Bob’s Burgers team, which treats us to the genuinely concerning visual of Berninger and crew, made of gravy, making the long and solemn journey from Bob’s plate all the way down his throat. This song really is what Thanksgiving’s all about.
10 Love Spit Love – “How Soon Is 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. While their first album was a flop, it got them enough attention that they were approached to cover this Smiths classic for the soundtrack of 1996’s The Craft. Their cover was also later used as the opening theme for the equally witchy fantasy drama Charmed.
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While Love Spit Love’s version is a straight cover of the original, changing little in terms of instrumentation, that in and of itself is a notable accomplishment, as Johnny Marr’s original guitar work is considered to be one of the most enduring contributions to rock music The Smiths ever made.
The most important difference between the cover and the original is Butler’s vocals, which manage to turn the line “I am human, and I need to be loved” into a plaintive statement of genuine emotion, standing in stark contrast to Morrissey’s petulant at best rendition.
9 The Ataris – “Boys Of Summer”
Originally by Don Henley
Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer” is a classic rock radio standard that, perhaps by virtue of its lyrics, seems to always be playing loudly from convertibles in early August. Henley’s original version, released shortly after the Eagles disbanded for the first time in 1980, has the kind of arpeggiated synths, snappy back-beat, and slowly-strummed guitar chords that allowed it to peak at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The version by the Ataris is at once a rejection and an embrace of the original song.
The original version of the song by Don Henley uses the lyric “saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac.” The Ataris’ cover, in a tribute to the greats of their genre, updates this to “saw a Black Flag sticker,” which Henley expressed his displeasure with in a 2016 interview with the Montreal Gazette .
The Ataris’ cover of “The Boys of Summer” was the band’s hottest single when the album So Long, Astoria came out in 2003, but while that cut is an excellent track, it’s the re-recorded version, released to minimal fanfare in 2019, that is the real gem. The additional sixteen years of recording experience go a long way here.
Frontman Kris Roe’s vocals, ever so slightly compressed, cut through the distorted guitars like a hot knife through butter in a way that makes it impossible to not 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, FL punk rockers Hot Water Music have been shredding for 30 years and their cover of Alkaline Trio’s “Radio,” released in 2002, is just one jewel among dozens in their catalog. Hot Water Music are no stranger to covers, as is often the case with punk bands; “Radio” was released as a split EP with Alkaline Trio, who covered Hot Water Music’s “Rooftops” in kind.
While a straightforward cover instrumentally, there are a few details that let Hot Water Music’s version outshine the original. First, Alkaline Trio’s sound is generally cleaner, while Hot Water Music are sludgier, driven here by Jason Black’s overdriven, blues-inspired basslines. Second, Hot Water Music bring one of their greatest strengths to play here, with absolutely incredible vocal harmonies as frontman Chuck Ragan and backing vocalist Chris Wollard close the chorus belting out perfectly crisp octaves.
7 Lucy Dacus – “Dancing In The Dark”
Originally by Bruce Springsteen
While it may feel strange to suggest anyone could sing a Springsteen song better than the Boss himself, if anyone could, it’s indie rock legend and Boygenius member Lucy Dacus. Released on September 12, 2019 to honor Springsteen on his birthday, Dacus’ cover has gorgeous production quality, with crystalline guitar and a driving rhythm section that leaves the listener needing to dance, in the dark or otherwise.
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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’ cover is all that and more, as she takes the implicit queerness of the Springsteen original — the overarching themes of frustration and social ostracization and yearning so intrinsic to the Boss’ songwriting — and turns subtext into text by adding her own queerness, infusing the vocals with the same kind of wistful yearning seen in her original songs such as “Kissing Lessons.”
6 Hindu Love Gods – “Raspberry Beret”
Originally by Prince
If saying someone covering Springsteen felt strange, claiming a cover of a Prince song is better than the original may feel downright heretical, but when looked at specifically as a rock song, there’s no question that blues-rock supergroup Hindu Love Gods accomplished the impossible and did it with style. Hindu Love Gods were essentially an R.E.M. side project in the 80s, with criminally underrated LA rock legend Warren Zevon behind the microphone instead of R.E.M.’s own Michael Stipe.
As the story goes, Zevon had recruited R.E.M.’s other members — guitarist Peter Buck, drummer Bill Berry, and bassist Mike Mills — as his backing band for the recording of his 1987 album Sentimental Hygiene. One particular session, which reportedly lasted all night, resulted in nine blues covers and one particularly crunchy four-minute version of “Raspberry Beret.” Those songs eventually saw the light of day in 1990 as the album Hindu Love Gods, and “Raspberry Beret” as a single hit number 23 on the Modern Rock charts.
The track is a perfect distillation of the blues-fueled alt-rock that R.E.M. was releasing at the time, with Buck’s guitar and Mills’ bass grooving in and out of each other while Zevon’s vocals echoing almost larger-than-life as he croons his own version of Prince’s classic sex fantasy. More bar rock bands should take a page out of Hindu Love Gods’ book and try to cover Prince, so long as their singers have something close to Zevon’s charisma.
5 The Sword – “Cheap Sunglasses”
Originally by ZZ Top
ZZ Top’s self-effacing “Cheap Sunglasses” is a rollicking blues-rock anthem, and this cover was an unexpectedly excellent bonus track on stoner metal quartet The Sword’s 2012 release Apocryphon.
While the Sword’s original fare is significantly heavier than ZZ Top’s, metal’s roots are deeply tied in with the blues, and here the Sword show that their punishingly crisp riffs and harmonies create a throughline from the modern metal scene all the way back to when T-Bone Walker recorded the first electric guitar solo in 1940.
4 Warren Zevon – “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Originally by Bob Dylan
While Warren Zevon’s previous appearance on this list highlighted his more frenzied era as a recording artist, his cover of Dylan’s classic showcases his more vulnerable side. In 2002, Zevon was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a lung cancer likely caused by childhood asbestos exposure, and given a grim prognosis; he publicly revealed this diagnosis in October of that year and began recording what would be his final album, The Wind.
The Wind features some all-star guests, including Eagles members Don Henley and Joe Walsh, as well as Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Emmylou Harris, and Zevon’s neighbor at the time, Billy Bob Thornton, who provides backing vocals on “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” ✕ Remove Ads
While Zevon was never a commercial success, he had been an integral part of the Los Angeles rock scene since he was roommates with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in 1975, and in recording The Wind he found support from everyone whose careers he had touched along the way. With his voice cracking over and over right up to the end, this cover shows Zevon’s weary vulnerability as his vocals creak under the weight of his looming mortality.
The Wind would go on to be one of Zevon’s most successful albums commercially, although he didn’t live to see much of that 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 of Zevon’s three-decade-plus career. “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” was an integral part of Zevon’s swan song that, like the man himself, never got the attention it deserved when it was released.
3 Screaming Females – “Shake it Off”
Originally by Taylor Swift
Recorded as a part of ✕ Remove Ads a disgruntled declaration of queer frustration . The brainchild of New Jersey’s prodigal daughter and guitar virtuoso Marissa Paternoster, the Screaming Females unfortunately broke up in 2023, but their robust discography (eight studio albums, two EPs, two singles compilations, and a live album) is well worth a dive into. Recorded as a part ofThe A.V. Club ‘s defunct-for-a-while-but-back-now A.V. Undercover YouTube series, this absolutely unhinged performance in no way resembles the original, utterly transforming Swift’s song from pop-diva brag to. The brainchild of New Jersey’s prodigal daughter and guitar virtuoso Marissa Paternoster, the Screaming Females unfortunately broke up in 2023, but their robust discography (eight studio albums, two EPs, two singles compilations, and a live album) is well worth a dive into.
Screaming Females’ cover of “Shake it Off” is an absolutely earth-shattering reinvention of the Swift song, with Jarret Dougherty’s relentless drums keeping a beat that initially feels similar to the original, but then Paternoster’s uniquely guttural vocals come in like a tiny furious reincarnation of Etta James. The highlight of the track is absolutely the guitar solo which, at only eight bars long, swiftly (pun intended) demonstrates why Rolling Stone called Paternoster one of the greatest guitarists of all time in 2023.
2 The Protomen – “No Easy Way Out”
Originally by Robert Tepper
The original version of “No Easy Way Out” was first released on the soundtrack for the film Rocky IV in 1985. It is a quintessentially Rocky song, with driving synths and a yearning insistence that the only way out is through. Beyond being tonally appropriate for the film, however, Tepper’s version of “No Easy Way Out” is eminently forgettable as just another piece of generic 80s synth-rock.
Enter the Protomen, an eclectic group of musicians from Tennessee who burst onto the nerd-rock scene in 2005 with their self-titled debut, which served as the first act in a still-incomplete rock opera based on the Mega Man video game franchise from which they took their name. With a style that combines acts like Styx and Meat Loaf, and a generous helping of cosplay pageantry, the Protomen took hold of this forgotten 80s ballad and made it their own.
The instrumentation of this track, like all the Protomen’s work, can best be described as bombastic, and completely blows Tepper’s version away. Synthesizers now provide moody background strings beneath bold trumpets and jangling guitar that wouldn’t be out of place in an Ennio Morricone score. Lead vocalist Raul Panther III effortlessly switches between a timid tenor yearning on the verses to belting out the choruses like a powerhouse. There’s no question 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 songwriters, with her debut album Lungs having long since passed double platinum status. Yet while Lungs contained multiple hit singles, especially “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 frantic beat.
In the hands of Murder by Death, however, that awkwardness disappears entirely, and the song reaches its full potential. These Indiana balladeers, who describe their sound as “whiskey devil music,” covered “Howl” on their second As You Wish compilation, a series of albums that were crowdfunded by Kickstarter, with the songs selected by backers. Whoever threw “Howl” onto the list was clearly prescient, because the song fits Murder by Death’s style better than it ever did Florence’s.
At the heart of “Howl,” as is at the heart of all Murder by Death songs, is the beautiful interplay between lead singer Adam Turla and cellist Sarah Balliet. The band’s two founding members have often performed together as a duet, and on “Howl” that unity echoes like the reverb on Turla’s guitar. With a vocal range that can go from a plaintive shriek to a grim growl that resonates as if possessed by the specter of Johnny Cash, Turla howls with the kind of bloodlust that leaves you shivering even as you’re desperate for more.
Sources: Montreal Gazette, Rolling Stone