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
A band on TikTok did an emo cover of Rascal Flatts’ What Hurts the Most that is pretty good.
It ended up on a compilation album Country Goes Hardcore that has some interesting ones. I like Ever Since Eve’s emo cover of Take Me Home, Country Roads.
Cake - I will survive
They have other great covers tooI normally go for parodies, but this would be the place to post the Devil Went Down to Georgia (Washing Machine Cover)
More seriously, 2CELLOS’ rendition of Thunderstruck is incredible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT3SBzmDxGk
They have a ton of really good ones on their channel, but that one will always be my favorite for how into it they get
I love this post. This is a very weird cover of a song that was already weird. The video is also disturbing, which kinda did it for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRdDTz8wL30
The original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mR6zmSTDNE
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.
Funnel Of Love by Wanda Jackson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt7PPidlIvg
Cover by Boris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4T_XNdeRTs
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!
You’re welcome! And have you heard of Servotron? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gS4nzSWmCs
I hadn’t but I’m adding to my playlists! I first got really into music via prog rock so this type of high-concept silliness is well-aligned with my preferences :P
Holding Out for a Hero - Frou Frou.
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.
Surprised how far down I had to look for Postmodern Jukebox to show up!
Time, the Valuator covered Lovely as well. Pretty fucking amazing.
So many of the Postmodern Jukebox covers are fantastic.
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.
Sleep Token’s heartwrenching unplugged version of Hey Ya!.
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, Master Boot Record’s Doom E1M1 metal chiptune remix, and GeoffPlaysGuitar’s argent-metalized Halo Overture.
Holy Holy’s cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.
half my votes for the triple j like a version top 100 fit this criteria, here were a few of my personal favs:
in hearts wake cover billie eilish
Pipilotti Rist covering Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game: I’m a Victim of this Song
The screaming starts somewhere around 3 minutes.
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.