lol, so this is the type of **** that goes on at a john tesh concert. far out, man.

I think the original version of 'Something' is terrible. The song is all synthesized and the video is like hippies romping through the forest and spinning around in fields of flowers and ****.

Patti Smith & Springsteen co-wrote 'Because the Night' so you can't really say who's covering who but I like the Patti Smith version much better:

PS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0brHG...x=0&playnext=1

BS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hVYb...eature=related

Always liked the Aerosmith version of 'Train Kept a Rollin': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sulf_...om=PL&index=61

As someone said The Clash version of 'I Fought the Law' rules.

Wow, no.

Gin and Juice from Richard Cheese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evqews-KTfI

Also like Landslide from Smashing Pumpkins though prob not better than F. Mac.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnzoF2ZlQw0

Lot of epic fail in this thread.

One that has not been mentioned: the Jackson 5's cover of "Who's Loving You" by Smokey.

I will playground spaz-fight all of of you dicks for not appreciating The Clash - I Fought the Law. Get ready for the windmill of blows that will rain down on your head.

I'll give you All Along the Watchtower. But I Fought the Law is the 2nd best cover ever.

This is awesome.

"I got bitches in the livin room gettin it ooooonnnnnnnn!!!"

Wow. I had no idea this was a cover. Like any lame old-school REM fan this is one of my faves by them. So I tracked down the original version and...well...yeah, it's okay I guess. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpFxVOUWldM

I guess it's not better than the original, but she's definitely good and very cute:

Hayley Legg - Ring of fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qwkF98i__E

Ok that was pretty good ... although the Hendrix version I posted is not the best quality ...

Havent read thread but i like a day to remember's cover of the fray over my head and breathe carolina's cover of see you again, generally all of the punk goes pop 2 covers fit because i hate most pop music.

I'm sorry, but Johnny Cash's hurt is awful. I get it that it's cool he covered a modern song at 100 years old but there's nothing actually good about the song except for the nostalgia aspect. I like Johnny Cash, but so many people picking this song is a little tilting.

I totally forgot I used to play this song all the time on my radio show in college.

I normally don't like hippie jam bands but Phish's cover of Snoop Dog's Gin N Juice is pretty awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bakWKHj051I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08_2eTj3wsA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3_9bCJrHjY

imo

Corrs and Bono - Summer Wine Andrea from the Corrs is so sexy.

I think I might have to take my first post about All Along The Watchtower being such an obvious choice. There's quite a few good ones in here. I'm thinking this one belongs as well:

Pantera - Planet Caravan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gym2UXYRz98

Don't do this.

Give me the name of the song and the band so I can decide for myself if I want to click it.

Not Phish, Its a band called The Gourds.

I think its impossible to do better than Van Morrison, but Widespread does a damn good job of trying on "and it stoned me".

Well, you hang out with people with terrible taste in music, then. This is like saying the Alien Ant Farm version of "Smooth Criminal" is better than the original. It doesn't take any talent to strip someone else's good song down to its basic chord structure, call it "punk", and **** it out. Except they've made a career of this gimmick.

I love Richard Cheese, though. His gimmick is much more intricate and tougher to pull off, and funnier because the juxtapositions are so ludicrous. His version of "Down With the Sickness" is miles above the original.

Hmm... someone mentioned SRV's cover of "Voodoo Child", and it's really good, but Jimi's is so bad-ass I can't imagine another version ever being called better.

Oh! The Futureheads - "Hounds of Love" is better than the original, and I really like Kate Bush.

Random? Inconceivable!

If I was still 20 there's no way I would consider this better than the original but now that I would probably pick acoustic/folk music over metal...

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Orion (Metallica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Z1_...eature=related

Higher sound quality here: http://lala.com/zVi2

That's the full version w/ no video. Watch some of the shorter video clips to see how amazing Garbiela's strumming technique is. Around 50s into this video there's a good shot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5VFWA2YKdo&feature=fvw



And definitely better than the original:

Shiny Toy Guns - Major Tom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DaT6...eature=related

Then again after further consideration this is pretty god damn awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r6E4...eature=related

Lifetime achievement award for worst cover goes to the producers of the "Punk Goes Pop/Crunk/Country/etc" series, those compilations are basically the direct opposite of art.

dudes, blue suede shoes?

I think anybody who prefers Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah to leaonard Cohen's is not doing music appreciation right.

Agree with All Along The Watchtower, although if the original songwriter agrees that it was covered better then there's not much need to keep mentioning it. Some additions:

My Vitriol- Oh Father (Madonna)
Joan Baez- Boots of Spanish Leather (Bob Dylan)
Travis- Hit Me baby One More Time (Britney Spears)

Not better than the original (could anything be?) but fans of Stairway to Heaven ought to have an opinion about this unique cover by Dolly Parton.

Big Yellow Taxi.

Joni Mitchell version.

However my favorite version is the Counting Crows version.