Its amazing how modern musicians are influenced or huge fans of The Beatles. It's common that they host shows on Sirius XM Beatles station, or at least give their "Fab 4" list (4 songs that mean the most to them). You can find some awesome videos of, for instance, James Hetfield doing Beatles covers. He must be a huge fan.

The Black Keys do an excellent version of She Said She Said (one of my most loved Beatles songs):

Did,

You’re right, original definitely better. I just dig the more aggressive Aerosmith take too.

Not sure if they are better than the originals, but Dear Prudence by Siouxsie And The Banshees, Across The Universe by Fiona Apple and We Can Work It Out by Stevie Wonder are pretty good. Also Hendrix doing Sgt Pepper's, but no way a cover of that song could top the original. Paul talks about it here:

Fiona Apple is fantastic on that cover.

One of my favorite stories, how the line "you're making me feel like I've never been born" came into being (From wikipedia):

In late August 1965, Brian Epstein had rented a house at 2850 Benedict Canyon Drive[7] in Beverly Hills, California for the Beatles' six-day respite from their US tour.[8] The large Spanish-style house was hidden within the side of a mountain. Soon their address became widely known and the area was besieged by fans, who blocked roads and tried to scale the steep canyon while others rented helicopters to spy from overhead. The police department detailed a tactical squad of officers to protect the band and the house. The Beatles found it impossible to leave and instead invited guests, including actor Eleanor Bron (their co-star in the film Help!)[9] and folk singer Joan Baez. On 24 August,[8] they hosted Jim McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds[10] and actor Peter Fonda.[9]

Having first taken LSD (or "acid") in March that year, John Lennon and George Harrison were determined that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr should join them on their next experience of the drug.[11] Harrison later said that the heightened perception induced by LSD had been so powerful that he and Lennon had not been able to "relate" to McCartney and Starr since then, adding: "Not just on the one level – we couldn't relate to them on any level, because acid had changed us so much."[12][13] At the party, the issue of taking LSD thereby became important to maintain band unity.[14][15] While Starr agreed to try the drug, McCartney refused to partake.[14][16]

Fonda wrote for Rolling Stone magazine:

I finally made my way past the kids and the guards. Paul and George were on the back patio, and the helicopters were patrolling overhead. They were sitting at a table under an umbrella in a rather comical attempt at privacy. Soon afterwards we dropped acid and began tripping for what would prove to be all night and most of the next day; all of us, including the original Byrds, eventually ended up inside a huge, empty and sunken tub in the bathroom, babbling our minds away.

I had the privilege of listening to the four of them sing, play around and scheme about what they would compose and achieve. They were so enthusiastic, so full of fun. John was the wittiest and most astute. I enjoyed just hearing him speak and there were no pretensions in his manner. He just sat around, laying out lines of poetry and thinking – an amazing mind. He talked a lot yet he still seemed so private.

It was a thoroughly tripped-out atmosphere because they kept finding girls hiding under tables and so forth: one snuck into the poolroom through a window while an acid-fired Ringo was shooting pool with the wrong end of the cue. "Wrong end?" he’d say. "So what ****in' difference does it make?"[17]

As the group passed time in the large sunken tub in the bathroom,[18] Fonda brought up his nearly fatal self-inflicted childhood gunshot accident, writing later that he was trying to comfort Harrison, who was overcome by fear that he might be dying.[19][nb 1] Fonda said that he knew what it was like to be dead, since he had technically died in the operating theatre.[18][21] Lennon urged him to drop the subject, saying "Who put all that **** in your head?"[22] and "You're making me feel like I've never been born."[23] Harrison recalls in The Beatles Anthology: "[Fonda] was showing us his bullet wound. He was very uncool."[12] Lennon explained in a 1980 interview:

We didn't want to hear about that! We were on an acid trip and the sun was shining and the girls were dancing and the whole thing was beautiful and Sixties, and this guy – who I really didn't know; he hadn't made Easy Rider or anything – kept coming over, wearing shades, saying, "I know what it's like to be dead," and we kept leaving him because he was so boring! ... It was scary. You know ... when you're flying high and [whispers] "I know what it's like to be dead, man."[3]

Lennon eventually asked Fonda to leave the party.[10][nb 2] After this, the gathering settled down as Lennon, Harrison, McGuinn and Crosby sat in the large bathtub discussing their shared interest in Indian classical music. Crosby demonstrated raga scales on an acoustic guitar and recommended that Harrison investigate the recordings of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar.[26][nb 3] Peter Brown, Epstein's assistant, later wrote that, in addition to inspiring Lennon's 1966 song "She Said She Said", the band members' "LSD experiment" in August 1965 "marked the unheralded beginning of a new era for the Beatles".[18] Author George Case, writing in his book Out of Our Heads, describes the Beatles' subsequent album, Rubber Soul, and its 1966 follow-up, Revolver, as "the authentic beginning of the psychedelic era".[30]

Never seen that Eddie Vedder performance. Absolutely fantastic cover of an exquisite song.

Here is your explanation:

great video, I'll watch the rest soon. Fully didn't expect to have Arnold Schoenberg on page 1 of this thread.

The Beatles’ music is sort of an incubator for young musicians I think. For a lot of people some of the first songs they learn are Beatles songs, and maybe you start to connect with John’s writing, or Paul’s, or George’s and it sort of helps you find an identity. Kurt Cobain loved John Lennon but, as one might guess, Paul not so much (although I think a little sneaked in). He once said that John Lennon “has been my idol my entire life”. I mean that’s how much they mean to people.

I think the fact that within 20 posts you're already talking about who's cover song is better than the original says all you need to know about the Beatles

I choose to view it as a testament to how much The Beatles meant to so many great musicians. Don't think any of the covers are actually better than the original

It doesn’t matter if the cover is better, the song was composed by the Beatles. When we praise Mozart or whoever, are we choosing to believe that no one has surpassed their performance of their own pieces yet? Ridiculous.

Joe Cocker's She Came in Through the Bathroom Window is great as well. But so really is anything Cocker sings. The Beatles were very close with Cocker especially George who would write songs and give them to Cocker to record. There is actually a Cocker "cover" of Something. George had given it to Cocker to record. The the Beatles decided they wanted to release it so Cocker did not release his version, even though it was most likely recorded months before the Beatles version.

wasn't badfinger supposed to be the heir to the beatles until their manager f'd them and everything fell apart

I like Cheap Trick's cover of Magical Mystery Tour but it's not objectively better than the original.

Saw them in '66 for the exorbitant (for the time) price of $5.50.

Almost impossible to hear over the screaming girls.

Still love their music.

/lol olds

Their manager drove their singer to suicide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Polley

My girlfriend and I took a trip to the UK this summer and spent a day and a half in Liverpool doing the Beatles tour and seeing the Beatles tribute band play at the Cavern Club. It was all terrific but the craziest thing is that literally the day before seeing the fake Beatles, we saw Noel Gallagher play at Edinburgh Castle, and both shows ended with the exact same song: All You Need Is Love.

Nevertheless, not quite as awesome as my mom, who saw the real thing in NYC in their first American tour, where the opening act was the then-almost-totally-unknown Supremes.

The lead singer has hosted shows on the Beatles SiriusXM channel

As the youngest of three, I only had access to whatever music was lying around and neither of my older siblings was a huge fan, but my sister liked Peter Frampton, so my first contact with a lot of Beatles songs was the lolawful Sgt Pepper movie soundtrack.

None of those covers are as good as the originals

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I can listen to the EW&F version of Got To Get You Into My Life

My hypothesis is the exact reverse.

The Beatles were brilliant songwriters who lacked a good vocalist and drummer, but who luck sacked a fantastic producer who was every bit as important as the musicians, if not more.

People who rate them the GOAT haven't listened to enough of prime era Stones etc.

Judge, have you seen the Concert for George? If not, I think you would really enjoy it.

John Lennon's solo career is vastly overrated. Not a big fan and I don't think we were robbed of anything by his death.

The Beatles perfected pop music in such a way and to such an extent that punk music had to develop in the same way that Mannerism had to develop as a reaction to the High Renaissance.

As for Beatles covers....