The music is definitely not what it used to be. The evolution of him has been so expansive that just before you can say ‘Hello’, a year has passed and with it the style and mood of the music, as well as the evolution of a whole new genre.
It is in the understanding of this phenomenon that musicians from different eras who have managed to weather the time have survived in the era of dog eat dog competition. I don’t think even American Idol Adam Lambert ever dreamed of being nominated for a Grammy Award in the same category as Elton John and Leon Russell. The latter have managed to cross eras with ease because they stayed true to their own styles and yet reinvented themselves a bit to make sure they stayed up to date as well.
In order to see specifically who can stay the most true to their art without much commitment, I tried an experiment.
I started searching and listening to ‘Cover Version’ tracks of ‘Popular Songs’. While the newest version may be a cover of already covered songs, the deciding factor thereafter became ‘Popular Song Cover Version’. The goal was to see how they could take a popular track that had sunk deep with their fans and try to make it better, while still maintaining their own style.
Many established artists have chosen to cover their original version or style. According to the research, most say they liked the song the way it was and didn’t feel it was fair or necessary to change it. They have always wanted to sing it and so they did. As fair as it sounds, I felt it was clichéd and the end product was quite Karaoke. As an example of this, there are 3 artists, Rod Stewart, Phil Collins and Jason Donovan (who are actually on my ‘Favorite Artists List’). As much as I would have liked, none of their songs made it to my BEST COVER-SONGS LIST! (As if they care!!!!!). Ironically, each one has such a unique and distinctive vocal and musical style that I thought they would actually bring a new depth to the original song, but that didn’t quite happen.
So to get you started, here is my list of THE 50 BEST COVER SONGS.
To put together this list, I made sure to somehow find and listen to each and every full track, as well as many more that made it into my top 100. I researched, as much as possible, the background behind their cover versions. the songs. I already knew most of my source material, so it was easy to see how well they stayed true to their own style.
As a reader and music lover, from the list itself, you will be able to better understand where I came from when I compiled it. I’ve purposely numbered this from 1 to 50 instead of 50 counting to 1, because I’d like to recognize the best versions first.
001 U2 – Can’t Help Falling In Love (Cover of an ‘Elvis Presley’ classic)
002 Scissors Sister- Comfortably Numb (Cover of the classic ‘Pink Floyd’)
003 Annie Lennox – Whiter Shade of Pale (Cover of the hit ‘Procol Harum’)
004 A-Ha- Crying In The Rain (Cover of ‘The Everly Brothers’ hit)
005 Taken By Trees – Sweet Child O’ Mine (Cover of the hit ‘GUns N’ Roses’)
006 Siobhan Magnus – Paint It Black (Cover of the classic ‘The Rolling Stones’)
007 Erasure – Take A Chance (Cover of the hit ‘Abba’)
008 Jason Castro – Hallelujah! (Cover of the hit ‘Leonard Cohen’)
009 Alien Ant Farm- Smooth Criminal (Cover of the hit ‘Michael Jackson’)
010 Chantal Kreviazuk – Leaving On A Jet Place (Cover of the hit ‘John Denver’)
011 Paul Anka – Jump (Cover of the classic ‘Valen Halen’)
012 Gypsy Kings – Hotel California (Cover of the classic ‘The Eagles’)
013 UB40- Can’t Help Falling In Love (Cover of an ‘Elvis Presley’ classic)
014 Atomic Kitten – The Tide Is High (Cover of a ‘Blondie’ hit)
015 Tina Turner – Help! (Cover of ‘The Beatles’ classic)
016 Sinead O’Connor-Sacrifice (Cover of an ‘Elton John’ hit)
017 Suggs- Cecelia (Version of the classic ‘Simon & Garfunkel’)
018 Pet Shop Boys- Always On My Mind (Cover of an ‘Elvis Presley’ classic)
019 Whitney Houston- I Will Always Love You (Cover of ‘Dolly Parton Classic)
020 No Mercy- D’yer Mak’r (Cover of the hit ‘Led Zeppelin’)
021 Madonna – American Pie (Cover of Don McLean’s classic)
022 Susan Boyle – Wild Horses (Cover of ‘The Rolling Stones’ hit)
023 Green Day- Working Class Hero (Cover of the classic ‘John Lennon’)
024 Roxy Music – Jealous Guy (Cover of the classic ‘John Lennon’)
025 Faith No More – Easy (Cover of the hit ‘Lionel Richie’)
026 Pet Shop Boys- Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (‘U2’ Hit Cover)
027 Kris Allen – Heartless (Cover of ‘Kanye West’ hit)
028 Ronan Keating – If Tomorrow Never Comes (Cover of ‘Garth Brooks’ hit)
029 Erasure – Do You Want (Cover of the hit ‘Abba’)
030 Fine Young Cannibals- Suspicious Minds (Cover of an ‘Elvis Presley’ classic)
031 UB40- I Got U Babe (Cover of the classic ‘Sonny & Cher’)
032 Billy Ocean – Long & Winding Road (Cover of the classic ‘The Beatles’)
033 The Lemonheads – Mrs. Robinson (Cover of the hit ‘Simon & Garfunkel’)
034 Geri Halliwel – It’s Raining Men (Cover of the hit ‘The Weather Girls’)
035 Garth Brooks – Shameless (Cover of the hit ‘Billy Joel’)
036 Saigon Kick- Space Oddity (Cover of hit ‘David Bowie’)
037 Bangles- Hazy Shade Of Winter (Cover of the hit ‘Simon & Garfunkel’)
038 Red Hot Chili Peppers- Higher Ground (Cover of the hit ‘Stevie Wonder’)
039 Gareth Gates – Unchained Melody (Cover of the classic ‘The Righteous Brothers’)
040 Seether- Careless Whispers (Cover of the hit ‘Wham!’)
041 Bill Medley – Just Like A Woman (Cover of the classic ‘Bob Dylan’)
042 Metallica- You Really Got Me (Cover of the classic ‘The Kinks’)
043 George Michael- Killer/Papa Was A Rolling Stone (Cover of Motown classic ‘The Temptations’)
044 Aerosmith – Come Together (Cover of the classic ‘The Beatles’)
045 Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah! (Cover of the hit ‘Leonard Cohen’)
046 Tom Jones – Kiss (Cover of the hit ‘Prince & The Revolution’)
047 Mr. Big-Wild World (Cover of the hit ‘Cat Stevens’)
048 UB40- Red Red Wine (Version of a ‘Neil Diamond’ song)
049 Limp Bizkit- Behind Blue Eyes (Cover of the classic ‘The Who’)
050 Crystal Bowersox – Me & Bobby McGee (Cover of the classic ‘Kris Kristofferson’)
Now these 50 may not necessarily be in the book of best covered songs. His ‘BEST’ status in ‘my books’ is defined on the basis of a popular song covered by another artist who adapted his own style and created his own interpretation of the single. With it, he not only created a beautiful musical peace, but also paid respect and tribute to the original artist or hit artist through his own interpretation of the song.