I stole this idea (and some of the songs) from this post over at McCovey Chronicles, SBN's San Francisco Giants blog.
There are some great cover versions of songs out there. Some of them are even arguably better the original.
Here a few that I think fall into that category:
Hurt: Johnny Cash>Nine Inch Nails
Big Yellow Taxi: Counting Crows>Joni Mitchell
All Along the Watchtower: Jimi Hendrix>Bob Dylan
Speaking of Dylan, there are those who will say that because of his voice, any of his songs is better as a cover than the original. I don't fall into that category, but there certainly are some great covers of his songs, like Knocking on Heaven's door-- which do you think is best?
Bob Dylan... Warren Zevon.... Guns n' Roses... Wyclef Jean ....... Avril Lavigne
That has to be one of the most covered songs of all time, though I think I heard "Yesterday" by the Beatles is #1 in that category.
So, I'll throw it out to you: which cover versions are better than the original?
Acceptable alternatives:
* Covers you just think are awesome, but aren't necessarily better than the original (for example, Landslide: Smashing Pumpkins (<,=,>?) Fleetwood Mac)
* Covers that are so bad they just make you angry and ruin the original (nominees might include Smooth Criminal: Alien Ant Farm <<<<<< Michael Jackson and Behind Blue Eyes: Limp Bizkit <<<<<< The Who)
Finally, I just the other day stumbled upon a cover a really liked of a recent song:
Shankill Butchers: Sarah Jarosz >? The Decemberists
That last comment probably belongs up at the top, but whatevs.
On to the poll!!