I’m a sucker for a good cover song… but I don’t think I’m the only one.
There’s a very good reason there are so many tribute albums or compilation albums made up almost completely of covers. A well-chosen and creatively-performed cover can make a career or at the very least introduce a band to a whole new audience or new generation of fans. Covers can be copies, reconstructions, or even deconstructions of the originals and can force a listener to think about a song in a whole different light. Sometimes, though it is rare, a cover can be an improvement and there have even been examples of covers that have become far more popular than the original versions.
Artists or bands cover their idols or artists that influenced them and sometimes even play it tongue-in-cheek while performing their guilty pleasure tracks. Once this list is fully posted, you might see patterns and names of certain artists covered over and over again. I don’t think this is a coincidence, nor is it just because these are covers of songs written by artists I, myself, love.
But enough rambling, let’s gone on with this list…
#100 Manic Street Preachers “Raindrops keep falling on my head” (originally performed by BJ Thomas)
#99 The Rural Alberta Advantage “Eye of the tiger” (originally performed by Survivor)
#98 Great Big Sea “End of the world” (originally performed by R.E.M.)
#97 The Raveonettes “My boyfriend’s back” (originally performed by The Angels)
#96 Barenaked Ladies “Lovers in a dangerous time” (originally performed by Bruce Cockburn)
#95 Aurora “Half the world away” (originally performed by Oasis)
#94 Rheostatics “The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (originally performed by Gordon Lightfoot)
#93 Billy Bragg with Natalie Merchant and Wilco “Way over yonder in the minor key” (originally written by Woody Guthrie)
#92 Crash Vegas “Pocahontas” (originally performed by Neil Young)
#91 Dum Dum Girls “There is a light that never goes out” (originally performed by The Smiths)
#90 Rufus Wainwright “Across the universe” (originally performed by The Beatles)
#89 Rogue Wave “Everyday” (originally performed by Buddy Holly)
#88 Iggy Pop “Real wild child (wild one)” (originally performed by Johnny O’Keefe)
#87 Amy Millan “I will follow you into the dark” (originally performed by Death Cab For Cutie)
#86 Pet Shop Boys “Always on my mind” (originally performed by Gwen McCrae)
#85 Siouxsie and the Banshees “The passenger” (originally performed by Iggy Pop)
#84 Crash Test Dummies “Androgynous” (originally performed by The Replacements)
#83 The Farm “Don’t you want me” (originally performed by The Human League)
#82 Travis “Baby one more time” (originally performed by Britney Spears)
#81 The Pogues “Dirty old town” (originally performed by Ewan MacColl)
#80 Teenage Fanclub “Nothing to be done” (originally performed by The Pastels)
#79 Mumford And Sons “The boxer” (originally performed by Simon and Garfunkel)
#78 Codeine Velvet Club “I am the resurrection” (originally performed by The Stone Roses)
#77 The Polyphonic Spree “Lithium” (originally performed by Nirvana)
#76 Weezer “The weight” (originally performed by The Band)
#75 Madness “Lola” (originally performed by The Kinks)
#74 The Charlatans “Time for livin'” (originally performed by Sly and the Family Stone)
#73 (a tie!) The Wonder Stuff / Morrissey “That’s entertainment” (originally performed by The Jam)
#72 Cat Power “Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again” (originally performed by Bob Dylan)
#71 Pixies “I can’t forget” (originally performed by Leonard Cohen)
#70 Great Lake Swimmers “What was going through my head” (originally performed by The Grapes of Wrath)
#69 Cornershop “Norwegian wood (This bird has flown)” (originally performed by The Beatles)
#68 Echo And The Bunnymen “People are strange” (originally performed by The Doors)
#67 The Sundays “Wild horses” (originally performed by The Rolling Stones)
#66 Lenny Kravitz “American woman” (originally performed by The Guess Who)
#65 Asobi Seksu “Then he kissed me” (originally performed by The Crystals)
#64 The Boo Radleys “There she goes” (originally performed by The La’s)
#63 Colin Meloy “Everyday is like sunday” (originally performed by Morrissey)
#62 Kula Shaker “Hush” (originally performed by Billy Joe Royal)
#61 Nick Cave “Disco 2000” (originally performed by Pulp)
#60 Gnarls Barkley “Gone daddy gone” (originally performed by Violent Femmes)
#59 Placebo “Bigmouth strikes again” (originally performed by The Smiths)
#58 Sarah McLachlan “Blackbird” (originally performed by The Beatles)
#57 Luna with Laetitia Sadier “Bonnie & Clyde” (originally performed by Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot)
#56 Oasis “Cum on feel the noize” (originally performed by Slade)
#55 Smashing Pumpkins “Never let me down again” (originally performed by Depeche Mode)
#54 Gene “Town called Malice” (originally performed by The Jam)
#53 Suede “Shipbuilding” (originally performed by Elvis Costello)
#52 Depeche Mode “Route 66” (originally performed by The Nat King Cole Trio)
#51 The Wonder Stuff with Vic Reeves “Dizzy” (originally performed by Tommy Roe)
#50 The Beautiful South “Everybody’s talkin'” (originally performed by Fred Neil)
#49 Rymes With Orange “Itchycoo park” (originally performed by The Small Faces)
#48 Sleeper “Atomic” (originally performed by Blondie)
#47 The Decemberists “Human behaviour” (originally performed by Björk)
#46 R.E.M. “First we take Manhattan” (originally written by Leonard Cohen)
#45 Jane’s Addiction “Sympathy” (originally performed by The Rolling Stones)
#44 Blur “Maggie May” (originally performed by Rod Stewart)
#43 Ministry “Lay lady lay” (originally performed by Bob Dylan)
#42 Pop Will Eat Itself “Games without frontiers” (originally performed by Peter Gabriel)
My (life in) music lists 