Awesome Covers

If you haven’t seen Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers yet, what are you waiting for? During production of this most excellent documentary, Wright convinced “Weird Al” to perform an accordion cover of Sparks’ track This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us from their 1974 classic album Kimono My House.

The Melodicka Bros. took The Animals’ classic House of the Rising Sun and transformed it into a dark and moody song that’s so emotive that it almost certainly will turn up on a soundtrack to set the stage for an intense movie or TV scene. The music video’s direction works perfectly with the gloomy track.

The ELO track Mr. Blue Sky has turned up in a variety of movies and cover versions over the years. Now, The Muppets join that list with a joyful rendition of the tune by Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. The performance is part of the Dear Earth special, celebrating our planet and helping to raise awareness about climate change.

The members of Epic Symphonic Rock provide their orchestral take on three rock classics by Deep Purple: Smoke on the Water, Burn, and Highway Star, a song that brings back memories of getting our asses handed to us playing Rock Band on Expert difficulty.

The Daryl Hall & John Oates track I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do) is a true classic. KOSMusic teamed up with saxophone player Kevin Bene to perform this instrumental cover that nailed the 1980s synth sounds of the original so well that we kept expecting the vocals to kick in.

We couldn’t pick just one song from musician Adam Barrett’s YouTube channel, so we’re recommending that you listen to all of them. The talented guitarist and vocalist will fill your ears with warm and soulful sounds through his acoustic covers of tunes by The Beach Boys, The Cure, The Smiths, The Jam, The Beatles, and more.

We’re suckers for The Pixies song Where Is My Mind? and always love hearing fresh interpretations of the track. Vocalist Allison Young teamed up with Postmodern Jukebox to deliver a great cover version with a melodramatic style inspired by the late Roy Orbison, who gave us such great songs like Crying and Only the Lonely.

Singer Anthony Vincent is a master of voices, so it only makes sense that he’d take on Metallica’s Master of Puppets with his versatile vocal cords. If you ever wondered what the heavy metal track would sound like sung by James Brown, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, or Clown Core, Anthony has got you covered.

The musicians of theFivEquartet perform a lively brass arrangement of Michael Jackson’s 1987 hit track Bad. The instrument they’re playing is called a euphonium – which sits somewhere between a trumpet and a tuba. And how about those dance moves?

During a halftime break, the Ohio State University Marching Band paid tribute to the legendary Canadian rock band Rush. The Buckeyes band added 20 extra toms and cymbals to their rhythm section for added oomph on tracks including Tom Sawyer, Limelight, YYZ, and Fly by Night. (Thanks Dave!)

Enjoy a little Halloween fun with this not-so-evil version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller played by the Melodica Men, as they ham it up and terrorize y’alls neighborhood with the funk of 40,000 years.

To celebrate the release of No Time to Die, musician Jared Halley performed this great multi-layered cover version of John Barry’s classic James Bond Main Theme. We’re always impressed when somebody can make all of those different sounds without using any instruments.

Brass player and arranger Seb Skelly and drummer Alex Shad performed this gleeful cover version of AC/DC’s hit track You Shook Me All Night Long. The combination of brass quintet and drums kind of reminds us of a marching band, minus the football field and the funny looking hats.

Hans Zimmer’s score from the movie Interstellar is one of the most powerful in recent memory. It’s even more impressive performed on the massive Walcker pipe organ at St. Paul’s Church in Strasbourg, France. The bigger the speakers you can play this through, the better. Arranged and performed by Antonino Buschiazzo.

Ska Tune Network presents a fun one-man cover version of the Eurythmics track Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), replacing the original’s synth sounds with a reggae bass beat, and a lively brass section, giving the song an upbeat dance party vibe.

Paweł Zadrożniak offers up another great electromechanical cover version of a popular song, this time taking on the 1990 Depeche Mode track Enjoy the Silence. Ironically, the sound of a table full of 3.5″ floppy drives, hard drives, and a flatbed scanner grinding away at their stepper motors is anything but silent.

Musician Jamie Dupuis turns in a smooth and enveloping cover version of the Pixies track Where Is My Mind, performed on his harp guitar, an instrument that combines an acoustic guitar with bass strings on its top neck. We also recommend checking out Jamie’s harp guitar cover of The Turtles’ Happy Together.

French musician MB14 shows off his impressive mix of beatboxing, live-looping, and singing skills with a creative solo cover of the LSD (Labrinth, Sia, and Diplo) track Genius. He tosses in a bit of whistling and an operatic falsetto for bonus points. Despite the pause, the song is far from over at 1:45.

The consistently amazing Brass Against performs a killer big band cover version of the Alanis Morissette track Uninvited, lead by the monumental vocal talents of Sophia Urista, along with special guests Roopa Mahadevan and Suphala.

Postmodern Jukebox and vocalist Haley Reinhart turn in a great cover of No Doubt’s 1995 track Don’t Speak, performed with a sultry and soulful 1960s vibe. If you love the style of singers like Adele and Amy Winehouse, you’ll definitely want to give this a listen.

Borrowing a page from Anthony Vincent, fellow musician Steve Welsh performs each of the songs from Nirvana’s Nevermind in the style of a different band or artist. The Green Day version of Lithium is our favorite, and we suggest listening to the full version of Weezer’s Come As You Are.

Luca Stricagnoli performs an emotive cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence using a custom guitar add-on called a Reverse Slide Neck. The upgrade allows Luca to play an acoustic guitar and a slide guitar with a single instrument. His reverse slide cover of While My Guitar Gently Weeps is also amazing.

NYC trio Too Many Zooz offers up another dynamic cover of a hit song, this time taking on Michael Jackson’s 1988 track Smooth Criminal. The tune sounds as awesome as ever as an instrumental on brass and percussion.