Awesome Covers

While sheltering in place at their homes, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong teamed up with Susanna Hoffs to perform a great cover version of the song that was made famous by her band The Bangles, and written by none other than the late great Prince Rogers Nelson.

Sammy Hagar & the Circle are still hoping to hit the road this summer for their concert tour. But for now, they’re confined at home. Fortunately, that hasn’t stopped them from rocking the world. Crank up the volume and enjoy the band’s awesome (though abridged) cover of The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

Alan Silvestri’s score from Back to the Future includes one of the most memorable movie theme songs of all time. We’ve heard it played in various ways, but never performed by an orchestra of trombones. Thanks to musician Carol Jarvis, we can finally check that one off of our list.

With the recent passing of Bill Withers, we lost one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all time. Musicians around the globe have been paying tribute to Withers with heartfelt performances like this one by Rick Astley, whose cover of “Ain’t No Sunshine” gave us chills.

Sushi Ramen Rick is a tough guy, like it really rough guy. At least that’s what we got out of his goofy cover version of Billie Eilish’s hit that he made primarily using sounds produced by smacking himself about, and a weird musical instrument that looks like something from a Blue Man Group x Dr. Seuss collaboration.

Like much of the world, Italian guitarist Luca Stricagnoli is staying put during the COVID-19 outbreak. But that hasn’t stopped him from playing like a boss while wearing his respirator mask. Luca’s performance of Gorillaz’ track Clint Eastwood is a uplifting dose of what we need during these trying times. The future is coming on…

The Tears for Fears track Mad World has had two very strong showings over the years. Now we have a third variant, with the Melodicka Bros turning in a very solid hard rock arrangement of the song, expressing the song’s lyrics with a bit more anger than sorrow.

Musician Luna Lee once again makes the strings of her gayageum sing, this time with an excellent cover version of Coldplay’s Y2K track Yellow. We’re always in awe of the nuanced vibrato she’s able to produce with her instrument.

New Zealand indie band The Naked and Famous dropped by Australia’s Triple J studios, where they put their unique spin onto The Weeknd’s 2020 hit Blinding Lights, picking up on the track’s 1980s-inspired electronic sounds, while Alisa Xayalith’s vocals give it a warmer and richer sound.

A group of students form California’s Chino Valley Unified School District were supposed to have a live choir performance, but their show was canceled due to COVID-19. But they turned lemons into lemonade by recording each of their parts of Somewhere Over the Rainbow at home, then posted the mix for the world to enjoy.

Musician Kent Nishimura shows off his fingerstyle acoustic guitar chops yet again with a bright, crisp, and richly-layered cover version of Gnarls Barkley’s 2009 hit track Crazy, a song which seems like the perfect anthem for 2020.

Musician Sam Griffin performs an acoustic classical guitar cover of the tricky Overworld theme from Super Mario Bros. 2, and says its “basically the hardest thing” he’s ever played. If you play guitar and think you’re up to the challenge, you can grab the tabs as a Patreon supporter.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the The Ides of March track Vehicle, Russian band Leonid & Friends proves once again that they can rock out the big sounds of 1970s funk rock with a fantastic performance, packed with thick horns, a crisp rhythm section, and Leonid passionately belting out the lead vocals.

He’s got a flute it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories… Musician Danilo D’Ambrosio performs an unexpected cover version of the Guns N’ Roses classic Sweet Child O’ Mine using a variety of wind instruments, including a couple of recorders and whistles.

Steady, watch me navigate, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Stylophone maestro maromaro1337 performs a great multitrack cover of Gorillaz and De La Soul’s earworm Feel Good Inc., using nothing but inexpensive analog synths to take the place of the vocal and instrumental tracks.

Yeah, yeah, we know. Billie Eilish’s megahit Bad Guy has been covered enough times already. But we couldn’t resist posting Pupsi’s version, performed entirely on pumpkins. Enjoy the extended version, complete with pumpkin carving here.

Coffee not kicked in yet? Get your day started on the right foot with this energetic all-brass cover version of Dolly Parton’s 1980 hit 9 to 5, performed in five parts by musician Seb Skelly. It’s basically like this one guy is an entire Dixieland marching band. Sheet music available here.

The 8-Bit Big Band takes on a track from the 16-bit era, with an appropriately New Jack Swing interpretation of the music from Sonic the Hedgehog’s notoriously tricky Spring Yard Zone level. The only thing it’s missing are the sounds of the bouncy bumpers and gold rings being collected.

Russian string trio SILENZIUM performs a vibrant cover of the 1990 Depeche Mode classic Enjoy the Silence, putting their own unique spin on the ballad with a nod or two to the original’s music video.

Little Miumiu may only be six years old, but she’s got more talent in her tiny little fingers than most of us have in our big adult hands. Here, she works her magic to charm the Internet with an adorable and endearing cover of the Kaye Ballard/Bart Howard classic “Fly Me to the Moon” (aka “In Other Words“)

During an appearance at Paste Magazine’s NYC studio, the talented Jake Shimabukuro performed a soulful rendition of Pink Floyd’s classic, eking crazy amounts of emotion out of his little ukulele. While there he also played Bohemian Rhapsody, his original When The Masks Come Down, and Hawaiian folk song Wai’ alae.

Device Orchestra plays a cover version of the classic theme song from Knight Rider on a variety of clicking and vibrating gadgets, including a typewriter, a pair of credit card terminals, and an electric toothbrush in a black leather jacket. Though we wish he got an R/C Trans Am to play KITT.

Melodicka Bros ask the question, “What if John Denver came from a different universe to bring us some electro cyberpunk industrial synthwave sci-fi futuristic metal vibes?” They answer it with a wild arrangement of Take Me Home, Country Roads that sounds like something Depeche Mode might have recorded.