Awesome Covers

Paweł Zadrożniak’s retro-mechanical orchestra The Floppotron is back with another great cover. Listen up as it performs a Bee Gees’ disco classic. If you prefer something a bit more modern, he also dropped a cover of Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger this week.

Musician Douglas Borsatti cranks out a wonderful and unique cover version of the King of Pop’s 1982 uber-hit on his squeezebox. If Michael Jackson performed while strolling the streets of Paris wearing a beret, we imagine this is what his music might have sounded like.

It dates back to 2011, but we couldn’t help but share this fantastic medley of some of the classic theme music from the Star Trek universe, performed impeccably on the pipe organ by Cantor Ralph Leinen at St Donatus church in Aachen Brand, Germany.

Pianist Amik Lanfranco cranks out a truly impassioned performance of the 1979 Joy Division classic Love Will Tear Us Apart, with a piano arrangement so good it deserves a place on the soundtrack for Westworld.

We’re rooting for Puddles to take the win on America’s Got Talent, but he’s got some stiff competition. Regardless of the outcome, we’ll always have his YouTube channel. Here, he picks up his guitar and turns in a dialed-down arrangement of Blondie’s 1979 hit Dreaming.

Musician Kelsey Kuan performs a stunning, though abridged arrangement of Childish Gambino’s hit track Redbone, wowing us not only with her skills on the Chinese zither, but with her soul-stirring vocals.

Postmodern Jukebox takes us on a trip back to prehistoric times for a visit with Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty. Their jazzy instrumental rendition will have you longing for the days of brontosaurus burgers, foot-powered cars, and talking can openers.

To coincide with the 20th anniversary of OK Computer, Scott Bradlee (of Postmodern Jukebox fame) performed a great solo piano arrangement of Radiohead’s 1997 track Karma Police. Like what you heard? Be sure to check out his Paranoid Android improv video too.

Musicians Blair Crimmins and The Hookers created this great slow jam arrangement of Foo Fighters’ track My Hero specifically for their friend’s Mom, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. They wanted to make a version that she could dance to at her son’s wedding.

Leo Moracchioli of Frog Leap Studios takes what was arguably the edgiest sounding song Genesis ever recorded and ramps up the passion and intensity to 11,000 with his throat-frying metal interpretation of the 1983 track, Mama.

Russian poet and musician Deita Meira demonstrates his special gift – the ability to play a tune on a simple plastic coffee stirrer. Here, he performs John Williams’ classic Imperial March from the Star Wars saga.

Kathryn Shinnick, Kate Sullivan, Katie McKay, Sidney Harvey of Dolce Ensembles perform a wonderful cover version of Foo Fighters’ Everlong on violin, viola, and cello. Be sure to check out their their epic medley of Muse, Tool, System of a Down and Massive Attack too.

Using an array of effects pedals, musician Nathan Navarro was able to replicate not only the familiar theme music, but the in-game sounds from Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 using his bass guitar.

Postmodern Jukebox and vocalist Ariana Savalas teamed up to transform Shaggy’s raggamuffin hit It Wasn’t Me into a ’60s-style version that sounds a whole lot like Tom Jones’ classic It’s Not Unusual. It’s one of those things that shouldn’t work, but somehow it does.

Scooby Scooby Doo, where are you? A joyful cover version of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon theme song, performed in the Ska style by The Holophonics. In the mood for more? Be sure to give their cover of the Pokémon theme song a listen.

His hair was all yellow… Two of our favorite musicians, Leo Moracchioli and Davie504 teamed up to create a heavy metal version of Coldplay’s 2000 hit Yellow, poking fun at Chris Martin’s beach stroll along the way.

Somebody’s Heine is crowding my icebox… Postmodern Jukebox features a Blue Note style cover of the 1994 Weezer ballad Say It Ain’t So, with the vivacious vocals and equally vibrant red hair of Dani Armstrong (aka “Jack Dani”) leading the charge.

You know what we love about the Internet? It lets us discover talented people we never would have heard of. Case in point – singer Anna Blanchard, who fills her YouTube channel with soul-stirring covers of songs by Todd Rundgren, Radiohead, alt-J, Nirvana, and more.

NHK Blends presents another wonderful cross-cultural arrangement of a modern track played on classic Japanese instruments. This time, we’ve got the 1979 Police classic Message in a Bottle performed on gottan, shinobue, and jūshichi-gen koto.

Musician Davie504 presents a nifty cover version of the 1986 a-ha pop classic performed with an acoustic bass guitar taking on lead responsibilities. Now we want somebody to give The Sun Always Shines on TV some much-needed love.

A quartet of musicians perform a soothing cover version of Led Zeppelin’s 1971 classic in a classic Japanese style, played on 21-string Nijugen-Kotos and wooden flutes. It’s reminiscent of Regina Spektor’s fantastic cover version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

We’re not sure how we missed this incredible Radiohead cover when Weezer recorded it 2011, but we figured some of you might have missed it too. One commenter said Rivers singing Thom’s part was “Like seeing Woody Allen in a Batman movie.” We agree, but in a good way.

We dug up this little gem that dates back to a Halloween 2009 concert in Philly, in which Pearl Jam turned in a fun cover version of the 1980 Devo hit Whip It. There’s nothing quite like Eddie Vedder in a Devo dome warbling “Step on a crack, break your momma’s back.”