Awesome Covers

Puddles seems even sadder than usual as he reunites with Postmodern Jukebox to sing a toned down version of Blink-182’s pop hit All the Small Things. The song seems so much creepier sung by a 6-foot 8-inch tall clown.

Musician Miguel Montalban turns in an epic lead guitar performance on his cover version of the Dire Straits classic Sultans of Swing as he plays for a crowd of bystanders in London. His Sweet Child O’ Mine and Stairway to Heaven are equally enthralling.

YouTuber Mr. Cookies liked the sound his floorlamp made when he tapped its metal shade with a pen, so he decided to sample it and a few other lamp sounds, then sequenced them it into the 2001 Darude track, Sandstorm.

(PG-13 Language) After hearing Kasabian’s toned-down take on Cypress Hill’s pro-pot, anti-cop anthem, Leo Moracchioli is here to perform the antidote for that version, an audacious, loud, hard rockin’ cover of the hip hop classic.

Every time we hear the Bottle Boys perform a tune, we think it’s the calliope on a New Orleans riverboat. Here, they turn in an impressive cover version of Michael Jackson’s 1982 pop juggernaut, Beat It, performed on a variety of bottles and plastic pipes.

Brit rockers Kasabian talk about an unexpected source of inspiration – rap and hip-hop music – and turn in a dialed down cover of the Cypress Hill classic Insane in the Brain during their recent appearance on Triple J’s Like a Version.

Leo Moracchioli of Frog Leap Studios pays tribute to the late Chuck Berry in his own inimitable style, with a hard rock cover of his classic Johnny B. Goode that we like to think is where Marty McFly would have gone if he’d been allowed to finish his performance.

Postmodern Jukebox and vocalist Sara Niemietz transform the ’80s pop rock hit I Want You to Want Me into a whole different song by giving it a bluesy ballad treatment. Along the way, the lyrics go from desperate to seductive.

Electronic rock band EZXP turns in an all too short medley of covers from the soundtrack of the SEGA classic Sonic the Hedgehog. That part where Sonic runs out of air underwater still stresses us out to this day.

Only shooting stars break the mold… We’re so used to hearing Smash Mouth’s hit All Star as an upbeat pop tune, but YAOG continues to prove that just about any song can be made into a sad ballad by arranging it in a minor key, and bringing down the speed.

Slip inside the eye of your mind and listen to Postmodern Jukebox and vocalist Maiya Sykes as they transform the ironically titled Oasis track Don’t Look Back in Anger into a sultry New Orleans jazz ballad.

When you’re living on the razor edge stay sharp, sharp… Musician Kaminari presents a decidedly different take on Die Antwoord’s alt-rap track Enter the Ninja, with a toned-down fingerstyle acoustic guitar take on the boastful original.

While our ears are tickled with the tones of musician Juha Järvinen’s (aka the Acoustician) solo from Pink Floyd’s classic, our eyeballs are enthralled with the gorgeous Ibanez acoustic guitar he’s playing. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel for more eye and ear candy.

Isiajno put together this extensive compilation of tracks that you may or may not have known were first performed by someone other than the hitmaker. While we knew about many of these, some definitely caught us by surprise.

For his latest video, Ten Second Songs‘ Anthony Vincent performs System of a Down’s Chop Suey! in the style of 20 dramatically different performers, from Michael Jackson to the Bee Gees to the Wu-Tang Clan. The Faith No More bit cracked us up.

Pisces Rising presents a larger-than-life rendition of the iconic theme song from Doctor Who, with the Junges Vokalensemble Hannover adding lyricized vocals to the tune, based on “a mix of Sanskrit, faux Latin and various Doctor Who planets/references.”

Roy Orbison’s classic track Crying already makes us weepy every time we hear it, but give it to the sad clown with the golden voice, and the emotional impact escalates to another level. Has somebody been cutting onions up in here?

During NAMM 2017, musician Marco Parisi turned in a nuanced instrumental performance of the Prince classic Purple Rain with the help of the amazing ROLI Seaboard RISE, a keyboard which offers touch and pressure sensitivity along the length of each of its keys.

A wonderful classical arrangement of the 1985 a-ha pop classic Take on Me, as performed by the musicians of Brooklyn Duo and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect. We especially love the way they worked in the nod to Flight of the Bumblebee on the grand piano.

YAOG decided to see what would happen if they played the classic theme song from Super Mario Bros. in a minor key. In this version of the game, we’re guessing the plumber never finds his princess, and all the stars and mushrooms are poisonous.

Musician Bjoern Angermann gives the folk classic Hava Nagila a fresh coat of paint by mashing it up with the 1960s surf rock sound of Dick Dale. If Pulp Fiction took place in Israel, this would have been on the soundtrack.

Musician Josh Cohen has a thing for performing cover versions of Radiohead tunes on his grand piano. Each and every one of the tracks will pull you in and won’t let go with its quiet intensity. We can’t decide if Everything In Its Right Place or Daydreaming is our favorite.

Musician Randy George created this clip more than a decade ago, performing the most unusual cover version we’ve ever heard of Gnarls Barkley’s hit tune Crazy – using a theremin in place of the lead vocals. Given the title and subject matter of the song, it’s somehow fitting.