Jan 032024
 
sondre lerche flowers

Sondre Lerche is a Norwegian singer-songwriter who is no stranger to the world of cover songs. Lerche has been releasing cover songs for well over a decade now, including a series where at the end of every year he releases a cover of one of that year’s big pop hits. With covers of Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Drake, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga tunes, he’s created quite a name for himself in this niche alone. This year, he tackled the Miley Cyrus smash “Flowers.” Continue reading »

Dec 152023
 

Follow all our Best of 2023 coverage (along with previous year-end lists) here.

I like to think that badass lady in the artwork up there (done by our own Hope Silverman!) embodies the spirit of this year’s list. Not that they’re all CBGB-style punk songs—though there are a couple—but in her devil-may-care attitude. “Who says I shouldn’t do a hardcore cover of the Cranberries? A post-punk cover of Nick Drake? A hip-hop cover of The Highwaymen? Screw that!”

As with most good covers, the 50 covers we pulled out among the thousands we listened to bring a healthy blend of reverence and irreverence. Reverence because the artists love the source material. Irreverence because they’re not afraid to warp it, bend it, mold it in their own image. A few of the songs below are fairly obscure, but most you probably already know. Just not like this.

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Dec 062023
 
miley cyrus faithfully

Miley Cyrus covered Journey recently in a live performance at Chateau Marmont, a luxury celeb-filled hotel located in West Hollywood. During the performance, Cyrus did bare-bones versions of “Faithfully” as well as her own hit “Flowers.” Whereas the original Frontiers version of “Faithfully” is a slow-burn ballad that morphs into an epic song, this iteration of the song keeps things more calm and melancholy. As the silhouette of her gloved hand reaches out emotively, contrasted again with the yellow vintage-style light, the voice and piano cover begins to blossom. Continue reading »

Oct 312023
 
Deer Tick – Dancing In The Dark (Bruce Springsteen cover)

“For me, ‘Dancing in the Dark’ isn’t a song about romance, but instead a desperate plea to break out of some degraded, stagnant situation. The narrator is filled with angst, self doubt, and the only way out is to the sheer force of unwavering will power,” says Deer Tick guitarist/vocalist Ian O’Neil. “Bruce really shows us who he is on this one and it looks an awful lot like the rest of us.”

Die Sauerkrauts Polka Band — Now That’s What I Call Polka! (Weird Al cover)

There are a lot of Weird Al covers out there (okay, maybe not a lot, but more than you might think). This is new though. This band didn’t cover one of Weird Al’s parodies. They didn’t even cover a Weird Al original, like “Dare to Be Stupid.” They covered one of his polka medleys (a subject I interviewed Al about in Cover Me the book—excerpt at The AV Club). Meaning, they covered polka versions of hits by Miley Cyrus, One Direction, Gotye, and many more, all in a brisk medley. A very silly music video brings it home. Continue reading »

Jul 312023
 
best cover songs
Bob Dylan — Bad Actor (Merle Haggard cover)

Bob Dylan has been on a covers roll this year. On tour, he has primarily covered a number of Dead (“Truckin’,” “Stella Blue,” “Brokedown Palace”) or Dead-associated (“Not Fade Away,” “Only a River”) songs. But he’s dipped into other classic catalogs occasionally too. He did Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” for the first time and then, not long after, maybe the deepest cut yet: Merle Haggard’s 2016 track “Bad Actor.” The tape took a while to surface. It was worth the wait. Continue reading »