50. Casino Hearts — Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam (Nirvana cover)
Can it really be over 30 years since the release of Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged? The Seattle band’s raw performance of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” from that iconic recording seems pretty timeless, especially now; it’s widely felt to have surpassed the original. The same might be said of their cover of the Vaselines’ “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam,” which they retitled “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” (seeing as that’s a little closer to the line in the song). Kurt Cobain howling away on vocals, Krist Novoselic on accordion, and Dave Grohl on, of all things, bass (and hi-hat), with the accompaniment of cellist Lori Goldston.
It’s the whole reason we now have this wondrous cover of a cover by Casino Hearts, a three-piece from Los Angeles, specializing in indie dream-pop/electronica. They recorded the song for A Tribute to Nirvana: The Songs of MTV Unplugged in New York, but didn’t do anything so silly as try to replicate the Kurt/Krist/Dave version. Okay, they may have used a similar guitar opening, but from there it’s the ghostly vocals of Forest Holter that take control, against incoming trance-like beats, and increasingly swirling and distorted synth sounds. Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine—all the comparisons happily ring true here. But even if they didn’t, the way Holter sings “Don’t expect me to cry” during the breakdown section at the 0:52 mark will melt even the hardest of hearts. — Adam Mason
49. Daniel Young — Fish and Whistle (John Prine cover)
Daniel Young’s interpretation of John Prine nestles somewhere between rockabilly and garage rock, leaning heavily on Young’s twangy but lo-fi vocals and his crunchy electric guitar. Prine’s original was folksier but—unsurprisingly, considering how covered an artist he was—lends itself well to Young’s grittier interpretation. Gone are the lengthy flute solo and the third “Again?” in the bridge, the former not to be missed and the latter causing a purposeful sense of unease in its absence. As with most Prine songs, the message is the point, and Young hones his song to be a blowdart of a delivery. — Mike Misch
48. Aria Lanelle — Noon Rendezvous (Sheila E. cover)
For all intents and purposes, the gorgeous, wanting, and desperate ballad “Noon Rendezvous” is an obscure Sheila E. deep cut. Co-written with Prince, the song was included on her fabulously succinct—six songs total!—1984 debut album The Glamorous Life. Prince also recorded a version of the song that same year, though it didn’t get an official release until it appeared on the 2019 outtake collection Originals. What’s weird is that the seminal reading of the song is actually a bootleg recording of Prince and The Revolution performing the song live at the fabled First Avenue club in Minneapolis on June 7, 1984.
Full disclosure: That live recording is my favorite Prince song ever. He falsettos, he gives cues to Wendy and Lisa, he shreds most swooningly for several whole minutes. (Hear here; the song starts at 2.23). All of this is my long-winded way of saying I was beyond thrilled to discover that someone had actually covered the song officially in 2025.
And I was even more thrilled that it turned out to be so, damn, nice. Singer-songwriter Aria Lanelle and collaborator Derek Simpson’s cover of “Noon Rendezvous” takes elements from both the sparse studio recordings of Sheila and Prince and the emotional aforementioned live version. Featuring a perfectly impassioned vocal from Aria, it is a sensual, delicately grungy and haunting piece of work. “I’ve been wondering what to wear” indeed. — Hope Silverman
47. Sam Fribush, Ari Teitel & Adam Deitch — Midnight Rider (The Allman Brothers cover)
The trio of Deitch, Teitel and Fribush seems like a supergroup in the making. It features Adam Deitch of the jamband Lettuce, guitarist Ari Teitel of Dumpstaphunk and organist Sam Fribush from Hiss Golden Messenger. On their debut album Another Side of the Sound, the band included this cover of the Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider.” The deep grooves of this instrumental cover play like a direct homage to Booker T. & the M.G.’s. The cover serves as a nod to the past that bodes well for this trio’s future. — Curtis Zimmermann
46. Daníel Hjálmtýsson & Mortiis — Beat on the Brat (Ramones cover)
On the Ramones’ debut album, “Beat on the Brat” only sounds slow because it’s between “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “Judy Is a Punk.” In Daníel Hjálmtýsson & Mortiis’s cover, taken from the tribute Marc Urselli’s Ramones Redux, it’s because it is slow. “I really wanted to do a kind of 180 spin on it and take a lot of chances,” Hjálmtýsson said. “I wanted to explore the disturbing themes in a darker, moodier way.” That he does, painting the song in a black neo-goth ink that manages to bring out the melody rather than blot it out. Result: a darker, dare we say prettier “Brat.” What can you lose? — Patrick Robbins
45. Brandon Victor Dixon — Hotel California (Eagles cover)
In the early 1980s, a minister from Wisconsin made headlines when he claimed that the Eagles’ “Hotel California” contained references to the Church of Satan. This interpretation lives on in nearly every Internet article about the song (including this one). Broadway star Brandon Victor Dixon provided a strong counterargument in 2025. He released his own take on “Hotel California,” which comes across like a piece of worship music. In the choruses, a choir sings out the titular words almost as if praising a higher power. To drill the message home, they even revisit the refrain again during the song’s extended outro. No need to check out or leave; this cover will likely move you, no matter what your views of the Eagles’ mythic hotel. — Curtis Zimmermann
44. Chrissie Hynde (ft. k.d. lang) — Me & Mrs. Jones (Billy Paul cover)
For 53 years running, Billy Paul’s hit “Me and Mrs. Jones” has had a very strong claim to the greatest song about adultery. It’s certainly the sultriest, and while Paul doesn’t have a writing credit on the song, he made it his own. The escalating chorus lines, the ad-libs, the desperation he infused into the vocals are all iconic.
It may not take an icon to cover an icon, but bringing two of them is a good way to stack the deck. Rock royalty Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders is supported here by k.d. lang in a reimagined but no less sultry version of this classic. The song is more mellow, with neither Hynde nor lang trying to compete with Paul’s unique delivery. Both women bring their own style to bear with Hynde’s smokier vocals pairing wonderfully with lang’s folksy sound. It’s a cover that lets the original song shine while highlighting the talent of the “new” artists. — Mike Misch
43. Steve Earle — Long May You Run (Neil Young cover)
I’ve always thought of Neil Young’s song “Long May You Run,” the title track from his 1976 collaboration with Stephen Stills, as a straightforward, accessible love song from Young, who can be pretty crotchety. But the twist is that the love song is directed to a car—Young’s 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse “Mort.” Released as a single, it failed to chart but seems to have evolved into a mainstay of classic rock radio. Steve Earle recorded a version for Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, Volume 1, a benefit for the Bridge School, that leans more towards country than rock (abetted by Doug Pettibone’s pedal steel), and it sounds like a Steve Earle song. — Jordan Becker
42. Astrïd and Sylvain Chauveau — Everything Is Free (Gillian Welch cover)
English-speaking audiences don’t get much exposure to Barcelona-based Sylvain Chauveau, or to Astrïd, a project with an evolving cast of (mostly) continental European artists. But then, these artists don’t seem interested in being widely known. Chauveau, for example, is a daring experimentalist, a minimalist drawn to glacial pacing and long stretches of silence. The performance of one Chauveau composition lasted seven years. Seven years!
But fear not. This take on “Everything is Free” lasts only five minutes, about the length of the original. Sonically, though, the cover leaves the organic/acoustic world of Gillian Welch far behind. It radically reimagines Welch’s lament about the precarity of the artist in a digital age; she wrote the song in 2000 when Napster was dominant. The remake has an art-for-art’s sake attitude, and it delights in digital processing, as if to deny or resolve tensions between art and tech. — Tom McDonald
41. Pastel — Fight For Your Right (To Party) (Beastie Boys cover)
The Beastie Boys’ rap/rock classic “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)” is almost unrecognizable in this cover. The English rockers Pastel reworked the drunken frat-boy anthem into a midtempo, guitar-powered alt-rock tune and gave it a more developed melody. Performing in what looks like somebody’s basement, the video captures some of the good-time vibes from the original, but for a different type of party and a different generation. — Curtis Zimmermann
My cover of the year has to be Fontaines DC’s take on Bring Me The Horizon’s Can You Feel My Hear (with a sprinkling of Nirvana for good measure) but it’s all subjective of course. Once again you’ve delivered us with a cracking run of covers throughout the year and a list of gems to round it off. Thank you and have a great Christmas.
I just discovered this site two weeks and its given me the precious gift of music. I’m the only member of my family who is still ambulatory this holiday season; the shadows grow for Generation X. Just wanted to pass on some drunken thanks as I listen to Ghost Town and I Want to Know What Love Is.
I’m from a mining town so I won’t pretend to spar with urban hipsters, so I’ll vulgarly suggest Newer Wave|Newer Wave 2.0 and Projekt’s Xmas covers because they are up there with ‘I’m Your Fan’ in my nostalgia books.
As always: Death to the Anglo-American Empire – but peace and goodwill to all the people within the dying belly of the beast. Music is our solace, salve and prod.