Shamone back to the beginning.
20. José James ft. Takuya Kuroda — Rock With You
Billing himself as a jazz singer for the hip-hop generation, José James is a master at blending genres and interpreting other artists’ material. Those forces come together on his 2025 cover of “Rock with You.” Instead of riding the boogie, James slows the beat down and delivers it as a jazzy slow groove. The track blends a haunting piano riff with Takuya Kuroda’s trumpet to create a cover that’s great for (slowly) rocking the day or night away. — Curtis Zimmermann
19. Hot 8 Brass Band — Baby Be Mine
One of the lesser tunes from Thriller, “Baby Be Mine” is a mid-tempo, smooth, somewhat jazzy tune with a disco backbeat. Quincy Jones claims it is a tribute to John Coltrane, although I don’t hear it, but I’ll assume that Jones was right, considering that he was a musical genius and I’m not. Most critics seem split between the “one of the worst songs on the album” camp and the “criminally underrated” camp.
The Hot 8 Brass Band, a New Orleans based brass band founded in 1996, mixes the traditional style of bands like Rebirth and Dirty Dozen with r&b, rap and bounce. Their version of “Baby Be Mine” appears on their 2019 EP Take Cover (which also includes a cover of the Jackson 5’s “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” and a funked up “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”) It’s pretty much what you’d expect from a top-shelf New Orleans brass band, and, personally, I find it more interesting than the original. — Jordan Becker
18. Willie Nelson — She’s Out of My Life
When Michael Jackson performed the ballad “She’s Out of My Life” in the studio, he couldn’t help breaking down in tears at the end. Eddie Murphy famously made fun of the moment in his Delirious stand-up show (“Tito, get me some tissue!”), but Jackson’s performance led any number of listeners to join him in weeping. Willie Nelson, a quarter century older than Jackson, took a different tack in his take – where it sounds like Jackson is only just discovering what it’s like to lose a woman’s love, Nelson has had his heart wrenched before, and sings with weary regret. For him, the tears may or may not come eventually; right now, it’s time to commune with darkness, his old friend. — Patrick Robbins
17. Easy Star All-Stars — Beat It
No less than Michael Rose, the maverick Rasta once at the helm of Black Uhuru, is the featured singer enrolled here. As ever, Easy Club All-Stars manage to steer a fine line between respectful adherence to the source material, if also to the stricter confines of their chosen milieu, allowing the quality of their delivery to transcend any perceived deficiencies in the idea addressed in the first place. Indeed, bar the lyric, it would be possible to appreciate this without any knowledge of the original. — Seuras Og
16. Leningrad Cowboys — Bad
The easiest way to describe the Leningrad Cowboys is “a Finnish Spinal Tap.” Comics created them, a very good movie was made about them, and then they sort of took on a life of their own. With shoes and hairstyles that made them look like walking parentheses, they’ve parlayed their Russian-folk-meets-Western-rock sound into over a dozen albums (my favorite title is Buena Vodka Social Club). Their 2003 performance of “Bad” here, in front of a happily unhinged Helsinki crowd, with the Red Army Chorus and swooping cameras galore, mixes Michael Jackson with James Bond and adds just a pinch of Freddie Mercury. It’s as bizarrely compelling as it sounds. — Patrick Robbins
15. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles — Got to Be There
Is Smokey Robinson the only man who can hope to match Michael’s vocals on his debut single, “Got to Be There”? Jackson was only 13, and the high notes he hits in it are positively insane. Robinson’s falsetto is not as high, of course, but he’s still able to pull off the high, sustained notes that stick out in the original. It’s hard to imagine another adult singer doing as good a job with a song that shows off the chops of perhaps the most technically impressive child singers in pop music history. And that’s not all there is here, as Robinson and the Miracles add a vamp followed by a surprise barbershop-esque finale to give their cover its own fresh spin. — Riley Haas
14. Robbie Fulks — Ben
Alternative country dude contrarian Robbie Fulks might seem an odd choice to cover Michael Jackson, least of all the itself out-of-character sideswipe of Ben, the somewhat sickly love song to a pet rat. But cover it he does, and, seemingly straightly, without sinking to any obvious targets of parody or pastiche. That said, where his tongue was as he sang it, in a register slightly higher than comfort allows, has to remain in question. — Seuras Og
13. The Communards — Never Can Say Goodbye
The Communards’ cover of “Never Can Say Goodbye” is not so much the child of the J5 original but rather the grandchild. Its mother is unquestionably Gloria Gaynor’s fabulous evergreen classic disco version from 1974. And damn, does that cover sound demure compared to its proud and rebellious child. Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles turn up their take of “Never” in every way imaginable. The lush sweetheart is transformed from a sleek party tune into a maniacally synthesized, gloriously garish, sweaty-muscled floor filler. Somerville wails wondrously throughout and though he oddly alters the line “I can’t do with you or without” to the slightly more awkward “I can’t get by without you,” it works. The cherry on top is Coles’ frantic instrumental bridge. It is a positively magical burst of fireworks in the middle of an already lightning-filled anthem. This “Never” is a glorious joyride end to end. Bigger and better forever. — Hope Silverman
12. Seu Jorge & Almaz — Rock With You
You likely as not know Seu Jorge for his work on The Life Aquatic, both onscreen and on the soundtrack as he performed acoustic David Bowie covers in Portuguese. On his cover of “Rock With You,” he performs with the band Almaz, and the electricity they provide adds a different spin to Jorge’s Brazilian pop magic. The performance here is chill, with Jorge a step above nonchalance as he sings over music to slink by. It simply isn’t a performance Michael Jackson would have given, and that’s just one reason it’s so head-turning a song. — Patrick Robbins
11. Scala & Kolacny Brothers — Dirty Diana
A personal song about being harassed by a groupie, “Dirty Diana” is widely seen as an attempt to recreate the success of “Beat It” from five years earlier. It has a similar rock feel and once again features a highlight guitar solo from a contemporary hard rock guitarist. So it’s not the kind of song that you’d think would get the choral treatment. But that’s what Scala and Kolacny Brothers do: Give pop songs choral treatments. Scala are the choir and the Kolacny brothers conduct and play piano. They covered it on their 14th(!) album, in a long career of these choir-plus-piano covers.
The choir’s ethereal sound gives Jackson’s lyrics a more haunting feel. Whereas in the original, they feel like a protest against the groupie, here they feel like the rockstar might give in. Steven Kolacny’s piano is always present, but never steals the show from the choir, adding just the right level of accompaniment to keep the song grounded. That is until the climax, when he ramps it up. It’s very pretty when you’re not listening to the words. When you listen to the words, it’s almost sinister. — Riley Haas
