On every full moon this year, Peter Gabriel has been releasing new songs off his upcoming album o\i. It’s the same system he pulled a few years ago, previewing tracks from his 2023 album i/o (you see what he did there?), and once again with each song in two versions, the so-called Dark-Side and Bright-Side mixes. As ever, Peter Gabriel moves to his own rhythm. “The rhythm has my soul,” he famously screamed in 1982.
For such an idiosyncratic artist, though, he has a way with a pop hook—which has made his songs so widely covered in so many styles and genres. Below, we count down 40 of the best. These mostly come from his solo career—as you’d expect, his blockbuster 1986 album So looms large—but there are a few of his Genesis tunes mixed in too.
Earlier this month, Weezer released their seventh self-titled album (20th overall). Like all the other self-titled albums, it’s known colloquially by the color on the cover—in this case, Gold. By late-era Weezer standards, reviews are pretty good, but, as showcased in a viral Saturday Night Live sketch a few years back, for many people the first two albums are all that matter.
Is that true for covers? Mostly. Over half of the covers on our list tackle songs from The Blue Album and Pinkerton. The rest are spread among subsequent hits (“Island in the Sun,” “Keep Fishin’”) and a few late-period deep cuts. It probably says something that there are more covers of Blue Album outtakes on this list than there are from like 10 of their albums combined. Though, lest it be said we didn’t dig deep enough, Make Believe, Van Weezer, and even Raditude are all represented.
So dive into the best Weezer covers while you ponder that immortal question: What’s with these homies dissin’ my girl?
25. Mac DeMarco — Undone – The Sweater Song
Before they perform “Undone” on AV Undercover, Mac DeMarco explains they learned it in the car on the drive over. It shows. But such sloppiness is part of Mac DeMarco’s charm. He barely knows the lyrics, and the band constantly sounds like they might fall apart, but that loose energy carries a wildly ramshackle performance. At the end he shrugs as he says to the camera, “That works.” — Ray Padgett
24. Deftones — El Scorcho
Rivers Cuomo got his start in a high school metal band called Avant Garde, so it’s not a surprise that the strains of metal were a key component to the Weezer sound. The Deftones certainly recognized the mashup of metal with alternative – in fact, that was where they reveled. So it makes sense that they would see “El Scorcho” as simpatico with their sound. You can hear them standing on the brake pedal in this recording, working hard to keep the song at its deliberate pace, and that tension serves the cover immeasurably. — Patrick Robbins
23. Jordan D. White — I Need Some Of That
What started as a bombastic, electric guitar-shredding original paying homage to Van Halen becomes a more “fun in the sun” tune here, fitting in with the summertime rewind that the song kicks off with. This ukulele cover is lively, picking up the pace a bit compared to the original. White nails the “need” in “I need some of that,” which is no small feat. Be prepared for this chipper tune to get stuck in your head. — Sara Stoudt
22. Whiskey Shivers — Buddy Holly
Whiskey Shivers plays the kind of music that people get in line to try and name the genre. “Thrashgrass” is the band’s preferred nomenclature; “apocalyptic Americana” and “gutterbilly” have also come up. “This group of 20-somethings plays banjos, fiddles and washboards at breakneck speeds,” wrote the Washington Post, “while singing high, lonesome harmonies about love and video games.” All to say that you may think you know how their take on “Buddy Holly” will sound, but they throw enough curveballs to keep things fun and fresh. — Patrick Robbins
21. Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler — Island In The Sun (acoustic)
Emmy the Great (with her partner at the time, Ash’s Tim Wheeler) included an acoustic version of “Island in the Sun” on their collaboration This Is Christmas. That’s not an AI hallucination: they honestly made a Christmas album that includes Weezer’s classic song of summer. The cover is a rarity, having only been released as a bonus track on a Japanese edition.
Another worthwhile version is Emmy the Great (who goes by Emma-Lee Moss these days) performing the song on a tour of England in 2011. This performance has some weight to it, as the bassist on the original Weezer recording, Mikey Welsh, had died earlier that day, a suspected drug overdose. Emmy announces the news, takes a breath, and plunges in. Emmy and her band play it in straight-ahead fashion except at the end; they close out the song with an a cappella treatment of the final iteration of the song’s last line: “We’ll never feel bad any more.” A moving moment. — Tom McDonald
This month marks the 55th anniversary of the death of Jim Morrison, the front man for the Doors. His importance in rock history, then as now, is a matter of debate – and there has been a lot of debate. Just this spring, BBC Music Magazine named the Doors the most overrated band in history, calling them “the ‘starter’ band for teenagers that one is supposed to outgrow.” Journalist Jimmy Guterman claimed that “Jimbo was a stillborn doggereler and an overwrought singer [and] his cohorts sounded like a group on loan from the local Econ-o-Lodge cocktail room.” Another critic called them “…yet another example of why one should always avoid people with messianic delusions.” And comedian Moshe Kasher says that “part of the process of becoming an adult is admitting to yourself that the Doors were a shitty band.”
But for every basher who makes merry of Morrison’s pretentious-shaman-in-leather-pants pose and calls his bandmates’ competence into question, you’ll find two who’ll defend them, in even more full-throated form than Morrison himself. The Sunset Boulevard Records label made an excellent post soon after the BBC put the Doors at number one:
The Doors have long occupied a strange position in rock history—too theatrical for purists, too serious for casual fans, and too iconic to ignore…. If anything, the renewed debate proves a simple point: truly irrelevant bands don’t inspire arguments nearly six decades after their debut. The Doors remain a lightning rod because they sit at the intersection of music, myth, and culture. Strip away Morrison’s legend, and you still have a band that redefined how rock could sound and feel. Embrace the legend, and you have one of the most enduring icons in popular music history. Either way, “overrated” might say less about The Doors—and more about the impossible standard we set for bands that refuse to fade quietly into the past.
Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger, and John Densmore have spent the last sixty years not fading away. They may be polarizing to the world, but the four of them were unifying to each other. They created a sound based in blues, jazz, and flamenco, and their songs continue to bring attention on their own merits. We’ve found forty covers that demonstrate the worthiness of what the Doors brought to the world. They won’t end any debates – in fact, we expect them to start a few more in the comments section – but they’ll prove that the Doors and their music continue to be not just relevant, but as vivid, compelling, and preternatural as when they first arrived.
Last week, we ranked the 30 Best Police Covers. We debated at the time whether to group Sting solo songs into that list. Ultimately, we decided that Sting’s solo songs are just too different—more mellow, more adult-contemporary, and, most importantly, missing two essential ingredients that made The Police The Police. So, today, a bonus list rounding up ten killer covers of songs from Sting’s post-Police career.Continue reading »
Conceived and delivered during a time of band strife, Synchronicity was nevertheless the biggest record (and cassette) in the world in 1983, and was the fourth consecutive #1 album for The Police. Every band who formed in the ‘80s, and many subsequently, knew their music. Already on rotation on the radio, The Police also timed their run well to coincide with the launch of MTV, and they and their publicity team were keen to harness the power of that medium. When a new musical format emerged (a regular occurrence in the ‘80s) re-releases of The Police would be top of the list as guaranteed sellers, generating more listens. The back catalogue is quite compact, but it hums with complex, sophisticated music that speaks to many.
That breadth of interest means that the world of Police covers is particularly rich. Reggae and dub artists, keen to repay and mark the favor that The Police did for them in publicizing their craft, were grateful and expressed themselves in their genre. Sting recorded phonetic vocals for some tracks in Spanish and Japanese, and there are great covers in those languages as a thank you. Indie god Juliana Hatfield was the perfect age to be a Police completist as she dreamed of a career in music, and repaid that love with a whole tribute album. There is a great goth and emo covers album, and not all of it is covers of “King of Pain” and “So Lonely.” Punks can see themselves in the ramshackle start of the band. Genre tribute albums have to incorporate The Police, with a greater or lesser level of success.
Musicians who have a different taste in music, but similar in nasal stimulants, can be difficult to keep together. Especially when one of them keeps 80% of the writing royalties to himself, not allowing his talented bandmates to record more than one of their own songs per blockbuster album. Synchronicity was the last studio album the band made. The other great thing about ubiquity, though, is that you can find copies, in multiple formats, of their records in vinyl and thrift stores throughout the world. New bands will be formed from what people find there. It was a challenging task to identify the best Police covers, but it was very worthwhile.
A few weeks ago, a mysterious countdown appeared on Taylor Swift’s website. It got fans all aflutter, as tends to happen whenever Taylor Swift does anything. But then it disappeared, and nothing happened. A rare error, apparently. Whoops. How excited everyone got for those brief few hours, though, shows just how omnipresent Swift remains, twenty-plus years into her career (has it really been that long?).
A while ago, we at Cover Me were thinking of what current pop star have we not yet done a list for. Swift was the blindingly obvious answer. I was going to say we’ve done most of her peers already, but, after completing the biggest tour in history, does she even have any peers?
So, below, 25 covers of her some of greatest songs. By the time this list comes out, she’ll probably have more songs, and there will certainly more be more covers of them. Maybe we’ll have to go back and revisit it. The Best Taylor Swift Covers Ever (Taylor’s Version).
The biggest hit from 2022’s Midnights, Swift’s sort-of return to more mainstream pop after her dalliances with folk, “Anti-Hero” had Swifties all over social media quoting the chorus lyrics as a meme. Norwegian musician Sondre Lerche decided to take it on for his annual Christmas cover. He begins the song with nearly horror-movie-esque strings, before the beat comes in. Lerche mostly speaks the lyrics, rather than sings them. To start, though, the backing is just electronic percussion and strings, which are behaving themselves a little more. But when it comes to meme-able chorus, initially he omits most of the oft-quoted lyrics, just repeating “It’s me.” (He also plays with the order of the verses.) Lerche goofs around with his string section, getting really avant-garde in the middle, and setting us up for a drop. When he finally does the full chorus, there’s almost an orchestra backing him, though he omits all of those instruments out at the end of the last verse, once again masterfully playing with dynamics are our expectations.
It’s an extremely creative arrangement that threatens to deprive fans of the most famous part of the song, but adds tension and a whole lot of punch when it finally arrives. — Riley Haas
24. The Maine — cruel summer
This dream-pop cover with just a touch of emo gives us the appropriate level of nostalgic yearning to take us back to Summer 2019. It’s unhurried and laid-back with its syncopated percussion and echoey vocals. However, the pace escalates enough to deliver the “he looks up grinning like the devil” line with the crucial little bit of snarl. — Sara Stoudt
23. black midi — Love Story
Taylor Swift was an odd choice for experimental rock-post-punk-free-jazz band Black Midi, which I’m sure was entirely the point. They surprise-dropped it on a vinyl-only (at first) covers EP, Cavalcovers. As you might guess from those genre tags, it sounds different from the original—but, more surprisingly, not as different as you’d expect. They give it a somewhat yacht-y rock gleam, with added distortion and a whole lotta sexy saxophone. — Ray Padgett
22. MUNA — August
Famously, Folklore brought about a change in Swift’s writing and sound, due to the isolation of the pandemic. “August” very much captures that new sound, with acoustic instruments mixed in with subtle electronic production, but still with an extremely hooky chorus. The album has been called “cinematic” because of its sound and the focus on characters, including the mini song cycle of which “August” is a part. Indie poppers MUNA lean into both the folk feel and the cinematic vibe. Though the cover is live, they create a massive wall-of-sound, widescreen feel on the chorus and the bridge that contrasts really effectively with the more folky verses. The result is appropriately epic for the middle third of Swift’s love triangle song cycle. — Riley Haas
21. Old Dirty Brasstards — Shake It Off
A pivot to pop might disappoint some country purists, but it does leave an artist’s catalogue open to inventive covers which can convey the meaning of the originals without losing as much of the meaning. Old Dirty Brasstards take the energy of New Orleans with some of the sensibility of UK Symphonic Wind Band tradition (you can have a tuba, which is more difficult to march with, and full drum kit) and have fun with it. They find foot tappers in unusual places were necessary but give them an already danceable pop hit and watch them go, go, go! — Mike Tobyn
