“We are The Clash!” they sang on their final album. The artists below are not The Clash (even if one of them, in covering that very song, says they are). For the most part, they sound nothing like The Clash. It turns out, though, that Clash songs sound great in a wide array of styles, from trip-hop electronic to orchestral pop, olde-time a cappella to walking-bass lounge jazz.
Go straight to our clampdown—sorry, countdown—of the 30 best Clash covers on the next page.
This weekend, Warren Zevon gets inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after decades of eligibility. So, as the culmination of a week-long tribute to the 2025 Rock Hall class where we posted covers of every artist (catch up here), we are sharing a countdown of the 30 best Zevon covers ever.
Warren Zevon is one of those musicians that other musicians love, so he bats way above his commercial weight in cover songs. The most casual person probably only knows one Zevon song—and it’s appropriate this list is posting just after Halloween. Many music nerds, though, including many musicians, revere the full catalog. Artists way more famous than Zevon, from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen, have paid tribute, as have a host of younger acts that consider him a primary influence.
So whether you always hum along with the air conditioner in “Desperados Under the Eaves” or just like aah-ooo-ing to “Werewolves of London,” dive into the Zevon catalog via thirty amazing versions of his songs.
When Black Sabbath held their “Back the Beginning” show in Birmingham this summer, no one disputed it represented Ozzy Osbourne’s way of saying goodbye. They just didn’t know how soon that final goodbye would come. Seventeen days after singing with both Sabbath and his own band to a packed stadium of superfans (and sounding not bad, considering), he was gone.
So today, we honor Sabbath in our own way, giving them the Best Covers Ever treatment. There are some heavy covers below, appropriately enough. But there are also a bunch that translate Sabbath songs into surprising genres, from slocore to bluegrass, retro soul to Finnish trad-jazz. No one, however, sings them the same way Ozzy did. Attempting to do so would be a fool’s errand. He was one of one, and will be missed.
I do not consciously aim to take the listener anywhere. If anything, I aim to take myself there in my music. If the listener catches the wavelength of what I am saying or singing, or gets whatever point whatever line means to them, then I guess as a writer I may have done a day’s work. – Van Morrison
When I wrote my first post for Cover Me, it was in celebration of Van Morrison’s 66th birthday. In it, I called him “perhaps the most incantatory singer in rock history; the words tumble from his mouth so fast they become never-quite-meaningless sounds, or they emerge bound and struggling themselves raw, or they flow out like brook water. Truly, he’s mastered what he calls ‘the inarticulate speech of the heart.’”
Fourteen years later (my gosh, has it been that long?), as Morrison reaches his four score, that still holds true. He is rock’s most spiritual curmudgeon, inscrutable and evocative, grouchily but magnificently folding into the mystic. His songs tap into their listeners in ways that would be eerie if they weren’t so universal. You don’t listen to Van Morrison’s music – you respond to it.
Today we’re looking at thirty responses, in the form of cover songs. These artists felt the hand of Van and responded accordingly. We think you’ll find them to be worthy rejoinders, what with their acuity and grace. They will make you feel good, and they will make you feel whole, when their spirit moves you and fills you through and through.
Earlier this month, Matt Cameron announced he was leaving Pearl Jam. He wasn’t their first drummer—or their second, or third, or fourth—but he’d been there longer than all the rest combined. So it felt like the end of an era. Or, at least, an opportunity for us to celebrate their catalog through covers.
As big as Pearl Jam was, and is, they don’t get covered as much as you might expect. No doubt they’re sick of constant comparisons to Nirvana, but, in this respect, Kurt and co. get ten covers for every one of Pearl Jam. But that means the artists who do bother to cover Pearl Jam really care. Find 30 such artists below.
Sly Stone died on June 9 at the age of 82. Two days later, Brian Wilson died, also 82. It was a rough week for eccentric musical geniuses years ahead of their time. We paid tribute to Wilson here, and a couple years ago did a full Best Beach Boys Covers Ever list that now serves as a de facto tribute too. After all, he wrote just about all of those songs.)
So today, the great Sly Stone gets the same treatment. Thirty covers of all the hits, and a few deeper cuts too. Hot fun begins on the next page. (And once you’re done with this, check out our new Five Good Covers piece on “Family Affair.”)
