Jul 222025
 

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

Wrecking Ball covers

The number of cover versions committed to disc of this song far outnumber those of other and comparable “Wrecking Ball”s. SecondHandSongs lists 124 covers of the Miley Cyrus hit, against a paltry six for the Neil Young-written song of the same name, and four for that by Gillian Welch. Both are fine songs, of course. However, hand on heart, neither can hold a candle to the might of Miley’s tsunami of sangfroid regret, a song that clinically examines a deteriorating relationship with velvet-gloved precision, the lyrical accuracy as apt as it is transparent. Continue reading »

Mar 022017
 
DeathinRome

Last month, we posted our three favorite covers of Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” Maybe we should have waited – neofolk band Death in Rome have just released a very strange version that might give those a run for its money!

The first clue that Death in Rome’s “Toxic” might not be your standard Britney-covers fare came in the Facebook band’s intro: “During the work on it, the song became for us an anthem on nihilisim and the mighty Emil Cioran. Enjoy, dance, be happy, it’s all in vain anyway.” Which, to be fair, is basically the message of Britney’s song “‘Til the World Ends.” But as if that wasn’t odd enough, they included a deeply depressing quote from philosopher Cioran: “There is no other world. Nor even this one. What, then, is there? The inner smile provoked in us by the patent nonexistence of both.” And this has what to do with Britney exactly? Continue reading »