May 082026
 
King Ultramega

Producer Mark Menghi’s all-star Chris Cornell tribute project King Ultramega has released a new song, this one paying tribute to a less explored area of Cornell’s career. Bringing together Brent Hinds, Mastodon‘s lead singer on vocals, Angel Vivaldi on all guitars, Frank Mitaritonna on keyboards, and Kenny Aronoff on drums (along with Menghi on bass,) the group’s newest song is a cover of “Dead Wishes,” which appeared on Higher Truth, the last album released during Cornell’s lifetime.

“I would constantly listen to the original version in moments of clarity, times of reflection, sitting in a sauna post-work out and/or cool down periods, etc. any time I needed to wind down or relax, I listened to it,” said Menghi. “As time went on, I became more and more connected to the song. I just love the simplicity of the song, the depth of the instrumentation, the acoustic guitar tone, etc. when tracking and producing our version, I wanted to stay true to the original but add things I was hearing in my head, hence the violins, cellos, keyboards, percussion, Leslie effects, xylophone, sleigh bells, etc. I wanted to create an atmospheric soundscape that would pay homage to the original.”

The group previously had released a cover of “Rusty Cage,” featuring Alice in Chains singer William Duvall. (It made our list of best covers of the month in February.)

All money raised by sales of the single will benefit MusiCares, which supports mental health services, addiction recovery support, and emergency assistance to members of the musical community.

Sep 292021
 
whores have a drink on me cover

“Have a Drink On Me” is one of the deep cuts from AC/DC‘s classic Back in Black, one of the most successful albums of all time. So, as with any album that has sold that much, deep cuts stop being deep cuts and tribute albums flow.

American noise rock band Whores have tackled this sorta-deep cut for the new Magnetic Eye tribute Back in Black [Redux]. For their sludgy version they’re joined by Bill Kelliher of Mastodon. Continue reading »

Sep 302020
 
cover songs september 2020
Amigo the Devil – Before He Cheats (Carrie Underwood cover)

When we last heard Amigo the Devil, he was stripping down a Tom Jones song to create a haunting murder ballad. Now he does the same to another highly polished pop song – but a much more recent one. “[The original is] this very confidence-boosting, really good-feeling, power-infusing song,” Amigo’s Danny Kiranos told Rolling Stone. “I was curious what it would sound like if you took away the positive nature of it and kept the lyrics, essentially the emotions they are portraying.” Continue reading »

Dec 212012
 

Adele dominated the cover song landscape in 2011, but Two-Aught-Twelve saw no similar galvanizing figure. Yes Lana Del Rey got covered a lot, but Leonard Cohen and Arcade Fire also seemed to garner an unexpected landslide of great covers (and speaking of landslides, so did Fleetwood Mac). “Call Me Maybe” was a huge hit that didn’t lead to much in the way of classic covers, and few seem to have even bothered attempting the Korean raps on “Gangnam Style.”

Which means that cover songs in 2012 were more diverse, ambitious, and left-field than ever before. A given YouTube search or Hype Machine browse would be as likely to turn up forgotten hits or underappreciated songwriters as it would the latest Top 40 smash. Find a sampling of all the diversity in Cover Me’s official Best Cover Songs of 2012 countdown. Start with #40-31 on the next page, and check back daily as we’ll be adding more til we hit #1.