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.

Nov 052025
 
Widespread Panic's 'Alice in Wonderland' Halloween

A Widespread Panic Halloween show is a tradition, and, after skipping last year, the band was back on stage Halloween night, making up for lost time in their performance in Savannah, Georgia.

Fans knew they were in for something special as the whole band took the stage dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland. (John Bell was the Cheshire Cat, Jimmy Herring was Tweedle Dee/Dum, Dave Schools was The Executioner, JoJo Hermann was The Caterpillar, Duane Trucks was The Queen of Hearts and Domingo Ortiz was the Mad Hatter.) Continue reading »

Jun 272025
 

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

Sly & The Family Stone Covers

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.”)

NEXT PAGE →

Aug 052024
 
Black Hole Sun

Meet Postmodern Jukebox: Everyone’s favorite music collective. Known for taking pop and rock tunes and turning them into everything from ragtime to bebop to soul covers. Recently the pianist-spearheaded group has decided to recreate the mournful and apocalyptic feeling of the Soundgarden tune “Black Hole Sun.”
Continue reading »

May 302024
 
aloe blacc black hole sun cover

“Black Hole Sun” is the most popular Soundgarden song to cover by an order of magnitude. With something like 150 covers, it can feel like there aren’t too many fresh versions. And, to be perfectly honest, when I heard the opening of the first verse of Aloe Blacc‘s new cover of “Black Hole Sun,” I assumed I was in for another straight-ahead cover of the song that follows the vocal line and just replaces the guitars with something a little more contemporary. To be fair to Blacc, the opening sounds nothing like the original, with some ethereal vocals and faint percussion instead of the iconic guitar. But when Blacc starts singing that first verse, it initially sounds like he’s just going to sing the song over some 21st century beats. Ho hum. Continue reading »