Dec 152025
 

Follow all our Best of 2025 coverage (along with previous year-end lists) here.

The Best Cover Albums of 2025

Hip-hop oldies become jazz instrumentals. Cult folk songs become grand spaghetti-western soundscapes. Blink-182 hits become DIY bedroom jams. We’ve got ’90s hardcore bangers shredded on acoustic guitar, Spanglish Latin-pop takes on Air Supply and Elvis, and, maybe most outrageously of all, a wild experiment in turning everyone from Chappell Roan to Smash Mouth into emo/screamo.

It’s an especially unruly set this year, but a rewarding one. Enough preamble. Dive in.

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Feb 232015
 

The GZA breathes new air and about 140% more lyrics (135 words vs 328 words) into a classic from the ‘70s with the cover of “The Mexican” as a one-off single. The original song by the progressive blues rock group, Babe Ruth, samples Ennio Morricone’s “For A Few Dollars More” from the Clint Eastwood Western set in a Mexican village. In The GZA’s version, we learn a lot more about Fernandez and why it’s a “sad morning”. Continue reading »