I Think These Covers Are Better Than The Originals

I'm sure some of you will come for me about this, but, hey, what's a Wednesday without a bit of discussion?

A normal Wednesday? I don't know. I just end up talking about music a lot since it's kind of my thing, and I started to notice that sometimes there are cover songs that are better (Again, In My Opinion) than the originals. Most of the time, the original is the best, since that's the person who had that thought or feeling or discussion, but sometimes there can be someone else who can interpret it in their own way to make it even better. So anyway, here are five covers that I think are better than the original song.

1. Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World

Aaah, the early nineties. What a time to be a kid obsessed with music. This was back when Unplugged was a normal thing that happened at least a few times a year. And this is actually one of.... I think two or three Unplugged CDs I actually bought with real money. It's originally a David Bowie song, and his version is great, I just think Kurt did it better. But I might be biased because I was big on Nirvana in the day. I remember being in the back of my Mom's hatchback and crying when I heard he died.

2. The Beatles - Twist and Shout.

I'm probably showing some favoritism here, but that's okay. I have heard the original version by the Isley Brothers, and again, it's good, but this just has more frenetic energy than the original. And of course, I'm a huge Beatles fan, so, there it is. There's a famous story about how they recorded this song. They recorded their whole first album in one day and saved this song for last, because John Lennon was just screaming it and knew it would destroy his voice, so they couldn't record anything after that.

3. BTS - Fix You.

A second appearance from Unplugged! Although this isn't really Unplugged? I don't know. I'm not sure why they didn't do an actual acoustic performance, because they have before multiple times. Again, probably showing my favoritism here, but it's just better to me. Maybe it's because the variety of voices creates a different effect than just one singer? Anyway. I remember digging the original Coldplay version when it came out, but this was just last week. I heard that they had to get direct permission from Coldplay to do it, so they have the official stamp of approval.

4. Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Strange 80s video aside, I would argue Soft Cell's version is just more fun. It's funkier. You could be forgiven for not even knowing this was a cover, since it was so popular compared the the original. It was done a good two decades after the original by Gloria Jones in 1964. She was in T-Rex as well, she was their keyboard player. She was also the partner of Marc Bolan, they had a son together before he died.

5. Toploader - Dancing in the Moonlight.

I've probably mentioned this song before. I found it after a listener told me to listen to it, actually. I had never heard of that band, and I don't think I've heard of them after. But then, I don't think I can remember a song from the original band, King Harvest, either. Who cares, though, great song, right? Right.

What are some cover songs that you think are better than the original?

Songingly yours,
Behka