Cover songs can be hit or miss, they can either nail everything the original did and intersect it with their own style or have it fall flat. Here are 10 covers so different from the original it’s almost as if they’re not the same song any more.
10. Can You Feel the Love Tonight
The Original
Sung by Elton John on a Disney soundtrack, you couldn’t find a song with more camp value if you listened to the deliverance soundtrack in a hiking shop.
The Odd Cover
Arranged by just two guys, this cover gives the original song something it probably didn’t need, a shot of metal directly into the bloodstream. Mixing chunky power chords with opera quality vocals, you really wouldn’t be blamed for thinking the song was actually written by a band with the word dragon in its title… you know, if it wasn’t for all the lions in the video.
9. My Heart Will Go On
The Original
Wait, Celine Dion and flutes? This song has been covered like 60 times- have people finally found a way to cover it on guitar or something?
The Odd Cover
Well, yeah. That’s exactly what somebody did and you gotta admit, spending this much time transcribing a flute solo to guitar chords is time that could have been better spent playing video games or something.
8. Jurassic Park Theme
The Original
If you haven’t heard this song or seen Jurassic park, stop reading this right now and go watch it. If you are familiar with it, set it as your alarm, so when you wake up in the morning and yawn you can feel like a T-rex.
The Odd Cover
Covered by the Swedish DJ legend Basshunter for his aptly titled album “the old s**t”, this song somehow managed to turn an orchestral song into a floor-filler. Whether or not it works is debatable, but then again, this guy had like 4 number one hits, he must kind of know what he’s up to. Also, it allows people to drink, dance and think about dinosaurs, which so few songs manage to do these days.
7. Battle with Lance
The Original
Pokemon is a global phenomenon, chances are you’ve heard this epic 8bit tune while commanding your army of animal slaves to show Dragonmaster Lance just who’s boss. If you didn’t, then you should probably use your time travel powers to go punch Hitler or something.
The Odd Cover
Arranged by Burn7 of Newgrounds fame, this song takes the original and twists it to the point that if you played it while playing the game, Lance would probably say, “whoa, it’s cool man, just take your badge and leave, I don’t want any trouble.”
6. To Zanarkand
The Original
This song was composed for the game Final Fantasy X. Regardless of whether or not you’re a fan of the game or series, just, listen to it: it’s like someone took every sad film ever, made them cry, and then transcribed it to piano.
The Odd Cover
Now this doesn’t score any points for sound quality, or even listening pleasure. But the fact that this youtuber went to all the trouble of transcribing a piano song into a Guitar Hero game- and then recorded himself playing it- is evidence that some people really hate beautiful music.
5. Guiles Theme
The Original
There’s an internet meme that simply claims this song goes with everything, and a simple search of “Guiles theme goes with …” reveals that people have seriously spent way too much time trying to find out.
The Odd Cover
Recorded by YouTube legend 331Erock, this cover shows the inherent problem with 8bit songs: their simplicity masks just how difficult they truly are. As shown by Erock’s hands during this video, his hands move with such speed and dexterity it’s rumored three pianos near his home exploded during the recording.
4. The Animaniacs
The Original
There’s enough nostalgia in the single one minute clip we’ve used in our playlist to justify Netflix’s existence for the next 30 years. The Animaniacs hold a special place in hearts of any fans who grew up watching them, as well as in the nightmares of those who didn’t.
The Odd Cover
Sung by Ska group Less Than Jake, this cover is a testament of the show’s influence. This song paints Less Than Jake- a band that has been singing about Pez for years- as perhaps just a little immature, and it’s awesome. Awesome to the point you could probably claim this was the original theme song and no one would notice.
3. A Thousand Miles
The Original
This song, regardless of how much you hate pop music, was huge- and I’ll bet that virtually everyone watching the video can still sing it word for word (into a hair brush, of course).
The Odd Cover
I don’t quite know who Matt and Eric are, but I get the feeling they’re big fans of like the whitest song ever (bonus points for getting that reference). The reasons for doing a cover song are always varied, but it’s easy to imagine that singing this song in anything other than an ironic tone would result in being punched in the back of the head from the nearest bystander.
2. My Horse is Amazing
The Original
Created by Mr Weebl, a youtuber famed for creating some of the most annoyingly catchy tunes in internet history. This one’s no different, and it has a horse in it!
The Odd Cover
Sung by Tommy Johansson of Reinxeed, this version is the second one he’s released because the first recording didn’t have enough power. Now that’s dedication, especially when the song you’re singing is about pulling on a horses ahem, winky.
1. Bed Intruder
The Original
Antoine Dodson’s threats to find his sister’s attacker may not seem like fodder for a best seller, but they are when you autotune the hell out of them. Take that on your boat T-pain.
The Odd Cover
This song has had dozens if not hundreds of covers posted online, however this one wins for one reason: 3 legitimate musicians took time out of their day to sing a sing a song about finding a rapist, based on a song, based on an internet meme. Oh and one of the singers is from a Christian rock band, they couldn’t make it more odd if they all sung it wearing chicken outfits.
By Karl Smallwood
Did we miss any good ones? Let us know and we’ll add it to our YouTube channel, on our…
10 Comments
hey I was just doing a search because I absolutely love the cover of smooth criminal but couldn’t rememberwho sang it. There’s also a group I don’t know if its the same one that did A-Ha’s take on me. I love the way they did it it
The Vocaloid Miku cover of Guile’s Theme is probably more odd…
http://youtu.be/vMMZV_o2VCo
Added to the playlist as well – thanks 🙂
I would have liked to see a wider range of genres on the list, now the majority are metal covers. Though it’s still an interesting subject for a list.
The one that I find AMAZING is the group Alien Ant Farm doing Michael “Wacko Jacko” Jackson’s cover of “Smooth Criminal”
Not sure if this song meets the criteria, but I’ve added it to the playlist – thanks Peter!
Tanya, It was actually the first song that came to mind. But if you see the video, it will take you about 3 times to finally understand the overtones of what a bird brain Michael Jackson was. I mean c’mon, using Propofol as a sleeping agent ? That’s what they used on me for major surgery and I was unconscience in less than 10 seconds.
“Southern Cross” covered by Weedeater. Fantastic!
I’m not sure if the original song fits the criteria for ‘geeky’ but I’ve added it to the playlist…
Christopher Cross is hard to define. Is he geeky…or just unbearably mellow?