Ranking the WORST and BEST cover songs (tier list)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2023
- Ranking the WORST and BEST cover songs tier list! Where do MGK, Lil Uzi Vert, Alien Ant Farm, Puddle Of Mudd and Disturbed belong on the cover song tier list?
--
🎉 PATREON: / thepunkrockmba
--
🔴 TWITCH: / finnmckenty
🕹️ DISCORD: / discord
--
📲 INSTAGRAM: / finnmckenty
📲 TIKTOK: / finnmckenty
📲 TWITTER: / thepunkrockmba
📲 LINKEDIN: / finnmckenty
--
👕 MERCH: prmbamerchstore.com/
--
🔊 PODCAST (Spotify): bit.ly/prmbapodcast
▶️ SPOTIFY NEW MUSIC PLAYLIST: bit.ly/prmbalist 
Развлечения
Come hang out on Twitch! www.twitch.tv/finnmckenty
That "About a Girl" ...YIPES!
Pantera covers planet caravan S tier
punk goes whatever...rank those finn!
see this problem is why D tier needs to come back - sorry i'm a stats guy and multi-league organizer , my lust for competitive fairness bleeds out of even my love for watching strangers judge the music i listen to
diturbed w miles kennedy doing the art garfunkel part always blows me away. i love the original and my aunt who hates everything i play liked it.
I remember my nephew came into my room and said “Dude Nine inch nails did a cover of Johnny Cash’s Hurt” haha I couldn’t help but giggle.
to his credit. it is a lot more common for a legend to get covered rather than the other way around
At least he respects his elders.
That never happened
@@polyestermammoth740 You’re right. You were there.
My 21 year old son was floored in disbelief when I revealed to him that hurt is a cover. He just couldn’t wrap his brain around it.
Funny. I prefer the original but Johnny such an older age did well.
I'm 34, and it still seems backwards to me.
Johnny really made it his own. Remember I heard the NIN version years later and didn’t like it nearly as much.
Both are good in their own way. NIN’s Hurt sounds like a young man at the end of his road with a life he knows he won’t ever be successful in. Johnny Cash’s version sounds like an old man who’s wife passed, his kids don’t contact him, his grandchildren barely know him, and everyone who loved him dearly and he loved dearly are either dead or barely remember anything. Both hurt in a different way
It is like a rare occurrence where a old person covers a much younger persons work. I really can’t think of another time that has happened.
Rick Rubin said that the reason the JC' s cover of 'Hurt' is so good is because Trent's version is about a young man who realizes he's throwing his life away, while Cash's version is of a man at the end of his life who realizes he already threw it away.
Holy Diver by Killswitch Engage is also a really good cover, in my opinion
Oh god
Better than the original 😁
@@stikkontakt4 You really trying to poke the hornets nest, huh? 😅
I opened this video just to see if he would take about KSE holy river. It’s the S tier of all S tiers
@stikkontakt4 they're both great but it ain't better than the original
Orgy cover of Blue Monday is top tier imo, the industrial touch on it fits perfectly
This! I was expecting it to be on here after Finn talked about NIN and Manson
There are so many "nu metal band covers an 80s New Wave song" covers and I'd argue Orgy are the only good one. So good in fact I prefer their version to the original, by a wide margin.
Kinda going in the same vein as heavier covers of dark 80s pop and new wave, Dope's cover of "You Spin Me Round" is pretty fun, and deviating a bit, but still a similar dark 80s sound is the Peaches song "F*ck the Pain Away" covered by Sylvan Paul is also pretty fun to listen to.
@@billbrasky7540 cool man, I'll check em out thanks
Yes absolutely! Not until a solid decade of having listened to Orgy was I made aware of the fact that Blue Monday was even a cover. It's great!
All Along the Watchtower by Hendrix has to be one of the best covers of all time.
It is thee greatest cover imo.
It is one of the only few covers that blows away the original which was pretty good.
It doesn’t do the boring paint by numbers thing that most artists do by sticking close to the original.
It starts out by doing unprecedented things with the guitar. And it only goes up from there with a soulful take. Those bends in the middle. Wow!
It ends on an insanely high note, literally, that is very difficult to pull off.
When other artists then tried covering that song, they tried covering Hendrix’s version instead.
Dylan has said that he feels like he's covering Hendrix when he plays it.
Hmm, yeah its great, but I actually like dave matthews band cover of it… shits WILD live, the live in central park version is FIRE.
Damn, you beat to the punch! But I made the same comment.....
And regarding Hurt, Trent even said that he’s openly givin the song to cash. Trent wrote it, but claims it’s 100% johnnys song after the cover came out. Which I think is just fantastic
very humble of trent but NiN’s original is so much better imo i really don’t get the hype of johnnys cover never have
Can’t imagine being in a 90s metal band (or i guess any band) and hearing THE Johnny Cash cover your song, the Personal Jesus cover from Cash on that same album is awesome too
Boys of the Summer by the Ataris is an amazing cover and I will always give Sugar Ray credit for covering Abracadabra and somehow making it not creepy as hell
This one is a banger!!! I love the energy, tons of respect to the original version 🎉🎉
Boys of Summer is S tier
Facts
Love that cover. Every time I hear it, I remember back to when they played it live at either the World Series or the All Star Game. Absolutely epic
Damn good cover. They played it in the same key so it sounds a lot like the original, yet it has so much more energy
AAF’s debut album is still one of my favorite albums. Movies was my favorite track, but Smooth Criminal was an excellent video and got their name to the masses.
I think Attitude might be one of the best songs ever.
@@kfox420 Attitude, Summer, Stranded - I honestly cannot choose an absolute favorite because I loved everything about that album.
Their first 4 albums are incredible, 5th one not so much but hopefully they make it up with their 6th one next year
Quality content... so many songs to consider. "Faith" Limp Bizkit, "Cinnamon Girl" Type O, "Children Of The Grave" White Zombie, "Ghost Of Tom Joad" RATM, "Word Up" Korn... it's neverending.
Oh yes! Type O's "Cinnamon Girl" is an incredible cover 🖤💚
And Type O's cover of Paranoid
@@HypedHazard456 Type O successfully made a cover of Paranoid about what the song was describing - depression.
Rages "Maggie's Farm" goes hard too.
Type o was amazing with covers! ❤
denzel curry's cover of bulls on parade was pretty good too, and faith no more's cover of commodores was also really good.
Denzel's cover was sooooo good
OHHHH DENZEL CURRY! THAT ONE IS SOOOO GOOD! YES!
Cash’s cover of Hurt was so good that I didn’t know it was a cover until years later. I’m not a fan of NIN so I wasn’t familiar with the song. Imagine my shock
Cash's cover of "Rusted Cage" is also S-tier. I love both, but they are so different.
Rusty cage, but yes I agree
Alien Ant Farm was the 3rd album I ever purchased. I always thought the world didn't deserve their talent. So underrated.
They responded to my MySpace fan message when I was like 14 & I fangirled hard over it lol
It always surprises me that Sepultura's cover of Orgasmatron never gets mentioned when people are talking about great covers!
Yeah, i heard it yesterday again, i'm not a huge motorhead fan but that cover is great
I love that song. So fucking good
@@austintillman8297, I totally agree! It's probably my second favourite cover, just behind Hurt by Johnny Cash!
I was hoping you'd cover "landslide" by smashing pumpkins, personally i think its great.
❤
For real 🙌
Bad company by FFDP is a good cover in my opinion, everything can be said about FFDP but that cover is great especially the solo. Besides it’s one of their most popular songs and that says a lot I think (just like Marilyn Manson, Disturbed and AAF)
Yup. All FFDP jokes aside, that solo is definitely one of their best and absolutely awesome.
i'm stoked to know that Finn likes Alien Ant Farm. that band is super underrated and "Movies" is a fantastic song.
Alein ant farm is so underrated, courage and movies are such good songs. That whole first album is so strong.
I think Attitude might be one of the best songs ever.
Finn, the european power metal scene is FULL of fun and humour. None of these bands take themselves so seriously.
They can't hit the sweet spot between super serious and corny IMO. Like you have stiffs like Powerwolf and Blind Guardian on one side and gufs like Nanowar of Steel and Dragonforce on the other. There are no bands in Europe metal that are mostly serious but have a healty dose of self irony. Only exeption i can think of is Venom.
@@JoinMeInDeathBaby I don't listen to much power metal myself, but Brothers of Metal hit that sweet spot for me
The best power metal bands (blind guardian, rhapsody, fairyland etc) shamelessly, unironically sing about wizards and dragons on broken english.
When Disturbed does SoS live they always bring a string duo/trio and have a Timpani and Piano on stage. It's really awesome to hear and experience live.
Soft Cell - Tainted Love is one of the greats, Manson's version could never dethrone it. The Clash - I Fought The Law has to be up there too.
Oh damn, great pick. Forgot that was a cover.
Limp Bizkit's rendition of Sanitarium they performed at the MTV Icons ceremony has always been one of my personal favorites. I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, but the way they handled the material and made it their own was pretty impressive.
Agreed.
They made a Metallica song their own, in front of Metallica, at a tribute show. And everyone went nuts.
Yeah, that cover was fucking awesome
Anthrax & Public Enemy bring the Noise was not only a great cover, but the first big hip hop metal collab and a milestone in the development of rap metal. Also Tainted Love by Softcell is a cover of a lesser known 60's soul song, and their version was covered by Marilyn Manson in 2001
Aerosmith and run dmc
I'd struggle to call Aerosmith metal, it's rock at best.
But it was first and pretty good but Anthrax and P.E awesome crossover, heavy as imo.
We definitely need a volume 2 of this. GWAR doing Carry on my Wayward Son, Faith No More doing Easy, fordirelifesake doing Love Song, Deadsy doing Tom Sawyer, Nonpoint doing the only song people remember Nonpoint for.
What a Day?
Bullet With a Name?
Bullet with a Name?
Pretty sure it's "In The Air Tonight".
GWAR's cover is amazing and they're cover of Jim Carroll's "People Who Died" in tribute to Oderus.
Killswitch absolutely hammers "Holy Diver". I'm not a huge DIO fan but that's his best song and it might be Killswitch's best song too.
Metallica's cover of 'Turn The Page' is a banger as well.
Imma take Whiskey in the Jar. Or Mercyful Fate. Or the whole damn Garage. They're the best cover band.
Boomer take
@@anarcho-savagery2097 lmfao born in '91 but ok
@@seanyk3 yo most 30 year olds are still in middle school mentally lol 😆 age don't mean sh!t lol
@@anarcho-savagery2097 wait till you're in your 30's lol. People like what they like🤙
100% agree with you on the Sweet dreams cover. That guitar playing, from a musician's standpoint, is otherworldly and amazing. Much respect to guitarist and co-founder of the band Scott Puteskey (Daisy Berkowitz) RIP 🤘🤘 Spooky Kids forever!!
Fear Factorys cover of Cars, and Orgies cover of Blue Monday are both great too. I remember Machine Heads cover of Message in a Bottle being cool, but I've not listened to it in a while so don't know how it's aged.
If Johnny Cash covers a song, that’s Johnny’s song now
You should do a tier list of all of New Found Glory's covers, Kings of pop punk cover songs imo
I was fully prepared to disagree with you about Alien Ant Farm until you explained, but I completely agree with you. An awesome band I wish people checked out more of than just that cover.
Alien Ant Farm is criminally underrated!
I thought Supernaught was a Ministry original for my entire time in high school. The way they played it live made it sound like it was their own.
You have to add Disturbed’s cover of Phil Collin’s “Land of Confusion”. It’s a great cover! Not as great as their “Sound of Silence” cover but definitely A tier at least!
The Ataris cover of "Boys of Summer" should be legally required to be included on any list of best covers.
Thanks for your videos, man! ❤ They're all super cool.
Disturbeds cover of Land of Confusion is also really great. Also the Foo Fighters cover of Darling Nikki. Most Nirvana covers were also really great.
Probably an incandescent take but It Dies Today made the perfect cover of Enjoy The Silence. The detail on the keyboards really does it for me and I appreciate them not being afraid to change up the melodies a little (even if it is to something a bit simpler, harmonically speaking).
Great call
My favorite. Lacuna Coil also covered this song
Solid AAF take. Movies is an all-time tune.
Absolutely perfect list Finn! Couldn't agree with you more! I 100% believe that 'Hurt' is the best cover of all time, hands down. Another good one imo is Placebo's cover of 'Daddy Cool'. I also personally really like Mindless Self Indulgence's cover of 'Bring The Pain'. MCR'S cover of 'Astro Zombies' is fun, so is Ben Folds doing 'Bitches Ain't Shit.'
My fave covers:
- Bad Omens covering Duran Duran’s “Come Undone”
- Fall Out Boy covering MJ’s “Beat It”
- Kim Dracula covering Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”
The Fall Out Boy version of Beat It is great
Denzel Curry - Bulls on Parade should get an honorable mention. It isn't really a cover because he doesn't really put his personal spin on it, but it was so good that it made me go check out his other stuff and become a fan.
Hearts live cover of Stairway To Heaven at the Led Zeppelin tribute was amazing. How is it not on this list :(
Beautiful cover
Brooks and Dunn covers My Maria. That’s a very well done cover
Lmao I've listened to the Brooks and Dunn version a lot and never knew it was a cover.
I can’t wait for part 2 where we rank Coal Chamber’s cover of “Shock the Monkey” featuring Ozzie Osborne!
Five Finger Death Punch has a good cover of Bad Company though in my opinion. They basically just took the song and made it a Five Finger Death Punch song, which makes sense but works really well.
Great list Finn! Will you consider doing these tiers on bands discographies? Like Slayer tier ranking?
Watch your stuff every upload 👍😃👍
One of my favourite ones is the Deftones's cover of "Drive" by The Cars, respects the essence and smoothness of the original without copying it. I love that one, Chino's voice sounds cool on that one.
Surprised Orgys cover of blue monday isn’t on here!
Movies by AAF is a JAM!!
Also RHCP guitar sound on Higher Ground is epic.
It never fails, every day on my lunch break I open RUclips and they suggest Finn’s newest video to me. So thanks for making my lunches have substance 🤣🖤
nothing like the pure enjoyment of a finn tier list after a long work week!
Sounds of Silence done by Evergreen Terrace
P.O.D. cover of Bullet the Blue Sky
Nonpoint over of In The Air Tonight
Orgy doing Blue Monday... So many other good covers
Agony Scene - Paint it Black was always really fun. Metallica- Turn the Page did a great job of capturing the essence of the original while still making it their own. Limp Bizkit-Faith needs to get a look, even if it sounds dated. Coalesce-Vehicle, better than the original. Dan Swano's cover of Mercyful Fate's Melissa-also better than the original. Nonpoint-Children's Story. A bit cringe but fun (See also Korn-Wicked). GNR-Live and Let Die. Dimmu Borgir-Burn in Hell
Totally agree about alien ant farm being underrated. The whole antology album is great, so many good originals.
I think Attitude might be one of the best songs ever.
Love these!
This is how I think about covers too. I don't want to hear the same song just played by another artist, I want to hear it reinterpreted as if the artist had been the original writer. One of my favorite covers is Metallica's cover of Bob Seger's Turn The Page as it sounds like a song Load/Reload era Metallica could have actually written themselves. Their cover of Whiskey In The Jar is pretty good too, but it's basically just Thin Lizzy's version
Johnny Cash covering NIN really was a weird concept, but it definitely worked. I think Cash's cover is even better than the original, something that almost never happens.
Also Puddle of Mudd's cover is S tier only because it's so funny to watch the lead singer's face as he clearly is severely constipated. It reminds me of Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem.
Also also, anything MGK does is S++++ tier by default because he is the greatest musician of all time. Did you know MGK killed Osama bin Laden with his bare hands? Obama and Seal Team 6 get the credit, but secretly is was MGK. MGK also created the Covid vaccine.
disturbed's sound of silence cover is easily S tier. i don't ike disturbed, but that cover is everything a great cover should be. Great performance, great arrangement (save for the kind amateur ending), recontextualized in a new genre. Chef kiss
The #1 greatest cover of all time is (easily) Hendrix doing All Along the Watchtower.. even Bob Dylan said Jimi did it better!
Even if you don’t like System of a Down, Chop Suey is a masterpiece. The meaning of the song being that we look at people who die of a drug overdose or suicide differently than others and say they almost deserved it is very serious. The “Why have you forsaken me” line is emotional as fuck in that song once you hear what it’s actually about.
*yawns*
The song is about god can't save you
@@atvena That’s absolutely wrong. You can interpret it however you want, but what I said is actually straight from the guitarist of the band’s mouth
@@alexschneider8494 the forsaken me line is straight out of the bible being the last words Jesus uttered on the cross
@@atvena I’m aware that line is biblical. That doesn’t literally mean that the song is about “God can’t save you.”
Amon Amarth covered Aerials by SOAD and I think its not horrible.
Wtf😂
I enjoy another Disturbed cover Land of Confusion(Genesis). Some other covers to consider if you do this again:
Shinedown- Simple Man(Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Orgy- Blue Monday(New Order)
Metallica- Turn the Page(Bob Seger)
Korn- Another Brick inn the Wall(Pink Floyd)
Ataris- The Boys of Summer(Don Henley)
Alien Ant Farms song Whisper off that album is so good. Well the whole album is good.
To me Johnny Cash's version of Hurt is the GOAT of recorded music. An objectively good song can easily not be enough without the right person performing it.
I never originally cared for Song of Silence by Disturbed (nor Disturbed) till I saw them last month w/ a friend. It was gorgeous, full of emotion, Dave broke down at the end. They put on a hell of a show and Draiman seems a legitimately great guy. Had tons of positive words, brought a disabled fan onstage, sang happy bday to a 6 y/o kid in front. Really changed my opinion.
Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O'Connor is a great cover, that many thought was an original by her.
I can’t listen to the Alien Ant Farm’s Smooth Criminal cover without picturing that scene from American Pie 2 where Jim accidentally super glued his hand to his junk
sound of silence D tier
Way too high of a ranking
S tier damnit!!
😂 drunk?it's a fantastic song,you may not like it but it sold millions of copies,technically it's on point,it's a classic... 10/10 cover if you ask me.
@@punkrockdidi It’s called the Sound Of Silence not the Sound Of Yelling.
NGL I unironically LOVE the Bodom cover of Oops I Did It Again because of the lack of seriousness! Loved it for years!
"Smooth Criminal" made me relisten to "Movies" and really like it.
Atreyu’s “You Give Love a Bad Name” is an amazing cover.
My top votes for top covers would be A Day to Remember "Since You Been Gone" and Electric Callboy "Everytime We Touch" Honorable mention and guilty pleasure would be Stretch Armstrong "Get This Party Started". I also feel like New Found Glory should be mentioned but I don't know what song to pick.
3:20 AAF’s entire first two albums have no skips ALL BANGERS
I agree I love when a cover stands on its own and some don’t even know it’s a cover just like when Metallica covered the song Whiskey in the Jar I personally love that song when they did it. And System of a Down did a cover of a Wu Tang Clan song and it was awesome.
Berzerker’s version of All The Things She Said needs to go there next
Anthrax’s Got The Time is a cover btw
AAF is definitely underrated and Smooth Criminal is definitely an S tier cover.
Michael Jackson liked it so much that he gave them approval to release the song. Great homage to him.
Smooth Criminal and Movies both got me into more mainstream Rock as a lil' kid in the 90s.
Limp bizkits faith, also their live cover of sanitarium is epic
Edit: also their cover of thieves by ministry
Listen to nu metal
Throwdown “Baby Got Back” is another good fun one 😂
Finn this channel makes me wanna start twitchin'
Johnny Cash's cover of Rusty Cage by Soundgarden was also really good, despite sounding very different.
Alien Ant Farm’s first two albums were great! My best friend in high school gave me my nickname because of the original Movies vid, the one where they’re at the movies! Danial San, eventually turned into Dan Yolsen, and then to just Yolsen and that stuck all throughout highschool and a little after
My friend who I started playing music with when we were like 11, he never sang the songs as they were supposed to be sung. It took me years, but eventually I asked him why he doesn't sing the songs like they're actually sung and he claimed that he was "making them his own". Now combine this with literally never hitting a correct note ever. Not once. Wretched singer. Once I started actually getting good at music in my late teens, I had to tell him that I don't want to make music with him anymore because I'm not confident in his abilities (verbatim).
My favourite cover though? 99 Red Balloons by Goldfinger. That riff fucks so hard.
The whole Renegades album is an amazing example of an artist making covers their own. The songs on that album sound like so much like Rage and fit in pretty much perfectly with all of their other music.
Cash's cover of Hurt is so good that after hearing it Trent Reznor said that the song doesn't belong to him anymore.
I’ve never had bigger goosebumps for a song in my life than from Cash’s Hurt cover. That recording came out from the absolute depths of Johnny’s soul.
Cash's cover takes the crown, hands down. If I may add to the list...
Miley Cyrus' cover of Blondie's "Heart of Glass"
Orgy's cover of New Order's "Blue Monday"
NIN's cover of Joy Division's "Dark Souls"
Gary Jules' cover of Tears For Fears' "Mad World"
Jeff Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"
1000 Homo DJ's cover of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut"
Fear Factory's cover of Gary Numan's "Cars"
Video idea: Tier list - Best to Worst use of samples in a song
There's a Broken Bells cover of The Beatles And I Love Her that I can't find anymore that was done live on a late night show and it's brilliant. So good.
Alien Ant Farms Anthology is a no-skip album and the "Smooth Criminal" cover is not even top 5 songs on the album. "Sticks and Stones" "Flesh and Bone" "Calico" "Stranded"... "Summer" so fucking good!
I loved that AAF cover so much, but like you said, I never got into anything else, Wish was on the THPS3 soundtrack, and it's great too, but that was the extent. I only heard Movies like a year ago, and it's just an amazing song, so underrated, I can't believe it didn't completely blow up! And for some reason I stopped there too, maybe I should try and get into their stuff. Oh, and they are perfect live too, flawless!
3:28 I remember seeing them in 2002. After playing Movies, Dryden said, "That's our best song. Now, here's the one that fucked everything up." Then, they went into Smooth Criminal.
Also, Linkin Park’s cover of “Wish” by NIN is SICK. It’s a sleeper and not widely known.
I love the children of bodom simply because it’s an example of a band not taking themselves seriously. Love their cover of CCR “Looking out my back door”
Wish by AAF from THPS3 was awesome. It got me into the band before I discovered the Smooth Criminal cover. I don't entirely feel bad for them though because they made a lot of bad decisions trying to force "Movies" to be a hit rather than moving onto new material and hitting the drawing board.
When I was younger my dad had a group of friends (one of them taught karate and had a dojo) and they would workout together in the dojo and I would just hangout. The Alien Ant Farm version of smooth criminal was on their playlist and I’d just rock out and I became a huge fan of the band. I didn’t even know it was a cover for a few years.
A Static Lullaby’s version of Brittany Spears’ “Toxic” is a goodn’
I agree and I’m glad someone finally agrees with me on Alien Ant Farm.
Spontaneousness in creating music can lead to some lightning in a bottle moments, spontaneousness in covering music you never practiced, struck by lightning
If only tonight I could sleep - Deftones, Simple Man - Deftones both awesome Covers! Champs Elysees - NOFX, Sabotage - Cancer Bats, Small Town Boy - Paradise Lost, Unbreak my Heart - Weezer, Durch den Monsun - Callejon ( The only way to listen to Tokyo Bordello), Losing my Religion - Lacuna Coil, Meet me half way - Haste the Day, and the best covers so far: Seether - Careless Whisper and A Perfect Circle - Imagine. I would give both the highest rating
I love it. Finally, a Tier list I 100% agree with. Good call my dude.