Sometimes, I prefer the cover

Earlier this week, Weezer released "The Teal Album", a 10 song LP of all covers. It got the Twitter meme treatment, because it was a little weird to hear 4 white guys playing "No Scrubs". But it was GOOD. That got me thinking -- the concept of covers is really awesome. It's a way for an artist to play one of their favorite songs, and make something brand new.

Sometimes... I prefer the cover.

I'm not talking about tweens on YouTube with a ukulele cover of the latest Katy Perry song. I'm talking about real artists covering each other's already great songs. This can't be the normal shtick for someone either, so you won't find any Ed Sheeran on this list, or any of those folks that do exclusively covers of hot songs. This is just unadulterated, usually live, covers.

The strongest case to start on is one that some people don't even realize is the cover: Johnny Cash's Hurt came out almost a decade after Nine Inch Nails first debuted the song. Yes, it's a cover, and while I can appreciate any angry mid-90s rock song, Cash's cover reveals this vulnerability in the lyrics. The realization that the words he's singing are true brings so much pain to the song, and I'm hooked.

Young the Giant, Ignition (Remix): I know we cancelled R.Kelly. Justifiably so. But this is the only song that should be saved from the wreckage. We can just call it their song now? (Apologies for the video quality here, AV Undercover deleted the original video)

Declan McKenna, Hold Up: I'm not a big Beyonce guy. I'll give you a minute to calm down after hearing that... Ok. Declan McKenna is basically a gender-fluid McLovin and I am here for it. The mini solo he hits in this song is amazing, too. Listen to the whole thing, he sneaks another song in. Check out his cover of Malibu (Miley Cyrus) as well.

Vance Joy, You Can Call Me Al: This is a case of someone I love covering someone else I love and just bringing it right over the edge. It might help that this is live and you can feel the horns a bit more, but I digress.

MisterWives, Ride: I hate 21 Pilots. I see the talent there, but their theatricality feels so forced. This cover made me rethink this song completely and I love it. It doesn't hurt that the lead singer of MisterWives, Amanda Lee Duffy, is a goddamn powerhouse. My girlfriend once saw her sing and do push-ups at the same time during a show.

Harry Styles, The Chain: Fleetwood Mac is an all time great band, I’m not going to argue that. I just feel like his vocals on this track are punchier and have a little more.

Post Malone, something at every concert: Posty is kind of the king of this whole thing. There’s a litany of videos on YouTube of him covering Metallica, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, and more. He’s a hell of a guitarist and when he’s playing on his pink glitter acoustic (which is right on brand). His voice is so unique that it brings a brand new flavor to any song. Plus, you can tell he grew up on this stuff by the way he’s singing.

I follow a few different places to get these. BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge is where you can find the more mainstream artists, like a 1975 cover of Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” with a choir. Then there’s Triple J’s Like a Version. Great name aside, this is an Australian station has some lesser known bands and European acts, but will sometimes sneak in someone like Childish Gambino covering “So Into You” by Tamia. Another old favorite of mine that has since been redacted was AV Undercover, which I mentioned earlier. They have a list of songs each season and invite artists to pick a song. But once it’s been covered, it gets removed off the list. This results in some bands being forced to cover something that they don’t like or haven’t heard, which is fun to see. Most of the songs have been removed from their channel, but you can still search for the older seasons that have been reposted by a fan.

So, there you have it. Some random recommendations from an admitted contrarian. Sometimes, the cover finds something else in the song that you didn’t know was there. There’s a playlist linked here at the bottom of some other things that I couldn’t include here, listen if you want.