The Beatles’ legendary cover of ‘Twist & Shout‘, came in at number two, with Johnny Cash’s emotional cover of ‘Hurt‘, which was released shortly before his death in 2003, came in at #3.
Over 15,000 music lovers voted online at NME.com, with the likes of Nirvana, The Clash and The White Stripes also making the list. Jimi Hendrix has two tracks on the top ten, for his take on ‘Hey Joe‘ and Bob Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower‘.
There was also a sister poll to find the ten worst covers of all time, Britney Spears’ dubious take of ‘I Love Rock n Roll‘ polling the most votes, narrowly ahead of Boyzone member Ronan Keating’s version of The Pogues’ Christmas hit ‘Fairytale Of New York‘.
10 Best Covers Of All Time:
1/ Muse – ‘Feeling Good’
2/ The Beatles – ‘Twist and Shout’
3/ Johnny Cash – ‘Hurt’
4/ Jimi Hendrix – ‘Hey Joe’
5/ Nirvana – ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night’
6/ The Clash – ‘I Fought The Law’
7/ Jeff Buckley – ‘Hallelujah’
8/ Jimi Hendrix – ‘All Along The Watchtower’
9/ Marvin Gaye – ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’
10/ The White Stripes – ‘I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself’
10 Worst Covers Of All Time:
1/ Britney Spears – ‘I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll’
2/ Ronan Keating – ‘Fairytale of New York’
3/ Celine Dion – ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’
4/ Take That – ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’
5/ M People – ‘Itchycoo Park’
6/ Robbie Williams – ‘Song 2’
7/ Will Young – ‘Light My Fire’
8/ Madonna – ‘American Pie
9/ Limp Bizkit – ‘Faith’
10/ Mark Ronson – ‘No One Knows’
How about Tiffany’s “I Saw Him Standing There” as one of the worst covers of all time?
My favourite cover is George Michael’s “The First time ever I saw your face”
I absolutely love Will Young’s Light my Fire – people tend to compare it to the doors (original) version, but it is a take on the Jose Feliciano version. I love Will’s voice!
We all have different musical tastes and thank the Lord for that!