Some covers dare to tackle sacred cows in music and transcend their source material. So I'd like to present three such covers that I personally like better than the original.
Devo were an art band whose concept was "de-evolution". The thesis was that humanity is regressing into conformity, consumerism and herd behaviour.
One of their first ever singles was a cover of The Rolling Stones "Satisfaction", reworked into something unrecognisable. The track is jerky and mechanical, like the original song was stripped for parts, commodified and repackaged, much the concept of "de-evolution" itself, working the song into the band's own mythology.
Mick Jagger loved this cover, even though the band were nervous he would think they were taking the mickey out of the Stones. This cover is highly regarded. I'm not offering a controversial take here. But I thought I'd lead with it because I will go on to defend some less popular opinions, and this track exemplifies everything I really like in a cover: transformation, recontextualisation, and a beat you can dance to.
Devo even acquired their own cover band later in their career. DEV2.0, basically a kidz bop version with child performers, signed to Disney records. The edgier lyrics are swapped out for clean, child-friendly substitutes, all of the punk leanings are processed down into inoffensive fluff. Devo fans usually hate this band's existence and say it is a massive act of selling out that goes against everything Devo stands for. I would say those people should open their eyes and realise it's de-evolution in practice. Another notch down the ladder from art to commodity, which is exactly what Devo have been about since the beginning.
All Saints are an underrated 90s British girl pop band that get dismissed as one of many Spice Girls clones that came out of that era, but I'd argue they were the best. They had great voices, they wrote their own songs, and they had the musical ambition to cover songs like Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under the Bridge".
One important thing about this song is that "the city" itself is a character. In the original, it's Los Angeles: "the city of angels". All Saints manage to change the character, intentionally or not, to London, changing that line to "the city of cities". The moody r&b arrangement, tolling bells, and UK garage music influences evoke the cold, dense landscape of London. They also change lyrics like "the city, she loves me" to "HE loves me". Whenever a pronoun swap is implemented in covers when the singer is of a different gender, it normally feels like the musical equivalent of shouting "no homo" - but in this context, it works. London is a masculine city. In the original, Kiedis sings solo against an acoustic guitar, creating an intimate, personal, lonely feel. All Saints sing in harmony, creating a communal kind of lament like ghosts in the night of a modern city that's ancient underneath.
It's a bloody interesting cover that gets hate because it's a pop girl group touching something "serious". But they pull it off in a way that's sophisticated and cool. Every time I hear the RHCP version it leaves me craving All Saints.
This obscure 2004 live album by ska-punk outfit The Arrogant Sons of Bitches was recorded at some kind of halloween show where ska bands would perform covers (just for a change, I guess). The band performed "in character", and obviously rather inebriated, as Radiohead, covering a variety of their songs.
This is more parody than serious cover. ASOB continuously take the piss out of Radiohead but they're clearly big fans, based solely on the fact that they're able to cover no less than 12 tracks from a variety of albums. Unlike me who tried to get into Radiohead but found them too whiny and pretentious. It was actually this album that helped me appreciate them a bit more.
Amazingly, the songs completely survive being stripped of their signature angst and rebuilt as ska-punk bangers. In fact, it's an improvement. "No Surprises" becomes fast and danceable. "Fake Plastic Trees" enriches the melody more than the original - it sounds like it was always meant to be a ska-punk track. The genre swap exposes the fact that despite Radiohead's serious and gloomy affect, the songs are secretly pop songs underneath. Stripping away the solemnity makes them better. Even the interlude track "Fitter Happier", instead of being recited ominously by a robot voice, is screamed frantically amid blasts of guitar, and is much more convincing as demented ranting than something trying way too hard to be deep. ASOB remove the sense of high importance that always surrounds Radiohead and just play the songs with raw energy and playfulness, and that turns out to be a lot more fun.
The thing all three of these covers have in common is they're each a tiny bit disrespectful. Devo deconstruct a rock classic and rebuild it according to their own artistic philosophy. All Saints transplant a deeply personal song into a completely different city and musical culture. The Arrogant Sons of Bitches take Radiohead down a peg and reveal the hidden joy. The artists leave their own fingerprints all over the material and it's a risk that pays off.
Delighted to announce I am branching out into music criticism. Just waiting for someone more qualified to tell me to sit down
— Hannah Shelley, MLIS (Metadata, Lattes & Impostor Syndrome) (@hannahshelley.site) June 12, 2026 at 12:47 AM
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