An A-Z of great cover songs

With covers being the latest craze right now, I wanted to post a list including some of my favourite songs done by some of my favourite artists who manage to do the song justice. One person who isn't on the list is a one trick pony who goes by the name of Mark Ronson. On the subject of crappy covers, that Instant Karma album released a few weeks ago is awful too.

I went through my entire 20,000 song collection on itunes to find cover versions and sure enough I found each and every one of them (including the original versions) on youtube which amazes me. It took me a few hours to make this list up but if you only have time to check out one, make it Foo Fighters.

Arcade Fire & U2: Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division original)
Alicia Keys ft Adam Levine: Wild Horses (The Rolling Stones original)
Barenaked Ladies: Careless Whisper (George Michael original)
Beastie Boys: Radio Radio (Elvis Costello original)
Chris Cornell: Thank You (Led Zeppelin original)
Cat Power: Satisfaction (Rolling Stones original)
Divine Comedy: No One Knows (Queens Of The Stone Age original)
Dave Grohl: Tiny Dancer (Elton John original)
Elliott Smith: Jealous Guy (John Lennon original)
Eva Cassidy: Fields Of Gold (Sting original)
Foo Fighters: Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin original)
Flaming Lips: Can't Get You Out Of My Head (Kylie Minogue original)
Gary Jules: Mad World (Tears For Fears original)
Gipsy Kings: Hotel California (The Eagles original)
Israel Kamakawiwo: Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Judy Garland)
Indigo Girls: Romeo & Juliet (Dire Straights original)
Jeff Buckley: Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen original)
Joe Cocker: With A Little Help From My Friends (Beatles original)
KT Tunstall: Want You Back (Jackson Five original)
Killers: Shadowplay (Joy Division original)
Lilly Allen: Naive (The Kooks original)
Lemonheads: Mrs Robinson (Simon & Garfunkel original)
Muse: Feeling Good (Nina Simone original)
Marvin Gaye: Yesterday (The Beatles original)
Nirvana: The Man Who Sold The World (David Bowie original)
Nina Gordon: Straight Outta Compton (N.W.A. original)
Offspring: Feelings (Morris Albert original)
Ok Go: Don't Bring Me Down (ELO original)
Paul Anka: Eye Of The Tiger (Survivor original)
Placebo: Runnin Up That Hill (Kate Bush original)
Rufus Wainwright: Across The Universe (The Beatles original)
Radiohead: Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon original)
Siouxsie And The Banshees: Dear Prudence (Beatles original)
Stereophonics: Handbags And Gladrags (Rod Steward original)
Travis: Hit Me Baby One More Time (Britney Spears original)
Tori Amos: I Don't Like Mondays (Boomtown Rats original)
U2: Helter Skelter (The Beatles original)
Urge Overkill: Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon (Neil Diamond original)
Van Halen: You Really Got Me (The Kinks original)
Vic Reeves: Dizzy (Tommy Roe original)
Weezer: Big Me (Foo Fighters original)
White Stripes: Jolene (Dolly Parton original)

There isn't exactly a huge amount of X, Y and Z bands that I know of so no covers from Xtreme, Yellowcard or Zapp & Roger. Which is a relief because they're crap. More tomorrow.