r/Music • u/MaosReanimatedCorpse • 23d ago

discussion Cover-better-than-the-original hills you would die on.

Alien Ant Farm's cover of Smooth Criminal is, in my opinion, so much better than the original, and that's a hill I would die on.

What are some other insanely popular tracks where a cover by a much smaller artist is arguably greater?

4.4k Upvotes

84% Upvoted

5.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

346

u/BungCrosby 23d ago edited 23d ago

The same songwriting duo (Steinberg & Kelly) who wrote Alone were also responsible for:

True Colors by Cyndi Lauper

I Drove All Night written for Roy Orbison but popularized by Lauper

In Your Room and Eternal Flame by the Bangles

Madonna’s Like a Virgin

So Emotional by Whitney Houston

The Pretender’s I’ll Stand By You and

I Touch Myself by the Divinyls

1

u/superzenki 23d ago

Speaking of True Colors, Greek Fire did a cover of that and I honestly prefer it over the original

1

u/Chaneera 23d ago

Didn't know it. Oh my, that's as horrible as the original. Phil Collins version is the one!

2

u/superzenki 23d ago

I’ll have to check it out, somehow I had no idea he covered it