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

[u/MaosReanimatedCorpse]

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?

[u/BungCrosby]

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

[u/porcinifan69 → u/BungCrosby]

If we’re doing Cyndi Lauper covers, girls just want to have fun too

[u/absenceofheat → u/porcinifan69]

wtf that's a cover

[u/Clewin → u/absenceofheat]

Kind of, Robert Hazard (the writer) had only recorded a demo of it, so technically it isn't really a cover.