Honestly?

easy:



Maybe it's just because it's done live, but I've always thought this one was more immediate and "real" than the Fleet Foxes version.

Rod Stewart - Downtown Train

And, like an earlier mention elsewhere, I expect most people to call that blasphemy.

Also, Set the Night to Music, by Roberta Flack and Maxi Priest. I prefer rock to R&B, but the original Starship version is lame.

I can think of one. I didn't buy A Thousand Suns but this cover for The Catalyst really owns. :thumb:

I might or might not be alone on this, but I prefer Les Claypools' Fearless Flying Frog Brigade's covers of Pink Floyd's Animals album, from Pigs on the Wing, to Dogs, to Three Different Ones, to Sheep, to Pigs on the Wing 2. It's a live set, but I love it to death. Especially their Dogs.

While I'm on the subject of Les Claypool, here's the Primus songs that are covers that I enjoy more than the originals:

Amos Moses - original by Jerry Reed
Behind My Camel - original by The Police
Hello Skinny - original by The Residents [close one]
Intruder - original by Peter Gabriel
Making Plans for Nigel - original by XTC
Scissor Man - original by XTC
Silly Putty - original by Stanley Clarke [close one]
Sinister Exaggerator - original by The Residents
The Thing That Should Not Be - original by Metallica [This is the only example we have of what it would sound like if Les landed the audition after Cliff passed away]


Tool:

No Quarter - original by Led Zeppelin [close one]
Spasm - original by Peach
You Lied - original by Peach [close one]

CAKE:

Guitar Man - original by Bread
Multiply the Heartache - original by George Jones
I Will Survive - original by Gloria Gaynor [infinitely more enjoyable]
Jolene - original by Dolly Parton
Never Gonna Give You Up - original by Barry White
Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps - original by Doris Day
Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town - original by Kenny Rogers
Sad Songs and Waltzes - original by Willie Nelson
Strangers in the Night - original by Frank Sinatra

More to come

This is a fun thread. I thing always be my baby by David Cook is better compared to the original version of Mariah.

I would say Lady Gaga's You and I song covers are two times better than the real record.

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In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Slayer



. . . better than Iron Butterfly.

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Rage Against The Machine- The Ghost Of Tom Joad(Bruce Springsteen)
Lake Off Fire- Nirvana(meat puppets)
The Man Who Sold The World- Nirvana(david bowie)
Sumertime Blues- Rush(blue cheer)