I guess I should begin this by saying that I don't listen to nearly as much metal as I used to, so I wouldn't be surprised if there
are some really great songs I'm forgetting. That being said, I'd like to present to you Dr. Jeebus' list of the top 10 greatest metal
covers of non-metal songs!
Honorable Mention goes to Manowar - Sting of the Bumblebee: This is basically a very metal version of the song "Flight of the Bumblebee"
by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. It only receives an honorable mention because, while awesome, it doesn't really fit with the rest of the
list since it's orchestral. I couldn't possibly let this slide by without being at least mentioned, however.
#10. Marilyn Manson - Tainted Love: This loses points because it was technically a cover of a cover. The song was originally released by
Gloria Jones, but was then covered by Soft Cell in 1981.
#9. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Love Rollercoaster: This cover of the song by The Ohio Players became famous by being on the soundtrack to
"Beavis and Butt-Head Do America". The two versions are surprisingly similar, as all the Chili Peppers really did was remove most of the funk
and drop the vocals down an octave, but it's still quality.
#8. System of a Down - Metro: There's a very good chance you haven't heard of this song as the original version is by German band Berlin, and
I don't believe this cover was ever on an American released album by System of a Down. As you would expect, System of a Down made the
song a lot faster, and more shouty.
#7. Marilyn Manson - Personal Jesus: The original version of this song is about the only decent thing that Depeche Mode ever did. Fortunately,
it led do a fantastic "Kids in the Hall" sketch where someone goes into a record store and when he asks if they have the new Depeche Mode album
is told "Yeah, but it sucks!". That's really all I have to say on this song.
#6. Dope - You Spin Me Right Round: I can't tell you where on Earth I heard of this cover seeing as the original Dead or Alive version is in
the Adam Sandler movie "The Wedding Singer", but this is an excellent song and it beats out the Marilyn Manson cover, if for no other
reason than he has too many covers on this list already.
#5. Powerman 5000 - Relax: It's really hard to improve on the classic Frankie Goes to Hollywood song, and it's even harder to think of a reason
why anyone would want to. Fortunately for us, "Zoolander" was that reason.
#4. Korn - Word Up: This sounds surprisingly similar to the original Cameo version of the song, but it's still great.
#3. Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams: For years I actually thought Marilyn Manson wrote this song. I didn't hear the original Eurhythmics
version until like the end of junior high or so, and I thought it was pretty much crap after being so used to the much heavier version.
It's certainly better than I gave it credit for, but nothing compared to the cover. For the record, Manson should probably stop covering
songs now.
#2. Disturbed - Shout 2000: This is my favourite track on Disturbed's first album, "Down With the Sickness". When one of the guys in my apartment
sophomore year in Miami heard me listening to this, he pulled up the Devo version of the song and we blasted our speakers to see if we could
line them up because they sounded like they had the same tempo, but Disturbed's version is actually a bit faster, and a lot more awesome.
#1. Throwdown - Baby Got Back: I do love the original version of this song by Sir Mix-a-Lot, but I have to say that this is the greatest
cover of anything ever. I'm not saying it's better than the original, as the songs are really too different to even compare. In fact,
that's part of what makes this cover so excellent. Anyone who hasn't heard this song absolutely needs to.
We still don't live in a perfect world, but props to Tebor for providing me with the code I needed to embed the mp3's. Enjoy everyone!
I invented the piano key necktie! What have you ever done?
© 2008 by Dr. Jeebus