Ranking the WORST and BEST cover songs (tier list) 

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My 21 year old son was floored in disbelief when I revealed to him that hurt is a cover. He just couldn’t wrap his brain around it.

I remember my nephew came into my room and said “Dude Nine inch nails did a cover of Johnny Cash’s Hurt” haha I couldn’t help but giggle.

Orgy cover of Blue Monday is top tier imo, the industrial touch on it fits perfectly

Rick Rubin said that the reason the JC' s cover of 'Hurt' is so good is because Trent's version is about a young man who realizes he's throwing his life away, while Cash's version is of a man at the end of his life who realizes he already threw it away.

Holy Diver by Killswitch Engage is also a really good cover, in my opinion

All Along the Watchtower by Hendrix has to be one of the best covers of all time.

And regarding Hurt, Trent even said that he’s openly givin the song to cash. Trent wrote it, but claims it’s 100% johnnys song after the cover came out. Which I think is just fantastic

Quality content... so many songs to consider. "Faith" Limp Bizkit, "Cinnamon Girl" Type O, "Children Of The Grave" White Zombie, "Ghost Of Tom Joad" RATM, "Word Up" Korn... it's neverending.

AAF’s debut album is still one of my favorite albums. Movies was my favorite track, but Smooth Criminal was an excellent video and got their name to the masses.

Boys of the Summer by the Ataris is an amazing cover and I will always give Sugar Ray credit for covering Abracadabra and somehow making it not creepy as hell

Cash's cover of "Rusted Cage" is also S-tier. I love both, but they are so different.

Cash’s cover of Hurt was so good that I didn’t know it was a cover until years later. I’m not a fan of NIN so I wasn’t familiar with the song. Imagine my shock

denzel curry's cover of bulls on parade was pretty good too, and faith no more's cover of commodores was also really good.

Alien Ant Farm was the 3rd album I ever purchased. I always thought the world didn't deserve their talent. So underrated.

It always surprises me that Sepultura's cover of Orgasmatron never gets mentioned when people are talking about great covers!

When Disturbed does SoS live they always bring a string duo/trio and have a Timpani and Piano on stage. It's really awesome to hear and experience live.

i'm stoked to know that Finn likes Alien Ant Farm. that band is super underrated and "Movies" is a fantastic song.

Alein ant farm is so underrated, courage and movies are such good songs. That whole first album is so strong.

Finn, the european power metal scene is FULL of fun and humour. None of these bands take themselves so seriously.

Bad company by FFDP is a good cover in my opinion, everything can be said about FFDP but that cover is great especially the solo. Besides it’s one of their most popular songs and that says a lot I think (just like Marilyn Manson, Disturbed and AAF)

Anthrax & Public Enemy bring the Noise was not only a great cover, but the first big hip hop metal collab and a milestone in the development of rap metal. Also Tainted Love by Softcell is a cover of a lesser known 60's soul song, and their version was covered by Marilyn Manson in 2001

Limp Bizkit's rendition of Sanitarium they performed at the MTV Icons ceremony has always been one of my personal favorites. I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, but the way they handled the material and made it their own was pretty impressive.

I was hoping you'd cover "landslide" by smashing pumpkins, personally i think its great.

If Johnny Cash covers a song, that’s Johnny’s song now

The Ataris cover of "Boys of Summer" should be legally required to be included on any list of best covers.

Metallica's cover of 'Turn The Page' is a banger as well.

Soft Cell - Tainted Love is one of the greats, Manson's version could never dethrone it. The Clash - I Fought The Law has to be up there too.

I thought Supernaught was a Ministry original for my entire time in high school. The way they played it live made it sound like it was their own.

I was fully prepared to disagree with you about Alien Ant Farm until you explained, but I completely agree with you. An awesome band I wish people checked out more of than just that cover.

100% agree with you on the Sweet dreams cover. That guitar playing, from a musician's standpoint, is otherworldly and amazing. Much respect to guitarist and co-founder of the band Scott Puteskey (Daisy Berkowitz) RIP 🤘🤘 Spooky Kids forever!!

We definitely need a volume 2 of this. GWAR doing Carry on my Wayward Son, Faith No More doing Easy, fordirelifesake doing Love Song, Deadsy doing Tom Sawyer, Nonpoint doing the only song people remember Nonpoint for.

Killswitch absolutely hammers "Holy Diver". I'm not a huge DIO fan but that's his best song and it might be Killswitch's best song too.

Fear Factorys cover of Cars, and Orgies cover of Blue Monday are both great too. I remember Machine Heads cover of Message in a Bottle being cool, but I've not listened to it in a while so don't know how it's aged.

You should do a tier list of all of New Found Glory's covers, Kings of pop punk cover songs imo

Solid AAF take. Movies is an all-time tune.

Probably an incandescent take but It Dies Today made the perfect cover of Enjoy The Silence. The detail on the keyboards really does it for me and I appreciate them not being afraid to change up the melodies a little (even if it is to something a bit simpler, harmonically speaking).

Disturbeds cover of Land of Confusion is also really great. Also the Foo Fighters cover of Darling Nikki. Most Nirvana covers were also really great.

nothing like the pure enjoyment of a finn tier list after a long work week!

My fave covers: - Bad Omens covering Duran Duran’s “Come Undone” - Fall Out Boy covering MJ’s “Beat It” - Kim Dracula covering Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”

Hearts live cover of Stairway To Heaven at the Led Zeppelin tribute was amazing. How is it not on this list :(

Absolutely perfect list Finn! Couldn't agree with you more! I 100% believe that 'Hurt' is the best cover of all time, hands down. Another good one imo is Placebo's cover of 'Daddy Cool'. I also personally really like Mindless Self Indulgence's cover of 'Bring The Pain'. MCR'S cover of 'Astro Zombies' is fun, so is Ben Folds doing 'Bitches Ain't Shit.'

You have to add Disturbed’s cover of Phil Collin’s “Land of Confusion”. It’s a great cover! Not as great as their “Sound of Silence” cover but definitely A tier at least!

Brooks and Dunn covers My Maria. That’s a very well done cover

I can’t wait for part 2 where we rank Coal Chamber’s cover of “Shock the Monkey” featuring Ozzie Osborne! Five Finger Death Punch has a good cover of Bad Company though in my opinion. They basically just took the song and made it a Five Finger Death Punch song, which makes sense but works really well.

Thanks for your videos, man! ❤ They're all super cool.

Denzel Curry - Bulls on Parade should get an honorable mention. It isn't really a cover because he doesn't really put his personal spin on it, but it was so good that it made me go check out his other stuff and become a fan.

Movies by AAF is a JAM!! Also RHCP guitar sound on Higher Ground is epic.

Surprised Orgys cover of blue monday isn’t on here!

It never fails, every day on my lunch break I open RU-vid and they suggest Finn’s newest video to me. So thanks for making my lunches have substance 🤣🖤

Love these!

Totally agree about alien ant farm being underrated. The whole antology album is great, so many good originals.

Sounds of Silence done by Evergreen Terrace P.O.D. cover of Bullet the Blue Sky Nonpoint over of In The Air Tonight Orgy doing Blue Monday... So many other good covers

I can’t listen to the Alien Ant Farm’s Smooth Criminal cover without picturing that scene from American Pie 2 where Jim accidentally super glued his hand to his junk

One of my favourite ones is the Deftones's cover of "Drive" by The Cars, respects the essence and smoothness of the original without copying it. I love that one, Chino's voice sounds cool on that one.

Johnny Cash covering NIN really was a weird concept, but it definitely worked. I think Cash's cover is even better than the original, something that almost never happens. Also Puddle of Mudd's cover is S tier only because it's so funny to watch the lead singer's face as he clearly is severely constipated. It reminds me of Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem. Also also, anything MGK does is S++++ tier by default because he is the greatest musician of all time. Did you know MGK killed Osama bin Laden with his bare hands? Obama and Seal Team 6 get the credit, but secretly is was MGK. MGK also created the Covid vaccine.

I never originally cared for Song of Silence by Disturbed (nor Disturbed) till I saw them last month w/ a friend. It was gorgeous, full of emotion, Dave broke down at the end. They put on a hell of a show and Draiman seems a legitimately great guy. Had tons of positive words, brought a disabled fan onstage, sang happy bday to a 6 y/o kid in front. Really changed my opinion.

Smooth Criminal and Movies both got me into more mainstream Rock as a lil' kid in the 90s.

Finn this channel makes me wanna start twitchin'

Even if you don’t like System of a Down, Chop Suey is a masterpiece. The meaning of the song being that we look at people who die of a drug overdose or suicide differently than others and say they almost deserved it is very serious. The “Why have you forsaken me” line is emotional as fuck in that song once you hear what it’s actually about.

To me Johnny Cash's version of Hurt is the GOAT of recorded music. An objectively good song can easily not be enough without the right person performing it.

disturbed's sound of silence cover is easily S tier. i don't ike disturbed, but that cover is everything a great cover should be. Great performance, great arrangement (save for the kind amateur ending), recontextualized in a new genre. Chef kiss

Great list Finn! Will you consider doing these tiers on bands discographies? Like Slayer tier ranking? Watch your stuff every upload 👍😃👍

Amon Amarth covered Aerials by SOAD and I think its not horrible.

The #1 greatest cover of all time is (easily) Hendrix doing All Along the Watchtower.. even Bob Dylan said Jimi did it better!

3:20 AAF’s entire first two albums have no skips ALL BANGERS

sound of silence D tier

NGL I unironically LOVE the Bodom cover of Oops I Did It Again because of the lack of seriousness! Loved it for years!

This is how I think about covers too. I don't want to hear the same song just played by another artist, I want to hear it reinterpreted as if the artist had been the original writer. One of my favorite covers is Metallica's cover of Bob Seger's Turn The Page as it sounds like a song Load/Reload era Metallica could have actually written themselves. Their cover of Whiskey In The Jar is pretty good too, but it's basically just Thin Lizzy's version

Cash's cover of Hurt is so good that after hearing it Trent Reznor said that the song doesn't belong to him anymore.

Glad to see Undisputed Attitude made the video!

"Smooth Criminal" made me relisten to "Movies" and really like it.

Johnny Cash's cover of Rusty Cage by Soundgarden was also really good, despite sounding very different.

The whole Renegades album is an amazing example of an artist making covers their own. The songs on that album sound like so much like Rage and fit in pretty much perfectly with all of their other music.

I agree I love when a cover stands on its own and some don’t even know it’s a cover just like when Metallica covered the song Whiskey in the Jar I personally love that song when they did it. And System of a Down did a cover of a Wu Tang Clan song and it was awesome.

Atreyu’s “You Give Love a Bad Name” is an amazing cover.

I’ve never had bigger goosebumps for a song in my life than from Cash’s Hurt cover. That recording came out from the absolute depths of Johnny’s soul.

My friend who I started playing music with when we were like 11, he never sang the songs as they were supposed to be sung. It took me years, but eventually I asked him why he doesn't sing the songs like they're actually sung and he claimed that he was "making them his own". Now combine this with literally never hitting a correct note ever. Not once. Wretched singer. Once I started actually getting good at music in my late teens, I had to tell him that I don't want to make music with him anymore because I'm not confident in his abilities (verbatim). My favourite cover though? 99 Red Balloons by Goldfinger. That riff fucks so hard.

I agree and I’m glad someone finally agrees with me on Alien Ant Farm.

Alien Ant Farms song Whisper off that album is so good. Well the whole album is good.

Throwdown “Baby Got Back” is another good fun one 😂

I love a lot of the No use for a name covers those are awesome

Spontaneousness in creating music can lead to some lightning in a bottle moments, spontaneousness in covering music you never practiced, struck by lightning

I love the children of bodom simply because it’s an example of a band not taking themselves seriously. Love their cover of CCR “Looking out my back door”

I love it. Finally, a Tier list I 100% agree with. Good call my dude.

Alien Ant Farm’s first two albums were great! My best friend in high school gave me my nickname because of the original Movies vid, the one where they’re at the movies! Danial San, eventually turned into Dan Yolsen, and then to just Yolsen and that stuck all throughout highschool and a little after

Berzerker’s version of All The Things She Said needs to go there next Anthrax’s Got The Time is a cover btw

AAF is definitely underrated and Smooth Criminal is definitely an S tier cover. Michael Jackson liked it so much that he gave them approval to release the song. Great homage to him.

Cash's cover takes the crown, hands down. If I may add to the list... Miley Cyrus' cover of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" Orgy's cover of New Order's "Blue Monday" NIN's cover of Joy Division's "Dark Souls" Gary Jules' cover of Tears For Fears' "Mad World" Jeff Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" 1000 Homo DJ's cover of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut" Fear Factory's cover of Gary Numan's "Cars" Video idea: Tier list - Best to Worst use of samples in a song

Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O'Connor is a great cover, that many thought was an original by her.

Also, Linkin Park’s cover of “Wish” by NIN is SICK. It’s a sleeper and not widely known.

You had a chance to bring up the whole "Punk goes pop" discography xD

There's a Broken Bells cover of The Beatles And I Love Her that I can't find anymore that was done live on a late night show and it's brilliant. So good.

Watched the full 3 minute ad because I support my dude

I enjoy another Disturbed cover Land of Confusion(Genesis). Some other covers to consider if you do this again: Shinedown- Simple Man(Lynyrd Skynyrd) Orgy- Blue Monday(New Order) Metallica- Turn the Page(Bob Seger) Korn- Another Brick inn the Wall(Pink Floyd) Ataris- The Boys of Summer(Don Henley)

The outro for this video should be the outro for all of your videos 😂

3:28 I remember seeing them in 2002. After playing Movies, Dryden said, "That's our best song. Now, here's the one that fucked everything up." Then, they went into Smooth Criminal.

Alien ant farm movies is hypnotic

Alien ant farm will always be cool to me. They played for us for free on our army base in Korea in 2015-2016 and it was a great show

When I was younger my dad had a group of friends (one of them taught karate and had a dojo) and they would workout together in the dojo and I would just hangout. The Alien Ant Farm version of smooth criminal was on their playlist and I’d just rock out and I became a huge fan of the band. I didn’t even know it was a cover for a few years.