Best Rock Cover Songs – Butch’s Top 10 [VIDEOS]

This hit song from the 1987 movie, The Lost Boys, sounded great in the 80's when it was cool to do weird, non-melodic synthesizer in your songs. And I still love the original. But Seasons After does it much better with a more haunting verse (which reflects the theme of the film better, in my opinion) and a heavier, more metal chorus with deeper vocals and more instrumentation. One of those songs most "kids" probably had no idea was a cover...

Guns N' Roses covered this on their 1991 album, Use Your Illusion II. They played it in 1992 at a tribute concert for Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, who had died of AIDS. 72,000 people attended the concert, which was held in London's Wembley Stadium. In case you're wondering, because I always did, towards the end of the end of this version, the man on the telephone says, "You just better start sniffin your own rank subjugation Jack, 'cause it's just you and your tattered libido, the bank and the mortician, forever man and it wouldn't be luck if you could get out of life alive."

One of those songs that got so popular as a cover, that most people think Van Halen's version is the only version... Not the case. This is a cover of the 1964 song by The Kinks. It was the first hit for The Kinks, and became famous for its distorted guitar sound, which many bands began to copy.

I was trying to do a more modern list, but because this is regarded as the greatest cover of all time by many I figured I better include it. This song was written by the one and only Bob Dylan in 1967. It blew up like crazy when Hendrix covered it on his 1968 album Electric Ladyland. Now it has been covered by many other artists including the Grateful Dead, U2, Eric Clapton and Van Morrison but Jimi’s version is the standard.

Cure lead singer Robert Smith originally wrote this as a wedding present for his fiancée, Mary, shortly before their marriage. 311 did a cover that was featured in the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore movie 50 First Dates. 311 got involved in the soundtrack because Adam attended one of their shows and hung out with the band. He wanted the soundtrack for the movie to include many songs from the '80s that he grew up with, redone in a tropical style since the movie takes place in Hawaii. 311's Nick Hexum also helped produce five other songs on the soundtrack.

So you approach people and say you’re going to cover Led Zeppelin. Sure you are. What’s that you say? Its going to be a big hit? You must be crazy. I’m sure that’s exactly what everyone thought when STP did their version of ‘Dancing Days’ in 1995 on a compilation album done as a tribute to Zeppelin by artists of the time. Turned out to be one of STP's biggest hits, and the best Zeppelin cover ever!

Johnny Cash took a song that you would never expect him to cover in a million years and made it better than Trent Reznor and NIN could have ever hoped to. The last song released by Johnny before his death. It’s one of the most powerful songs ever written and Cash’s version is full of pure emotion. I remember actually being moved when I heard this the first time.

Loud, aggressive and angry best describes Five Finger Death Punch, a description that fits the name. BAck when we first heard this song, FFDP was still a rock newcomer. Imagine my surprise to find they had done a cover of ‘Bad Company’ by the band of the same name. It blew my mind, and the band hasn't looked back since. These dudes did such a fantastic job with the song I almost like it better than the original, almost.

Social D are punk rock legends. If you have never been to a Social D show you are missing out, especially when they break into their version of Johnny Cash's ‘Ring of Fire’. It’s like the original one but on punk rock steroids. The balls it took for a hardcore punk rock band to cover a country hit make it cool. The way they made it sound made it one of the most awesome songs ever!

I said it earlier in the article, there are very few times when the cover makes the original seem inferior... This is the prime example of a time when that does happen. Don't get me wrong, both versions of this song are gold. The original by Lynyrd Skynyrd is the highlight of every Skynyrd show behind Free Bird. Shinedown's brilliant cover is just so strong because of the performance of vocalist Brent Smith... Seriously powerful stuff.