Worst & Best cover songs?

I'll be back later with the my worst selection.

what about the idea of cover versions as singles? bad idea/good idea?

I'll just go with the first ones that come to mind though.

Worst: Veruca Salt's version of Depeche Mode - 'Somebody'. Yuck. Also, despite the fact that I do like some of her songs, I found that Sheryl Crow's cover of 'Sweet child o' mine' was flat out intolerable. One from the 'what were they thinking' dept.; Willie Nelson and Sinead O'Connor doing 'Don't give up', originally by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. Willie sounds drunk, and she sounds pissed off. Just thought of two more - Limp Bizkit singing 'Faith' and Orgy's 'Blue Monday'. Yuck.

Best: Ween's live version of Van Halen, 'Hot for teacher'. I just love how they go so 'whole hog' with it. And then there's RevCo vs. Rod Stewart 'Do ya think'. I thought Fiona Apple's treatment of 'Across the Universe' worked really well. Tuuli covering Motley Crue 'Girls girls girls', irony free. I want to name some more but the bad ones came more easily...

and bigmouth strikes again, covered by treepeople seems to work as well.

Worst: your average indie rock cover is repugnant. I can't remember any, proof that most have been so bad I've had to put them out of my mind.

I'm having a hard time thinking of good covers. Dexy's Midnight Runners' version of Seven Days Too Long isn't bad, I suppose, but then it was a great song to begin with.

Worst: Anybody who does "Hey Joe".

Oh, and seeing as the original question mentioned 'Eight Miles High' - somebody has to say 'Mr Tambourine Man'! 'Turn Turn Turn'! And come to think of it, JH's* 'All Along The Watchtower'.

U2 covered 'All Along The Watchtower' too. They played it pretty ineptly. Then they learned to play it properly. Does anyone remember this?

[* = Juliana Hatfield]

2. A track already mentioned today is one of my many contenders for worst-ever cover: the Divine Comedy's assault and battery job on 'Love Is Lighter Than Air'.

3. On the good covers side I think I'd have to put the Shapiros' take on Beat Happening's 'Cry For A Shadow'. I was once told that all copies of the original were destroyed after that one.

Worst Covers: waiting for my man by Bowie; All the T Rex discography (by Bowie); Early Bowie songs (by older Bowie)

Best (that I can think of at the moment), "At Last I Am Free, Robert Wyatt, "Do You Know The Way To San Jose", The Avalanches, "Sally Free And Easy", Flying Saucer Attack; "Occapella" and "Vine Street", Van Dyke Parks; "Get Carter", Stereolab.

BEST COVER SONG: KILLING ME SOFTLY (Roberta Flack) by THE FUGEES. Took a song that was rather slow and dreary and breathed new life into it.

Worst:
'Creep' ~ Mark Owen
'Here's Where the Story Ends' ~ [can't remember who]

"proud mary" - ike and tina turner (orig. credence clearwater revival)

its credited as a Costello composition but i'll take your word for the Wyatt one being the original. But can you really consider the Costello one to be a cover? Is Prince's version of Nothing Compares 2 U a cover? i dunno.

'Cattle and Cane' ~ The Wedding Present (which I actually prefer to the original, which will get me into trouble I know)

more perplexed than anything else. Gedge is a terrible singer so why he thought he should ruin so many of other peoples songs is beyond me. okay i guess he did a good version of Falling.

some other good covers:
Alastair Galbraith - Getting Older
Dead C - Light my Fire
Gastr del Sol - Dry Bones in the Valley
Sonic Youth - I wanna be your dog
Minus Two - High Tension House
Six Volts - Black Dog
Axemen - Pulsing
Jesus & Mary Chain - Mushroom Head
Puddle - Lacsydaisical
Cat Power - Fate of the Human Carbine

Worst cover songs:
the entire Jandek tribute CD
Roy Montgomery - Its Cold Outside
Push Push - I Love my Leather Jacket
PumpkinHead - Adults and Children
Frank Black - Hang on to Your Ego
Muttonbirds - Nature

other bad ones:
10,000 maniacs more than this (the orig., roxy music, is one of my favourite songs)
hole - gold dust woman
r.e.m. - pale blue eyes
ub40 - \red, red, wine + everything else they've ever done
urge overkill - girl you'll be a woman soon

good:
bryan ferry - help me make it through the night by kris kristofferson. and i saw daniel mancini do a good version of it live a few years ago too. Actually i like quite a lot of Ferry covers, especially two from his recent-ish covers album "As Time Goes By": I'm In the Mood For Love, and Where and When.
Louis Armstrong Mack the Knife
Chris Knox S.O.S.
also quite like The Shaggs doing the Carpenters' Yesterday Once More though it's not that remarkable.
Einsturzende Neubauten doing Lee Hazlewood's Sand even though I like the Nancy & Lee much more.
hmmm maybe "funky Town" by Psuedo Echo [they were my first concert]

that's all i can think of whilst away from my records.

Mo-dettes "Paint It Black" Ben Watt "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" Sally Timms "Half Past France" Marisa Monte "Pale Blue Eyes" Marianne Faithfull "Working Class Hero"

A further question: what makes some songs especially cover-able? Are there particular formal qualities that inspire interesting reimaginings

Best covers: Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love" (specially the Club 69 Remix). Siouxsie and the Banshees: "Helter Skelter" (Beatles), "Dear Prudence" (Beatles) and "Hall of Mirrors" (Kraftwerk). The Creatures: "Venus In Furs" (Velvet) Matmos: "Disco Hospital" (Coil) (Is it a cover or should I call it a remix?) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: "Black Betty" (Leadbelly) Pachuco Cadaver: "I Am The Fly" (Wire) Suarez: "EXplosión Madonna" (cover version of Madonna's "I Rather Be Your Love") Ciccone Youth: "Into The Groove" (Madonna) Gus Gus: "Monument" (Depeche Mode) This Mortal Coil: "Holocaust" (Big Star) Spiritualized: "Born Never Asked" (Laurie Anderson)

worst: ian brown murders billie jean.

Did anyone mention Joy Division's "Disorder" as covered by Bedhead?

Is it worse than Braid's or Death Cab For Cutie's covers? Because those are pretty bad too.

Good:

Quicksand covering the Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?"
The Ramones covering Tom Waits' "I Don't Want To Grow Up"
A bunch of Japanese bands covering the Pixies
Erasure covering ABBA's "Take A Chance On Me" (still haunts me to this day, errgghh)

Bad:

Wasn't Limp Bizkit thinking about covering Fugazi's "Waiting Room" on their next album?
The entire output of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

worst-clapton covering his own layla unplugged comes to mind..

Isn't that everything they've done?

Isn't that everything they've done?

Except they jack up the self-pity while abandoning the drama.

Worst:
Simple Minds - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Kate Bush - "Rocket Man"
Billy Idol - "Heroin"

Bis doing "Love Will Tear Us Apart."
Bis doing "Stray Cat Blues."
New Order doing "Sister Ray" (live, the Glastonbury '87 version is shamblingly glorious)
Tori Amos doing "Thank You." (which tops the original, i think)
Lou Reed doing "This Magic Moment"
Salt Lake featuring Waka doing "Ceremony" (yes, the JD/NO one)
Sugiurumn doing "World in Motion" (this and "Ceremony" are from Re:Movement, and the best part of this particular cover is that it takes out all the lyrics but the chorus, thus making it a FAR more listenable song than the original! XD)
Dead Can Dance doing "I Am Stretched On Your Grave"
Hi-Posi doing "Video Killed the Radio Star"
Lolita No. 18 doing "Video Killed The Radio Star"
Mummy the Peepshow doing "This Charming Man"
Cibo Matto doing "Black Hole Sun"
Johnny Cash doing "Hurt"
Johnny Cash doing "Rusty Cage"
Marilyn Manson doing "I Put a Spell On You"
Smashing Pumpkins doing "Never Let Me Down Again"

and i wholeheartedly second the mention of Ground Zero doing "El Derecho de Vivir en Paz."

worst:

some TERRIBLE techno-y cover of "Take On Me" that makes me want to gouge my eyes out
Bis doing "Hurt" (it's too close to trying to sound like the original; this is exactly the opposite of why i like their version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" so much. and i heart Bis muchly, in general.)
Britney Spears doing "I Love Rock N'Roll"
any of the bits you hear during those KidzBop commercials make me wanna gouge my eardrums out with rusty knitting needles...
that AWFUL "I'll Be Missing You" thing for Biggie Smalls...

The Collapsed Lung version of "Connected" by Elastica
The Frente version of "Not Given Lightly" by Chris Knox
The John Cale version of "Hallelujah" by Leanord Cohen (I know people like the Buckley version but compare the two - Buckleys sucks boobs)
The Superchunk version of "Brand New Love" by Sebadoh
The Johnny Cash version of "The Mercy Seat" by Nick Cave
The Shirokuma cover of "Dead" by the Pixies
The Lali Puna version of "Together in Electric Dreams" by Giorgio Moroder
The Kirstie MacColl version of "A New England" by Billy Bragg
The Gary Jules version of "Mad World" by Tears for Fears
The Faith no More version of "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath
The Snuff version of "I think we're alone now" by Tiffany or whoever did it first
The Pet Shop Boys version of "Where the Streets have no name" by U2
The William Burroughs version of "Star me Kitten" by REM
The Pixies cover of "I can't forget" by Leonard Cohen
The Squarepusher version of "Love will tear us apart" by Joy Division
The Strawberry Switchblade version of "Jolene" by Dolly Parton
The Dinosaur Jr version of "Hot Burrito #2" by Gram Parsons
The Divine Comedy version of "Untitled" by Edywn Collins
The Gram Parsons version of "Wild horses" by the Rolling Stones

WORST
Counting Crows "Big Yellow Taxi". Boob suckage.

'nother nomination for worst, which in all honesty seems painfully obvious: Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You."

*inserts generic reference to cats in heat, nails on chalkboards, fava beans & chianti, etc.*

Bad:
The Divine Comedy's Life On Mars (Bowie)

So Bad It's Great:
Take That's Another Brick In The Wall with Jason Orange on vocals. I only saw that on a tape of one of their live concerts when I was in grade school, and I desperately want an mp3 of it. Damn!

-
Bryan Ferry - All Tomorrow's Parties
John Lennon - Stand By Me
Massive Attack - Light My Fire
Rod Stewart - Have I Told You Lately

BEST COVERS:
"It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones as covered by the Wedding Present
"Land of Treason" by the Germs as covered by Die Kreuzen
"(Get a) Grip (On Yourself)" by the Stranglers as covered by Prong
"Supernaut" by Black Sabbath as covered by 1000 Homo Dj's
"Loose" by the Stooges as covered by Cop Shoot Cop (bootleg only)
"Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak as covered by H.I.M (His Infernal Majesty)

WORST COVERS:
"White Punks On Dope" by the Tubes as covered by Motley Crue
"Helter Skelter" by the Beatles as covered by Motley Crue
"A Million Miles Away" by the Plimsouls as butchered by the GooGooDolls

Some bad ones:
Van Halen - You Really Got Me
U2 - All Along the Watchtower
Bowie - Across the Universe

I agree that Devo's cover of Satisfaction rocks hard, loved the video.

High Llamas version of Frankly Mr. Shankly removed the sweet bassline and changed the melody, but I still loved it.

The Soft Boys cover of that VU song, uhmmm... shit, can't remember. I liked it, they made it funky.

I loved Bowie's cover of the pixies, but Papa Roach anally raped Gouge Away.

Every cover Johnny Cash has done has rocked. All punk/ska covers ever have sucked hard.

bad:
U2 "Helter Skelter"
Motley Crue "Anarchy in the UK" oh and err, "Helter Skelter"
Megadeth "Anarchy in the UK"

good:
Fiona Apple "Across the Universe"
Petula Clark "Homeward Bound"
Johnny Cash "I See A Darkness"

Worst: Marilyn Manson's anal-raping of "Sweet Dreams"

Best: The Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man", which did actually manage to provide a great song with what was needed to prove it was actually a great song (the original never quite worked out).

Johnny Winter - Silver Train, Jumpin Jack Flash
Elvis Presley - Hound Dog, That's Alright Mama
Bruce Springsteen - Trapped, Detroit Medley (Jenny Take a Ride)
The Clash - I Fought the Law
Rod Stewart - Cut Across Shorty
Joy Division - Sister Ray

Worst? Right now it's got to be Celine's "I Drove All Night" - terrible.

Camper Van Beethoven totally re-recorded Fleetwood Mac's
_Tusk_. It's a rough document, but easily surpasses the
original.

In the negative territory,
ELP's classical covers really suck compared to the
originals. And the _I Am Sam_ soundtrack is very bland,
with the participants sticking closely to the original
arrangements. Hate that!

cucumbah cucumbah c-c-c-c-cabbage.

Best: Moog Cookbook, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Worst: Widespread Panic

"Mrs. Robinson" by the Lemonheads is cool, too.

Oh, yeah... David Lee Roth doing "Just A Gigolo" and "California Girls" always brings back memories...

Best: Sonic Youth's "Superstar"

"Now That's What I Call a Wacky Cover Version!"

1. Darius / Hit me Baby One More Time (Britney Spears)
   From the infamous epsode of Popstars comes Darius Denesh's "ironic" interpretation of Britney Spears famous hit.
   
2. Alien Ant Farm / Smooth Crimina (Michael Jackson)
   Jokey punksters Alien Ant Farm actually had to get permission from Michael Jackson himself to cover his song!
   
3. Babes In Toyland / We Are Family (Sister Sledge)
   Indie crew does novelty cover and comes off sounding like the Grange Hill School Band.
   
4. Tomita / Close Encounters of the Third Kind (John Williams)
   John Williams music from the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind gets the classic Tomita spangly synth treatment.
   
5. Ciccone Youth / Into The Groove(y) (Madonna)
   Madge herself pops up on Sonic Youth's interesting "deconstruction" of her famous mid-80s hit.
   
6. Big Daddy / Dancing In The Dark (Bruce Springsteen)
   A full decade before The Mike Flowers Pops make easy listening covers of pop songs hip, US group Big Daddy were flavour of the month in the mid 80s, appearing on "Old Grey Whistle Test" and "Kenny Everett Televison Show" with this Pat Boontastic cover of Springsteen 80s hit.
   
7. Elbow / Independent Woman (Destinys Child)
   Performed live on Jo Whiley Show on Valentines Day 2002, Elbow do a "Working Mens Club" job on the Destinys Child hit. Already appearing in many bootleg DJs playlists.
   
8. Orgy / Blue Monday (New Order)
   An impressive Goth Rock rejigging of New Orders classic record. Not bad for a teen movie soundtrack filler.
   
9. Midge Ure / No Regrets (The Walker Brothers)
   At the time of this tracks release as a single, Midge Ure said that he wanted to cover it, remembering it as strong song, only when he went back to listen to it, he thought it sounded weak, so he decided to do it as he remembered it. So apparently, this is how it really should have been done...
   
10. Ozzy Osburne & Dweezil Zappa / Stayin' Alive (The Bee Gees)
    The Queen's fave teams up with Frank Zappas son for a fun singalong 80s rock version of the Bee Gees tune, which briefly turns into a Zappa solo jazz oddessy, before Ozzy wisely knocks it on the head.
    
11. Laibach / Opus Dei (Life is Life) (Opus)
    Slavic toungue firmly in cheek as Laibach turn Opus' ultranaff 80s hit into the anthem for an all-conquering fascist superstate.
    
12. The Flying Lizards / Money (That's What I Want)(Various)
    Ultra minimalist top 10 hit version of classic song, with soulful vocal replaced by Magaret Thatcher impersonation!
    
13. Joyrider / Rush Hour (Jane Weidlen)
    Punk band ressurect a great underrated 80s song by former Go-Gos bandmember Jane Weilen, and turn it into an impressive punk version of the Beach Boys!
    
14. Amii Stewart / Light My Fire (The Doors)
    Sprawling and hugely enjoyable disco version of The Doors classic. Even longer than the original, with dancefloor friendly grooves replacing noodly keyboard solos. Also includes a bizzare "137/127 Disco Heaven" interlude.
    
15. David Bowie and Bing Crosby/ Little Drummer Boy (Various)
    In an unlikely move, David Bowie guests on Bing Crosby's 1977 Christmas TV special, joining him for a medley of the traditional song "Little Drummer Boy" and "Peace On Earth". Recorded mere weeks before Bong Crosby's death, and judging from Crosbys black humour during the introduction, he seems well aware of it. By coincidence, Bowie had previously guested on Marc Bolan's TV show just before his death. Perhaps one of the most bizzare duets in popular music history.
    
16. U2 featuring Bjorn & Benny / Dancing Queen (Abba)
    The blokes from Abba turn up for U2s concert in Stockholm in 1992, lending Bono and The Edge much needed help in pulling off their most famous song. The crowd seem to want to sing Abba all night long...
    
17. Frida / Suzanne (Leonard Cohen)
    "Where's Frida and Agnetha?" asks Bono. Well, we don't know about Agnetha, but here's Frida from her pre-Abba days as a big name solo singer in her native Sweden. Here she does Leonard Cohen's most famous song, which in this Swedish language version sounds even wordier than the original
    
18. Cake / I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)
    Jokey smugness almost capsizes this "indie ironic" cover of Gloria Gaynor's ancient disco standard. Still, it's funnier than the original.
    
19. We've Got a Fuzzbox And We're Going To Use It! / Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
    Perhaps the most sacreligeous cover of a rock classic, not even topped by Bad News' jokey cover of the same Queen song!
    
20. Fall Silent / Sesame Street (Sesame Street Band?)
    This is how the muppets should be playing the theme. Just imagine Cookie Monster fronting this band. It would be magnificent.
    
21. Travis / Hit me Baby One More Time (Britney Spears)
    Their cover of Britney's tune means that whenever they get interviewed outside the UK and Europe, they get asked about Britney rather than their music!
    
22. Lord Sitar / I Can See For Miles (The Who)
    Lord Sitar almost gets overpowered by an extremely hi-energy horn section in this truly 60s coffee table easy listening cover of a Who song.
    
23. The Dickies / Banana Splits (The Banana Splits?)
    After hearing this early classic of 70s UK punk, even the original version sounds boring and drab.
    
24. Duran Duran / 911 Is A Joke (Public Enemy)
    From a whole album of strange cover versions, including a corking rock cover of Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel's White Lines, but none so strange as their cover of Public Enemy's rap song about how hard it is in the US to get 911 to answer emergency calls for inner city neighbourhoods!
    
25. Radiohead / Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon & John Barry)
    The theme from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me gets the "intense" treatment from Oxford's angsty boys.
    
26. The Breeders / Happiness Is A Warm Gun (The Beatles)
    Mark 1 of The Breeders, featuring Tanya Donelly of The Throwing Muses and later Belly, go totally abstract on one of the Beatles most abstract songs.
    
27. The Sex Pistols featuring Sid Vicious / My Way (Frank Sinatra + Various)
    Sid Vicious steps into Johnny Rotten's shoes to punkify one of the most famous songs ever! "I killed a cat!!!" indeed...
    
28. The Moog Cookbook / Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden)
    The Moog Cookbook go back to the Tomita and "Switched On Back" days with their analogue synth laden cover versions, including this novel samba-flavoured take on Soundgarden's rock blockbuster.
    
29. This Mortal / Coil Song To The Siren (Tim Buckley)
    A song debuted by Tim Buckley on the penultimate episode the The Monkees TV series gets a famous reworking by The Cocteau Twins under the name of their record label's collaborative project This Mortal Coil.

The Walker Brothers version is actually a cover. Tom Rush originally wrote and performed the song.

Best: Candy Flip - Strawberry Fields Forever

speaking oftosh, i also like his versions of here comes the sun and johnny be goode

and i echo someones mention of the maytals version of take me home country road

1.Steve Vai: Little Wing
2.Rush: For What It's Worth
3.Eric Clapton: Knockin' On Heaven's Door
4.The Animals: House Of The Rising Sun
5.Time Requiem: Voulez Vous (they took the abomination of a song and made it damn good, so it makes the list)
6.Rolling Stones: Like A Rolling Stone
7.Led Zeppelin: Dazed And Confused
8.Silvertide: Behind Blue Eyes
9.Orgy: Blue Monday
10.Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Blackbird

As for worst, Hilary Duff's "My Generation", Limp Bizkit's "Behind Blue Eyes", Adema's "Nutshell", Avril Lavigne's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", I'm sure there's others I've forgotten.

I hate it as well. The Editors covered Orange Crush, and it sounded exactly the same, but with worse vocals. >_

Bowling Green is an absolute must-hear for New Pornographers fans.

Worst : LeAnn Rimes - "Purple Rain" (Prince)
Best: Camper Van Beethoven - "I Love Her All The Time" (Sonic Youth)

meatloaf- it's all coming back to me

Getting off the topic of Duran: I rather like Propaganda's version of "Sorry For Laughing". I know some people have said some not-so-nice things about it, but I do think it works. It's not a by-the-book cover and I like that.

Also, stop butchering my favourite Neil Young songs! Just because you can't write good songs of your own, it doesn't mean you're allowed to screw up someone elses'

Best:
Fuzzy's cover of Van Halen's "Feel Your Love". Nothing beats chicks singing like they have the libido of Diamond Dave.

I love Pearl Jam/Eddie cover versions. Particularly his take on X's Poor Girl.

-
soft cell 'tainted love'
brit spears 'i love rock n roll' complete with dj scratching behind it. wtf.

these are off the top of my head. i am sure there are tons that will pop in my head over the next hours

worst: that tori amos cover of smells like teen spirit

The best cover version I know of is Tracy Grammer's version of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man." It's on an EP called "The Verdant Mile."

Chris Isaak's version of Solitary Man is good too, so is Johnny Cash's. That's a song that usually works. I like a lot of versions of "Highway 61" (PJ Harvey, Johnny Winter).

Two songs that never cover well: "Knocking on Heaven's Door" and "Fever". Both seem like easy covers, lots of drama built right in. But what comes out is always overwrought and missing the cool reserve of the originals.

Looking over the thread, yeah, there's a lot of bad versions of Helter Skelter, another one that seems like an easy freak-out. U2 is not good at covers, nor do their songs cover well.

#1.all along the watchtower
honorable mentions not seen listed:
Linda's "Tumblin' Dice"
Stones - i wanna be your man
Aerosmith - i'm down
the clash - brand new cadillac
elvis - i can't stand up for falling down
ramones - do you wanna dance, california sun, surfin' bird

Good ones:
Portastatic "St. Elmo's Fire" (Brian Eno)
Galaxie 500 "Moonshot" (Buffy Sainte Marie)
Man or Astroman? "Destination Venus" (Rezillos)
Unrest "21st Century Schizoid Man" (King Crimson)
Camper van Beethoven "Picture of Matchstick Men" (Status Quo)
Bauhaus "Ziggy Stardust" (David Bowie)
Talking Heads "Take Me To the River" (Al Green)

I hate every version of the song "Speeding Motorcycle", including the original.

Also good the Afghan Whigs covering TLC's "Creep" and the Dismemberment Plan covering "Crush" by Jennifer Paige.

"Don't Let Out Youth Go to Waste" - Galaxie 500 (VU)

Galaxie 500 "Moonshot" (Buffy Sainte Marie)

Following up on both of these, I'd just like to say that Galaxie 500's cover of Young Marble Giants' "Final Day" is excellent as well.

gotta second Braid's Bohemian Rhapsody. goo goo dolls version of down on the corner sucked too (though generally i've liked their covers).

for live performances, red hot chili peppers butchered 'i want you back', mostly cuz of kiedis though

oh, and for good covers...

jeff buckley--hallelujah
goo goo dolls--i could never take the place of your man
cradle of filth--hell awaits
stevie wonder--we can work it out
sinead o'connor--nothing compares to you

Best: The flamingos - "I Only Have Eyes for You" (in the "cover songs that you had no idea were cover songs" department)

Worst: Thurston Moore - "Here Today"

Worst: might be a bunch of Pickwick Records dudes called Tribe covering Yoko Ono's "Why" on an album that's trying to rip off young Beatles fans.

Best: for a few years now, for me it's been Band of Susans cover of Wire's "Ahead," which I probably play at least once a week.

I agree that Galaxie 500 did some great covers (in terms of both choice and execution of the songs). Their versions of Red Crayola's "Victory Garden" and Joy Division/New Order's "Ceremony" are fantastic.

I've also always had a soft spot for Big Black's "The Model" and Rapeman's "Just Got Paid".

This, on the other hand might be one of the worst covers ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMs6Knr1F6U

wow that IS bad...

excellent: the Associates' cover of "Love Hangover", Royal Trux's cover of "Money for Nothing". Unsurprisingly, GBV does a great cover of "Baba O'Riley". The Sonics' "Louie Louie". Al Green's "I Wanna Hold Your Hand".

bad: Tiga's cover of "Burning Down the House" is pretty terrible, even if you're not a knee-jerk Tiga hater.

Take That's Another Brick In The Wall with Jason Orange on vocals. I only saw that on a tape of one of their live concerts when I was in grade school, and I desperately want an mp3 of it. Damn!
― Alexis, Sunday, 16 February 2003 19:13 (6 years ago)

Featuring some lovely solo face all round.

Best- Alison Krause's Baby, Now That I've Found You (original the foundations)
Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower (original was dylan)
Animals' House of the Rising Sun (technically every version of this song is a cover)
Nirvana's Man Who Sold the World
Anyone who takes a Dylan song and removes his voice.

Worst- Limp Bizkit's Behind Blue Eyes
Megadeth's No More Mr. Nice Guy (I don't know why I hate this, but I do.)
Anyone covering My Generation.

technically every version of this song is a cover
Well, the concept of a cover is essentially a rockist concept - it doesn't really hold in jazz and classic pop traditions. It only becomes a tenable concept once the recording achieves total primacy over the song itself.

Best:
Sweet Charles - Strangers in the Night
Al Green - I Can't Get Next to You
the Pretenders - I Go to Sleep
Alex Chilton - Can't Seem to Make You Mine
Wilson Pickett - Hey Jude
James Brown - Hot(I Need to Be Loved Loved Loved) cover/rewrite/shameless rip-off of Fame that I'd usually rather listen to than the original
the Rolling Stones - I Don't Know Why
Al Green - Unchained Melody
Michael Jackson - Rockin' Robin
Sly & the Family Stone - Que Sera Sera

Worst:
Celine Dion - You Shook Me All Night Long
Mick Jagger/David Bowie - Dancing in the Streets

best:
Willi De Ville - hey joe
La Cinco Latinos - la virgen de la macarena
Andreas Scholl - the three ravens
The Crank-Tones - lover's curse
Motörhead - train kept a' rollin'
Agent Orange - pipeline
Jon & The Nightriders - baja
Petty Booka - i wanna be your girlfriend (i wanna be your boyfriend)
Helen Shapiro - fever
Gigantjes - yaki taki oohhwah (right around the corner)
Les 5 4 3 2 1 - bond street

worst:
Edith Piaf - jezebel
Sixpence None The Richer - riu riu chiu
Chill Out Tribute to Queen - bohemian rhapsody
John Paul Jones - baja

@JesseJane: I must take issue with the "My Generation" thing. I really liked Patti Smith's version because it was more concerned with capturing the energy of the tune than being faithful to it (or not).

SOme I particularly like (some of which are already mentioned):

Devo - Satisfaction
HUsker Du - 8 MIles High, Love Is All Around
Television - SAtisfaction, KNockin' On Heaven's Door
Cramps - Surfin' Bird, Lonesome Town, Domino, Green Fuz, SHortenin' Bread
Sex Pistols - No Fun
Ramones - Do You Wanna Dance, Time Has Come Today, California Sun
Dictators - California Sun
Spacemen 3 - Transparent Radiation
Fuzztones - Radar Eyes
Plan 9 - 5 Yrs. Ahead of My Time, Looking at You
Lyres - Cinderella
Flying Lizards - Money, Summertime Blues
Feelies - What Goes On
Dum Dum Girls - Let It Be Me
Half Japanese - 10th Ave. Freeze-out, Tangled Up In Blue
Beasts of Bourbon - Psycho
Boris & Merzbow - I Am the Walrus

I never liked Joy Division's Sister Ray. Felt like they just tossed it off.

Oh yeah: Jonathan Richman - The Rose, Back In the USA

The thread originator nailed it.

Husker Du's "8 Miles High" .

I could support this claim with some pointless words...

another worst:

Blood & Chocolate - the killing moon

Best:
I see people mention Devo's "Satisfaction" a lot, so I have to point to Polysics' "My Sharona" cover, which is kind of the same idea, just crazy and cool
Happy Mondays - "Step On" (a John Kongos cover, kind of)
Ween - "Hot For Teacher"...it's been mentioned before here, but I have to mention it again, it captures the ridiculousness of the tune better than Van Halen ever did, but it still gets really down and dirty, just great great stuff

Worst:
On youtube there's a video of Crazy Town doing Refused's "New Noise", it kind of feels like a 5-minute "brown note"

best of worst:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlTWpDav0FM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O4puKyRiiY

Judas Priest - Johnny B Goode.
Priest, dudez, I love you but that song is the worst thing ever.

i found William Hung's rendition pretty solid, if not true to the original. nice 'best of worst'!
too bad the vid stops at the solo.

The original isn't so bad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ2RvSHK_B8

The cover is fucking incredible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUBcqs0Z9QA&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59aKzRbxFV8

Reviving ILM's least contentious thread about covers, these are all from the rolling fuck this shit worst songs of 2015 thread :

Elle King's "My Neck My Back", from 2012 https://youtu.be/VZgg9SIWfI0

Ed Sheeran does "Dirrty: The Polite Version"! https://youtu.be/Pf_ldxntwJg

William Singe does "Trap Queen: The Heartfelt Version"! https://youtu.be/s10gMglvYXo

Disturbed do "The Loud Sound of Silence" https://youtu.be/u9Dg-g7t2l4

Also Aretha's controversial "Rolling in the Deep" and Sam Smith's Hotline Bling, woohoo. Adding one that I enjoyed, Mo Kolours's "Golden Brown", but it's not so much bad as "wtf?".

Off the topic of best/worst (hopefully)... how would you cover an artist like Grimes? The Kiwi band Shunkan did "Flesh without Blood" in a stripped-down acoustic version, which does put a different spin on it, but seems inappropriate when the original was made in such a meticulous detail-obsessed way. Although they could complement it with a club banger version of "Life in the Vivid Dream".

chromatics - ceremony/into the black
cardigans - iron man/sabbath bloody sabbath

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTsW30Ur0sg

^ obv one of the best

Some of the worst obv.

I came across these two stinkers in the wild, both from acts that should really know better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5u-yoaxaMY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RVWSSSLZN8

^ ugh...at a certain time that Diana Ross rendition was unavoidable.

Bardcore - creep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeFiIjMIlRw

Thalia Zedek's "Dance Me to the End of Love" (L Cohen)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6jF0aK5b90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBBQcCf-gn4

The Main Ingredient - summer breeze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AXlaMJVOQw

Sigourney Weaver - back in the USSR
(undecided)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUWhlqItgus

worst:

Eydie Gorme - the look of love [Bacharach / David]

(obscenely loud vocals)