Better finish what I started.
Last year, I wrote a two–part article called “The 20 Weirdest Covers Ever Recorded.” When I wrote that, I did a lot of research trying to find the strangest covers you’ve (probably) never heard, such as singer/songwriter Adam French covering Millencolin’s “No Cigar,” Tori Amos’s haunting rendition of the Slayer classic “Raining Blood,” and Our Last Night butchering “Who Let The Dogs Out?” by Baha Men with help from the Baha Men.
However, as time went on, I found some more weird covers and felt that I had to make another one. And so, here it is, twenty more bizarre covers that were recorded.
As I mentioned in my previous articles, “I have to inform you that the songs on this list are covers that were recorded for a compilation, an album, or as a single. There will be no live covers on this list.” That is if I ever choose to do an article about the strangest live covers I’ve ever heard or seen.
This is part two. If you didn’t see part one, click here.
With that out of the way, let’s end this.
11. And Then There Were None – If You Had A Bad Time (Originally by Alkaline Trio)
A few years ago, I borrowed a CD from Jack Friend of ASHES. That CD was A Tribute To Alkaline Trio. It featured bands like Punchline, The Wonder Years, Allister, Into It. Over It., and Koji covering deep tracks and singles from the popular McHenry, Ill., punk group. However, there was one cover on this CD that I found bizarre: And Then There Were None’s rendition of “If You Had A Bad Time.” The original was a slow rock track and is a deep cut from Alkaline Trio’s ever-growing discography. So what was so weird about this cover? It sounds like One Direction singing it. No joke. Huge on poppy hooks, some guitar, and feels like it was made for Top 40 radio. I was shocked the first time I heard it and I’ve since grown to like it. It’s weird, but not bad.
12. Fall Out Boy feat. Missy Elliott – Ghostbusters (Originally by Ray Parker Jr.)
If you thought the 2016 Ghostbusters remake was bad, then you didn’t hear this track on the soundtrack. Whoever thought that Fall Out Boy and rapper Missy Elliott should collaborate on the beloved Ray Parker Jr. song should be shot. It’s beyond bad. If you actually wanna hear a decent cover of the song, just hear Walk The Moon’s version. They at least try to make it sound good.
13. NOFX – Vincent (by Don McLean)
Oh look, another Don McLean cover. On their version, NOFX give the acoustic folk song a punk retouch, doing it the way only NOFX can. It doesn’t even feel like it’s insulting the original, but instead feels as if they’re paying tribute to McLean in some way. But overall, what a weird song for NOFX to cover.
14. Scissor Sisters – Comfortably Numb (Originally by Pink Floyd)
Fucking why? This track from their self-titled debut record shows them putting a Bee Gees twist on this prog rock classic. Everything about this cover feels wrong. To quote someone on a YouTube video, “they managed to turn a very serious, angsty song about descending into madness into an ode to amyl nitrate.” There’s literally nothing more I can say about this. Fuck this shit.
15. The Story So Far – Wrightsville Beach (by A Loss For Words)
In 2012, now defunct clothing line Glamour Kills released a split 12″ featuring six bands on that year’s Glamour Kills Tour. Each band covered a song from another band on that tour, like The Wonder Years covering Into It. Over It., and vice versa. One of the most crazy covers on this record is the hardcore twist The Story So Far did to A Loss For Words’s “Wrightsville Beach.” The original pop-punk track gets reworked as a Terror song, going hard as all hell. Fun fact about this song: this was my first time ever listening to TSSF and I hated it. Once I listened to What You Don’t See, my opinion changed.
16. Set Your Goals – Put Yo Hood Up (by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz)
Punk Goes Crunk is considered a gem. Artists like Forever The Sickest Kids, All Time Low, Say Anything, Hot Rod Circuit, and New Found Glory, covered rappers like 2Pac, OutKast, Skee-Lo, Rihanna, and Arrested Development. The craziness hits the fan the second the album begins, where easycore group Set Your Goals turn the Lil Jon track “Put Yo Hood Up” into a Star Wars song, featuring Yoda rapping the first verse and all “n-words” are replaced with “Jedi.” Dear God it’s insane.
17. I AM THE KID – Adam’s Song (Originally by Blink-182)
Many years ago I used to listen to fake Punk Goes albums on YouTube. There was this one song on the fake Punk Goes 90s 2 EP that just drove me bonkers: a metalcore version of the saddest Blink song ever recorded. The anti-suicide song gets an August Burns Red-ish makeover and it’s one of the most uncomfortable experiences I’ve had to, well, experience. Just why?
18. H2O – Someday I Suppose (by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones)
In 2011, hardcore punks H2O released a cover album titled Don’t Forget Your Roots. On it, they cover Bad Brains, 7 Seconds, Rancid, Dag Nasty, and Sick Of It All. Yet their rendition of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’s “Someday I Suppose” just falls flat. Maybe it’s the fact that maybe some ska-punk songs don’t translate well without horns or the well-known riffs. It instead feels like some generic punk rock song. Overall, H2O’s cover feels kinda hollow, but it could be worse, right?
19. Duran Duran – 911 Is A Joke (Originally by Public Enemy)
Why? How the fuck do you make “911 Is A Joke” by rap group Public Enemy sound like a long lost Beck track? I don’t know but that’s what Duran Duran did on their version from their panned album Thank You. 911 may be a joke, but this cover is a bigger joke.
20. Veil Of Maya – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Originally by U2)
Remember the video game Homefront? One of the many promotions the game did was a soundtrack filled with several protest songs covered by metal bands. You had As I Lay Dying doing “War Ensemble” by Slayer, IWRESTLEDABEARONCE covering Muse’s “Uprising,” Arsonists Get All The Girls’s rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Masters Of War,” and, for some fucking reason, Winds Of Plague covering “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield. Simply put, the whole album’s a mess, so it’s kinda hard to pick the worst of the worst. So let’s just go with Veil Of Maya’s rendition of U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” Trust me when I say that it’s a complete clusterfuck. No wonder the game flopped.
Punk Goes Prenatt 