The Cure's rendition of "Purple Haze" sounded nothing like the original, and was great. I'd also mention The Sundays doing the Stones "Wild Horses"-a great version. Sounds only a little like the original, and it's very classy and haunting. Also, the ultimate one to me, actually two by Judas Priest-their renditon of Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)" still gives me chills, and is always deemed one of their best moments. Preist's version of Joan Baez' "Diamonds And Rust" is also brilliant and all their own. While we're at it, Santana's take on "Black Magic Woman" remains original and killer. And, for laughs and thrills, listen to Cradle Of Filth with King Diamond doing Cliff Richard's "Devil Woman"-awesome, and hilarious!
OK, let's mention Pat Boone doing Dio's "Holy Diver". Actually, let's not!

I'm not sure if these would qualify or not, but Elton John's version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds sounds funkier and more Jamaican-like to me than the Beatles original. And Big & Rich basically did a shortened countrified version of AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long on their latest cd that definitely sounds different to me than the original version. Also Amy Grant's version of Big Yellow Taxi sounds louder, poppier and more upbeat to me than Joni Mitchell's original--though I believe I've only heard Joni's version once before and don't really remember that much about it except that it seemed very quiet to me.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WfoccRna6I[/youtube]

Sonic Youth doing the Carpenters' "Superstar" (currently featured in Juno)

Marilyn Manson doing "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This"

Limp Bizkit ruining George Michael's "Faith" (I really hate this one)

Dare I say...I like it BETTER than the Beatles' original.

Mother's Finest covered "Somebody To Love" (Jefferson Airplane) and "Mickey's Monkey" (Smokey Robinson) and made them their own, but their cover of Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" doesn't work for me.

The Grateful Dead's mellow cover of "Dancin' In The Street"

Deep Purple's "Help!"

Elvis Costello's cover of Graham Parsons' "How Much I Lied" - Steve Nieve's piano turns a good song into an AMAZING song.

Elvis's version of "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" - if that's the only version you've heard, you'll be astounded to know that the Sam & Dave original was a slow ballad.

The Sugababe's cover of Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me" mashes up the vocals with the music from Tubeway Army's "Are Friends Electric?" and ends up improving on both.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2rE62LUYbU&NR=1[/youtube]

Deep Purple's cover of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hanging On"

Yes's cover of the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" (which has not-so-subtle references to "Day Tripper" in its extraordinarily long and baroque intro)

Does it sound like Vanilla Fudge's?



In the same bin, Yes's cover of S&G's "America."

George Harrison's cover of Bob Dylan's "If Not For You."

OTOH, Glenn Campbell's version of that song sounds quite a lot like George Harrison's.

D'oh!

As does Olivia Newton-John's.

The Damned rip through a punked-up version of "Help!" in just about 1 minute.

Whitney Houston's version of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You."

Type O Negative's cover of "Black Sabbath."

Frente!'s minimalist cover of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" is interesting (though I much prefer the original 12" single version -- it was huge during my senior year in high school).

Hurra Torpedo did a cover of "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" by Bonnie Tyler, which is both radical and funny.

Animals - "House of the Rising Sun" (Sounds much different than Leadbelly's version, which I believe is called "In New Orleans." However, I'm not sure if the Leadbelly version is the original. This song may be one of those traditional titles that's so old, no one is really sure of the original version).

Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Midnight Special" (Same explanation as above. The earliest version I have heard is by Leadbelly, but, once again, I'm not sure if even that is the original).

Led Zeppelin - "Travelling Riverside Blues" (Like the above examples, you would have a hard time making the connection between this version and the original Robert Johnson song, unless you REALLY listened hard to the lyrics).

Best Version I ever heard of HOTRS was a live recording from Josh White, JR. He said it was his Father's arrangement. Unfortunately, I no longer have the tape & I had the only copy (it was a soundboard). I sadly have no idea what happened to the tape; I hadn't thought of it in years. The other thing I do remember from that show was a lectrue from JW Jr about using soft bristle toothbrushes as part of his between song patter. That in my experience, was UNIQUE!

Speaking of HOTRS, I like the Blind Boys of Alabama's version, which substitutes the lyrics with those of "Amazing Grace."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZJ-kLKut9E[/youtube]

Tears For Fears' 'Mad World' by Gary Jules (as featured in Donnie Darko).

Anything by Richard Cheese.

I heard Isaac Hayes' version of By the Time I Get to Phoenix the other day on NPR, complete with his spoken word intro.