- Turn the Page (Bob Seger) – Metallica. This remarkably straight up remake retains all the road weariness of the original, while replacing the iconic saxophone arrangement with a surprisingly effective guitar line.
- Sounds of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel) – Disturbed. The mix of Paul Simon’s epic lyrics, a sweeping orchestral arrangement, and David Draiman’s powerful vocals makes for compelling musical theater.
- Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana) – Tori Amos Somehow Amos’ striped down, piano arrangement manages to build its own strange sort of tension.
- Solitary Man (Neil Diamond) – The Sidewinders A slightly grittier, more muscular version of a Neil Diamond classic.
- Hurt (Nine Inch Nails) – Johnny Cash Cash’s take on this Trent Reznor lamentation is as emotionally raw as anything you’ll ever hear on the radio.
- Sweet Jane (The Velvet Underground) – The Cowboy Junkies The Junkies seem to transport the urban cool of this Lou Reed tune to a roadhouse somewhere in the Midwest.
- Bad Company (Bad Company) – Five Finger Death Punch The ultra-cool original gets a dose of steroids from this Vegas hard-rock outfit.
- Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder) – Red Hot Chili Peppers Though not a radical departure from the original, the Peppers still manage to leave their distinctive fingerprints on it.
- Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix) – Sting The jazzy recasting of this Hendrix classic makes it almost unrecognizable when compared to the original.
- Careless Whisper (Wham) – Seether. Even those of us who loathed the frothy pop of Wham can appreciate Seether’s roughed up arrangement of this chart topper.
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