Sometimes covers are at least as good as the originals.
If you were to ask my wife, @justicepirate, she would tell you there is no place for cover songs. While I get her devotion to the original intent of the artist, I heartily disagree. I happen to love the way certain artists can take a song and completely remake it into something new and exciting, and they can sometimes even give the message of the song a whole new dynamic.
One of the best examples I can think of is the Gary Jules cover of Mad World by Tears for Fears. For reference, here is the original:
And now the Gary Jules cover:
Granted, this song does have a different kind of impact considering I originally heard it in the context of the closing track to the (still) mind-bending movie Donnie Darko.
Aside from that you have things like "Enjoy the Silence" which has been covered by many different bands over time. One of my favorites though would have to be the Nada Surf version of this. I assume most people know the original Depeche Mode version so I'll skip right to the cover with this one:
With all the different ways people have reimagined songs, I have to say my favorite way for people to do a cover is in the ska/rocksteady (where my username comes from)/reggae/dub style. This obsession started when I was pretty young when I first heard The Dingees cover We Three Kings for a Christmas comp:
Since then I became obsessed with the likes of them and the Easy Star All-Stars, particularly their full-album cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon:
Most recently though, I came across a full-album cover album of Stay What You Are by Saves the Day. This album was a departure from the more aggressive prior albums Can't Slow Down and Through Being Cool, but it was like a giant breath of fresh air for me late-teen, Jersey scene boy self. I came across the cover album of Stay What You Are by The Holophonics this past weekend and quite honestly I haven't stopped listening to it. As an example of the amazing job these guys did, here is the original version of the track titled Nightingale from the album:
And here's the cover version by The Holophonics:
I'm telling you, I haven't fallen in love with a cover song like I did this one in a long time. Fortunately, even my wife was pretty impressed with it!
I'd love to hear if there are any particular cover tracks or albums you like, and I don't care what genre, I'm always in to giving new things a try!
Keep Steeming and discovering!
Some covers are a waste of time, like the Nirvana cover of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World." They don't really do anything unique to make the song their own. The best covers are those where the artist takes a song and embues it with their own spirit, emotion, and personality.
Some examples that come to mind are Lorde's cover of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", Lana Del Rey's cover of The Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt".
There are many covers I enjoy at least as much as the original and some that are even better. And good call on your mention of Mad World.
I absolutely agree about Nirvana's Bowie cover. It was laziness at best. Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt is definitely one of the best examples of the artist doing the cover taking ownership of the song. I'm pretty sure I've heard the Lorde and Lana Del Rey covers, but I'm going to go find them, for sure!