Cover Week: Top 5 Covers of 80's Songs

It's a well known fact that the 80's produced a lot of notoriously crappy music. Fortunately, a lot of that crappy music gave rise to a lot of awesome covers. Here's the top five awesome covers of 80's songs:

5. "Smooth Criminal" by Alien Ant Farm

This song isn't crappy, but it is from the 80's. I've seen this cover on numerous 'top covers' lists. It's not all that different from the original, but unique enough to warrant a place here. Plus, the music video makes some very cleaver nods to Jackson. Not the best quality, but you'll just have to deal with it. 

Also, check this out.

4. "Blue Monday" by Orgy 

The original track was by a band called New Order, who you've probably never heard of. Actually, you've probably never heard of Orgy either. As it turns out, they're also a pretty crappy band except for this one cover track. Released in 1999, this version kind of kicks the other one's ass, though the original track is not nearly as bad where numbers one and two came from. 

Compared to the original: 

3. "Down Under" by Colin Hay

While this cover is most excellent, it's not up higher because the song it originally came from doesn't completely suck ass. When you can make an absolutely awful song sound great, then it's a good cover. This, however, gets a higher place than "Blue Monday" because of originality. Lets get one thing straight, I love the song "Down Under." It's one of the best songs to come out if the 80's, but this cover is amazing. It's preformed by Colin Hay, former lead singer of Men at Work, the band who originally produced the song so the voice is familiar, though little else.  

Compared to the original: 

That, by the way, is one of my favorite music videos ever. It's just so... goofy. 

These final two songs come from probably one of the worst bands of all time. It seems like every song they made was utter crap. They're probably most famous for "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" but I've heard the song "Seeds of Love" being played a lot lately. Crappity, crap crap. 

2. "Shout" by Disturbed

This song is terrible. Just terrible. And while I wouldn't expect a band like Disturbed to do it justice, as it turns out the song is so bad that anything sounds better. Although, in the end, it's actually very well done. It's not really what Disturbed typically does, but it works. 

Compared to the original: 

Even the music video is utter garbage. Also that guy creeps me out. But doesn't he kind of look like Jerry Seinfeld? 

1. "Mad World" by Gary Jules

The great thing about Tears for Fears is that they produced some great music to cover. It seems that there's nowhere to go but up! This version from Donnie Darko, made more famous by Gears of War, is absolutely brilliant. It really captures the meaning of the song. When you hear the original afterwards, you'll wonder why anyone would butcher such a beautifully sad song. And then you realize it came first.

Compared to the original: 

That guy sounds too damn happy when he sings about death!