Best Metal Cover Songs of All Time
Honourable Mentions, Part 2
Anarchy in the UK—Megadeth (original = Sex Pistols)
Like Metallica, Megadeth has made its fair share of covers1. “Paranoid”, “Cold Sweat”, “Never Say Die”, “No Class”, and “These Boots (Are Made for Walking)”, to name but a few. But I like this one best, for a variety of reasons. For one, Mustaine sang USA instead of UK in the lyrics—fair enough—but more humorously mispronounced or garbled some parts of the original lyrics, like:
“I wanna destroy passers-by” is what Johnny Rotten sang, I can’t make sense of who (or what) Dave Mustaine wants to destroy;
“Your future is a shopping scheme”—Dave Mustaine seems to sing that it’s a “shopping spree2”
“Another council tenancy”—I can’t make heads nor tails of what Dave Mustaine sings there3;
It reeks of an enthusiastic young American covering an iconic British song without understanding some of the cultural fine points. But that’s never happened before, of course4.
Ironically, though, this is the one they don’t play anymore after frontman and mastermind Dave Mustaine converted to Christianity, as he won’t sing “I am the antichrist” anymore. Which is a shame, because this is a damn good cover.
The original from the Sex Pistols reached position 38 on the British charts before it was banned. Another song, “God Save the Queen” opened on number 2 of the official UK record chart (supposedly Rod Stewart’s “I Don’t Want to Talk about It” was number 1), even as Malcolm McLaren—the manager of the Sex Pistols—claimed that CBS records (who distributed both singles) told him that the Pistols were outselling Stewart two to one5.
Got the Time—Anthrax (original = Joe Jackson)
This cover fits right in Anthrax’s sensibility of making jokes, not taking themselves too seriously, having fun while also delivering some fine heavy music. A bit like playing and moshing at the same time, yet not missing any notes (see the video). Tight metal with some nifty bass playing by Frank Bello.
On the other hand, it doesn’t add that much to Joe Jackson’s original, which is a bit dryer with a punk rather than a metal sensibility. Unfortunately, Joe Jackso never made a video for this fine song, which might explain why Anthrax’s version is better known. And because Anthrax’s video is so nice—low budget with a lot of inventivity—they get this honourable mention.
Interzone—Warrior Soul (original = Joy Division)
Warrior Soul knows how to open an album. “Love Destruction” slams the door down for “Salutations for the Ghetto Nation6”, “Mars” kicks out the jams for “Chill Pill”, “I see the Ruins” bashes down the doors for “Last Decade, Dead Century”, and “Intro/Interzone” blasts the cobwebs from the ceiling for “Drugs, God and the New Republic”.
Of these, only “Interzone” is a cover, yet it is a spectacular one. Joy Division was the poster child for doom, gloom and other depressive British moods, while Warrior Soul was a prime example of the rebellious young American.
Warrior Soul’s version is quite a bit heavier and more aggressive than the original, while still staying quite true to it. Which makes the difference between the two mainly a matter of mood, roughly speaking weltschmertz versus putsch7. Even deeper: while Joy Division’s version is nonconformist, there seems to be a note of sad acceptance in it8, while the Warrior Soul version seems to want to fight for change—fail or succeed.
It’s why I prefer Warrior Souls version, and I hope many Americans take this to heart.
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Author’s note: I realise that some of my comments—or even choices—could be linked to the results of the recent American election. While I’m definitely very unhappy about those, I did make my selections for “Best Metal Cover Songs of All Time” well before November 5 this year.
As unfortunate as it is, often the themes of many songs and albums reverbarate through history (it’s why they are timeless9). now if we could just make the more optimistic ones timeless…
Was David Mustaine—consciously or not—even following (copying) Metallica in that?
Which, admittedly, also works;
Which is probably for the best;
If this needs an ‘/s’ tag, I’m outta here;
Back in 2020, The Guardian missed a golden opportunity to declare “God Save the Queen” as the greatest UK No 1, not only setting the record straight, but gaining extra notoriety through controversy. Unfortunately, they chose British blandness rather than British revolution;
Their best album;
I know it’s evil, but sometimes German captures it better. Best English facsimile I can manage: wistfulness versus anarchy;
Which I would typify as typically British, or to quote Pink Floyd: “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way”;
For example, I sure wish Queensryche’s “Operation Mindcrime” was old hat by now, but—very unfortunately—it remains as topical as ever;