5 Pop Songs We Know Would Go Hard As Rock Covers

It's called pop, as in popular, music for a reason: Even if not everyone loves all of it, nearly everyone loves some of it. But of course, one of the real strengths of pop music is its versatility. Pop-punk, pop-country, and even popera are all perfectly acceptable and successful hybrids, but the real crossover juggernaut, the perfect pairing, the chocolate and peanut butter, is pop-rock. Granted, some of this is because the two terms are pretty broad—a lot of things are kind of rock music, a lot of things are kind of pop music, and a lot of things are both/and—but when the crowd-pleasing fun of the best pop meets the energy and musicality of the best rock, it makes something special.  

The hardest metalheads, the most stiff-necked opera fans, the most stubbornly provincial bluegrass aficionados all have secret pop loves, even if they hide their "Recently Played" lists as fiercely as they do their old love letters. But let's go a little further. Let's take some of the best light pop songs, tear their T-shirts, mess up their eyeliner, and plug them into the amps. Let's talk about pop that, in the right hands, could really rock.

Lesley Gore is best known for the immortal "You Don't Own Me," but the precocious songbird's back catalog offers a lot of lesser jewels. One of the cutest (if admittedly silliest) is "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows," a song about how nice it is to be in love. Gore performed this tune on a moving bus in a bizarre-looking 1965 movie called "Ski Party," which attempted to translate beach-movie vibes to the slopes and also starred James Brown; if nothing else, it's a good shortcut for the Kevin Bacon game. 

You've got two routes open to make this hit harder. The first is the pop-goes-punk route: Speed it up, sing through your nose, and sound a little sarcastic. "I like a boy, how lame: What's next, lollipops?" Otherwise ... look, it's sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, not sunshine, lollipops, and rock 'n' roll. Slot in a few more taboo entertainments and make it a song about the hot guy you met in a mosh pit.

"Waterloo" was neither the first nor the biggest ABBA song, but it was the first big ABBA song, bringing them to Eurovision glory in 1974 and starting their rise to becoming one of the musical colossi of the late '70s and early '80s. ABA had two speeds, really — gleeful like "Waterloo" or wistful like "Fernando" — but no one needed them to do more. Their singable, danceable, lovable pop was exactly what the world wanted, and ABBA provided plenty of it.

However, "Waterloo" is a reference to a battle. Over 60,000 men died, were injured, or were captured in a field in Belgium on June 18, 1815. There were cannons. Plus, the whole Waterloo metaphor is about feeling defeated, about having tried to hold back your feelings and failed. A hard-rock cover could start low, start creepy, and build into a shouting, wailing howl of frustration. Weird? Sure, but no weirder than a bouncy pop song along the same lines.

"Toxic" is the pinnacle of Britney's output. In a career built out of solid, respectable B-plus material, "Toxic" is the masterwork, the cut above, the one whose royalties probably keep her light bill paid. It's about an uncomfortably familiar emotion, the classic "you treat me badly, why can I not block your number and pretend you died," written musically to show off Spears' vocal range without leaving shout-along closing-time jukebox singers behind. Plus, the video is one of the best of its era. Gold.

And so naturally, "Toxic" has attracted any number of covers. Canadian-girl surf rock group the Surfrajettes did a twangy instrumental version. The queer punks in Dog Park Dissidents hit it with a screamo reinterpretation. Bluegrass. Hypermodern neo-lounge. Grimy southern rock. There are already countless covers out there, and even more people who will be thrilled to find a new version of the classic song. Do whatever you want to this song. "Toxic" will stand up to it.

Sometimes, we know an idea comes from the devil on our shoulder. Other times, we know the angel on the other shoulder is completely on board. This is one of those times: Rickroll your audience, rickroll your fans, rickroll the world! Accidentally-on-purpose mislabel it as "Never Give Up" and get 'em all. That said, "Never Gonna Give You Up" wouldn't have persisted long enough to become a meme if the song didn't have merit behind the pranks. 

The very, very young-looking Astley and the '80s-tacular synth in the backing track make the song seem more dated than it really is, but the lyrics and melody would easily support some beefing up. A group that wanted to build on the meme while giving the song their own spin could throw some power chords, heavy-hitting drums, and a big-voiced dude with a bit less of a sweet-boy vibe than Sweet Baby Rick Astley at the project and watch "Never Gonna Give You Up" grow into its final form. 

Eurovision and europop fans remember France Gall, the tragedy-stalked blonde who was one of the major voices of French pop in the '60s. Though she had a 30-year career, her best-remembered song is probably still "Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son" (translated usually as "Wax Doll, Rag Doll), with which the French-born Gall won the 1965 Eurovision trophy for Luxembourg. Though excellent, especially in Gall's interpretation, it's a weird song: poppy and up-tempo, but the singer is talking about how she's basically just a puppet. 

Audiences love when women sing about how they're not going to put up with crap anymore: "You Don't Own Me"; "These Boots are Made for Walking"; Gall's own "Laisse Tomber les Filles," and all those country songs about killing your husband. The right woman, someone with Joan Jett energy and cred, could deliver this song with a wink, changing "I'm a puppet" to "they think I'm a puppet, but just you watch." Especially if she plays her own guitar, a rendition like that could really kill.