Classic Covers That Became Hits Decades After The Originals

Every once in a while, an artist creates a song with enough legs to one day walk out and leave them behind. Songs like that are crafted so expertly that they work with or without their crafter. On top of that, with new styles and sounds emerging constantly in the world of popular music, even songs that seem to have hit just right the first time around might find even more success with a new and previously unthought-of interpretation. Some music icons even cover a song so well that it becomes their best-known. The thing is, that new hit rendition might come a month after the original, or it might come decades later.

Here, we've collected songs that performed well when released by their original artists, from David Bowie to Leonard Cohen, and found renewed success decades later when covered by newer artists. The coverers, which vary from The Clash to Johnny Cash, with a couple of stops in between, all took hits from decades past and reimagined them, with unique identities all their own. In doing so, they breathed new life into songs that were undoubtedly forgotten or dismissed by some, both a rare feat and a gift to music fans everywhere.

The Clash is one of the most beloved and seminal punk bands of all time, and their combination of punchy guitar rock, snarling social commentary, and reggae influence created a sound entirely their own. All of their songs, from "London Calling" to "Rock the Casbah," sound like they couldn't have come from anyone else, and yet one of their biggest and most enduring songs was a cover. When The Clash released "I Fought the Law" in 1979, it would be understandable for fans hearing its anti-authority message and pervasive energy to assume it was one of the band's originals, but it was actually a decades-old cover.

The original "I Fought the Law" was written by Sonny Curtis, a late addition to Buddy Holly's band, The Crickets, and one who would take over guitar and singing duties after Holly's tragic death in '59. The Crickets' version was released in 1960 and was liked but not quite loved. It had no chart or specific sales performance other than as a track in support of its album. Other covers followed, but it wasn't until The Clash plied their black magic to "I Fought the Law" that it achieved its full potential. The Clash's take is full of lively guitar bends and thudding drums that take the song's inherent zeal to the next level. Despite taking nearly 30 years, The Clash's cover of "I Fought the Law" undoubtedly became a cover song that's better than the original.

Some covers, like Jimi Hendrix's take on Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," completely restructure and retexture the original into something entirely new. Others, like Nirvana's take on David Bowie's 1970 dirge "The Man Who Sold the World," keep things pretty much the same. Yet despite how similar Nirvana's cover is to the original in its arrangement and instrumentation, it has an ineffable quality to it that Bowie's didn't. That quality, coupled with a heaping helping of early-'90s Nirvana fever, is part of the reason why the cover made a bigger splash than the original.

Nirvana chose to cover "The Man Who Sold the World" as part of their now-legendary set for "MTV Unplugged," and even among such a stacked setlist, the cover remains a highlight. The song's lyrics, which tell of a man who has symbolically died and been reborn anew (and very probably for the worse), are in line with Nirvana's other soul-searching, doomerist lines. Ultimately, "The Man Who Sold the World" became one of Nirvana's best-charting hits a good 25 years after the original, coming out in 1995.

Upon hearing Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt," it's nearly impossible to imagine anyone else singing or writing it, especially an industrial rocker. Yet that was the case, as "Hurt" was originally written in the '90s by Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails frontman turned film and TV composer. Moreover, it was a deeply intimate effort of Reznor's, an expression of the loneliness and pain he felt during a particularly low point in his life. In theory, "Hurt" was the type of song that could and should only be performed by Reznor himself, and yet when Cash tried his hand at a cover, it not only did the original justice but also attained a level of success and legacy that Reznor's never quite managed.

Johnny Cash covered Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" at the insistence of the producer of all producers, Rick Rubin. It wasn't a song Reznor wanted to give away, nor was it a song that Cash was initially excited to play. Yet after some repeated urging on Rubin's part, Cash tried his hand at "Hurt." The result was magic, and Cash's "Hurt" has by now achieved a legacy as one of Cash's best. The video is powerful and affecting, especially considering that (like Cobain's "The Man Who Sold the World") it was released approximately half a year before Cash's death. Luckily for Cash's many adoring fans, his take on "Hurt" will live on forever.

There are few songwriters in history on par with Leonard Cohen and few singers on par with Jeff Buckley, which is one reason why Buckley's cover of Cohen's "Hallelujah" is not only excellent but also feels natural. When Forbes picked the greatest rock song lyrics of all time, Cohen's "Hallelujah" ranked No. 1, with Forbes claiming that "there is no more literate, poetic, beautiful or haunting song from start to finish," and there's no argument here. Yet the song didn't make much of a splash on its release in 1984, at least commercially. It wasn't released as a single in the U.S. and mainly existed as a perfect gem hidden among Cohen's considerable hoard.

It wasn't until a decade later, in '94, when Buckley recorded his pristine cover that "Hallelujah" finally received the miracle it had always sung of. Not only was Buckley's version well-received but it also imbued the song with an angelic air that made it unignorable. In the years since, it has reentered the charts multiple times and found its way into many new movies and TV shows. By now, "Hallelujah" is one of the most covered songs in history, and the version of the song being covered is as much Buckley's as it is Cohen's.