I ended up getting into a debate with some people at work, and I decided it’s a perfect question for Oppo. What non-cover band, a band known primarily for their original works, is the best cover band.
To start, some standards. A band releasing a cover album but not having any cover releases outside of said album does not a cover band make. To qualify as a cover band they have to have a habit of releasing covers throughout their career.
An example: A few years (2015) back Disturbed garnered fame with their cover of “The Sound Of Silence.” Ten years before that they were getting regular play with their cover of “Land of Confusion.” Beyond these two hits they’ve released five other covers, with no two covers on the same album, going all the way back to their debut album in 2000, which contained a cover of Tears for Fears’s “Shout.” Other Disturbed covers are Metallica’s “Fade to Black” (2004), Faith No More’s “Midlife Crisis” (2009), Judas Priest’s “Living After Midnight” (2010), and U2's “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (2010).
Having had some time to think and look into this I think I’ve found the artist who’s at least one of the most prolific cover artists, with 27 covers to date spanning from 1990 to 2018. This artist does tend to be fairly polarizing, so whether he’s the “best” is very much a matter of opinion. And no, I’m not going to say who it is.
So, I put it to you, Oppo. Who is the best non-cover cover band?