15 alternative Beatles covers that are better than the originals

A smooth, classy reggae cover of the Beatles’ 1965 hit from hardcore punk pioneers Bad Brains who used to pedal this one out live. You can find a version on The Youth Are Getting Restless (Live at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 1987). Dials down the original’s mop-topped chirpiness to pure chill.

The B-52s recorded this song in 2004 for a Buick advert, but honestly? It feels like the Beatles wrote it for them in 1966. Their new wave harmonies are a mirror image of John, Paul and George’s and the surf guitar is a perfect fit for the jangly beat group style. 

Incidentally, John Lennon was a big fan of the B-52s. He is widely reported to have said that hearing Rock Lobster in 1978 broke his writer’s block, inspiring him to team up with Yoko Ono and record the last songs of his career.

Generally speaking, punk bands tend to steer well clear of sugar-sweet 1960s pop. This was never going to be the case for boundary-pushers Husker Du, who were unafraid to get their teeth into the Beatles’ seventh consecutive number one hit. They also had a crack at the Byrds’ Eight Miles High and Donovan’s Sunshine Superman. The old hippies.

Nick Cave’s version of one of the Beatles’ most enduring hits was featured in 2001 movie I Am Sam alongside 19 other Beatles covers from artists including the Stereophonics, Grandaddy and Sheryl Crowe. Cave’s is the standout track, taking the rather po-faced original and turning it into a soothing baritone balm for the soul.

The woozy post-punk swirling of the Chameleons is a satisfying match for this classic track from Revolver, which was famously inspired by Lennon’s experiences on LSD.  The track was a bonus on the Chameleon’s dark and brilliant third album Strange Times, released by Geffen before the band’s original line-up disbanded in 1987. Satisfyingly moody.

The Breeders took this whimsical song from the White Album and turned into an alt-rock behemoth. The verse’s gnarly groove twists into the mellow refrain 'I need a fix/cause I’m going down' before ending on a smashing punk rock freakout. A masterful jigsaw of quiet/loud dynamics.

Singer-songwriter Fiona Apple gives the anti-folk treatment to this track from the Beatles’ 1970 album Let It Be. Apple’s version is understated, under-sugared and gently introspective. The story goes that John Lennon was inspired to write the lyrics 'words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup' by his wife going on and on endlessly about something when he wasn’t really listening. We hope she was reminding him to cancel his Amazon Prime before it renewed.

Weird to think that Alex Chilton’s first band, the Box Tops, were 1960s contemporaries of the Beatles. He’s undoubtedly more famous for playing in Big Star, a power-pop powerhouse of a band with the Beatles sound running clean through its punk rock heart. We can only dream about what Sgt Pepper would have sounded like if Chilton had ended up as the fifth Beatle. 

A woozily gorgeous version of the Abbey Road track recorded by Elliott Smith for the American Beauty soundtrack. The luscious a capella opening veers dangerously close to sickly-sweet – but Smith’s heartfelt edge just about saves it. 

The radio friendly power-pop explosion of the late 70s and early 80s owes a huge debt to the Beatles. Cheap Trick somehow manage to take this mildly irritating circus-esque ditty and turn it into something that sounds like it should be on the Baywatch soundtrack. Sweet nostalgic summer vibes.

Packed with fuzzed-up guitar and growling grungy tunefulness, this is a pretty faithful cover of the Moving Sidewalks’ version of the original. So that’s a cover of a cover. Keeping up? The Moving Sidewalks were a US psychedelic blues rock band most notable for spawning ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. Their version is filthily raw and absolutely worth a listen too.

Formerly a staple in St Vincent live set, you can tune in to pretty much any concert version of this and expect to have your socks well and truly blown off. Unaccompanied gritty, bluesy guitar, and a vocal that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Sublime.

We're not sure whether it’s just that Beatles songs sound better played by soulful, slightly tragic characters (see also: Elliot Smith, Nick Cave), or that their sweet songs appeal to those kind of folks in the first place. But there it is. Johnston takes this iconic but arguably throwaway pop song and gives it an almost bottomless depth.

George Harrison’s only songwriting contribution to Sgt Pepper, the original recording is woven with tabla, sitar and tambula among other traditional Indian instruments. In this version Patti Smith strips back Harrison’s arrangement without losing the hypnotic magic. Powerful stuff.

Same song, different artist. This is a smart cover for Sonic Youth – their signature layering of droning guitars mirrors the traditional instruments used in the original recording. The drums pummel away and the guitars fizz and hum in the background without the band ever losing control. The effect is like riding a wave that never breaks.