![44 Famous Records You Probably Didn’t Realize Were Covers](https://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2019/08/image-8.png?w=980&q=75)
44 Famous Records You Probably Didn’t Realize Were Covers
Throughout rock's long history, it's been common practice for an artist to cover a song that was a hit for someone else. But what about those covers of a song that's more obscure? We put the spotlight on 44 Famous Records You Probably Didn't Realize Were Covers below.
First, let's define what constitutes a cover. By our rules for this list, we've mostly stuck to songs that were commercially available – as opposed to a songwriter's demo – when someone covered it. So, UB40's version of Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine" is a cover because it came out on Diamond's second album, but the Monkees' recording of "I'm a Believer" is not a cover, because Diamond wrote it when he was working as a Brill Building songwriter and the Monkees were the first to release it.
That said, there are two recordings, by Heart and the Steve Miller Band, where the original versions didn't come out until afterward, but because they matched the covering band's aesthetic so closely, we were surprised to learn that they weren't written by them.
We've also stayed away from covers where the original is pretty much familiar to music fans, like the Beatles' hit rendition of the Isley Brothers' "Twist and Shout" or Jimi Hendrix's revolutionary interpretation of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower." And then there are many tracks by Led Zeppelin that reworked old blues numbers and tried to pass them off as traditional songs with new arrangements by Jimmy Page.
44 Famous Records You Probably Didn't Realize Were Covers
More From KYBB-FM / B102.7
![.38 Special To Rock Sioux Falls At Washington Pavilion](http://townsquare.media/site/486/files/2024/05/attachment-38Special-SiouxFalls-112324-1920px1080.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![REO Speedwagon To Headline Sioux Falls Chamber Event in October](http://townsquare.media/site/486/files/2024/07/attachment-GettyImages-492860552-e1721659161410.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Comedian, Podcaster Theo Von Is Coming to Sioux Falls](http://townsquare.media/site/486/files/2024/07/attachment-Theo-Von.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Judas Priest Coming to Sioux Falls](http://townsquare.media/site/486/files/2024/06/attachment-GettyImages-1439374370-1-e1718118001239.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Celebrate Christmas with Rock Pioneer Lita Ford in Sioux Falls](http://townsquare.media/site/486/files/2024/06/attachment-GettyImages-632258174-e1717772082855.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Kory and The Fireflies Coming to 2024 Sioux Empire Fair](http://townsquare.media/site/486/files/2024/06/attachment-Untitled-design-151.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![What if The Beatles’ ‘White Album’ Had Only Been a Single LP?](http://townsquare.media/site/486/files/2020/07/Untitled-design-10.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Rock Concert Opening Acts: The Good, the Bad, and the Bizarre](http://townsquare.media/site/486/files/2020/04/RS2432_94130125-scr.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Some Surprise Members of the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame](http://townsquare.media/site/486/files/2024/04/attachment-Minnesota-Music-Hall-of-Fame-New-Ulm.png?w=980&q=75)