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+--- Thread: Alternate Versions of Songs (/showthread.php?tid=1936)
Alternate Versions of Songs - Moonface - Aug 28th, 2026
Got the idea to make this thread from mine and @Maniakkid25's posts in "Current/Last Thing Listened To?" talking about alternate versions of songs. So, is there an alternate version of a song that you prefer over the normal one? Or just something interesting about an alternate version you want to share, like how @Maniakkid25 did about Fever For The Flava in NFS Hot Pursuit 2?
On the subject of alternate versions in games that are drastically different, I think one of the first I heard as a kid was a remix of My Own Summer - Deftones in Street Sk8tr 2 that I grew up thinking was just the actual song because I didn't grasp that the word remix added to the end of the song title meant it was actually a remix and thought the song name was just My Own Summer Remix. It wasn't until years later when I listened to their Around The Fur album and heard the normal version of the song on it, and I vaguely recall being confused at the time why the song didn't sound the same as the one I knew of.
Another one that was different in a game was Survive - Rise Against in WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007, which isn't massively different except that it has a much longer beginning part before the lyrics start. I don't really have a preference of it with or without the longer start though, but it was another case of being a little confused when I listened to the album that song is on years later and wondered if I was misremembering how it sounded in the mentioned game.
RE: Alternate Versions of Songs - Kyng - Aug 29th, 2026
As someone who watched Thomas the Tank Engine as a small child, I have to say that this is one of my favourites:
I love how it sounds so different from the original, yet so familiar!
RE: Alternate Versions of Songs - Maniakkid25 - Aug 29th, 2026
Edit: Side-note, if you've never seen the music video for Fever For the Flava, IT IS AMAZING, please watch it now!
As far as re-recordings go, I prefer the Rock Band 2 version of Hello There by Cheap Trick. The original version is a little too weak and soft, in my opinion, for such a quick song. I like the distortion and half-screamed vocals in the Rock Band 2 version. Allegedly, this is from a '97 re-recording of the album its from that just never went anywhere.
Souls of Black by Testament is another good example where I prefer the re-recording. The re-recording has a really cool bass intro that isn't in the original version, as well as being in a key that just sounds better for the style that they are playing. The song is in Eb standard rather than E standard, and the sound is just that much darker as a result.
As for Remixes, I really enjoy the Cyber Punk remix of Rimokon/Remote Control. Much better than the original, IMO. Something about the rockin' sound just makes it flow better than the original.
And I can prove this isn't always biased towards the first version of the song I hear, too! Cult of Personality is the perfect example. I first heard it in Guitar Hero 3, which uses a re-recorded version they made specifically for that game. But I actually prefer the original recording of it. The solo is just more sensible, it's not about spamming as many notes as possible on the guitar.
RE: Alternate Versions of Songs - Dragon Lord - Aug 29th, 2026
I'm going to start by talking about a handful of song covers that I adore, then get into some "reimagined" versions of songs.
I absolutely LOVE the covers of What Hurts the Most (originally by Rascal Flatts) and The Thunder Rolls (originally by Garth Brooks) that STATE of MINE have done. I really love the originals of these songs, but hearing them in a Rock style and Metal style really elevated the songs for me. The really cool thing is that STATE of MINE got the rights to do a cover to "The Thunder Rolls." Garth Brooks is very notorious for not letting ANYONE touch his songs, so the fact they were able to do a cover of that song is very impressive. Not only that, but they also got to do a second cover of the song using the "secret" third chorus that Garth Brooks only sang at live concerts. The Thunder Rolls (Long Version) is the cover with the third chorus.
This cover of Whiskey Lullaby by Drew Jacobs is pretty good too. I don't think this beats the original song by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss (where as I think the STATE of MINE covers are actually better than the originals), but it's still damn good. This song just lacks a lot of the... sorrow that the original song brought, and I think that does take away from the song a decent amount. Still a lovely rock cover of the song though.
Zombie by Bad Wolves is an absolutely fantastic cover as well. I actually cannot stand the original version of this song, and absolutely hated the song until Bad Wolves covered it and made it sound spectacular. Again, a case where I would say the cover absolutely blows the original out of the water and them some.
And of course if we're on the subject of a cover absolutely destroying the original, I have to bring up one of the best examples in the world. That would be the cover of The Sound of Silence by Disturbed that absolutely blasts the original and all other covers of the song into orbit. Nobody has and nobody ever will perform this song as flawlessly as Disturbed did (and the fact that he can sing this live just as well as it sounds in the music video just makes it even better).
The rendition of Hallelujah that Lee Dewyze did on American Idol back in 2010 is probably my absolute favorite version of the song I've ever heard. It's a shame that it's so hard to find good, quality recordings of it. Even this video has a weird skip at the start that kind of ruins it. I also really like Pentatonix's version of the song and it would probably be a tie with Lee's version of it, honestly. Both are just wonderful.
I also really enjoy the cover of Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker.
Now for more "alternate" versions of songs, I turn to Breaking Benjamin, who made alternate versions of their own songs back in 2020 in their Aurora album (which they aptly named Aurora Versions of the songs). My favorite of these being: Dear Agony feat. Lacy Strum, Failure feat. Red, Dance With the Devil feat. Adam Gontier (original singer of Three Days Grace), Never Again, So Cold and Tourniquet. They really did a great job making these re-imagining of their owns songs sound so good and better than the originals. The Aurora rendition of Dear Agony is definitely the highlight of the group. Ben and Lacy sounded so good together and it just added a whole new layer to an already amazing song.
Oh, and as one final one, while I cannot say much good about Fallout 76, one good thing I can say is that I actually really like the rendition of Take Me Home, Country Roads that they made for the game. I really enjoy this version of the song.
Okay, that's enough yapping from me for now.