The WORST & best metal covers songs (Korn, Nickelback, No Doubt & more) | vol 3

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The WORST & best metal covers songs ranked in the tier list! I rank the worst and best metal cover songs in this tier list.
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[@FinnMckentyPRMBA]

Follow me on Instagram: instagram.com/finnmckenty

[@AustinD1993]

😂😂😂 I like HIM too, but the Wicked Game cover was GARBAGE 😂 When it starts with Ville Valo's Hair Blowing back from the Fan on TURBO SPEED 😂😂😂😂😂

[@AustinD1993]

Reel Big Fish was SO CRINGE I couldn't stop LAUGHING 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 You're reaction was gold 😂😂😂

[@ashleemons]

I really love the man who sold the world Nirvana cover

[@alhazm8521]

nickelback smack the shit of all the American bands @@ashleemons

[@alhazm8521]

nickelback is the modern band of all time , they smack the shit of all the American band can you dig that sucker

[@rnwtn]

To be fair about HIM's cover of wicked game, this version was before they broke out. So they kind of were a local band lol. Check out the 2000 version. Much better recording, and production.

[@Princeofwinners]

I may be bias but Corey Taylor version is better. Jack Black's is good too. Everyone seems to cover that song for some reason.

[@heathbates9561]

I think a Type O Negative cover of Wicked Game would have been phenomenal.

[@iiitzHimmy]

At the same show as the Korn cover, Limp Bizkit covers Sanitarium and crushes it. It sounds like a LB song in the best way possible.

[@captaincobana4144]

Yep, agreed! There's also a live version where Serj did the vocals at a metallica show and i think it's great but you can't find it in good quality really.

[@SpaghettiYOLOKing]

I remember getting absolutely trashed by my elitist metalhead friend for liking LB's cover of that. Dude constantly shit on bands I liked while also trying to get me into Mayhem and Darkthrone and Cradle of Filth. He was super into Black Metal and whatever the hell Cradle was. Only thing I liked about Mayhem was Necrobutcher interviews. That dude is hilarious.

[@heshanandrews]

Linkin park didn't do that many covers, but the ones they did were absolutely top notch, they were too talented to not pull a cover off Finn if you wanna check them out in future volumes, - Adele, Rolling in the deep live - NIN, Wish live - Deftones, My own summer live - Guns and roses, Sweet child (just one verse as a joke live, Chester sounds amazing on it)

[@habhdyst722]

The piano cover of rolling in the deep is absolutely phenomenal

[@dsxa918]

I feel like I forgot they did "wish" but it is such a great version

[@VendettaVincent]

Wish was fuckin great 🤘

[@android521]

NFG cover of King of Wishful Thinking is S tier and probably one of their most popular songs they play. Goldfingers cover of 99 Red Balloons is amazing too.

[@ashleybrown4754]

The Goldfinger cover is above S tier

[@OwiggumX]

Abso freaking lutely

[@changeagent6575]

Surprisingly, Theory of a Deadman killed it with their cover of Wicked Game. For the record…Reel Big Fish killed that cover😂

[@noot6230]

I think it was three days grace, unless they both did a cover, but if we’re talking about the same cover, it was fantastic

[@onionheadguy7094]

Lol yeah reel big fish gets slaughtered so hard on this channel haha

[@themaninblackleatherstudio]

is he human, or is he dancer?

[@jessecovey1778]

Theory of a Dead Milkmen

[@MrInitialMan]

I unironically quite enjoyed the Reel Big Fish cover; I enjoy Reel Big Fish in general.

[@dalekay9ine]

311 are great musicians. Chad Sexton and P-Nut are one of the best live rhythm sections ever to do it, and they're still at it touring right now. I'd love to see a video on 311 if you don't have one Finn. Seeing the number of live shows they've played would be amazing, has to be way up there.

[@markwrenn5965]

My fav band of all time

[@subparnaturedocumentary]

the mans name is literally chad sexton s tier name s tier drummer

[@dalekay9ine]

@@subparnaturedocumentary absolutely lol

[@benamisai-kham5892]

I was thinking finn should cover 311 like 3 weeks ago 😂

[@RockSolidKaraoke]

Hell yeah! I've seen them live 38 times over 25 years!

[@arsp2691]

The Reel Big Fish cover is the best cover in this whole list. You wrong for that Finn! 😂

[@ashortsleeves1]

Hear fuckin hear. One of my favorite ska songs of all time. I swear ska is a genre where you either love it or really hate it and there is no middle ground.

[@mfc5808]

Yea, something is wrong with Finn’s brain

[@damoborgir666]

Would genuinely love to see a PRMBA video on HIM!

[@brendonlake1522]

Korn make great covers, I had no idea about the 'One' cover but they've done loads. In a weird coincidence Nickelback and Korn both covered the devil went down to Georgia a few years ago so that would be a great comparison for you to do. One of the best covers I've heard lately is the band Cake covering 'I will survive.'

[@acerimmer8338]

"Girls that wear a lot of velvet w/ chubby upper arms." I'm rolling, Finn. Such an apt description.

[@OnyxSkiesXIX]

The girl I had a crush on high school was a huge 311 fan. But then she got into “real” music like the Cure and when 311 covered Love Song she hated it so much. It’s so funny to me in retrospect.

[@devenscience8894]

I was a huge Cure fan before I ever got into punk or metal, but I love 311 as well. Cover isn't as good as the original, but it's not bad, and like the first four 311 albums are solid as hell.

[@NuMetalDad]

One of my favorite covers is Crazy by Mushroomhead. Not a huge fan of the band but love that cover. Took me a minute to catch on to what song it was, but once I did I loved it.

[@markwrenn5965]

That one is really good too!

[@nunchuksteev9811]

I loved that song. Forgot all about to be honest.

[@Ammut6]

I still listen to Mushroomhead to this day! Love that song!

[@gtabro1337]

To me Marilyn Manson did it best - Sweet Dreams, Tainted Love, I Put A Spell On You, Rock n Rol [Black Gentleman]. Weird that Finn forgot about him...

[@skizr4200]

He didn't forget, he just bought into the lies spread about him a few years ago.

[@WickedWitchOfOz1]

Personal Jesus, Cry Little Sister, even Highway to Hell. Best cover Marilyn Manson did though (not really a cover, Manson was brought on to record the soundtrack version of the song) is Redeemer from Queen of the Damned. Jonathan Davis wrote the song and recorded it for the movie but Manson's voice suits it better.

[@Gerbfather]

Also Manson's cover of Gary Numan - Down In The Park

[@saedondengki2957]

You should include Limp Bizkit covering Metallica's Sanatarium too.

[@brainrotplague]

I heard it for the first time today as I was curious of the other covers of that night. God damn, what a thunderous cover. Insane

[@OwiggumX]

Thank you

[@matthewp9569]

Incubus has a great cover of "Come Together" out there that is in their regular rotation at concerts now. You should check it out!

[@mikeomatic9905]

Their guitarist (I think) was in an interview recently where he said the background vocals to (I think) Black Hole Sun were really tough to do. So I need to search for a cover of that one.

[@nayfehn89]

Blink's cover of letters to elise and afi's cover of just like heaven from The Cure MTV icon show were both pretty damn good covers. Plus almost every Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies song is a banger

[@valliedollx]

My husband love the Cure and I LOVE 311 so Love Song was naturally the best song we could choose as our wedding song.

[@controlZchannel]

There are studio versions of One where people have added bass back into the track and it sounds great.

[@CasualViewer-t4f]

I appreciate the non-apologetic 311 love here. Phenomenal band that nobody can ever replicate. I still listen to these guys and they, for the most part, aged very well.

[@retroryguy2821]

NFG also has an EP where they covered 6 or 7 songs. They did awesome jobs with Eye of the Tiger and This Is Me from Greatest Showman

[@BenGasser]

They have 3 EPs 'From The Screen to Your Stereo 1/2/3'. Heaps of great covers on all of them.

[@stewartdowouis9218]

That Thing You Do was written by Adam from Fountains of Wayne, “the Stacy’s Mom band.”

[@hlpeck]

I actually love HIMs cover of wicked game I prefer it to the original lol

[@JustinBolen810]

FINN: ROCK MUSIC HAS LOST THE FUN, MUSIC NEEDS TO BE FUN IF YOU WANT GIRLS TO COME. turns on ska FINN: HOW CAN YOU DEFEND THIS?

[@mikeomatic9905]

"... It makes the girls come?"

[@JustinBolen810]

@@mikeomatic9905 good ska music makes all women come.

[@ChainsawChristmas]

Korn's cover of "would?" by AIC is one of the best covers I've heard any band do. They killed it on that one.

[@StefanMedici]

That whole MoMA gig was fantastic. Thank fuck for COVID I go to watch it. My stand outs (and there was plenty), was Masterdon, Fishbone, Lanagan and Anne Wilson, Duff, and Korn. With an honourable to Chris Cornell's daughter, but that was just to hard to watch to be enjoyable.

[@loganryan1317]

Dope-you spin me right round. Manson-tainted love. Limp bizkit-behind blue eyes. This girl i met from Colorado introduced me to 311 when i was like 15. Never forgot em.

[@DirtyRyda]

At Metallica's Summer Sanitarium show in Sparta, KY, James was hurt and wasn't there. They had the guys from Korn, SOAD, and Kid Rock come out on different songs. It ended up being a pretty great one of a kind show. They also gave free tickets to another show in Lexington as a make up show to anyone that had tickets to the Sparta show.

[@golfboy83]

I'm a fan of Reel Big Fish. You just gotta not feel like you have to be a hard ass, and just be happy and have a good time.

[@Goo.Bitty.73]

I genuinely do really love most of, if not all of the five finger death punch covers, alot of them feel like a true evolution to the song, whether they are better (bad company, blue on black) or equal to (gone away, house of the rising sun)

[@joereid4457]

Reel Big Fish cover is S tier. Someone tell me I’m not crazy.

[@OwiggumX]

Spot on assessment

[@MrInitialMan]

@@OwiggumX High A tier. Needs some tuba, then it's S-Tier.

[@analogsignal]

The mxpx cover was way better

[@OwiggumX]

I do love me some MXPX, but I'll have to listen to that cover again.@@analogsignal

[@mattpetty448]

Hell even the great Devin Townsend praised Chad a while back.

[@brett2015]

Limp Bizkit’s cover of Sanitarium on this show is badass

[@malitze]

absolutely!

[@ericmunnisjr4763]

That was my first concert as well. Great times

[@ryanorris4955]

Avril Lavigne did Fuel I think... I hadn't thought about this in forever lol

[@brett2015]

@@ryanorris4955 yeah she did. Her band played the hell out of it too. Her band was super talented

[@jiujitsubassist]

The Save Ferris cover gives me nostalgia feels because I was a teenager at the time it came out and it was played on the radio a lot at the time. I liked the bassline of the Reel Big Fish Take on Me cover, and that one got a lot of radio play at the time as well.

[@mfc5808]

Both of those were by far the best covers in this video. Yea, the bass line in take on me is sick , plus the breakdown is classic NYHC, what’s not to love about that

[@BreakTheAlgorithmYT]

Korn was absolutely S tier. The Offspring's cover of Totalimmortal by AFI is one that I hated at first just because of who it was, later realized how good it truly was.

[@RS4xDave]

HIM’s Wicked Game cover is fantastic. Save Ferris’ cover is Z tier for me it’s so bad. I’d say that is the musical equivalent of shitting on a diamond. Putting that above RBF’s Take On Me is WILD.

[@jessecovey1778]

Nickelback did an excellent job of covering Sad But True. If I was in the crowd, I’d be going nuts for it!

[@jessecovey1778]

Never knew this existed.

[@sadmarinersfan8935]

It honestly makes it more sad that they don’t care because they have always had so much talent lol

[@Daeis138]

Finn, check out AFI's cover of The Hanging Garden by The Cure. They did a really good job on it.

[@The1920sChannel]

The "Sad But True" cover reminds me of when, of all bands, Train covered an entire Led Zeppelin album

[@esbenjensen7564]

Death's Painkiller cover is sick! if haven't heard it. Go do it!

[@ashleybrown4754]

I love that it’s the last song on Deaths last album and Chuck decided to cover one of the most metal songs ever and make it possibly more metal. Both are just bangers.

[@nathanthomson1931]

You guys have gotta check out Wolves at the Gates new cover album, Lost in Translation. They cover LP, Deftones, Incubus, 21 Pilots, 30 Seconds to Mars, Foo Fighters, Muse... Its flippin awesome!

[@BrianHughWarner_]

I checked the album out, wasn’t really impressed. A lot of the songs are pretty stripped down, especially their diamond eyes cover

[@SirSiegward]

Man…having wolves in the band name I immediately thought it was a European power metal band. To my surprise, they’re not! Lol

[@nathanthomson1931]

@BrianHughWarner_ I wasn't thrilled with that one, but it's already a super heavy song, so how do you change it up? 🤷‍♂️. I thought their covers of Heathens, Breaking the Habit, When I was Older, Pardon Me, and Apocalypse Please were pretty stellar though

[@nathanthomson1931]

@SirSiegward nope, metalcore lol

[@brett2015]

Thanks for turning me on to this. Listening now on this merciless 4 hour drive I gotta make for work. I’m digging it so far

[@Yeggow]

korn actually had the one cover on the last song in look in the mirror as a bonus track

[@sillysiji5257]

The soundbites at the end are like the chefs kiss for your videos. Love it!

[@mikedelvalle931]

You had me with Korn. You lost me with Reel Big Fish. Shame I'm not going to the BBQ.

[@kevinabraham9502]

I still love Wicked Games by HIM. Great cover!

[@lucaslogg1024]

Korn did a cover of Alice In Chains “Would?”, that one was amazing!

[@jonathansurrey8230]

When you said Korn I thought you were gonna mention the Another Brick in the Wall cover. Had no clue they covered one

[@skipp10467]

Yes!!! That is a fantastic cover

[@Timmysk8er89]

I surprisingly really liked Toxic - a static lullaby

[@Nacnud92]

Reel Big Fish may be cringe but *damn* do I miss hearing them playing in the distance at 2pm on Warped Tour.

[@johnholmeswebb8162]

I think this is the most I’ve ever agreed with Finn on any video he’s ever made. Except for his take on reel big fish, I will take this version over the weezer version every minute of every week.

[@Sleepwalkingok]

Best Music Video ✅ Very understandable ✅ Very epic music ✅ No bad words ✅ No inappropriate images ✅

[@QueLoKevin]

I remember when the 311 cover came out, gatekeepers absolutely hated it. It’s so good. Also is that Nickelback font not the Batman the Animated Series font???

[@Bagusys]

Any old school Cradle of Filth cover is solid A tier. Fear of The Dark, Sleepless, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Sodomy and Lust or Black Metal all made their own.

[@generic_handle788]

Don’t forget their cover of Hell Awaits, which fucking slaps

[@BrianHeffner]

I grew up in a beach town and the amount of times I’ve heard 311 “love song” every day of my life for 20 years and I still love it 😂

[@bootska]

RBFs cover of Take On is whatever is above S tier.

[@TheVillanz93]

On Korn covering "One", they were doing this live on tour in like 2013-14 while touring with Slipknot, but it was more of a Shoots and Ladders/One medley where they'd play S&L up until the breakdown and they'd swap it with One's breakdown. It was a riot live.

[@TheKalaxis]

H.I.M's cover of "Wicked Game" is meh but their cover of "Don't fear the reaper" is genuinely great. How about a curveball suggestion for part 4: Exit Eden's cover of "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga? Or their cover of "Frozen" by Madonna?

[@CalebHimself]

Giving 311 the respect they deserve. I actually love their cover of Love Song more than the original which is also perfect. I also saw Korn play the One breakdown live at Sick New World which was insane, they really pulled it off.

[@lyphe9675]

Recorded this on VHS which means we are old since you know what that was like and they played this when they were on the tour when they opened up for slipknot. It was awesome and thought that was the only time I would be able to heard the breakdown for ONE live ever. I was young

[@juniorunbrokensoul7610]

In defense of HIM (I hate the version in the video too) there was another version that was actually a bit better. A lot of HIM tracks were remixed or completely re-recorded from their original European releases.

[@robertlees2065]

I did think that sounded pretty bad, I remember the version on one of their Best Of CDs sounding far better than that, the vocals just sound really off in that video version.

[@clintbeastwood5116]

Periphery did a cover of ONE years ago, and they killed it.

[@ryanorris4955]

That Homefront soundtrack full of covers by TDEP, IWABO, Winds Of Plague, etc was awesome

[@WickedWitchOfOz1]

HIMs cover of Wicked Game is actually great though, with the version that showed up on Razorblade Romance as the best. Don't judge a song by its outdated music video!

[@slipknotpurity00]

Props on the 311 love, one of my all time favorites too. Seeing them live would turn anyone into a fan.

[@generic_handle788]

Hatebreed’s cover of Ghosts of War is amazing. That whole record is beyond reproach, imo

[@cmurockstar]

In 2000/01, NFG was arguably my favorite band. A lot of it had to do with From The Screen To Your Stereo vol 1.

[@fbennett1125]

Same same

[@riddles610]

Covers I think should be considered for an instalment of this series: - Cameo's 'Word Up' by Korn - Paramore's 'Decode' by From Ashes to New - Duran Duran's 'Come Undone' by Bad Omens

[@damirkrancpiler2246]

Would be great to see a series of random metal band covers rating, like Bathtub Shitter - Painkiller, Disbelief - Stranger in a strange land, Napalm Death - To Go Off And things...

[@PalmelaHanderson]

I have possibly listened to 311 more than any other band. Mayyyyybe Incubus is a close second. I wouldn't necessarily call either of them my favorite bands, but they always have a spot on the playlist.

[@chrisrusso9354]

I spent a lot of time on the road in between work so your videos filled that time

[@tsholts5173]

A really good cover I've been enjoying is Pumped Up Kicks by 3TEETH. It's much more emotional and menacing than the original, and the low tempo industrial rock sound fits the lyrics so well Edit: Also, Chad sounds like he had to take a shit during that 😂

[@whyisthisdifferentnow]

The Ataris - Boys of Summer cover will always be 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@redeyedjedi7386]

Avril doing Fuel was pretty good on that MTV tribute to Metallica

[@dryker7085]

I think why Love Song by 311 did so well is because they worked some reggae stylings into a rock ballad, which begs the question why they never covered any Police songs. Am always pleased when you mention the boys from Omaha. Great band; still killin' it today. Chompin' at the bit for the next album.

[@AllForgottenMemories]

No Six Feet Under, unbearable 😂 Btw. That 311 cover is amazing never heard it before ❤

[@andreklugel6846]

That No Doubt logo has always reminded me of the Rocco's Modern Life logo.

[@ReneTrejoJr]

Next Tier, you gotta review Vanilla Ice covering Vanilla Ice. When Vanilla Ice went thru his nü-metal phase (recorded a nü album) he covered, Ice Ice Baby in the style of nü-metal. It's called Too Cold and it fucking slaps.

[@ryanrowe1975]

Korn and Alice in Chain debuting the metal of a good song

[@KeCk60]

The lingua ignota cover of "wicked game" is absolutely phenomenal

[@diywrites8703]

That MTV Icon show was fire. Well the two episodes that I saw, the Metallica one and The Cure. Those two episodes were fire.

[@mortismarkov]

Bro i love Him's Wicked Game so much! i had no idea anyone could dislike it this much

[@ashleybrown4754]

I’m going to throw in Me First and The Gimme Gimmes cover of “End Of The Road”. Although you could throw a lot of their covers in.

[@CalmB4ThaStormx]

I had no clue that love song wasn't original. Absolutely love 311 lol

[@jessecovey1778]

That NFG drum sound is amazing. I don’t even like pop punk, but that sounded great!

[@goonggaming]

Im sorry, but I LOVE Reel Big Fish and that cover of Take on Me. Was actually a minor hit for them. Its great. Sorry Finn.

[@54raynor]

Live covers shouldn’t count in these rankings unless they’ve released a studio version. Every band has a collection of covers that they can play live with some level of skill.

[@rig-zag]

Vol. 4 you gotta include-- *MushroomHeads cover of "Crazy"by Seal *Atreyu- "Epic" by Faith No More Machinegun Kelly--"Killing in the name of"

[@xbreakthehabitx]

Gotta do I Knew You Were Trouble covered by We Came As Romans. It's one of the best

[@kipschumm1849]

There was also an MTV Icon for the Cure, AFI’s cover of “Just Like Heaven” was pretty good

[@mattpetty448]

Chelsea Grin's cover of Right Now by Korn is great in my opinion.

[@brennuvargr4638]

Cradle of Filth - 'Hallowed Be Thy Name'. Smokes, let's go!

[@ghost_to_a_ghost]

that Sad But True cover has yet again turned me in to more of a Nickleback fan. sure it's straight forward to the original but dude you are not wrong putting that on S-Tier. i would go see Nickelback live if i knew they were gonna bust this one out in the setlist. sounds great!

[@ghost_to_a_ghost]

plus i have a feeling that Nickelback is a lot more talented of a band than people give them credit for. i've watched plenty of interviews with Chad and the dude is actually a really nice, cool individual. and anyone who can take that much hate in stride is just a solid dude or dudette in my opinion.

[@ryanshinermusic]

Oddly enough, the Reel Big Fish cover is by far the best one. I said what I said.

[@KHoElSegundo]

Tim Marin remastered And Justice for All with added bass and what sounds like a slight reverb. It sounds great in the car or through big speakers.

[@Volkaroar]

HIM's cover is amazing. Leave it to a pop punk fanatic to not like it.

[@Nacnud92]

The also did an MTV Icon show for The Cure and AFI performed, it was great.

[@kittxkarnage]

i HAVEN'T WATCHED KZbin FOR A WHILE. HAVE MISSED YOUR VIDEOS! THIS MADE MY DAY!

[@NickLamon]

Rebel yell - children of bodom Bark at the moon - strung out 🤘

[@andreklugel6846]

Limp Bizkit did a cover of Sanitarium on that same show. It was actually really good. All of the covers were shortened, for some reason. None of them played the entire song from beginning to end, probably for TV, but yeah, all of the covers were great.

[@sticktoyourmusic]

Knocked Loose - Slings and Arrows (The Warriors Cover) would be interesting for the next episode. I propose also doing something/anything about The Warriors!!!!

[@Tetarkall]

Finn I’m gonna sign up for your Patreon when I can, just so I can send you my band’s cover of Wicked Game. I think it’d make you feel better