Topped the BBC poll
Andy Morris

09:02 28th October 2014

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Pet Shop Boy's peerless take on Elvis Presley's 'Always On My Mind' has been voted 'top cover version' in a new BBC poll.

To mark the BBC's lavish 'God Only Knows' cover for Children In Need, the list was compiled by both BBC listeners as well as DJs from Radio One, 1Xtra and 6Music including Steve Lamacq, Simon Mayo and Trevor Nelson.


Johnny Cash's Rick Rubin-produced cover of Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt' reached second place and the Strangler's unique interpretation of Burt Bacharach's 'Walk On By' is third. 

Below: Watch Pet Shop Boys 'Always On My Mind'



Other notable entries in the chart include Muse's 'Feeling Good' at number nine, Florence and the Machine's 'You've Got The Love' at 22,  James Blake's 'Limit To Your Love' at 35 and Ryan Adams 'Wonderwall' at 39. Our only minor quibble with the list is why D'Angelo's 'Cruisin' isn't higher - shouldn't it at the very least be higher than Leona Lewis covering Snow Patrol?

The full BBC list is below:

1. Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind
2. Johnny Cash - Hurt
3. The Stranglers - Walk On By
4. Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
5. Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
6. Soft Cell - Tainted Love
7. Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends
8. Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
9. Muse - Feeling Good
10. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You
11. Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
12. Adele - Make You Feel My Love
13. This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren
14. The Clash - I Fought The Law
15.China Drum - Wuthering Heights
16. Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World
17. Aretha Franklin - Respect
18. Eva Cassidy - Songbird
19. Leona Lewis - Run
20. Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks
21. Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
22. Florence + the Machine - You've Got The Love
23. Mark Ronson - Valerie (feat. Amy Winehouse)
24. Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe
25. The Fall - Lost In Music
26. Gary Jules - Mad World (feat. Michael Andrews)
27. Bryan Ferry - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
28. The Specials - A Message To You Rudy
29. Birdy - Skinny Love
30. Fugees - Killing Me Softly With His Song
31. The Pogues - Dirty Old Town
32. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Good Year For The Roses
33. José González - Heartbeats
34. The Isley Brothers - Summer Breeze
35. Thin Lizzy - Rosalie
36. Talking Heads - Take Me To The River
37.  David Bowie - China Girl
38. Urge Overkill - Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon
39. Ryan Adams - Wonderwall
40. Nina Simone - Mr. Bojangles
41. Hüsker Dü - Eight Miles High
42. José Feliciano - Light My Fire
43. Earth, Wind & Fire - Got To Get You Into My Life
44. Santana - Oye Como Va
45. James Blake - Limit To Your Love
46. Billy Paul - Your Song
47. Richie Havens - Going Back To My Roots
48. Labrinth - Express Yourself
49. Prince Fatty - Shimmy Shimmy Ya (feat. Horseman)
50. D'Angelo – Cruisin 

Below: Worst cover version ever

  • Ke$ha - Blur 'Song 2': The US pop singer lifted the iconic vocal riff from the Brit band's classic track for her new tune 'Woo Hoo'. Bet Damon Albarn never had autotune and a europop beat in mind when he wrote this one...

  • The Voice UK juges - U2 'Beautiful Day': On a show where almost everything goes wrong, this performance by the show's 'professional' judges still managed to stand out. Worth watching for The Script's Danny O'Donoghue and his attempts at rocking out on the BBC show.

  • Girls Aloud / Sugababes - Aerosmith 'Walk This Way': Sure, it was for Comic Relief, but even the starving children in Africa deserve better than cacophany.

  • 5ive - Queen 'We Will Rock You': In one of Queen's earliest pop miss-steps, they teamed up with dreadful boyband 5ive for a cover of their own hit. Notoriously terrible.

  • Britney Spears - Joan Jett 'I Love Rock and Roll': We're not sure Britney love anything other than her iced mochas and her cigarettes, but she tried to convince us otherwise on this cover of the eighties rock classic.

  • Leona Lewis - Oasis 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out': Sure, it worked on her cover of Snow Patrol's 'Run', but Leona Lewis' attempt at covering this Oasis classic fell flat. She went for a it a third time in 2011 when she covered Nine Inch Nails 'Hurt' as well. Will Slipknot get the Leona treatment next?

  • Matt Cardle - Biffy Clyro 'Many Of Horror': Poor old Matt Cardle. Now dropped from his record label, he wasn't even granted the dignity of being allowed to keep Biffy Clyro's original 'Many Of Horror' title on his debut single 'When We Collide'

  • Marcus Collins - White Stripes 'Seven Nation Army': Simply awful - and not even an original idea. A carbon copy of French singer Ben L'Oncle Soul's reworking.

  • Joss Stone - White Stripes 'Fell In Love With A Boy': Still one of the biggest earning UK music artists, the world fell for this Westcountry singer and her dreary cover of this Jack White classic.

  • Little Mix - Damien Rice 'Cannonball': Many wondered what Damien Rice was thinking when he permitted his bitter classic 'Cannonball' to be covered by 2011 X Factor winners Little Mix. Money. That's what he was thinking.

  • All Saints - Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Under The Bridge': Not sure the nineties girlband really conveyed the original's message of a man dealing with a heroin addiction on this embarassingly misjudged cover...

  • Glee - Journey 'Don't Stop Believing': The song that unleashed a musical monster upon charts the world over. Still, these kids sure can sing...

  • Mel B - Cameo 'Word Up': When the Spice Girls came to an end, five underwhelming solo careers were born. Melanie Brown's the least impressive of all.

  • Tina Cousins - Kings Of Leon 'Sex On Fire': Make it stop. DEAR LORD, MAKE IT STOP!

  • Avril Lavigne - Bob Dylan 'Knocking On Heaven's Door': Another charity effort, another classic crumbles.

  • Take That - Nirvana 'Smells Like Teen Spirit': We're not sure what's more offensive about this Take That's live cover of the Nirvana classic - the song itself or the number of nipples on display on the stage.

  • Hilary Duff - The Who 'My Generation': When Hilary Duff sings about 'her generation' we assume she means the generation of priviledged LA starlets who churn out dreadful music and awful movies on a worryingly regular basis?

  • Daphne and Celeste - Alice Cooper 'School's Out': Perhaps one of history's worst pop band's, the bubble burst for this horrific US duo when they released this flop cover of the Alice Cooper rock hit.

  • Sugababes - Arctic Monkeys 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor: Hardly the worst cover on the list, this note-for-note cover was a shameless attempt at credibility from the ever-changing girlband. It takes more than a few guitars to convince people you've gone rock girls...

  • Madonna - Don McLean 'American Pie': The saddest thing about Madonna's 'American Pie' cover is how good it sounds compared to the terrible europop she's churning out these days...

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Photo: Wenn