These are 10 of the most interesting and original covers of AC/DC songs: Anthrax, Bruce Dickinson, Celine Dion, Shakira, Marilyn Manson, Gregorian…
We are still waiting for news about AC / DC but we know that sometime soon they will release a new album and if nothing bad happens they will start a tour at the end of the year. while we have decided to look for the most original and striking versions of ACDc cations and prepare this list for you.
2Cellos – “Back in Black”
“Back in Black” is a great song that everyone knows, but surely not everyone is familiar with 2Cellos. This duo has made great versions over the years, and “Back in Black” is a fixed element of their live shows. However, their interpretation of the AC / DC classic with the Sydney Orchestra is possibly the best version. It has a rich and complete mix of sounds that allows you to enjoy the theme to the fullest despite being a fully instrumental interpretation.
Marilyn Manson – Highway To Hell
If we go to weird sounds we get to this “Highway to Hell” made in Marilyn Manson
Who undoubtedly applies his style from end to end. The song has been very treated and mixed, to the point that at times it is difficult to realize the theme that it is.
Céline Dion, Anastacia – You Shook Me All Night Long
You may like these two women more or less, but what is clear is that they have a voice stream and here they demonstrate how to use it for themes far from their usual style. This time it is a live performance in Las Vegas and although it is a bit embarrassing to see the movements of Celine Dion, the truth is that the song ends up sounding quite well.
SHAKIRA – Back in Black
We continue diving into pop divas shows giving way to Shakira. We know that Shakira is very far from the world of rock, but it seems that deep inside there is a “slight” rock seed.
Some time ago she declared herself a faithful follower of groups like Metallica, Nirvana or REM and we have been able to find some performance in which she plays METALLICA or this one that we show you below in which she dares with “Back in Black” by AC / DC
Gregorian – Hell”s Bells
Get to our list now with something really shocking. Gregorian songs generally do not have much in common with rock music. Of course, sometimes they set a melancholic tone in an introduction to a doom metal song, but rockers generally shout, growl, groan or sing. Frank Peterson‘s new group, Gregorian, released an album ‘The Dark Side of the Chant’, which features gothic versions of seven songs including AC / DC, Evanescence, Within Temptation, Madonna and others.
Guns N´ Roses – Whole Lotta Rosie
It turns out that the Axl Rose singing AC / DC was not something new when Angus Young decided to sign him to replace Brian Jhonson in the last tour of the band because of the problems of ears suffered by the latter.
Already in 1987 there are recordings of GnR performing the great song “Whole Lotta Rosie” live, with an Axl delivered, tuned and respectful of the subject. It is clear that the greatest excesses were yet to come …
Joan Jett – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Joan Jett applies all his eighties style (AC / DC with synthesizer) to this version of “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” that came to light there in the year 1990. As a curiosity to comment that Jett has changed the lyrics probably for gender reasons here ( “If you have a lady and you want her to leave …”).
Hayseed Dixie – Big Balls
Hayseed Dixie is an American bluegrass music group. They interpret a mix of hard rock versions and own compositions in bluegrass music with rock touches. They call themselves “Hillbilly rockers” (which can be translated into Castilian as “rockers paletos”).
The curiosity already starts from the name of the band that originally was AC / Dixie (the pronunciation of “AC / Dixie” and “AC / DC” is very similar), but they ended up changing it for Hayseed Dixie (pronounced very similarly «AC / DC»). Here we have one of the first themes where Hayseed Dixie applies all the southern air to this particular version of the ACDC classic “Big Balls”
Bruce Dickinson – Sin City
What happens if we bring together Iron Maiden and AC / DC?
It was the year 1990 and Bruce Dickinson was in solo career, along with Janick Gers when the great vocalist of Maiden decided to pay tribute ‘to Bon Scott and his band AC / DC playing live the song of the album’ Powerage ‘,’ Sin City ‘. This interpretation appears on his triple DVD released in 2006, entitled: ‘Anthology: Bruce Dickinson’.
ANTHRAX – “T.N.T.”
This I wanted to reserve for the next ranking in which we will publish more “extreme” covers in the style of Rock, but I love it, so I will choose it as the best version of this article.
Anthrax launched in 2013 a disc of versions under the title ‘Anthems’. The EP includes several themes: “Anthem” (Rush), “Smokin ‘” (Boston), “Keep on Runnin'” (Journey), “Big Eyes” (Cheap Trick), “Jailbreak” (Thin Lizzy) among which I would personally highlight that of Journey, and this ‘TNT’ :
Drummer Charlie Benante commented: “In the past, when we made versions we played ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ of AC / DC.” We never recorded it back then, but when we were in the studio doing ‘Worship Music’, we decided we wanted to. But [the singer] Joey [Belladonna] really wanted to do ‘T.N.T.’ He felt he was more in his style, and he knew the song back and forth, so we recorded that, and it’s great. “
Here you also have the live version:
