Have you ever heard a song over time that you believed was the original version, later to find out it wasn’t the original version at all? You may have listened to the song for years before finding out. If you’re a fan of these artists, you probably know most, if not all of these already, even if you’ve never heard the original version of the song before. There may be 1 or 2 of these that may surprise you.

6. Blitzkrieg / Metallica:

This is common knowledge for any fan of Metallica, but when is the last time you heard the original version by the band Blitzkrieg? Released in 1981 as a B-Side to the single “Buried Alive” , Blitzkrieg is a raw, chunky, classic heavy metal song with higher vocals and a slightly slower tempo than the thrash version, released by Metallica in 1984 as the B-Side of Creeping Death and later appearing on the Kill ‘Em All album.

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5. Metro / System of a Down:

If you grew up in the 80’s like myself, you may be more familiar with the original Berlin version of the song “The Metro”, released in 1981, than you are with System of a Down’s interpretation “Metro”, that was on the Dracula 2000 soundtrack, among other places. If you grew up in the 90’s or later, you may never have heard of the band Berlin.

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4. Antisocial / Anthrax:

This is a song you heard was a cover, but weren’t exactly sure who did the original. The number of times I’ve seen Anthrax live, singing along with them and the rest of the crowd, “You’re anti, you’re antisocial.” Then you hear the original version done by the band “Trust.” It starts out with an acoustic guitar, goes into an 80’s European vibe, building itself into a rock song. The vocals begin, and you realize the whole song is in French. It’s different on so many levels, but it’s pretty much the same song. Trust’s version even has an “antisocial” chant at the end of the song.

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3. All Along the Watchtower / Jimi Hendrix

Featured in numerous movies and a staple in classic rock radio, (it always reminds me of Forrest Gump), I wasn’t aware until some years back that Jimi Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower” wasn’t the original. It was first recorded by Bob Dylan in November 1967 for the John Wesley Harding album. Before the album was released, Jimi obtained a copy of it. He liked the song so much that he started recording his own version of it just 2 months after Dylan first recorded it. Hendrix even recruited Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones to play the vibraslap, which helped provide a signature sound at the beginning of the song.

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2. Disorder / Slayer, Ice-T:

I don’t remember much from the Judgement Night movie aside from the epic soundtrack. Pearl Jam/Cypress Hill, Mudhoney/Sir Mix A Lot, and of course Slayer/Ice-T. This was a much anticipated track for me because it was my first taste of Slayer since the “Seasons” album. I wasn’t aware until a few years later that this collaboration was a medley of 3 different Exploited songs: War, UK 82, and Disorder. As much as I enjoy all three of these Exploited songs separately, they happen to blend together well to form a single song. The aggressive vocals of Tom Araya, and the pissed off, no bull shit attitude of Ice-T mesh perfectly in this updated, 90’s version.

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1. The Badge / Pantera:

To be honest, I had no idea until very recent, the song “The Badge” by Pantera, was a cover song originally recorded by Poison Idea. It was a track on the “Feel the Darkness” album, released in 1990. The Pantera version was recorded for The Crow soundtrack in 1994, and also appeared on a limited release of Far Beyond Driven. I liked the punk rock version by Poison Idea, but I thought the Pantera version took it to a new level. \m/

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