It’s easy to write off covers as nothing more than artists professing admiration for their influences without any personal spin or creative rethinking of the song they decide to remake. It’s an understandable reflex to dismiss covers that scream of novelty, as well, especially anything that would feel at home on something like the much-maligned Punk Goes… series of albums (Punk Goes Crunk, anyone? No?). Frankly, most of the time, covers beg the question: why bother? Despite the majority of them out there, however, covers can actually be something interesting, something more than stale retreads or simple tempo changes – musicians that do it right pay homage to their heroes also establishing themselves as a creative force. It’s these songs that justify the whole tradition of covering, and the following are several good examples by artists that set out to reinterpret and re-imagine rather than simply remake.

Bomb the Music Industry! “Ghost of Corporate Future” (Regina Spektor)

Fact: Bomb the Music Industry! is a punk band and their Regina Spektor cover has a much faster tempo than the original. Contrary to where that normally leads us, however, a cover of this nature would never fit on a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes album. The tempo isn’t simply sped up a bit, it’s taken to frenzied levels, as though BTMI! is having all the major life epiphanies Spektor writes about simultaneously. “Gotta kiss someone nice! / Gotta cut my own hair! / Life is happening now!” It’s a highly caffeinated cover, and the crazy ending cements that description. One gets the sense that the band’s cover was inspired by the song’s subject matter moreso than from a simple appreciation for Regina Spektor’s music in general – a quality that many covers sorely lack.

Dirty Projectors “Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie” (Black Flag)

Dirty Projectors’ 2007 album Rise Above didn’t go unnoticed when it was released, but it certainly didn’t inspire the reaction last year’s Bitte Orca received, which broke into nearly every music critic’s Best of 2009 list and earned gushing praise from fellow musicians like ?uestlove. Now that the dust has settled somewhat, it may be time for new fans to check out the band’s extensive back catalog, starting with the aforementioned (and excellent) Rise Above. A reinterpretation of Black Flag’s Damaged, the album is a covers album in the loosest sense of the word – none of the songs sound remotely like the Black Flag originals. “Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie” is notable for prominently featuring the amazing vocal interplay between the band’s female members Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian, but each song on the album features its own special touch, sure to remind you why you fell in love with Dirty Projectors last year.

Jenny Owen Youngs “Have You Forgotten” (Red House Painters)

The newest song on this list, this cover appeared on the recent compilation Sing Me to Sleep: Indie Lullabies. That the cover appears on an album created ostensibly to help loved ones sleep soundly should be hint enough that the cover has a different feel than the original, typically soul-crushingly depressing Red House Painters cut. Never before would you have wanted to sing “Have You Forgotten” to a child, but Jenny Owen Youngs’ version sounds so upbeat and happy (she even replaces the song’s solitary curse with a less offensive, more lullaby-appropriate option) that it no longer seems unreasonable. Youngs didn’t make too many changes from a musical perspective, but the fact that she injects her more positive personality into the song gives it a whole new life.

The Blood Brothers “Under Pressure” (Queen and David Bowie)

Back in the dark days of high school, when my obsession with faux-emo was in full swing, I saw The Used and My Chemical Romance cover “Under Pressure” together during the Lowell, MA stop of the inaugural Taste of Chaos tour. The cover was in no way different from the original, except for the fact that neither band’s singers are nearly as talented as Mercury or Bowie. It was an uninspired, bland cover, but luckily another band from that era produced an incredible version of the classic: The Blood Brothers. Rather than unashamedly mimic “Under Pressure,” The Blood Brothers decided to tear the song apart and have their way with it. Unmistakable Blood Bros flourishes permeate the song, with the band speeding up the iconic bass intro and abruptly changing time signatures. Why hear a weak reproduction of the original when you could hear a totally inspired, different one?

We Versus the Shark “Dirt in the Ground” (Tom Waits)

We Versus the Shark’s covers album Murmurmur has been mentioned before around these parts, and one of the album’s standouts is their version of Tom Waits’ “Dirt in the Ground.” While the original is a consistently slow and solemn meditation about death, We Versus the Shark’s version slowly builds in intensity as the song progresses. In addition, each verse is tackled by one of the band’s three vocalists, giving each part of the song a distinct flavor. Finally, the song comes to a head during the final chorus where the whole band chants the depressing sentiment, “We’re all gonna be just dirt in the ground!” But rather than sounding like Tom Waits’ descent into madness, this cover sounds more like a call-to-arms, as if to simply say, “Screw it, let’s live!” Once again, it’s these personal spins that make this a cover worth hearing.

Do you know of any covers that eschew traditional remake conventions, and just generally knock your socks off? Let us know in the comments, and perhaps we’ll feature them in an upcoming article.