The 20 Best Rolling Stones cover versions

9 March 2024, 19:00

The greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world have had many admirers over the years... here's a score of the best cover versions of Stone songs.

1. Aretha Franklin - Jumpin' Jack Flash

   • Released: September 1986
   • Originally released by The Rolling Stones May 1968
   • It may have paper-thin 80s production and nobody can remember anything about the film it was supposed to be plugging (other than Whoopi Goldberg was in it), but it's the Queen of Soul for heaven's sake and Keef and Ronnie turned up to perform - as well they should.
   

   Jumpin' Jack Flash (Official Music Video)

2. Ike & Tina Turner - Honky Tonk Women

   • Released: April 1970
   • Originally released by The Rolling Stones July 1969
   • The Turners toured with the Stones for a number of years and many say that Mick stole all his best moves from Tina. However, Jagger must have been delighted when he heard Tina's scorching version of the 1969 Stones classic - the band and the Ikettes are on blistering form on this German TV performance.
   

   Ike & Tina Turner - Honky Tonk Women (1971)

3. Devo - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

   • Released: September 1977
   • Originally released by The Rolling Stones June 1965
   • Less a cover, more of a complete deconstruction, Akron, Ohio's best known troupe attacked the Stones classic at the height of punk, adding their trademark "devolution" process to one of rock's greatest moments. Twitchy and nervy, Devo's Satisfaction has a peculiar rhythm all of its own.
   

   Devo - [I Can't Get No] Satisfaction (Video)

4. World Of Twist - She's A Rainbow

   • Released: November 1990
   • Originally released by The Rolling Stones December 1967
   • Released just as the Baggy genre found its shuffling groove, this Sheffield collective employed Joy Division/Happy Mondays producer Martin Hannett to do the business, and it was one of his last ever releases before his untimely death in April 1991.
   

   World of Twist - She's a Rainbow (audio only)

5. David Bowie - Let's Spend The Night Together

   • Released: July 1973
   • Originally released by The Rolling Stones January 1967
   • Bowie was not adverse to including a cover version on a studio album of original material, and the risque Stones classic appeared on the Aladdin Sane album, sandwiched between The Prettiest Star and The Jean Genie.
   

   David Bowie - Let's Spend The Night Together

6. Johnny Cash - No Expectations

   • Released: November 1978
   • Originally released by The Rolling Stones December 1968
   • The polar opposite of what you'd expect here: the Stones original is a mournful, heart-breaking country ballad, while the Man In Black gives the tune the full Grand Ole Opry treatment for his 1978 album Gone Girl Yee-hah!
   

   Johnny Cash - No Expectations (Audio) | Gone Girl (1978)

7. The Who - Under My Thumb

   • Released: June 1967
   • Originally released by The Rolling Stones April 1966
   • When Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were arrested by the Feds in February 1967 for alleged possession of drugs and sentenced to actual time in prison, it seemed like the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world were done and dusted, with Mick givem three months and Keef one year's stir. The Who stepped in and recorded two of the band's songs as a show to keep the Stones' music in the public eye. In the end, the two Stones stayed one night in the clink and their sentence was overturned on appeal. The power of The Who!
   

   Under My Thumb (UK Single Mix / Mono Version)

8. The Soup Dragons - I'm Free

   • Released: July 1990
   • Originally released by The Rolling Stones September 1965
   • Scottish rockers from the indie "C86" era, who reinvented themselves in the wake of Baggy to become indie-dance icons with this Stones cover, livened up with some toasting from Junior Reid of Black Uhuru. Some people thought it was an original song by The Soup Dragons, found out it was a Stones song and realised they'd already got it in their collection - it's the final track on the album Out Of Our Heads.
   

   The Soup Dragons - I'm Free (Official Video)

9. Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By

   • Originally released: June 1964
   • Released by The Rolling Stones: December 1965
   • When is a cover not a cover? Technically, the Stones covered Marianne here, as Jagger and Richards were charged by manager Andrew Loog Oldham to come up with a song that was outside their usual R&B remit and the 17-year-old chanteuse took it into the Top 10. The Stones then recorded their own version in 1965 (presumably once they'd heard The Beatles get involved with a string quartet on Yesterday).
   

   Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By (1965)

10. Guns N'Roses - Sympathy For The Devil

    • Released: December 1994
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones December 1968
    • Jagger and Richards' Satanic samba was govered by GN'R in 1994 for the film Interview With The Vampire and pretty much spelled the end of the Slash-Duff incarnation of the band for the best part of 30 years. Slash called their cover "The sound of the band breaking up". Come on, it's not that bad!
    

    Sympathy For The Devil

11. The Sundays - Wild Horses

    • Released: September 1992
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones April 1971
    • Harriet Wheeler ekes out every intricacy from the Stones ballad on this Sundays b-side.
    

    The Sundays - Wild Horses (Official Music Video)

12. Linda Ronstadt - Tumbling Dice

    • Released: April 1978
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones April 1972
    • Jagger thought that Linda should move from country music into rock 'n' roll, and persuaded her to record this tune from 1972's Exile On Main Street for her 1977 album Simple Dreams.
    

    Linda Ronstadt - Tumbling Dice (FM)

13. Sisters Of Mercy - Gimme Shelter

    • Released: October 1983
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones December 1969
    • The Goth scene was fond of a dour, glacial cover version of a rock masterpiece (see pretty much every gig by The Mission) and the Stones' 1969 masterpiece was crying out to be demolished by Andrew Eldritch and his drum machine of doom. The connection between Gimme Shelter and the grim spectacle of the ill-fated Altamont festival via the classic documentary of the same name helped Goth it up even more.
    

    The Sisters of Mercy : Gimme shelter

14. Bette Midler - Beast Of Burden

    • Released: August 1983
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones August 1978
    • Mick makes a cameo in the video to Bette's cover of the Stones' 1978 single. It was included on Midler's album No Frills.
    

    Bette Midler - Beast Of Burden (Official Music Video)

15. Rod Stewart - Street Fighting Man

    • Released: November 1969
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones August 1968 (US)
    • Rod The Mod covered this slice of angry Stones for his debut solo album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down.
    

    Street Fighting Man

16. Chris Farlowe - Out Of Time

    • Released: June 1966
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones April 1966
    • Jagger and Richards had written a song for British singer Farlowe, which had just broken the Top 40. For the follow-up for Stones manager Andew Loog Oldham's Immediate label, Farlowe recorded another Mick 'n' Keef tune, which the band themselves recorded for their 1966 album Aftermath. Out Of Time was Farlowe's only Number 1 hit.
    

    Chris Farlowe - Out Of Time (1966)

17. The Andrew Oldham Orchestra - The Last Time

    • Released: 1966
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones February 1965
    • You know this one - this elegant orchestral version of the Stones chart-topper formed the basis of The Verve's Bitter Sweet Symphony in 1997. The album it's taken from, The Rolling Stones Songbook, also includes versions of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction and As Tears Go BY.
    

    The Last Time - The Andrew Oldham Orchestra

18. Eric Burdon and War - Paint It, Black

    • Released: May 1971
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones May 1966
    • When the original formation of The Animals broke up in 1966, frontman Eric Burdon moved to San Francisco and created a new version of the band, which recorded the Stones classic on their album Winds Of Change and memorably performed it at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. When that version of the band went belly-up, Burdon formed War, which moved into more psychedelic/jazz territory - and they covered Paint It, Black in December 1970 as part of a 13-minute medley. Enjoy a snippet.
    

    Eric Burdon & War - Paint It Black - Medley (1970)

19. Tori Amos - Angie

    • Released: 16th March 1992
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones August 1973
    • Tremulous but powerful performance from the American singer-songwriter, which appeared on the b-side to her 1992 single Winter.
    

    Tori Amos - Angie

20. KISS - 2000 Man

    • Released: May 1979
    • Originally released by The Rolling Stones December 1967
    • One of the minor tracks from the psychedelic outing that was the 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request, none other than KISS guitarist Ace Frehley takes lead vocal on this glam metal cover from the 1979 LP Dynasty. Wave your official Rolling Stones scarf to this one.
    

    2,000 Man