10 Greatest Cover Songs In Rock Music History
5. Live and Let Die - Guns N Roses
And yet we have another band tempting fate by covering a former Beatle. Not just any Beatles song though...this is the iconic Live and Let Die, which has become synonymous with the Bond franchise for the past few decades. You're going to have to really know what you're doing if you think you can pull this off, and Guns N Roses were just at that point where they were ready to do it.
Coming off of the mega bloated Use Your Illusion project, this is where the size and scope of the double album project really started to pay off, with Slash's guitar part perfectly replacing Paul McCartney's original piano line. Once we get to the chorus though, GNR pulled out all of the stops for this one, bringing in lush orchestration to make it seem like the end of the world taking place in front of your ears.
If you put both Macca's version and the hair metal version beside each other, Guns N Roses' actually sounds a lot more cinematic in retrospect. Though the original was meant to be featured as part of a soundtrack to begin with, this improved version is the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't even exist, and yet it still sounds badass. Even if we have to let it die in the end, this is the kind of grand send off that a song like this needs.