10 Greatest Rock Music Cover Songs Of The 1990s
4. Viva Las Vegas - ZZ Top
Anyone who’s anyone knows the Elvis Presley song Viva Las Vegas. Even if you’ve never seen the film from which it takes it name (one of The King’s best, by the way), it’s practically law that this song has to appear in every movie or TV show that features Sin City.
Blues rock heroes and the patron saints of giant beards ZZ Top decided to try their luck with the song as part of their 1992 Greatest Hits album, one of two specially recorded songs for the record. It was radically different to the swinging version put forward by Presley, imbued with the Top’s signature style of desert-infused guitar and Dusty Hill’s husky vocal tones.
Whilst the original will always have a special place in music history, this one is so funky, so outlaw, and so damn cool. It’s hard to tell which version is better, which is why it's great that they’re far enough apart to peacefully coexist.
A good cover should make you hear a song you’ve heard a thousand times before in a completely new light, and that’s precisely the case here.