10 Hard Rock Cover Songs That Are Better Than The Original

At the end of the '70s, no one really knew her Van Halen were outside of the LA clubs on the Sunset Strip. While everyone was having their mind blown in the sunshine of Los Angeles, most people were still in the pompous rock world of later Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Just when things started to get stale, these guys unpacked an old Kinks tune and began their rule of the rock world.

Though it is normally not advised to make your first song a cover, Van Halen revved up this British Invasion tune to massive proportions, with Eddie Van Halen turning that simple riff into a virtual assault weapon. That kind of guitar tone would have been enough, and yet the charisma that David Lee Roth brings to this plea for love is one of the most infectious hooks that he would ever deliver.

Whereas most bands were focusing on creating the "next big thing" from scratch, Van Halen were content to just be themselves and ended up creating one of the most enduring rock songs of all time. Also, if you listen to this without hearing Eddie's one minute solo Eruption right before it, I'm sad to say that you're kind of doing it wrong. After you heard this song, all classic rock was dead...it was time to make way for the new kings of the scene.