r/classiccovers

537 archived posts · Aug 2014 – Aug 2026

Classic Covers: Old Gems, New Polish

r/classiccovers

Welcome Music Lovers! Classic Covers is a place to explore newer takes on the great songs of the past. From jazz standards to bluegrass tunes to old-school hip hop, no pop genre is is off limits. Here's where you can find your favorite artists playing the songs that inspired them, or a unique twist on a song you love from yesteryear.

Created Aug 7, 2014 · restricted

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537Archived posts

Classic Covers is a place to explore newer takes on the great songs of the past. From jazz standards to bluegrass tunes to old-school hip hop, no pop genre is is off limits. Here's where you can find your favorite artists playing the songs that inspired them, or a unique twist on a song you love from yesteryear.

Submission Rule:

We are looking for new(ish) performances of old(er) music. All songs submitted must have been either first recorded/released or first performed at least 20 years ago -- give or take a couple of years, we won't be hard-asses about it. Also, the performance/recording you're submitting must have been recorded/released/performed no more than 20 years ago.

We call this the 20/20 rule. Learn it, love it, live it.

Example

So, for example, imagine it's 2014. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' cover of Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'" was recorded in 2007, and the song was originally recorded in 1957. This would be acceptable to submit to r/classiccovers.

However, John Lennon's cover of Fats Domino's "Ain't that a Shame," which was recorded in 1975, would not be allowed, even though the song was written in 1955, because the recording by Lennon is more than 20 years old.

Submission Guidelines:

A few (not-strictly-mandatory) guidelines the mod(s) would like everyone to follow to keep this organized:

Submissions should be in the following format: [Cover Artist Name] covering [Original Artist/Songwriter]'s "Song Title" (Year Cover was Recorded/Performed)

So, for example, if someone were submitting Rage Against the Machine's live cover of N.W.A.'s "F*** tha Police," performed in 2008, it would look like this:

Rage Against the Machine covering N.W.A.'s "F*** the Police" (2008)
All genres are theoretically welcome, but classical music is discouraged, because there are so many performances of various pieces that it has grown out of the realm of what "cover song" intends to contemplate.
Live performances of covers are good, as long as they don't violate the repost rule (see below).
Self-performances of covers are acceptable, but be prepared to take criticism in a professional way if you submit.
We have a "soft" anti-reposting rule: search before you post and if your submission hasn't been posted in at least a year (or at all), it's good to go.
Please only link to acceptable media streaming sites. For now, stick to YouTube, SoundCloud, Grooveshark, and Vimeo.
Artists cannot cover themselves, regardless of how different the genre or time period is. This includes solo artists covering work they previously wrote/recorded as part of a band.

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