I wouldn’t say it’s out of their league; it’s just out of their genre, and they took it and made it their own. Which is a characteristic I really appreciate in covers - Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt, Social Distortion’s cover of Under My Thumb, Siouxsie’s cover of The Passenger, Tori Amos’ cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit, This Mortal Coil’s covers of Sixteen Days/Gathering Dust, Song to the Siren, and also Another Day, etc etc
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Same with me: I appreciate covers which are different from the original and which have their own twist and feel. But this I don’t hear in the Bauhaus version, to my ears it’s more like (to say it in Josh’s words) a karaoke-y version.
“Hurt” is a very good example for an outstanding cover version; Cash made the song his own (although also in this case, I must admit that I like original better). BTW, do you know that one? That’s just brilliant. Trent Reznor simply can’t hide his joy. 
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I can think of a few. Especially in the interest of how the bass line interacts with the song.
Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits
Colors by Black Pumas
Steady as She Goes by The Raconteurs
Things Going On by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Girl, Lately Things Have Been Changing by the Beautiful Girls
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The original is great but for NiN I am more of a Pretty Hate Machine fan.
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Bauhaus’ Third Uncle, Siousxie and the Banshees’ Dear Prudence, Placebo’ Running up the Hill…
I get that I’m very in the minority but I’m not a huge fan of Cash’s Hurt. I love Johnny Cash (my grandmother got me listening to him when I was little), but I’ll take the original 11/10 times.
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Yeah they are very different and hit hard for different reasons. Reznor is singing about himself, and Cash is singing about himself, and Cash had very different reasons for identifying with those lyrics than Reznor.
I like the instrumental treatment in the original about 50x more than the cover.
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…and Helter Skelter. Which (to come full circle) was on their debut album 
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Then again for Helter Skelter covers my fave is the one embedded in Skinny Puppy’s Worlock.
It’s, well, Manson. And not Marilyn. The Puppy would of course be just the band to go there.
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Anyway to steer back to “perfect” songs on debut albums, there’s subjectively no way I can think to change this GOAT to improve its effect…
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Marilyn did go there too on their first album with My Monkey. His cover of Down in the Park was also unfortunately pretty awesome. Haven’t heard it inyears now though.
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I’m curious about this answer. I’m new to these parts - why would it be unpopular here? Is it because It’s SO famous? Because it would be up there for me, too. I also really like One of these Nights. I don’t think it’s as close to perfect as Hotel California, but I adore that opening Bass slide.
On the topic of live covers, are you familiar with the outstanding Heart live cover of Stairway to Heaven? I get chills everytime. Especially since Zeppelin is there.
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From Siousxie and the Banshees I prefer Spellbound.
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Round 2
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Ever seen The Big Lebowski? Lots of people here agree with The Dude’s stance on The Eagles.
…for what it’s worth, I embody The Dude’s stance as well, but for Journey instead of The Eagles.
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So eloquently put, @paulxbass! Pretty Vacant conjures memories of the Queens silver jubilee for me…along with the wonderful God Save The Queen.
And based on your premise, I’d also offer up Duran Duran’s Planet Earth, ushering in a sound from Birmingham, 20 miles from where I grew up in a rather depressed and depressing Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands. Duran2 were vibrant peacocks, the very antithesis of the greyness that was where I lived. Planet Earth is also another perfect song (IMHO). It also helps that John Taylor is a freakin’ bass god!!
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Spellbound is excellent!!
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Yes, I saw that some time ago - outstanding performance indeed, and even Robert Plant is moved to tears. It’s sad to see Ann Wilson being down with cancer now sitting in a wheelchair.
Yeah but I was sticking to debut albums
Indeed it is but I had to limit myself somehow as there’s just too many examples otherwise.
For Siouxsie there’s obviously also Red Light, Cities in Dust and lots of other top tier songs that I don’t know what would make better at what they were going for.
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And 92 degrees, always been one of my favorite Siousxie songs
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