A few days ago, everybody’s favorite Babymetal Wales tour organizer tweeted:

Top 5 idol covers of Toto's "Africa" I'd like to hear:

1. BiS
2. 14th Generation Hanako of the Toilet
3. Especia (deceased)
4. Tentenko
5. Beat Mints Boyz

— Christian Winsall (@toxicbreakfast) April 17, 2018

What an interesting thing! I have no disagreement with any of that. It did get me thinking, though, because every time I consider what I’d want my entirely hypothetical idol project to do, it includes a lot of covers to both show respect for the group’s influences and to put a new, unique spin on some classics (and definitely not in any way to pad out albums or have quick-turnaround releases, you jerks!).

Also, it’s been longer than I’d anticipated since the last Ranked post, so I thought this might make for some fun over the weekend, too. As usual, this is just a ranking, not the all-time ranking, merely a collection of songs that would make for cool idol covers that are ranked relatively to one another.

1. “Gimme Shelter”
2. “Behind Blue Eyes”
3. “Down in a Hole”
4. “Proud Mary”
5. “Everything’s Ruined”
6. “Jolene”
7. “Freedom! ’90”
8. “Baba O’Reily”
9. “18 and Life”
10. “Megitsune”
11. “Sorrow”
12. “I Want You Back”
13. “Landslide”
14. “Love Is a Battlefield”
15. “This Fire Burns”
    …

500. Michael McDonald covering Christopher Cross covering Hall and Oates covering The Shaggs
501. “Despacito”

What about you? What are some awesome songs that you’d love to hear done as a cover, by idols?

It’s not so much that “Despacito” is a bad song, it’s that it’s an impossibly derivative song that’s been done to death; I fear for the youth of the world