A lot of the time metal bands will cover songs written by other bands within the metal genre, but some of the most creative covers occur when a band jumps over to other record aisle and covers a pop song.
These covers became more prevalent when "Pop Goes Punk" came out in 2002, and since more and more bands seem to dabbling with pop covers. Some bands cover songs just for fun and others have used covers to break into the scene.
Most notably the band, Our Last Night, has taken pop covers to the next level. They not only release single covers, but have released cover albums. Our Last Night's cover of Logic's, 1-800-273-8255, has almost 4 million downloads on Spotify and almost 5 million views on YouTube.
Our Last Night has reinvented the cover and have taken popular songs from the mainstream radio placed these songs on metal heads playlists. Most recently Our Last Night released a cover of the song Havana, by Camila Cabello.
My personal favorite Our Last Night cover is HUMBLE, by Kendrick Lamar. Our Last Night turns a rap song into a fast past metal song with a breakdown that will knock you off your seat.
Other bands like I Prevail use covers as a way to bring them attention in hopes of a record deal. I Prevail covered Blank Spaces, by Taylor Swift and that song put them on the map.
Since this release I Prevail went on to release strong LP, Heart Vs. Mind, and their first studio album Lifelines, which placed 5th on U.S. Top Rock Albums (Billboard). It all started with a cover song.
Though these songs are not originals they do bring new life to some older popular songs.