Well, The Gourds certainly have my vote. But close runner-ups are The Junkyard Dogs' version of Judas Priest's "Breakin' The Law" (they somehow make it sound like Hank Williams) and the Dropkick Murphy's smoking version of the old Irish folk classic "Rocky Road To Dublin."

But I love covers. I even liked Guns 'N Roses covering the doo-wop classic "Since I Don't Have You." The heaviest thing I ever heard was 'Kashmir" performed by Jethro Tull (!) and a smokin' hot 22-year-old violinist named Lucia Micarelli. Man, you had to be there.

Here's a recommendation. If you like the Beatles and you like Metallica, go dig up an album entitled "Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band" by a bunch of remarkably talented goofs calling themselves Beatallica. I guess it doesn't quite qualify as covers, but you have a band playing songs that genuinely sound like Beatles tunes and Metallica songs thrown into an industrial-size blender, with a singer who sounds exactly like 1991-vintage James Hetfield... only more so.

You'll laugh your ass off, then be amazed at how well it works. "Leper Madonna"? "Hey Dude"? "Helvester of Skelter"?

Oh, yeah.