The Smithereens' "The Seeker":
The Smithereens' best song is on a Nissan ad now, but none of the marketing geniuses have got around to ruining the Jersey boys' exceptional version of "The Seeker". Forget "Wall of Sleep," listen to the wall of guitars on the live version, which you can find on the Restless Performance Series.

The Sex Pistols' "Substitute":
This is a competitive category. Blur turns in a pretty competent cover on Who Covers Who, the Ramones have been there, done that, and Richard Thompson has a version out on a bootleg that sounds pretty interesting. But you've got to go with the Sex Pistols for tearing the shit out of "Substitute" and making it their own.

Patti Smith's "My Generation":
This balls-out cover was heavily censored when it appeared as the B-side of "Gloria" on the 1976 UK-only single, and punk's godmother was reportedly furious. She's so cute when she's mad. It's now a bonus track on the remastered Horses, one more reason for backing up your vinyl collection.

Nirvana's "Baba O'Reilly":
I'm relying on a very poor quality bootleg to evaluate this live-only track, and damn, it makes me miss Nirvana. Kurt does a pretty good Scottish accent at the end and says, "I hope I die before I turn into Pete Townsend." Careful what you wish for.

Patti Labelle's "Won't Get Fooled Again":
Okay, I really like The Wall Flowers' version better, but this one is so strange that you just have to hear it to believe it. You get girl-group choruses from The Sweet Inspirations, Kenny Ascher on organ and amazing guitar work (like I said, everyone does better when The Who's involved). I just don't believe anyone could fool Patti Labelle in the first place.

The Breeders' "So Sad About Us":
For some reason, this is another song that everyone likes to cover. I'm giving the nod to the Deal sisters' version, which appears on their 1992 EP Safari. It's sweet and fuzzy and spacy, and proves that you don't have to mimic every note to do the job. For laughs, check out Primal Scream's truly awful cover of "So Sad about Us", a mopey, folky atrocity from 1987, apparently before they discovered electricity. My god, there's timpani on this song. I had to listen to Xtrmntr twice afterwards to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

The Afghan Whigs' "A Quick One While He's Away":
These guys were often accused of trying to be The Replacements, but rarely of being The Who. They're trying pretty hard to right that on this live cover. Not sure where the British accents came from, but they definitely get the chiming guitars right.

W.A.S.P.'s "The Real Me":
LA metal-meisters put a ferocious attack behind this one. If Townsend and Co. had let Moon dominate like W.A.S.P.'s drummer did, maybe he'd still be around.

Sugar's "Armenia City in the Sky":
The Who went all psychedelic on this one, but Bob Mould turns it back into a rock song. Available on the Besides collection of covers and B-sides.

The Pagans' "Fortune Teller":
I'm loading up on paleo-punk, I know, but this legendary Cleveland band turns in a noise-fuzzed, flat-voiced blow-up of The Who's "Fortune Teller." As an added bonus for the chronically impatient, they do it in about half the time.

Lord Sitar's "I Can See for Miles":
When Lord Sitar's instrumental album came out in 1968, many people assumed that the anonymous sitar player was none other than Sir George himself. Maybe not, but this semi-mystical take on The Who's classic will put you under faster than you can say Ohm.

The Space Negros' "Boris the Spider":
An early, weird instrumental project by Roger Miller and Martin Swope (later of Mission of Burma), The Space Negros Do Generic Ethnic Muzak Versions of All Your Favorite Underground Punk/Psychedelic Songs From the Sixties wins the prize for longest album title. It's also got an extremely bizarre lounge-like cover of "Boris the Spider."