The Melvins are quite familiar with doing things differently.  They’ve released all sorts of cover songs throughout their career, from their take on the “Love Theme from KISS” on 1989′s Ozma to digging up the Paul McCartney deep cut “Let Me Roll It” for their latest album, Freak Puke.  Through various split singles and bonus tracks, they’ve covered enough material to compile an album of cover songs, and there are plenty of other artists’ renditions that they’ve only played live.  While some of their takes are pretty true to the original, they usually tend to put their own spin on things.  Here are five of my favourite Melvins covers, counted down over the next five days.

5. “Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More”

4. “My Generation”

3. “Interstellar Overdrive”

2. “God of Thunder”

There’s no question that the Melvins dudes are big KISS fans.  (What, did you think the Melvins Army was an original concept?)  They’ve paid tribute to their idols on a few occasions, including Hard to Believe: A Kiss Covers Compilation, an alt-rock tribute album released in ’92 that also featured Nirvana–and a bunch of other bands you probably never heard of.  Here they take arguably the most evil-sounding KISS song and turn the evilness up a notch with a heavier, sludgier riff soup, some effects-laden vocals on the second verse and a pulsating drum solo that comes right outta leftfield.  All that’s missing are the voices of Bob Ezrin’s kids.