Covers can produce unique twists and interesting takes on existing songs, creating an entirely new listening experience. What’s really cool is when two radically different styles collide to give birth to a lovechild that never should have been. One of our favorites is mixing the gritty, classic tone of an electric guitar with catchy modern pop melodies (and maybe even a little dubstep).

That’s why we’re excited to kick off our “Killer Covers” series with 12 electric guitar covers of well-known pop songs. Most of the songs covered are from the past few years, but we couldn’t resist throwing in one cover of a song by the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson.

Check out the video performances below (in no particular order) and if you dig them, be sure to visit the artists’ guitar YouTube channels and subscribe. Most of the guitar players have produced a litany of awesome cover tracks. Enjoy!

1. Cole Rolland’s Cover of “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton

2. Adam Lee’s Cover of “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson

3. Fracionado’s Cover of “Bangarang” by Skrillex

4. Jess Woess’ Cover of “Roar” by Katy Perry

5. Kfir Ochaion’s Cover of “Take Me to Church” by Hozier

6. James Buckley’s Cover of “Pompeii” by Bastille

7. Ivo Cabrera’s Cover of “Rude” by Magic

8. Kfir Ochaion’s Cover of “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran

9. Ivo Cabrera’s Cover of “All of Me” by John Legend

10. Marko Gospodnetic’s Cover of “Chandelier” by Sia

11. Inertialist’s Cover of “Let It Go” from Frozen

12. Ivo Cabrera’s Cover of Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift

So there you have it: 12 killer electric guitar covers of some catchy pop songs. Let us know which was your favorite in the comments, and if you like to cover songs, be sure to send the videos our way – we might feature them!