Iron Maiden’s ‘The Trooper’ Honored With Two Very, Very Different Cover Versions

It's a generally accepted musical truth that, when attempting to cover another person's song, you should either try and add your own spin to the original or just not bother. That goes double for a recording as widely beloved as Iron Maiden's 'The Trooper' -- and it's advice that was obviously taken to heart by a pair of artists whose versions sound absolutely nothing like the one you're used to.

The first comes courtesy of 2CELLOS, the bow-wielding madmen whom Ultimate Classic Rock readers may recall from their covers of Guns N' Roses' 'Welcome to the Jungle' and AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck.' Their latest video, 'The Trooper (Overture),' brings Maiden's classic together with William Tell's '1812 Overture,' and sets the whole thing to a video that finds the duo transforming from bespectacled weaklings to classical rock gods.

2CELLOS' cover of 'The Trooper' caught the attention of the team running Iron Maiden's Twitter account, where they paid tribute while pointing fans in the direction of an earlier, weirder take on the song, tweeting that while it's "pretty damn good," the video posted by YouTube user Gerry Phillips, a.k.a. manualist, takes it to "a whole 'nuther level." And seeing as how Phillips performs the song all by himself -- specifically via a series of adroitly tuned and timed hand farts -- it's hard to disagree. As Loudwire notes, this video has been around for years, but now that the band has called attention to it, Phillips is sure to pick up a whole bunch of new fans. Watch the two covers (and the original) below.

2CELLOS' 'The Trooper (Overture)'

Gerry Phillips' 'The Trooper'

Iron Maiden's 'The Trooper'