The best, most interesting Bob Dylan covers extract his very essence—and sound nothing like the originals. They're durable songs on their own, but something within them inspires a remarkably diverse range of artists to look even deeper and completely reimagine them. Manfred Mann's Earth Band find a buoyant declarative statement in “Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo).” My Chemical Romance transform Highway 61 Revisited's “Desolation Row” into an apocalyptic anthem. Guns N' Roses take a personal meditation on mortality and filter it through their own tumult. Every artist here—from Hendrix to Sonic Youth to Adele—proves that when you take on Dylan, you can't take the easy way out.