Avant-garde guitarist Buckethead has covered the song several times, including versions on his debut album Bucketheadland (1992), his second album Giant Robot (1994), as well as performing it live.
In the first season ofThe Muppet Show, Ben Vereen sings the song to a depressed Muppet named Droop on a rooftop, accompanied by flying creatures. This rendition starts off similarly to the version from the source film, but segues into a bossa nova variation on the second verse.
Dublin-based rock band The Frames incorporated part of the first verse of the song into live performances of their song 'Star Star **', as featured on the live album Set List.
Mariah Carey covered "Pure Imagination" as an urban/R&B remix (B-side) with the remake of "I Still Believe." There is an additional separate version of this song (featuring Mariah Carey) by Krayzie Bone on his album Thug Mentality 1999.
RedLetterMedia uses the song during their Plinkett Reviews. The character of Harry Plinkett regularly sings the song in a slow, disturbing manner, typically while dragging kidnapped women through his house or putting his cat in the microwave.
Hat Films parodied the song in their video "Filfy Mods – More Explosives (Willy Wonka Tribute)" and titled the parody "Pure Incineration".
Monty Alexander did a jazz cover in his album Pure Imagination (2002).[5]
Philadelphia jazz trumpeter John Swana did a jazz cover of the tune on his quintet album Tug of War (1998), released on the Criss Cross label.[6]
Steve Lehman covered the song in a trio setting with Damion Reed and Matt Brewer on the album Dialect Fluorescent (2012).[7]
Josh Groban performed this at the Royal Variety Show, 2015 and covered the song for his 2015 album, Stages. He also performed the song in a YouTube video with violinist Lindsey Stirling and The Muppets.
EDM producer Fox Stevenson played a cover of this song at the Laundry Day Music Festival in 2016 as a tribute to Wilder, who had died four days earlier.
In October 2016, Microsoft used an adapted version of the music, performed by Stephanie Tarling, to announce the Surface Studio.
In April 2010, AT&T used the song with the flying UFO paper animation throughout the city with the original song for their Rethink Possible Commercial.
An orchestral version of the song, titled Imagine This World by Pitch Hammer Music, is used in the first half of the initial teaser trailer ("Ready Player One - SDCC Teaser [HD]") for Steven Spielberg's 2018 film, Ready Player One. It was later covered in an extended version by Ghostwriter Music (Bryan Nguyen featuring vocals by Merethe Soltvedt) for the entire length of the final trailer ("READY PLAYER ONE - Come With Me"), and added to Ready Player One (Songs From the Motion Picture).
