song remakes - love em or hate em?

[welfareloser]

most people i know absolutely hate a remake of a song - any song. the more the remake differentiates itself from the original, the more they hate it.

i, for one, love em; the more original, the better. for example, i really loved jessica simpson using john cougar mellencamp's music to jack and diane for her song i think i'm in love.

tonight, i heard this czeckoslovakian (i know i spelled it wrong...) blugrass band do a bluegrass version of sting's fields of gold - it RULED!

so whadday'all think? hmmm... maybe this would be worthy of a poll...

[OC]

I love 'em. Covers are often done very well - which I enjoy - and they always help me have more appreciation for the original.

-OC

[jeweg]

Generally I like most covers, especially songs redone by rock bands. However, I must say that Madonna destroyed Don Mclean's "American Pie".

[mojo]

it does depend on the song and how well it's done. however, there are some songs that should never be redone. examples:

beatles tunes- never to be redone
led zep- never redo them
jimi hendrix- never redo them

however, if you are of jimi hendrix' status, you can redo anyone's songs. he covered dylan's "all along the watchtower" and that is actually the way dylan has performed it ever since. stevie ray vaughan could cover hendrix tunes and nobody would complain. the better the artist, the nicer the cover and it actually becomes a "tribute." tributes are very cool.

of you want to cover someone's song, it should also differ from the original. if you're in stone temple pilots and feel up to the task of doing led zep's "dancing days," please try to make it sound like you are not merely putting on the damned led zep record and playing it. cheryl crowe's (sp?) version of "dy'er mak'er" didn't please me, but at least she sounded different enough.

i guess if you are in pearl jam and the remaining members of the doors ask you to do some doors tunes, you pretty much have a blessing to cover doors' tunes. now, billy idol...i like you and all, but i dunno about you doing "LA woman."

some songs are dying to be covered. feel free to cover anything by cat stevens. some artists have music that become standards, so you can also cover anything by buddy holly, little richard (a lot of stuff he covered anyhow), ritchie valens, etc.

if you are brian setzer, then feel free to cover anyone's songs. other than "crazy little thing called love," i find that brian always brings something very different and interesting to the table. as for that queen song....i love that too! but it was done in a similar fashion. (they copied brian's feel on that anyhow, so no big deal)

when you're starting out, you can pretty much cover anyone. just be careful when you decide to record something.

[topane]

I like covers that no one knows are covers like Cream's version of "Crossroads"

[johnnymk]

"Hey Girl" by Billy Joel definitely better than the first, same for "Always and Forever" by Luther Vandross. I haven't made up my mind about "Just My Imagination".

[Kim]

Originally posted by chosenfool
close to you.

"why do birds suddenly appear
everytime you are near?
just like me
they long to be
close to you."

who sang this song originally? and who was it that remade it? geez, short term memory loss sucks...

Is this a Carpenter's song??? I'm not sure if they were the first though.

[mojo]

Originally posted by chosenfool
close to you.

"why do birds suddenly appear
everytime you are near?
just like me
they long to be
close to you."

who sang this song originally? and who was it that remade it? geez, short term memory loss sucks...

burt bacharach and hal david wrote it
performed by the carpenters (1970)
http://www.vex.net/~paulmac/carpenter/lyrics/close_to_you.html

dionne warwick also sang it

[ironchef]

i dig covers! lots of times, it'll make me seek out the original band and listen to them.

for instance, Tool covered a few of Peach's tunes, and I think Tool did 'em better than Peach originally. But as a result, I've grabbed some of Peach's stuff and listened to it. Just helps to broaden my musical horizons.

Les Claypool covers tunes a lot. Thanks to him, I got into The Meters, a kickass New Orleans funk band. They also cover Floyd a lot (and do it well), as well as a kickass rendition of Taxman. Though I gotta admit, as much as I love 'em, Les just shouldn't be doing covers of Zepplin. He tries to hit that vocal range and it's painful.

And finally there's Rage. Maggie's Farm, Street Fightin' Man, Renegades of Funk, Ghost of Tom Jode(sp?) were all very well done, and covered in a very original manner. Renegades is totally different from the original and just rocks.

So yeah, original, well-done covers are good. Hacked and poor imitations are bad.

[Anck Su Namun]

The two remakes I like lately are Mariah Carey's "I didn't mean to turn you on" (Robert Palmer did it in the 80's) and Alien Antfarm's "Smooth Criminal" taken (of course) from Michael Jackson.

[sbp]

I've found some covers to be good and can really add to a song. While others well... :o

As for RAtM, decent music but the message they sent out :puke:

[Nija]

well I mostly listen to samples. I like it when songs are made into like techno songs. Now I am not a raver or a big techno person or anything (I listen to Metal/Nu-Metal and Punk mostly). I have all these 80's songs that are made into techno songs, and like songs from video games (TETRIS!!!!) and the like.

Nija

(Currently Playing - Castlevania - The Begining (techno) :-D

[Jihforce]

Originally posted by nefertiti
The two remakes I like lately are Mariah Carey's "I didn't mean to turn you on" (Robert Palmer did it in the 80's) and Alien Antfarm's "Smooth Criminal" taken (of course) from Michael Jackson.

Yeah, Smooth Criminal is kinda cool. It would have been cool to see MJ perform with them instead of N*STYNC at the VMA.

[Burzhui]

I like covers, because they are usually done well,

Especially when a punk band remakes something, i still laugh at Barbie girl by Homegrown


However i hate it when a good remake get's overplayed, it kills the original and the remake alike

i.e. smooth criminal

[ironchef]

Originally posted by sbp
As for RAtM, decent music but the message they sent out :puke: yeah, their "free mumia" campaign was getting a little old. you're right about the music though.

i'm very anxious to see the direction they'll be headed with their new singer. oughta be interesting.

[Anck Su Namun]

Originally posted by Jihforce


Yeah, Smooth Criminal is kinda cool. It would have been cool to see MJ perform with them instead of N*STYNC at the VMA.

Indeed. I am sick of N'sync.

[Memo]

Hey man beatles tunes not to be remade? Godhead did a cool Industrial remake of Eleanor Rigby, I like it :)

[DaFunkyUnit]

has anyone heard the new cover of Marvin Gaye's "Whats Going On"? It features "all of today's hottest pop sensations" (I sound just like a cheesy CD ad :D ) Because of the situation we are in at the moment, it seems alright, a noble cause. However, i shudder to think of the effects once it gets overplayed (remember the song "We are the World" ?)

[Memo]

Haha ya i heard it, I like it.

[Anck Su Namun]

Originally posted by DaFunkyUnit
has anyone heard the new cover of Marvin Gaye's "Whats Going On"? It features "all of today's hottest pop sensations" (I sound just like a cheesy CD ad :D ) Because of the situation we are in at the moment, it seems alright, a noble cause. However, i shudder to think of the effects once it gets overplayed (remember the song "We are the World" ?)
Haven't heard it yet, but I heard something about a song being remade cause of all that's been happening, and Britney Spears being involved. That doesn't make me anxious to hear it. The girl can't sing worth crap.

[brainsmile]

the remake of Michael Jackson's song is pretty good... The one in American Pie 2. Does anyone know what it is and who sings it?

[eSDee]

Most of the songs that Puffy remakes/samples suck. Come With Me was one of the biggest travesties of the music industry in my opinion.