So this is the second post for this blog so far.
I think that this time I am going to talk about a topic that a lot of people disagree upon, at least that I have come across, covers.
When someone covers another artists song whether it be that a popular artist is covering an older song or a show is doing it or even some on youtube is singing a cover of a top forty song in order to get popular on the internet. Some people that I have come across find this incredibly wrong and that it ruins the value of the original. Or if a popular artist is doing it in their own style it then ruins the older version because it has been polluted by the pop culture of this generation.
I guess that this is more of a question than my own statement of opinion. I honestly don't mind a lot of the time when covers are done because it urges me to find the original and compare them. Most times I do find that the original is better but I enjoy the cover just as much. However, I understand the opinion and where it comes from when it is said that it is ruining the original because most will not make an effort to look at the original piece.
What do you think?
Here are a few examples of covers done. Fell free to listen if you want:
Popular Artists
Feeling Good by Nina Simone (Original 1965)
Feeling Good by Michael Buble (Cover 2006)
Television Shows
Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson (Original 1987)
Smooth Criminal by Glee Cast Members (Naya Rivera and Grant Gustin)
I enjoy covers as well because I think it presents a different take on the song. Of course, as you mentioned oftentimes the original is better -- maybe the originals have more "soul" or just more emotion and drive behind them. But there are times where a newer artist presents a really interesting take on another artist's song. For example, I think 30 Seconds to Mars did a cover of "Bad Romance" that gave the some a completely different feel than Lady Gaga's original.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYGM_CkqbeE
I defintely agree with ErRen, I listen to a lot of covers and enjoy them differently then the original due to the different take each have to the lyrics being used. Some artist don't write any of their own music so its kind of like a cover any way because the source of where the song came from isn't being sung from the writer any way so the singer needs to add something to bring the lyrics to life on a record. That's only for some of course, even if the cover has a different approach the integrity of the lyrics can still be kept without destroying the original it's almost like paying homeage to the orginal artist of the song because it comes from a places of being inspired. And when you do legal covers of songs and sell them the one who owns the lyrics get paid as well unless it's public domain. Of course it's just a personal opinion of mine.
ReplyDeleteWell obviously if a person does a cover and they can't sing well then it sounds bad, but it doesn't ruin the original song. The original song will always sound the sae no matter who covers it. lol. But it's cool when artists use old songs and recreate them. It's like recycling the music. It's good to recycle paper and plastic, so why wouldn't it be good to recycle music? lol
ReplyDelete