| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
 Posted - 10/30/2006 : 2:32:16 PM
|
This is inspired by Brad's comment about the remake of Don Henley's Dirty Laundry by someone. I would recommend you go and read his excellent review of Beyond Borders. I didn't want to soil his review with my rambling, so instead, here it is.
What is up with all of the remakes of 80's hits in the past 2-3 years? Is pop music so living on a prayer that they have to pillage the past? I mean the 80's had a handful of remakes, but didn't seem as prevalent as they are today. Actually, I consider the 80's to be the best of times musically. So, what 80's remakes have you heard and how would you rate them?
- Total Eclipse of the Heart - a slow, melancholy 80's tune turned into an upbeat "happy tune"
- Dirty Laundry - Don Henley's solo debut and hit. It almost sounds like a country tune now. BTW, Henley packages social commentary like no one else in his songs. Too bad I mostly disagree with his politics because I love his music.
- Boys of Summer - the ultimate Don Henley classic. Remade by someone who failed to realize that the haunting music makes the song as much as the lyrics.
That's all I can think of right now, but I know I've heard a few more. How can anyone desecrate the 80's like this where the future was so bright that we had to wear shades? We sometimes even wore our sunglasses at night and one night in Bangkok didn't humble us. Rap was just starting and parent's just didn't understand. Our voices must carry so that this desecration ends. Thank you for reading my heat of the moment rant. |
|
|
John Nowak
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1017 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2006 : 3:11:46 PM
|
There was music in the 1980s?
----------
We've always been united in stupidity. That's why there is no hope. But, then again, when has that ever stopped us?
-- hbrennan |
 |
|
|
Citizen Carrier
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
322 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2006 : 5:58:26 PM
|
I don't care for the recent remake of Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" from the "Young Guns" soundtrack.
I don't know who does the new version...but did we really need a new version?
And because of payola, the radio stations play this new, inferior version of the song rather than the better original. |
|
|
|
Pip
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
333 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2006 : 6:04:25 PM
|
I quite like the Atari's remake of "The Boys of Summer"
You want a cover CD of bad bad bad awful noise, try out Emotive by A Perfect Circle. I hated that one bad. It made me visably upset.
Pip
|
|
|
|
BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2006 : 8:25:33 PM
|
Thanks for the compliment, Terrahawk, I appreciate it.
Someone did a cover of "Boys of Summer"? AACCKK!!
Good covers:
Jimmy Cliff, "I Can See Clearly Now"
The Nylons, "Kiss Him Goodbye"
Uncle Kracker (with Dobie Gray, YAY!), "Drift Away"
Bad covers:
Pet Shop Boys, "Always On My Mind"
The Lemonheads, "Mrs. Robinson"
Ugly Kid Joe, "Cat's in the Cradle" (They turned a folk song into heavy metal. UGH!)
Bruce Springsteen, "Born in the U.S.A." (new version) Okay, not a cover. He used the same lyrics but changed the melody, turning it into a bitter and angry protest song. I only heard it once, but that was enough.
Who's got more? I'd bet that the number of lame covers outnumbers the good ones ten to one at least. |
|
|
|
Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2006 : 8:58:23 PM
|
Don't forget Alien Ant Farm doing Micheal Jackson's "Smooth Criminal"- that was great.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
|
|
|
hbrennan
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Philippines
1455 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2006 : 10:37:48 PM
|
quote:
Terrahawk wrote: What is up with all of the remakes of 80's hits in the past 2-3 years? Is pop music so living on a prayer that they have to pillage the past?
Yes.
"...yet it hadn't destroyed his brain."
re: Charles "The Butcher" Benton (1956)
http://www.henrybrennan.com/
|
|
|
|
Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2006 : 9:10:24 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Pip
I quite like the Atari's remake of "The Boys of Summer"
Pip, don't force me to track you down and force you to listen to <insert hideous music from your nightmares>. Some remakes capture the intent of the original while putting the lyrics to a different beat. The Ataris remake fails to capture Henley's concept of growing older while still professing his love for a woman in his past. Plus who can beat the musical sea gulls from the original. You're welcome to your grossly misguided opinion though. ;-)
Brad, if you are willing to suffer, here is the Ataris version.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRrN_Vpqwqs[/url]
I just remembered the hip-hop-ized version of Tainted Love. Plus there is the dance beat version of One Night in Bangkok.
Hbrennan, it just seems that today's music suffers from a few maladies, (1) over digitized voices, (2) a lack of true vocal talent, (3) a lack of song writing ability, (4) instrument boredom (for instance, when's the last time a top 40 song had a sax in it) and (5) an emphasis on young and looks. Looking back at a lot of 80's videos, you start to notice that a lot of those singers were slightly older (early-mid 20's not teenagers) and homely. |
|
|
|
BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2006 : 9:43:29 PM
|
Gotta agree with Terrahawk on this one, Pip. I like ya, girl, but c'mon. Headbanger music doesn't exactly call up a poignant mood, which is needed for the song to work. Besides, "Boys of Summer" is one of those rare rock songs that HAS to be performed by someone over 30, or it doesn't work. Same thing applies to "Night Moves" and "Like A Rock."
Great. Any day now, we're gonna hear the lyrics "Twenty years, where'd they go? Twenty years, I don't know," done to a heavy metal guitar, sung by a 23-year-old. Just you wait. |
|
|
|
Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2006 : 10:08:03 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by BradH812
Besides, "Boys of Summer" is one of those rare rock songs that HAS to be performed by someone over 30, or it doesn't work. Same thing applies to "Night Moves" and "Like A Rock."
And Hey Nineteen, of course *g* well, pretty much all Steely Dan, really. Even when they were young they were old.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
|
|
|
hbrennan
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Philippines
1455 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2006 : 10:40:52 PM
|
quote:
Sardu wrote: And Hey Nineteen, of course *g* well, pretty much all Steely Dan, really. Even when they were young they were old.
But damn they were cool - no?
"...yet it hadn't destroyed his brain."
re: Charles "The Butcher" Benton (1956)
http://www.henrybrennan.com/
|
|
|
|
Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2006 : 11:28:25 PM
|
Oh absolutely- they were cool precisely because they had that air of having been around.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
|
|
|
BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2006 : 06:34:03 AM
|
Gotta come back to Bob Seger here. I would NOT be surprised if a group of 20-year-old punk rockers tried to cover "Night Moves." Seger was 31 when he sang that one, and he already sounded like a guy who's been around long enough to know a few things.
Can you imagine a kid fresh out of college singing about "humming a song from 1992" (ugh!) or singing how it's "strange how the night moves with autumn closing in"?
My fear is we won't have to imagine it for long. |
|
|
|
Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2006 : 09:13:30 AM
|
It will happen, just give it time. It might not be a punk rock band though. It could be some rapper who bastardizes the song while retaining enough to cause dangerous blood pressure levels.
The ROPe gives you three options, convert, submit, or die. There is a fourth, resist. |
|
|
|
Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2006 : 09:57:08 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by BradH812
Bruce Springsteen, "Born in the U.S.A." (new version) Okay, not a cover. He used the same lyrics but changed the melody, turning it into a bitter and angry protest song. I only heard it once, but that was enough.
I think the point with this one is that the original was a protest song, but was largely misunderstood. Da Bozz has a point there, and he would have two if the new version didn't suck.
I hate cover versions by default, now that I've been on Earth for some decades. I just can't concentrate on the new versions enough to appreciate them, I just notice every difference, and they make me cringe.
I think the last useless cover I heard was Dancing with myself by The Donnas. I only hope Billy Idol got enough money for his daily dose of cocaine or botox, because I can't imagine him liking to hear his pseudo-punk rock song turned into a harmless girls-only school choir song. |
|
|
|
Pip
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
333 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2006 : 12:35:54 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by BradH812
Gotta agree with Terrahawk on this one, Pip. I like ya, girl, but c'mon. Headbanger music doesn't exactly call up a poignant mood, which is needed for the song to work. Besides, "Boys of Summer" is one of those rare rock songs that HAS to be performed by someone over 30, or it doesn't work. Same thing applies to "Night Moves" and "Like A Rock."
Great. Any day now, we're gonna hear the lyrics "Twenty years, where'd they go? Twenty years, I don't know," done to a heavy metal guitar, sung by a 23-year-old. Just you wait.
OK, this needs to be said. First, Bob Seger. I can't stand Bob Seger. He might be the single worst thing about classic rock stations.
My step-bro Dalton hates him too, and particularly "Night Moves" --going so far as to make up his own lyrics:
"I awoke last to audio chunder
How this was a hit, I'll always wonder..."
Actually, the name of the song "Night Moves" always made me wonder. A "night move"? What kind of move is that?
"I awoke last night to intestinal thunder
Waves of cramps, they pull me under.
Working on a night move..."
Sorry. But the music of Bob Seger deserves no better. And is "Like a Rock" not one of the worst yet longest ad campaigns in history? I can remember that song on truck ads in WV from like pre-school.
Second, I really don't listen to the Atari's song with a ear towards comparing it to Don Henley. The lyrics are indeed wonderful - so spontaneous and real sounding, not like pre-fab emotional button-pushing. It almost makes me want to buy a convertable. But the Atari's song, while harder certainly, isn't headbanger music. It doesn't have that "ka-chunka ka-chunka" metal crunch. It's more smooth and well-produced. And there is almost no better song to run too or for bodypump class.
You may now return to your "kids these days" conversation! *^_^*
Pip
|
|
|
|
Topic |
|
Forum Locked
Topic Locked