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Here's what makes music good: It can be "covered" and it still works.

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Ron Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 01:57 PM
Original message
Here's what makes music good: It can be "covered" and it still works.
Classical music depends upon new readings and performances all the time, as its interpretation evolves through the centuries. A good tune, a good song, will last forever as it's interpreted by jazz artists; indeed, jazz is new and fresh every time it's played. Some rock songs lend themselves to new renditions, but many of them are stuck in the instrumentation, vocal styling and production values of their original recording; they just don't have the goods to bring to a new arrangement. Will hip-hop numbers be re-recorded? Stay tuned.

Agree?
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LoZoccolo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:06 PM
Response to Original message
1. There definately is classic hip-hop.
Take "Message II" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, for instance.
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Ron Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:09 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Are those 2 different groups? Did it get re-released?
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LoZoccolo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:14 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. No, those are not two different groups.
But it's classic nonetheless.

Hip-hop will never fit into the mold you prescribe for classicity because the emphasis is on originality. Hip-hop originally was not just a form of music, but a culture that emphasized competition on the basis of creativity and personal style and encompassed grafitti and breakdancing as well. Copying, or "biting", is looked upon with great disdain.

A really good documentary about this is Style Wars, which came out on DVD like two years ago, but it's from the early 80s.

http://www.stylewars.com
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Ron Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:17 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. So then, the hip-hop piece depends on that one artist and recording for
its longevity? What happens when he or she is gone? Then we have only the recording until the end of time?
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LoZoccolo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:20 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. I guess so.
But due to the competitive nature of it, that's really all that counts, almost like a sport. Mark Spitz's performance in the '72 Olympics will always be just that one period in time.
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politicat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:11 PM
Response to Original message
3. Hm. I think you may be on to something....
I am a huge fan of covers - don't ask why because I can't explain it. One of my favorites at the moment is Myleene Klass' reinterpretation of Mike Shinoda's remix of Linkin Park's Crawling. Who knew it would work as classical-pop?

However, that's the only piece of music I can even vaguely call hip-hop that has been covered that way.

I also find that I like EBM that uses classical music, and then hunting down the originals ( i.e. Enigma's use of O Fortuna in Modern Crusaders, VNV Nation's use of Elgar's Enigma Variations).

Pcat
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Ron Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:15 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. Right. The theory is that excellence in music (whatever that may be)
has something to do with eternity. There is something in it that will withstand playing again with different timbres, tempos, and forms, and still make artistic sense.
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Amfortas Donating Member (625 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:19 PM
Response to Reply #5
7. I feel that way about bob dylan....
everyone covers him.
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Ron Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:21 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. Have you seen the video of his 30th anniversary concert, where pop
perfomers of every stripe played his songs? It's quite a tribute that almost all the performances worked very well.
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Amfortas Donating Member (625 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:23 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. alas no..,..
maybe in the future...
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politicat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:34 PM
Response to Reply #7
11. Without being shot at... I think his music improves when covered.
Sadly, same for Leonard Cohen. Wonderful poets and songwriters, but their voices don't ping for me.

I know, I'm a heretic. Sorry. I'll submit graciously to my burning in effigy now.
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Ron Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:39 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. Yes, that supports the point, I think. I'd rather hear Nat Cole sing
"Star Dust" than Hoagy Carmichael, but who knows what great singer might find something new in the song in the next few years?
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Amfortas Donating Member (625 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:42 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. I don't know about cohen ....
but I feel bob dylan's voice adds something inimitable in his songs ....
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Ron Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-14-05 02:59 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. Yes, when you hear the voice of the songwriter, there's some amount
of authenticity there. But a great song, or a great tune for that matter, contains some piece of truth in it that others can discover for many years to come, and reinterpret. That's why I'm thinking that stuff by Led Zeppelin or U2 or Pink Floyd, as good as the records may be, might not contain the spark of eternity in it to live beyond the original rendition, other than by some "tribute" band.
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