[quote]TDub301 wrote:
[quote]roybot wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]postholedigger wrote:
[quote]strangemeadow wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]strangemeadow wrote:
[quote]sen say wrote:
You know what I hate? I hate those motherfuckers that you went to high school with that continue to believe they’re going to make it as rock stars and all they can do is play Say It Ain’t So by fucking Weezer and some shitty classic rock songs usually Teh Eagles, but never anything from the 21st Century and they get a gig like once a year at some shitty bar and everyone you know loses their minds because Greg/Sean/Kevin/Etc is ‘playing at Dipshit Dan’s tonight’ [/quote]
Fact: nobody ever got famous playing Weezer covers. Or covers…
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Van Halen’s first single was a cover of “You Really Got Me” which was their first hit and launched the band into mainstream recognition and success.
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OK, good call, but I think they were destined for charting anyway. Anyone else come to mind?
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The Fugees – Killing me Softly…
…Come to think of it…Roberta Flack first with – Killing me Softly
Originally done by Lori Lieberman[/quote]
Hendrix’s first single was a cover of “Hey Joe”[/quote]
…plus, when you think about it, every world famous opera singer has built a career on covering other peoples’ songs. [/quote]
The comparative amount of effort it takes to write classical music as opposed to other genres warrants this tendency. Opera, orchestra, etc. music is written specifically to be performed by other people. Writing a symphony or a 2+ hour opera is a much bigger hill to climb than a 2.5 minute rock or rap song which is basically a repetitive loop and considered “creative” when they add in a bridge or something (obviously this does not describe literally the entire genres, but it is accurate for the majority of it). Also, it’s waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier to perform than classical.
The thing I don’t care for that everyone likes (but never admits, of course) is low standards. Too common for them not to be popular.[/quote]
I didn’t have full operatic works in mind. I was specifically thinking of ‘lighter’ works, which are the type of material released as singles by classical singers. Obviously you can’t measure the scope and complexity of an entire opera or orchestral piece against a billboard release.
What’s more, there are plenty of songwriters in the pop music industry who write music specifically to be performed by other people (one example is the Kiss song ‘Hide Your Heart’: it also appears on albums by Robin Beck, Bonnie Tyler and Cher). The difference is that rarely will a classical artist have a trademark song that hasn’t already been performed by someone else, so they are covering it…and the scope of classical works necessitates that other people are involved in the performance.
Sure, it sometimes happens that a composition is written with a certain singer in mind, but that’s comparatively rare. I’ll throw musical theater singers in as another set of performers who are career cover artists.
