As with so many popular forms of media, after a time another artist decides to take a crack at it. They may rework the piece in tribute, or perhaps they feel they could do it better than the original. The motivation isn't important to me. What they create on the other hand, is important. You see, I hate covers that sound just like the original. I don't want to hear a cover band, I want to hear an artist laying their heart out for all to see.Sometimes you come across those transformative pieces, where the new work is not necessarily better or worse than the original - it stands on it's own.I recently stumbled upon Chris Cornell's live acoustic cover of "Billie Jean", which blew me away blows me away every time I listen to it."Billie Jean" is one of the most recognizable songs of the 80's, serving as a defining point in Michael Jackson's career, and it's one of the few pop songs from that era that I still enjoy. I won't provide a deep analysis of the song here, let's just keep it at "I really like it", although I'm not a big fan of Michael Jackson or the vast majority of pop. So this is one of those tricky areas, where I
- like the original
- like the artist producing the cover
- am both intrigued and worried by the possibilities
Other Examples
There are some other transformative works that I love:- Rusty Cage and Hurt by Johnny Cash, and so many other songs in his "American" series, which he recorded at the end of his career. He managed to make each and every song his own.
- ...Baby One More Time by Fountains of Wayne, who took the utter pinnacle of manufactured pop and made it interesting