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adzakael · Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 3:53 pm Post subject:

apo kobondo la aku buat niiii,hah korang bacola sampai muntah darah...hahahah

”Cover version” (in the 1950’s particularly) and more recently “Cover Bands” have been denigrated as “ ripoffs” and musically inferior to “original artists.” Is there a positive case to be made for “covers?”

Cover versions or more commonly known as cover songs has always been a normal practice within the music industry globally since the pre-dawn of the Rock n Roll era. It describe ‘the popular music practice of a recording by performers other than those responsible for the original version1.’ Cover version has always been discussed as something that is negative and damaging, as written B. Lee Cooper in the chapter of Song Revivals:

“The chorological proximity of the second recording to the original is usually defined maliciously as either stealing potential sales from or misappropriating the aesthetic style of the initial artist. The motive is invariably assumed to be negative and the economic result is similarly deemed to be harmful.3”

But if not because the cover songs such as ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ covered by Bill Haley and ‘Its Alright Mama’ covered by Elvis Presley, the popular music will never experience the revolution as it is today. As Bernie Howitt wrote in Rock Through History:

“Despite the pioneering work of early fifties artists like Fats Domino, Ike Turner, Roy Brown, Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Cruddup and John Lee Hooker, rock’n’roll couldn’t take off until there were white artists..2”

This condition was due to the White parents attitude of the time that rejects everything that is Black culture and they don’t want their children to be influenced by the Black artists.

Elvis Presley was introduced first time when he recorded ‘Its Alright Mama’. The song was originally sang by Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup in 1949. Elvis covered it in 1954 and it impresses Sam Phillips so much that he knew he had found someone that ‘would make a million dollar’2. But what Elvis did is more than just another case of white boy covering a black song with a black voice. The action of covering songs have blurred the racial boundary between the artist and its surrounding.

Economic View

In the economic term, cover versions’ produce profits for the original artists of the song who does not perform anymore. This is apparent in the case of artists from the early years of rock’n’roll. Despite the original artist’s attempt to get themselves on the stage, the passing of icon’s like Elvis Presley and Bill Haley signalling that ‘most authentic rock’n’rollers from the 1950’s and early 1960’s are reaching ages where performing will probably cease to be their primary wage-earning activity3.”

It also keep artist commercially viable in between projects. Quoting from Nuclear Blast America’s manager Chris Pellitier:

“ If we know, say, Hammerfall had a record out a year ago and they’re not going to have another one for another year, it keeps them in the public eye and let kids know they’re still alive.4”

Cover songs provided a strong base for the artist to gain more followers since the audience will responds faster towards a familiar piece especially the one that had been a major hit in the previous year. It is also become the ‘avenues to garner attention to their talent roster.4’

It also prolonged the life of the song covered. In Don Cusic’s In Defense of Cover Songs:

“On the business side, music publishers love covers because they prolong the life of a great song, perhaps creating a “classic” that will earcn money for years and years.7”

At one time, the market was flooded with cover albums from many different artists, who were paying their tributes to many other artist especially the one that have been influencing them in their music. This congestion has challenged the music producers to create a new approach that will differ one tribute album to another8.

During the early days of rock n’ roll, the practice of song-jacking was very common in the music scene. This was when the era where copyright law was not as strong as today. The hijackings were made because it enables the label to exploit ‘racist inequality’ among the two artists, usually one is black and another is white. In Hijacked Hits and Antic Authenticity by Micheal Coyle:

“Ennis suggests an earlier, and for our purposes, more useful instance. In late September 1951, feisty little Atlantic Records debuted a recording that charted for twenty-two weeks, including six weeks as R&B and jukebox bestsellr: the Clover’s “Fool Fool Fool” (written by Atlantic president Ahmet Ertegun). As it began to cross over to the pop charts, “Fool Fool Fool” was covered soon after by Capitol’s Kay Starr,” a white pop singer. “Her version of the song in August 1952 was a moderate hit and reopened the door to the practice of pop performers covering R&B hits.” Ennis takes interest in Starr’s cover because he sees it as a formative moment in the consolidation of rock and roll, but what I find striking here is that there were but two competing versions of the song, and that is the harbinger of things to come.5”

Tribute and Honour

Cover song has also becomes the mean for an artist to honour the original artist. It acknowledge the contributions made by the original artists to the music scene. As Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French once said in an interview:

“It’s a great feeling,” French says. “ It validates our existence. You never know the influence you have until 10 or 15 years later when you finally understand what you mean to people.4”

It is usual for younger artists to cover the songs of the artists that influenced them most7. But there is one unique situation where Johnny Cash had covered Nine Inch Nails song ‘Hurt’ since it was Cash’s favourite song. What Cash had done reinforces Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails reputation in both genres of industrial and country music. This is also dependent on the fact that Johnny Cash was an American musical legend who had been in the industry for a very long time, in short he was a respectable figure and he is still one. Kevin ‘Vox’ Sharples wrote what Reznor thought on Johnny Cash’s ‘Hurt’ :

“ We were in the studio, getting ready to work-and I popped it in.” Reznor says. By the end I was really on the verge of tears. I’m working with Zach de la Rocha, and I told him to take a look. At the end of it, there was just dead silence. There was, like, this moist clearing of our throats and then, ‘Uh, OK, let’s get some coffee.6”

Cover songs has taught the newer audience about the history of the music scene especially about the original artist. Through this, the newer audience will recognise and learn more about the original artist. They will be ‘attracted to a record for the contributing artist(s), the honoree or a particular song of body of work8’.

We also cannot deny the success of cover songs in launching the new artists’ career such as Ricky Nelson with ‘I’m Walking’ (1957) and Marie Osmond’s ‘Paper Roses’ (1973)3. This is due to the familiarity of the tune that will be easily accepted by the public, especially if the songs are re-worked rigorously and much more appealing than the original one.

Methods and Skills

The methods often used in reworking the song is genre bending8. This seems to be the easiest way to do the job. For example, adding heavy distortion effect on Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ will turn the song from its big band jazz root into a metal song. So does when Iron Maiden’s ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ distorted guitar section being replaced with a jazz guitar where it will possibly transformed to be a bossa nova version of that song.

A re-worked song also have the ability of changing its identity gender. As written in Musicology: The Key Concepts,

“ …in 2001 Atomic Kitten had a hit with ‘The Tide is High’, which has been recorded by Blondie in 1980 after its original manifestation as a ska/reggae sound produced by the Paragons on the Trojan label during the 1960s…[The] song effectively changes gender, from the male identity of the Paragons to the female voices of both Debbie Harry and Atomic Kitten.1”

More than that, it also involves the change of ethnicity within the song, from ‘the black sound and context of Jamaica to the white Anglo-American context of both Blondie and Atomic Kitten.1’

In the labels pursuit of profit making, we have been presented with bad cover songs. This was caused by the ad hoc approach in remaking the song especially when the artist does not change anything in the songs they covered. This can be considered negative in artistic sense and towards the career of the artist itself. This might indicates the lack of creativity that have plague the artist for some time and the artist might just want to have a free ride upon the popularity if the songs covered. This should be viewed as a rip off. In George Plasketes writings as appeared in Popular Music and Society May 2005:

“Song recycling intrinsically invited issues of authenticity, unnecessary repetition, excess, gimmickry, appropriation, imitation, entitlement, lack of homage and emphasis on commodity rather than concept.8”

Tribute Bands

The existence of tribute/cover artist seems only to fulfil the factor of honouring the artist that they adore so much. This type of group existed everywhere in the planet, impersonating their idols to the very last of details. As example we can see how many Elvis impersonators around the world, donning the late Elvis’ style when he was in his late era. Some of them manages to live their life by impersonating others, to one extend manage to record a few albums, like the ABBA’s tribute group called BABBA. Many of them are very good on what they are doing, sometimes even better than the original.

This is evident in one case where tribute artists does offer something more for the original artist, especially when the original one are facing problems among the members of the band.

Take the story of Judas Priest. When their original lead singer left them in a long hiatus, the band realized that they need a replacement badly and fast. Not just that, the new singer must also possess the same quality as the previous one if not better. That is when they discovered Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, the lead singer of a Judas Priest’s tribute band called British Steel. Quoting from ‘Ripper’ Owen’s online biography:

“ One night, Owens and British Steel were playing at a small club in Erie, Pennsylvania, when the girlfriend of Priest drummer Scott Travis happened to catch the performance. She was so impressed with Owens that she videotaped the show, and forwarded it to Travis and his fellow Priest bandmates, who had been in hiatus for several years by this point (after longtime frontman Halfors left the group in 1992). Priest was so impressed with Owens vocal skills that an audition was set up in England just a few short days later, and after only singing the first verse of the Priest’s classic ‘Victim of Changes’, landed the gig.9”

Conclusion

In conclusion, cover versions are not always something that signifies the lack of creativity of an artist in producing an opus. Despite the negativities surrounding the subject, cover songs have helped launch the careers of many young artists to their stardom and help reinforces the existing artists’ place within the industry. Sure, there are bad cover versions in which always have been the results of greediness of the label in conquering the pop music market. But there are many evidence that indicates where deep thought and hard work will always create a good cover song. If originality and authenticity becomes an issue, we have to remember that ‘unoriginality is pop’s bread and butter, its safe haven, its base10’. The unoriginality and influences within popular music industry help create deeper appreciation towards the medium and its rich history and everything that is connected to it, directly or indirectly.

References

1. Beard, David and Gloag, Kenneth, Musicology: The Key Concepts, Oxon: Routledge 2005.
2. Howitt, Bernie,Rock Through History, Melbourne: Longman Cheshire 1984.
3. Cooper, B. Lee and Haney, Wayne S. Rock Music In American Popular Culture III New York, The Haworth Press 1999.
4. Music, Clay “Tribute Albums” Billboard Vol.112 Issue 26, 24/06/2000, p.44
5. Coyle, Micheal “Hijacked Hits and Antic Authenticity: Cover Songs, Race And Postwar Marketing” Rock Over The Edge: Transformations In Pop Music Culture Ed. Roger Beebe et al. Durham: Duke University Press 2002.
6. Sharples, Kevin “Johnny Cash, ‘Hurt’ & Trent Reznor – A Review” Stagepass News 2003: http://www.stagepassnews.com/articles/vox/johnnycash_hurt.html, April 2007.
7. Cusic, Don “In Defense of Cover Songs” Popular Music and Society 05/2005, pg. 171
8. Plasketes, George “Re-flections on the Cover Age: A Collage of Continous Coverage in Popular Music” Popular Music and Society 05/2005.
9. “Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens: Biography” CMT.com 2007: http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/owens_tim_ripper_/bio.jhtml, April 2007.
10. Powers, Ann “Bread and Butter Songs: Unoriginality in Pop” This is Pop Ed. Eric Weisbard, Cambridge: Harvard university Press 2004.
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