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Should Singers be banned from doing cover versions?


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Old 24-12-2007, 23:30
clfan
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It's starting to get really annoying the amount of covers out there. You think the X factor winners should be made have original song instead of a quick no.1. I mean they should still be able to perform them at their concerts but not release them

And alot of other bands do it as well. Like Westlife an GA have done a good lot of covers as well.

They shouldn't have to be relying on other people's songs to do well
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Old 24-12-2007, 23:45
mr. mustard
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I agree with you entirely, but I don't see how you could enforce a ban. Cowell's shows are atrocious - to constantly churn out covers is the easy route and have made the charts deteriorate even more. Westlife are probably the worst offenders though.
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Old 24-12-2007, 23:47
Sez_babe
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Some are really good...while others aren't - I think they shouldn't be banned
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Old 24-12-2007, 23:59
Mr Giggles
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Should Singers be banned from doing cover versions?

Yep, I've heard so many cover versions in my life and with X factor it's now worse than it was 10 years ago. Doing a cover version is a cheap way of making money and in many cases the cover version is IMO murdering a good song.

I'm now 41 and I'm sick to death of this cheap way of getting into the charts.
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Old 25-12-2007, 06:53
Gill P
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What a ridiculous notion. It is great hearing a good singer sing someone else's song and putting their own slant on it. Sometimes it encourages a listener to seek out the original and give that a go.

It used not to be a bad thing - they were called standards! All the great singers in the past have sung different versions of songs.

However, I must agree with you about the X-Factor songs, all dreadful.
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Old 25-12-2007, 07:03
fishcustard
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I agree that it's a cheap, easy and pretty lazy way of making money out of the public, but it's the public's choice. If they want to buy tat, then that's their problem.
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Old 25-12-2007, 08:48
Simon1984
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I don't agree with people like Westlife doing countless cover versions but for artists who do one or two it's ok because sometimes they can do a different version or better version of the original, and it can intriduce some great songs to the younger listeners who maybe never heard of the original and who then seek out the original.
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Old 25-12-2007, 08:59
Number Three™
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Westlife are the worse offenders. I have lost count of how many decent old songs they've resurrected and blandened beyond belief.
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Old 25-12-2007, 09:15
stud u like
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People used to get into the charts by artistic merit,diligence and hard work.

Now any old person from the street can make a record and make a mockery of the original artists work.
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Old 25-12-2007, 11:25
Hotelier
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I dont mind covers. anyway, how can you ban something if the singer and original artist agree. I dont see the point of trying to ban things just cos they dont appeal to someones personal taste.
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Old 25-12-2007, 21:08
alienghost
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I've said it before, but without cover versions the music industry would never make any money, and that's been true for as long as there's been a music industry. Elvis Presley would have certainly struggled if cover versions were banned in his day, and there have been many, many times when songs considered classics today were not originally recorded by the artist that made them famous.

Covering a song is good news for the original writers, financially speaking anyway, as they will rake in the cash from the royalties. In fact, for professional songwriters, they probably want lots of people to cover their songs.

However, I do agree that X Factor and Westlife covers are indeed dull and terrible.
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Old 25-12-2007, 21:19
Psychosis
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Some cover versions are better than the original. Why punish the good artists just because you dislike the bad ones?
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Old 25-12-2007, 22:01
Babe Rainbow
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Westlife are the worse offenders. I have lost count of how many decent old songs they've resurrected and blandened beyond belief.
That's the problem ! Westlife are not awful because they sing too many cover versions - they are awful because they are so boring while they are doing it :sleep:

Dusty Springfield sang dozens of cover versions - she was, still is BRILLIANT
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Old 26-12-2007, 18:55
getty
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I think cover song versions by talent show, reality tv shows winners and losers etc, should be put in a different chart like the Woolies cheap chart, which isn't a part of the UK's official chart, that should put a stopper in Cowell and Walsh's endless supply of bottled pop rubbish, ruining the official charts every Christmas, Mothers Day and Easter.
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Old 26-12-2007, 19:23
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Girls Aloud haven't done that many covers, they usually release their own music.

Some covers are good, such as Mark Ronson/Amy Winehouse- Valerie, although I do like the original by The Zutons. Some covers aren't so good, like Cascada have murdered every song they have released most notably Last Christmas.
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Old 26-12-2007, 20:31
GratingCheese
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If such a law existed, nobody would have heard of Aled Jones.
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Old 26-12-2007, 21:02
Keels
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Some covers are fantastic if the artist puts their own slant on it. Carbon copies just aren't worth the effort though, what's the point!
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Old 26-12-2007, 22:13
DRofThuganomics
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Yes cover versions should be banned because 9.9 times out of 10 the song ends up being butchered.
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Old 26-12-2007, 23:37
woodlands
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Then after you have banned cover versions, whats next? Banning singers from recording songs that they have not written themselves - artists using perfessional songwriters are just as bad - they too are living on someone elses talent. Perhaps they too can have their own special chart! Get real you can't ban artists from recording and releasing any song, its their right to do it just as its your right not to buy them.
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Old 27-12-2007, 00:19
alienghost
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Then after you have banned cover versions, whats next? Banning singers from recording songs that they have not written themselves - artists using perfessional songwriters are just as bad - they too are living on someone elses talent. Perhaps they too can have their own special chart! Get real you can't ban artists from recording and releasing any song, its their right to do it just as its your right not to buy them.
While I know the highlighted sentence wasn't the point of your post, I disagree. There are some fantastic songwriters who are very poor singers, and some singers who have great voices but aren't very good at writing songs. While I know it very rarely happens, surely if they could get a great songwriter to write songs for a great singer that's a good thing?

Girls Aloud haven't done that many covers, they usually release their own music.

Some covers are good, such as Mark Ronson/Amy Winehouse- Valerie, although I do like the original by The Zutons. Some covers aren't so good, like Cascada have murdered every song they have released most notably Last Christmas.
I agree with this post, especially on the Mark Ronson/Amy Winehouse one being a good cover and Cascada's formulaic stuff being a bad cover.

I'm not a fan of Girls Aloud, but they aren't a bad example of the artists and the songwriters needing each other. Where would they be without Xenomania giving them good pop songs- but then, would those songs have reached as wide an audience or done as well in the charts if they released the songs themselves?
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Old 27-12-2007, 00:35
Lazlo_St_Pierre
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Some covers are good, such as Mark Ronson/Amy Winehouse- Valerie, although I do like the original by The Zutons. Some covers aren't so good, like Cascada have murdered every song they have released most notably Last Christmas.
Though I don't particularly like Cascada, I was delighted when they had a hit with Everytime We Touch, as I am a fan of Maggie Reilly and was happy that her song was getting wider publicity.
What annoys me are the covers of songs we've already heard done to death. Steve Brookstein for example... another version of Against All Odds. Why?!
And if one more person dares to release 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' - yes Rhydian, I'm looking at you! - I swear I will damage my TV set when it comes on.
So how about a ban on songs being covered more than once? Not enforceable, but self regulating.
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Old 27-12-2007, 07:29
pierre_gustave
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A 'ban' would be unenforceable.
Not all cover versions are rubbish either.
What about Joe Cocker's version of With A Little Help From My Friends?
Nilsson's version of Without You by Badfinger?
Those are two covers that many prefer to the original versions.
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Old 27-12-2007, 09:31
Gill P
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As a Will Young fan I must say that his version of Hey Ya! is superb. So different from the original by Outkast but equally as good.

No doubt I will get certain people replying with their beef about Will but as I have most of them on ignore it won't affect me.
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Old 27-12-2007, 09:48
Ashrell
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No, I don't think they should be banned. There are some songs that are brilliant but you can't listen to it because the singer is awful - in which case a cover version works really well. Even if the original was good, the cover singer may sing it with a new slant that makes it unique (I agree that simple carbon copies of the original does not serve this so is a bit pointless).

This is a rather unrelated pet peeve but I am sick of the X factor winner dominating the Christmas No 1 when it is mostly down to hype from the show rather than the actual popularity.
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Old 27-12-2007, 10:19
Marguerite
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Back in the 1950's when popular music really began to come into it's own, there would be several artists, at any one time, all singing their versions of the songs of the day.

You see back then, the idea wasn't to sell the singer, but to sell the song or more specifically the sheet music of the song.

We probably all accept cover versions of the great standards, it's just that some of the songs covered nowadays are quite mediocre, so it just smacks of a quick way to make a few bob, to ride on the back of a song that's maybe had a few weeks success in the charts and get a singer out there.
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