Remix after remix after remix after remix
Brendan Quealy
Issue date: 9/28/07 Section: Tempo
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Have we really come to the point where artists are doing a remix of a cover that used a sample track? Have our entertainers truly become that lazy?
For the good part of a decade, the answer to those questions is a resounding "Yes", and pop culture has found itself in the throes of the "Era of Unoriginality."
Jojo's cover of Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls," which used the bass line from Ben E. King's "Stand By Me," is a perfect example of today's popular artists and their inability to create material on their own.
Some artists cannot stand to be out of the musical limelight for more than a minute, so they latch onto the hot song at the time and make a remixed version. Sometimes this course of action works and the piece comes out on the better end, as is the case with Chris Brown's "Cinderella Under the Umbrella," his remixed version of Rhianna's hit "Umbrella."
Still, at last check, there were an estimated 342 remixes of "Umbrella" (that may be an exaggeration), with the likes of Jim Jones, Lil' Mama adding their name to it and one version that included Boo, Jazze Pha, DJ UNK and Eminem. We have come to the point where we are not sure what to do when we see a song title that does not have the word "featuring" after the artist's name. We have come to expect that when a song is released, there will be, at the minimum, five versions to follow.
Other musicians just simply remake the song and some barely change the tune, pace or sound in general. QuietDrive just recently released their cover of Cyndi Lauper's 1984 hit "Time After Time," and while it is a solid effort on their part, it still lacks the creativity and originality you seek in a complete artist.
Music is not the only culprit of this "era." Television and film have also reached into the way-back machine and pulled out ideas that oddly enough have already been thought of and created before.
Lionsgate can be forgiven for remaking the 1957 classic, "3:10 to Yuma," seeing as how it replaced Glen Ford and Van Helflin with great actors Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. Still, no matter how entertaining the movie may have been these non-attempts to be original just smacks of laziness.
For the good part of a decade, the answer to those questions is a resounding "Yes", and pop culture has found itself in the throes of the "Era of Unoriginality."
Jojo's cover of Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls," which used the bass line from Ben E. King's "Stand By Me," is a perfect example of today's popular artists and their inability to create material on their own.
Some artists cannot stand to be out of the musical limelight for more than a minute, so they latch onto the hot song at the time and make a remixed version. Sometimes this course of action works and the piece comes out on the better end, as is the case with Chris Brown's "Cinderella Under the Umbrella," his remixed version of Rhianna's hit "Umbrella."
Still, at last check, there were an estimated 342 remixes of "Umbrella" (that may be an exaggeration), with the likes of Jim Jones, Lil' Mama adding their name to it and one version that included Boo, Jazze Pha, DJ UNK and Eminem. We have come to the point where we are not sure what to do when we see a song title that does not have the word "featuring" after the artist's name. We have come to expect that when a song is released, there will be, at the minimum, five versions to follow.
Other musicians just simply remake the song and some barely change the tune, pace or sound in general. QuietDrive just recently released their cover of Cyndi Lauper's 1984 hit "Time After Time," and while it is a solid effort on their part, it still lacks the creativity and originality you seek in a complete artist.
Music is not the only culprit of this "era." Television and film have also reached into the way-back machine and pulled out ideas that oddly enough have already been thought of and created before.
Lionsgate can be forgiven for remaking the 1957 classic, "3:10 to Yuma," seeing as how it replaced Glen Ford and Van Helflin with great actors Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. Still, no matter how entertaining the movie may have been these non-attempts to be original just smacks of laziness.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Carole Signore
posted 11/01/07 @ 2:37 PM CST
The originals were the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman.
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