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The Sounds of Our Lives (formerly General Music Discussion)

Brianne Chantal

By Brianne Chantal
in Music

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UYI
UYI

DEAD. 

trudi-tru
trudi-tru

I don't know why you feel the need to call them "hoes". They are two very successfull and talented women. Would you have used the same language for a man? Why is it that when a woman accomplishes some

WendyCR72
WendyCR72

I think we can disagree about someone's music without calling these people "hoes", "dicks", or whatnot. Let's be a bit less misogynistic and more creative with the disagreements/adjectives from here o

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UYI

UYI

(edited)
3 hours ago, Shakma said:

Is anyone else liking the Zedd/Katy Perry song, 365?

I'm lukewarm on Zedd, but I didn't realize how much I missed hearing Katy's voice until I heard that song.  It's not groundbreaking or anything, but it's nice and mellow, and I dig it.  I hope she makes a comeback.

It's okay. I was shocked at how fast it left the charts though, even knowing how bad the singles from Witness performed for her.

I agree with you about wanting her to have a comeback. There is something about her that I just really LIKE. She can be very loud and occasionally obnoxious, but there's a very vulnerable, well-meaning person underneath it all. And I'm so happy she and Orlando Bloom are finally engaged. 

Edited by UYI
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UYI

UYI

(edited)
34 minutes ago, Shakma said:

It left the charts, already?  I just heard it for the first time a couple of days ago.

Man, I'm getting old. 😛

Just looked it up. It peaked at #86 on the Billboard Hot 100. I want to say that the album Thank U Next being released around the same time (February 8th; 365 was released on Valentine's Day) hurt its momentum, but that's totally a guess on my part.

I have seen a lot of praise for both the song itself and the music video, though, despite its chart performance.

Edited by UYI
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Anduin

Anduin

Yeah, not bad. Though I find myself mostly over the black screaming/death growling these days. It takes a notable band to overcome it.

But a couple of my favourite bands, Einherjer are proper Norweigan viking metal. Though I prefer their clean vocals to the growl. That's the album I linked to.

But regular black metal, I like Mgla. Or as I like to call them, the Nazgul. :) Very bleak, but weirdly appealing.

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Snowball II

Snowball II

(edited)

Since Christina has been mentioned in other threads, I thought she deserved her own topic.  She isn't the force she once was, but she always seems to generate discussion in one way or another, so why not?

Personally, I have mixed feelings about her.  I can't deny that she has a voice, even if she does overdo it at times, but something about the overall package is lacking.  I was in high school when she broke out with her debut album, and I owned it, but I remember skipping through most of the tracks because they felt very adult contemporary and boring, to me.  By the time Stripped was released, I had kind of forgotten about Christina, but I loved Fighter, and I still think it's one of her best songs.  I have to admit, I don't have the love for that album that some people do; I do like Impossible and Soar, but I go back and forth on Beautiful.  Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't.  I have to be in the right mood for it, I guess.

I was a big fan of Back to Basics, because I thought it was a lot of fun, and Christina wasn't really known for fun.  Britney, sure, but Christina was always more serious.  A lot of those tracks still hold up, IMO, but I am an Old.  I bet if I played Candyman for a twelve year old, they would probably think it was weird.  This is the best Christina has ever looked, especially right after the, "I just fell out of a dumpster" thing she was going for on Stripped.  Man, that was bad.

Bionic...well, the less said about Bionic, the better.  I will say that Not Myself Tonight has grown on me a little, but most of this album is just bad.  Vanity and Sex for Breakfast are probably the worst offenders as far as lyrics go, but Woohoo and Elastic Love are close behind (a rubber band was an analogy/you can even say it's a metaphor).  I don't know what was going through Christina's head with this album, but I'm pretty sure she wanted to be Lady Gaga, and it just didn't work.

Lotus is pretty meh, but I do like the Martin Garrix remix of Your Body, and Circles is a guilty pleasure.  Red Hot Kinda Love is pretty cute.  That's all I got for Lotus.

Liberation is a mess.  Honestly, I'm still kind of processing this one, even though it came out a year ago.  I like a few songs, but the album as a whole doesn't make a lot of sense, to me.  I get the feeling that Christina just wanted to release something because it had been six years since her last release, so she cobbled Liberation together and didn't give it much thought.  Accelerate sounds terrible, and Fall In Line is a throwback from 2001, as far as feminist themes go.  I just couldn't get into it.

Thoughts on this?  I have written way too much about a pop star without having coffee.   Also, if anyone can come up with a catchier thread title, let me know. 🙂

Edited by Fiver
27bored

27bored

So they finally did a music video for Old Town Road. This song is all at once a banger, ridiculous, hilarious, and endearing. I just love that he got Billy Ray “Achy Breaky Heart” Cyrus, well into middle-age, to hop on the remix and, well, kill it. This would’ve been just an annoying gimmick if it had been some young Country dude. He got a real Country singer with a Country voice to give this some authenticity. And like I said, the song is kind of ridiculous and yet hilarious, but it seems like they’re taking it seriously. There’s not a hint of a smirk when Lil Nas X says, “Wranglers on my booty”. 

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

I know there is a "Good, Bad, Meh" remakes thread, but this seems to be a bit more specific. It came to mind since, as I type, I am listening to SiriusXM and Mannfred Mann's version of "Blinded By The Light" is playing. It was originally a Bruce Springsteen song, but it seems Mann's version is the quintessential version most think of.

Another Springsteen tune co-opted by another artist was "Because The Night". Patti Smith changed some of the lyrics, and the song became huge in 1978 or thereabouts.

Finally, Donna Summer was given a rejected song for Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA album, called "Protection". Bruce's version was released on a compilation and much more rock than Summer's version, but hers remains more well known. Here is Bruce's version of "Protection", recorded around 1982, if one is curious:

In non-Bruce Springsteen songs known more by remakes, Bob Dylan supposedly was alleged to have said that "All Along The Watchtower" was now Jimi Hendrix's song. And, arguably, Jimi's version is the definitive version.

Any other examples?

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Annber03

Annber03

Yeah, it was years before I found out "Blinded by the Light" was by Bruce Springsteen :p. I remember hearing the Manfred Mann version a lot when I was a kid. 

Two other more well-known examples: 

-Aretha Franklin's version of "Respect", which is significantly more popular than Otis Redding's version.

-Most people who hear Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love" likely have no clue that the song is originally from the 1960s and was done by a woman named Gloria Jones. 

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Bastet

Bastet

14 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Any other examples?

Jeff Buckley's exquisite cover of Hallelujah became so ubiquitous, there were many people during those years it showed up in every other TV show who had no idea it was a Leonard Cohen song.  Similarly, the widespread success of Elvis Presley's rendition of Hound Dog overshadowed Big Mama Thornton's original, even though it had been a #1 hit on the R&B chart just a few years earlier.

I think it's very little known that Natalie Imbruglia's Torn was a cover.  Same with Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (which is fair, since the original was recorded but never released).

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janie jones

janie jones

(edited)
On 5/1/2019 at 12:41 AM, GaT said:

I can't tell you how much I hate Freya Ridings voice, & her enunciation is about on par with Ariana Grande

This is heinous.  I hit play on the video and started doing something in another tab but came back here to look at the video because I disliked the singing so much.  I was VERY startled to see what the singer looks like because her appearance doesn't match her voice at all.  I have no idea what I was expecting to see, but that lady was not it.

On 5/19/2019 at 10:18 PM, WendyCR72 said:

In non-Bruce Springsteen songs known more by remakes, Bob Dylan supposedly was alleged to have said that "All Along The Watchtower" was now Jimi Hendrix's song. And, arguably, Jimi's version is the definitive version.

Any other examples?

Someone mentioned "Respect" already, but I wanted to add that Otis Redding said the same thing about Aretha's version of that that Dylan said about Jimi Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower."  (I happen to prefer the Dylan version of that song.)

In other Bob Dylan news, when I was in high school (in the 90s, if it matters), I had this Bob Dylan CD that we were listening to in the car.  My friend goes, "So what did Bob Dylan cover a bunch of other people's songs?"  I was surprised to learn that it wasn't common knowledge that a bunch of other people had covered his songs.  Or maybe my friend was a dummy.  I don't know.

Edited by janie jones
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27bored

27bored

On 5/20/2019 at 4:26 PM, Bastet said:

Jeff Buckley's exquisite cover of Hallelujah became so ubiquitous, there were many people during those years it showed up in every other TV show who had no idea it was a Leonard Cohen song.  Similarly, the widespread success of Elvis Presley's rendition of Hound Dog overshadowed Big Mama Thornton's original, even though it had been a #1 hit on the R&B chart just a few years earlier.

I think it's very little known that Natalie Imbruglia's Torn was a cover.  Same with Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (which is fair, since the original was recorded but never released).

Whoa, did not know that about Torn or Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. The funny thing is in both cases they were career defining songs.

Hmm. I think everybody is familiar with At Last by Etta James, but that was a cover.

I Turn to You by Christina Aguilera was a cover. 

If I Were A Boy by Beyonce was a cover (and the original sounds better as a country-rock tune than a mid-tempo pop ballad).

Telephone by Lady Gaga was originally recorded by Britney Spears. I think her version leaked a few years later.

Speaking if Britney, I think Toxic was a cover, and not just a cover, but they might have used vocals from the original in Britney’s version.

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Popples

Popples

2 hours ago, 27bored said:

Speaking if Britney, I think Toxic was a cover, and not just a cover, but they might have used vocals from the original in Britney’s version.

I did hard, strenuous research (went on Wikipedia) and "Toxic" isn't a cover, but it was offered to Kylie Minogue first and she turned it down. In 2017 Britney's demo version leaked on YouTube. 

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27bored

27bored

35 minutes ago, Popples said:

I did hard, strenuous research (went on Wikipedia) and "Toxic" isn't a cover, but it was offered to Kylie Minogue first and she turned it down. In 2017 Britney's demo version leaked on YouTube. 

So, in fairness to me, I was thinking of this when I said it was a cover where they kept some of the original vocals in Britney’s version:

In fairness to you though, they said this was a demo. Singers use reference tracks all the time, so it’s not technically a cover. Even though the production needed some polish, with Cathy Dennis’ vocal work, I’m surprised she didn’t try to make Toxic work for herself. Britney’s on-record voice, especially when tries to sound sexy, which is 85% of the time, has an awkward, baby-voiced porno actress quality to it. It’s her calling card, but...yeah. OTOH, Cathy actually sounds...kinda sexy on the song.

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UYI

UYI

11 hours ago, 27bored said:

If I Were A Boy by Beyonce was a cover (and the original sounds better as a country-rock tune than a mid-tempo pop ballad).

Have you heard Reba's version? lol

 

11 hours ago, 27bored said:

Whoa, did not know that about Torn or Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. The funny thing is in both cases they were career defining songs.

Here's the original GJWTHF, which in a bizarre twist was originally by a dude, Robert Hazard.

janie jones

janie jones

5 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I know two people who got angry with me when I pointed out that Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" was a cover.  They thought Nine Inch Nails covered HIS version.

😔😔😔

This brings me to a possibly unpopular opinion of mine, which is that if there is a Johnny Cash version of a song and another artist's version of that same song, the other artist's is always the better version, regardless of whether his is the original or the cover.

UYI

UYI

13 hours ago, janie jones said:

This brings me to a possibly unpopular opinion of mine, which is that if there is a Johnny Cash version of a song and another artist's version of that same song, the other artist's is always the better version, regardless of whether his is the original or the cover.

Sammi Smith's version of "Sunday Morning Comin' Down">>>>>>>his, for sure.

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Dandesun

Dandesun

On 5/19/2019 at 10:18 PM, WendyCR72 said:

I know there is a "Good, Bad, Meh" remakes thread, but this seems to be a bit more specific. It came to mind since, as I type, I am listening to SiriusXM and Mannfred Mann's version of "Blinded By The Light" is playing. It was originally a Bruce Springsteen song, but it seems Mann's version is the quintessential version most think of.

Another Springsteen tune co-opted by another artist was "Because The Night". Patti Smith changed some of the lyrics, and the song became huge in 1978 or thereabouts.

While listening to one of Bruce's many live concerts on E-Street Radio the topic of 'Blinded By the Light' came up. He said it was his only* number one song... but he didn't get to number one with it. This was then followed by a joke about the lyrics which I found funny because I did grow up in a time where it was debated hotly amongst teenage boys in high school what the fuck they were actually saying. 'Wrapped up like a douche?' 'Revved up like a deuce?' 'Revved up like a douche?' All contested because none of it made sense!!

And then Bruce's version which I have only heard (that I know of) within the last year or so of my really digging into his library is 'cut loose like a deuce.' Okay... what? Is that a poop joke? I don't even know.

'Because the Night' I love because, yes, Bruce wrote it and then Patti took it and changed some of the lyrics and whenever either of them perform it (or perform it together) it's anyone's guess as to which version they'll do or how they'll incorporate each other's versions or what have you.

I like stories like that.

*Also, it surprised me that he didn't have any number ones because that didn't seem right but I looked it up, as far as Billboard is concerned, yeah... that's true. Except 'My Hometown' did get to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Maybe that doesn't count. Born in the USA had 7 top ten singles (which is record tying) but none of them actually got to #1 on Billboard. 

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UYI

UYI

(edited)
1 hour ago, Dandesun said:

*Also, it surprised me that he didn't have any number ones because that didn't seem right but I looked it up, as far as Billboard is concerned, yeah... that's true. Except 'My Hometown' did get to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Maybe that doesn't count. Born in the USA had 7 top ten singles (which is record tying) but none of them actually got to #1 on Billboard. 

Yeah, "Dancing in the Dark" got to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (the official all-genre singles chart--so no, the Adult Contemporary chart is different, albeit still through Billboard) in 1984, but that's the closest he's ever gotten.

By contrast, John Mellencamp has one--"Jack & Diane", from 1982. Although he has two #2 hit singles: 1982's "Hurts So Good", and 1986's "R.O.C.K. In the U.S.A."

(And Bruce has had PLENTY of number one albums on the Billboard 200--John lags behind him there. 😢 He has a few, but his number is smaller and the albums less recent.) 

The all time #2 hit leaders without hitting number one at all, though, are CCR (5 in all). Madonna, meanwhile, has the most overall with 6 #2 hits, in addition to her 12 number ones. 

Edited by UYI
UYI

UYI

Just for fun, since I brought it up in my last post, here are all the number two hits by Creedence Clearwater Revival:

1. "Proud Mary" (1969)

2. "Bad Moon Rising" (1969)

3. "Green River" (1969)

4. "Travelin' Band" (1970)

5. "Lookin' Out My Back Door" (1970)

And here are Madonna's number two hits:

1. "Material Girl" (1985)

2. "Causing a Commotion" (1987)

3. "Express Yourself" (1989)

4. "Cherish" (1989)

5. "I'll Remember" (1994)

6. "Frozen" (1998)

Finally, here are each of Madonna's 12 number one songs.

1. "Like a Virgin" (1984)

2. "Crazy for You" (1985)

3. "Live To Tell" (1986)

4. "Papa Don't Preach" (1986)

5. "Open Your Heart" (1986)

6. "Who's That Girl" (1987)

7. "Like a Prayer" (1989)

8. "Vogue" (1990)

9. "Justify My Love" (1990)

10. "This Used To Be My Playground" (1992)

11. "Take a Bow" (1994)

12. "Music" (2000)

27bored

27bored

On 5/27/2019 at 7:10 PM, UYI said:

Have you heard Reba's version? lol

Hmm. That was kinda weird. The video was a little Celine Dionic, and while Reba can sing, I felt like she was overenunciating. But really, she’s too old for song. That’s a young chick song. I don’t want to hear Reba musing about if she were a boy. 

Listen to the original by the girl who wrote it. She has a Melissa Ethridge-meets-Michelle Brach thing that could’ve worked back when pop-rock was a thing.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EdjtO4iKU-A

22 hours ago, janie jones said:

This brings me to a possibly unpopular opinion of mine, which is that if there is a Johnny Cash version of a song and another artist's version of that same song, the other artist's is always the better version, regardless of whether his is the original or the cover.

Yeah. Hurt by Johnny Cash has always been a little dicey for me. I’ve never been a fan of it and thought it was overrated, but I get the poignance of it. I think June had recently passed. I think he passed away not long after it’s release. And something about hearing an old man sing those lyrics struck an emotional chord with people.

That reminds me of a rendition of “Hurt” by Christina Aguilera by a little French girl on one of those singing competitions. Hurt is an emotional song when Christina sings it, but hearing lyrics like “I’m sorry for blaming you for everything I just couldn’t do” out a child, in a slight French accent, was affecting. It upped the emotional factor of the song.

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UYI

UYI

(edited)
23 minutes ago, 27bored said:

Yeah. Hurt by Johnny Cash has always been a little dicey for me. I’ve never been a fan of it and thought it was overrated, but I get the poignance of it. I think June had recently passed. I think he passed away not long after it’s release. And something about hearing an old man sing those lyrics struck an emotional chord with people.

She actually passed after the song had been released, but it was close enough that people certainly conflated the two together. His version was released in March of 2003, June died on May 15th of that year, and Johnny on September 12th of that year (the day after John Ritter--those two deaths were more or less reported in the news at the exact same time). 

Edited by UYI
AgentRXS

AgentRXS

I'm old, so I'm just now discovering the "taking modern songs and placing them over 80s sounding beats" trend.

This is probably the best one I heard: It kind of sounds like a Depeche Mode cover band singing over a rejected Journey beat, but it still works for me. There are others if y'all want to check them out.

27bored

27bored

On 5/28/2019 at 9:20 PM, UYI said:

She actually passed after the song had been released, but it was close enough that people certainly conflated the two together. His version was released in March of 2003, June died on May 15th of that year, and Johnny on September 12th of that year (the day after John Ritter--those two deaths were more or less reported in the news at the exact same time). 

Oh, thanks for letting me know. I knew they both passed around the same time, and it was sort of around that song. I remember them playing the music video on MTV at the time. Kinda subversive seeing that in between the alt rock and hip-hop videos at the time. 

Sidenote: surprisingly, the video of the little French girl singing Hurt by Christina Aguilera is still on YouTube (from 2008!). Here’s then-12 year old Caroline Costa:

Let’s talk about Chris Brown for a second:

Set whatever feelings you have about Chris to the side for a second and consider this: Chris...is too old to still be doing songs like this, IMHO. First of all, you’re not breaking any new ground, which isn’t a huge deal, but you’re also not pushing yourself creatively. He’s got the same problem Lil Wayne has: a lot of innate talent that’s being obscured by their unwillingness to say anything remotely interesting. Stop talking about your dick, Chris.

I would argue Nicki is in the same boat, but she acquits herself about as well as can be expected here, and to be honest, sex raps by women can work if executed well. 

G-Eazy is also here. I’d give him a hard time, but there’s something about his rap voice that I like — he never sounds like he’s trying too hard — and I always get the feeling he’s in on the joke. Plus, it’s nice to see look like a handsome young man again instead of like an unshaven junkie. 

The song still sucks, though. I expect better from all parties involved.

UYI

UYI

It totally predicted their breakup and was a total mess, but I LOVED "Him & I" by G-Eazy & Halsey last year:

And fuck it, I'll just say it for the record now: I love Halsey, and I love "Without Me." Between her, Demi Lovato, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, and Meghan Trainor, I seem to like a lot of the women in pop it is simply not considered acceptable to like, like some sort of female musical version of Captain Save a Ho, lol.

Also, one more admission: This is probably my favorite pop song of the year so far, and I'm thrilled it's finally in the top 10 after this past week. I'm curious to see how much higher it will go.

howierules86

howierules86

Here's mine:

Favorite Soul/R&B Singer - Adele 

Favorite Country Singer - Carrie Underwood 

Favorite Pop Singer - Katy Perry 

Favorite All-Male Group - Third Eye Blind 

Favorite All-Female Group - The Bangles 

Favorite Male Rocker - Elton John 

Favorite Female Rocker - Sheryl Crow 

Favorite Male Dancer - Justin Timberlake 

Favorite Female Dancer - Jennifer Lopez 

How about you?

UYI

UYI

"Old Town Road" at the BET Awards last night:

It has also secured its twelfth week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Since it reached the top of the chart, it has prevented six songs from reaching the same position--and as of this week, two of them are by Taylor Swift, as like "ME!", "You Need to Calm Down" will also make a debut at #2 this week.

https://www.complex.com/music/2019/06/lil-nas-x-taylor-swift-no-1-spot

27bored

27bored

(edited)

Hope Old Town Road does make history. I kind of love the wrongness of that happening. Lil Nas X isn’t really that compelling on a talent level. He’s got two things working against him in hip-hop: he’s gay and he’s from the new school of SoundCloud rap that’s moreso AutoTuned singing that rapping.  Like a Travis Scott knock-off. Plus, he came in on a scandal. 

But then he teamed with Billy Ray Cyrus, a past-his-prime country singer who hasn’t had a hit of his own in over twenty years.

And together these two score a cross-platform hit that is not only perfection in both of their respective genres, but makes history. 

I’m excited for both of them. Especially if they take down Despacito. I never once tried to listen to that song but it was everywhere. Just that 1-800 song with Logic, Alessia Cara, and Khalid and Girls Like You by Maroon 5 and Cardi B.

Speaking of whom, how do you guys feel about Ed Sheeran releasing the remix of “Shape of You” with Camila Cabello and Cardi B? [checks notes] Oh, sorry. I meant “South of the Border”? The triple entendre being that he’s singing about sex, collaborating with two women of Caribbean heritage (Cuba and Dominican Republic), and going on vacation. Get it? It’s good, huh? Huh?

Yeah, no. That whole Frodo Baggins-meets-Jason Mraz, Hi-I’m-A-Busker-With-Unkempt-Hair-And-Dope-Rhymes-For-A-White-Guy thing is wearing suuuper thin. You don’t sound like a lover man; you sound like you’re proposing to take a girl out to lunch.

Edited by 27bored
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