GridStream Productions

I'll start by saying i am a huge fan of Weird Al Yankovic and I think his spoofs and polka medleys have helped expose me to artists and genres that I would never have heard of or listened to otherwise. Most people I've known have enjoyed Weird Al to at least some extant. Whether as an artist overall or for specific songs. There have been people who would hear one of his spoofs and be like "OMG, that's awful/he ruined my favorite song/I hate it/whatever." I understand it's not for everyone but I never quite grasped the hate. I think I finally had an epiphany tonight though.

DJ Lia is playing a 90's set tonight with, I might add, great tunes overall. While listening earlier, I heard the opening music for "Trip Like I Do" and I was all "Oooooh!" but... it was the cover by Filter, not the original by The Crystal Method, which I found disappointing.

I like to save my hate for other things (which would be a different thread in itself) so I don't know if I quite hate Filter's cover... but I really, really don't like it. (in my opinion they take the lovely, sultry, female voice saying "mmmm, I want you to trip like I do" and replace it with the whiny, little Mr. Potato Head, bad Gilbert Gottfried impersonation squealing "won't you trip like I do?") If I didn't like the original so much maybe I'd be more tolerant of the cover. And I imagine I've heard other songs by Filter that I've enjoyed.

Anyhow, to get back to my original train of thought, while I was pondering this stuff, the thought popped into my head... "Wow, is this how people feel when they hate Weird Al?" So, maybe I finally have a little understanding in how someone can really dislike covers and such.

hmmmm yeah i could see that.

Well, Weird Al doesn't cover things - he makes them into a parody. That's entirely different. It is transformative and usually not in a flattering way. That said, they can be fun and humorous, but people who love the original songs may not see it that way.

Me? I love covers. And I love that Filter cover. And it was requested that way, by the way. Otherwise I would have played something else, likely. Not that I don't like the cover, obviously, but because I programed over 12 hours of music.

So, bottom line: it's personal preference. No harm, no foul!

I don't like all covers but I like a lot. However the only time a cover has "ruined" the original for me has been when it's been better.