Cover Vs. Remake

[ericadawn16]

A COVER is a song popular enough to be recorded on a music chart AT THE SAME TIME as a previous version of that same song is also found on a music chart of the same genre or a different one, for example: All-4-One covered "I Swear" by John Michael Montgomery.

Any song not fitting these parameters is a REMAKE!

Please don't use these interchangeably.

Comments

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Wow! Really? I 100% did not know that, and it's kind of an important distinction. Thank you for pointing it out.

[enkanowen.livejournal.com]

where is that definition from? I'm curious :)

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

Clearly out of her ass since its not even remotely true.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_version

[cp.livejournal.com]

You know, my first impulse was to agree with you, as it initially seemed to me a silly distinction. But it's definitely a concept that's been around, and looking at some of the history I think it may be a useful distinction to make after all.

http://www.history-of-rock.com/cover_remake.htm

But I won't chastise anyone for using them interchangeably. :)

[enkanowen.livejournal.com]

that source is... well my inner scientist doesn't accept that as a valid source. It's more evidence that others have thought the same thing, but it doesn't give me a concrete definition, etymology or history attached to a credible source. If I check the dictionary under cover it states: a recording or performance of a song previously recorded by another performer

So perhaps the meaning has changed over time, because I'm hearing record companies use it like that as well.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Understood, the formatting alone of the link I provided made it questionable. Just illustrating that OP didn't make it up from whole cloth, and that it indeed seems to be a usage that has changed over time, at least in the common parlance.

But if you think about it, it does make sense: why call it a "cover" song unless it's intended to "cover" something, in this case a gap left on the charts of another musical genre? I found the bit about the original charts going by song rather than specific artists' VERSIONS of a song pretty interesting as well. It's just a linguistic artifact of a vastly-changed industry, I reckon.

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[psyko-kittie.livejournal.com]

I find your definition suspect, but I digress.

So what do you call a song that is released by two artists on the same day and both artist were contracted by the releasing company to perform the single. An example: "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood...?

[fiwen1010.livejournal.com]

I... would not have defined it like that. I would only call it a remake if it were radically different, but even then I'm used to folk bands covering rock and pop songs.

Besides, your definition seems to exclude cover bands like The Whom and Letz Zep, who just play songs recorded decades ago.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I think the idea of cover bands originally was they were supposed to "cover" current hits. It never dawned on anyone that rock'n'roll hits would last decades.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Do_I_Live#Background

Disney did both artists pretty dirty there, that one always seemed like either a personal call or you could call them both covers. This situation is very, very rare though.