So Unoriginal...

I used to think I hated remakes. Like if it wasn't the original song I didn't even want to bother. Then I realized that often what I thought was the original was the remake and I liked it better. I had to admit that what I was doing was just deciding what I heard first was the best and that was it.

I think it's tied to my brain wiring of not liking change. Like you have to ease me into changes. Brent can tell you that something as simple as rearranging the furniture while I'm out of the house can ruin my mood (and thus his) for days. He's learned to broach the subject first, get the automatic no, then wait a few hours for me to come back and say, okay, maybe. I know I'm being worked, but I appreciate the effort.

So music and remakes...

I will now admit that there are songs out there that I like the remake better, even songs that I know are the remake. I like what they did to the song. How they made it their own, dawg. One of my favorite things is taking a poppy song and doing it in a minor key. TOTALLY changes the feel. You go from a sticky sweet love song to a terrifying threat set to music. I love that.

Brent and I were talking about remakes this weekend and songs we just like the remake of better. He's a Sounds of Silence by Disturbed guy over Simon and Garfunkel. I'm an Alien Ant Farm singing Smooth Criminal over MJ any day and twice on Sundays. There are a lot of others but those are two solid ones.

Which leads me to today. I read this silly little article about the song Sugar Sugar and how it was written and recorded. In it the guy that wrote it and recorded it dispelled a few old myths, like it was originally for The Monkees and they turned it down so a vengeful record exec said fine, give it to The Archies! Nah, he wrote it specifically for the The Archies (yes, the cartoon) and knew he was recording it as Archie Andrews. But one of the things he did was mention how many other artists have covered it and how that makes him really happy. It lets him know that he was right, it's a good song.

And it is a good song, it's one that I think of when trying to explain to people what Pop Perfect is. That song is a Pop Perfect song. Just is. It's bouncy and it's catchy. It was the #1 song of 1969. Like the whole year. The number one of 1969. Over songs by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The Archies. Sugar Sugar. And yeah, I love it.

Because of the article I sought out and listened to Tina Turner's version and Wilson Pickett's version and....oh my...Tina's version is what you would expect it to be. So much more attitude and sex appeal and a few changes to lyric structure but still really fun. But Wilson Pickett took a bubble gum pop perfect song and turned it into an adults only treat. It's amazing. I'm not sure if I like it better than the original version, it's hard to beat Pop Perfect after all, but I could see wanting it on playlists just for its own sake.

And then I had to laugh because I listened to Sugar Sugar three times in a row and I'm pretty sure that's how you get diabetes...

Now off to find if anyone has ever recorded it in a minor key...