Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog

I am not a curmudgeon when it comes to cover songs. Actually, I’ve always embraced a good (and sometimes) excellent cover song and/or album of such songs. I like to look upon a cover song as celebrating the Rock historical impact of its respective original. When a Classic Rock band “re-records” their own songs from the past, they are essentially covering their own songs. The preceding sentence sounds a tad silly huh?

My admiration for a multi-vast number of Classic Rock bands is real and I’ll use four current and legendary bands as examples for this post, all in which have toured extensively while releasing new studio albums in recent years: KISS, Journey, Foreigner and Styx. No doubt, I’ve enjoyed listening to all four of these bands re-recorded compilations. The classic quote “what’s old is new again” can seriously be applied to the recent re-recordings of these highly influential bands.

The above mentioned bands each have a catalog of albums that span four decades plus, therefore, breathing a newfound energy and modern relevance into their classic songs is not such a negative move. Or is it? I don’t want to come across as hypocritical when I say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” or “nothing beats an original”, especially after I’ve stated that I’ve enjoyed these bands rejuvenated greatest hits. Certainly there is money to be made from these four bands re-recording their classics, however, the generations of new fans that are recruited, due to the lure of these re-recordings, is what really matters. In turn, these new fans will (hopefully) keep the Classic Rock flame burning for many years to come.

Even though I spend the money on re-recorded greatest hits from these bands, it doesn’t mean I’ll ignore the original material and look upon it as dated. Truth be told, I’d much rather listen to the original (1978) Pieces Of Eight by Styx and Foreigner’s (1978) Double Vision albums before I reach for the newly re-recorded comps. I’m old school, yet I’m also for moving forward as well. Numerous Classic Rock bands have moved forward, with lineup and lead vocal changes being an inevitable part of the Rock business model. Longevity doesn’t guarantee that an original lineup stays intact and re-recording songs from long ago unites the past with the present.

KISS, Journey, Foreigner and Styx each have earned a brand recognition in the global music marketplace, each carrying on their unique style of Classic Hard Rock, without compromising the quality I have grown to expect from them. I guess when it’s done right and with reverence to the song, any Classic Rock band can re-record their classics for the world to hear and enjoy. At the end of my Metal day, re-recordings from these four bands I’ve discussed or from any Classic Rock band for that matter, is history that I don’t mind hearing and being repeated. Of course I may not like every re-recorded song (or cover song) out there. What I do like is knowing the door to Classic Rock’s past will never be closed anytime soon.

LONG LIVE KISS, JOURNEY, FOREIGNER & STYX.

LONG LIVE CLASSIC ROCK.

Stone.

This entry was posted on November 16, 2011 at 1:00 am and is filed under classic rock, classic rock bands, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, melodic rock, metal odyssey, Music, rock music, rock music news with tags classic rock, classic rock bands, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, melodic rock, metal odyssey, rock music news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.