Cover Versions and Musical Legacy - Introduction

Hey there. A few days ago, I had a conversation with a few guys and we ended talking about te question of musical influences and cover versions. More precisely, they were laughing at me because I said I discovered lots of bands thanks to other ones. For example, I am today a huge fan of the whole “Rocket from the Tombs-Dead Boys” era, thanks to Guns N’ Roses’ cover of Ain’t It Fun on their album The Spaghetti incident.

 It really shocks me that one would have to be ashamed of loving a song he discovered thanks to another band. I don’t lke the song because GN’ R covered it : I heard their cover, liked it, and listened to the original. I don’t see what’s wrong with that. Thanks to them, I discovered Hanoï Rocks, Soundgarden, Blind Melon, The New York Dolls, to name a few. The cover created my interest for the song, but I don’t feel forced to like it because it was covered by one of my favorite bands.

Critics tend to hate The Rolling Stones’ Dead Flowers : I first heard it thanks to GN’ R live renditions, and I prefer the original. Same thing for Wild Horses.

I think the question of musical inspiration and influences should be about recognition and pride, not so-called musical knowledge. The guys I was talking with were seriously trying to make me believe that they discovered everything by themselves, directly on the original record. That’s sad, man. Music should be about legacy, about acknowledgement, inspiration. To me, an artist can be said to have been successful if he inspired others, if he left his mark in popular culture. And transmission of musical culture also goes through cover versions.