BAD COVER VERSION 048: THAT’S NOT METAL
Mar. 8th, 2012 10:11 amA long time ago I started a series of posts (continued by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bedsitter23 for a period of time) that compared cover songs to the original versions with the thesis that it’s rare for newer versions to become the definitive version of that particular song.
One recurring theme of doing cover songs is that artists can approach them one of two ways: (1) stay true to the original as much as possible, or (2) deconstruct and reinvent the song in their own artistic vision.
Which brings us to Pat Boone.
Boone, as you probably know, established his singing career by making Fats Domino and Little Richard songs safe for white people to listen to without consigning their souls to that special Hell where the kids have premarital sex right in front of you, reefers are mandatory, and there are no separate washrooms for black people. Or something.
Anyway, Boone was so squeaky clean he made Justin Bieber look like Mötley Crüe, and while he launched a successful career as a result, when people think of “Ain’t That A Shame” today, none of them think of Boone’s version (apart from people who still watch the 700 Club, I mean). Put simply, Boone didn’t pwn any of those songs as his own.
In 1997, Boone surprised everyone – not least his own fans – by attempting to do for heavy metal what he did for 50s R&B. He did a whole album’s worth of hard-rock/metal classics – all arranged in a swinging Big Band style.
It was called In A Metal Mood: No More Mr Nice Guy. It sounded like this.
Obviously there was nothing “metal” about it (apart from the brass section, maybe – brass being technically a metal and all). At the time, people like me laughed and laughed and laughed. Although we cringed while we laughed. Some of us wept, even. Or shook our fists in anger. And not in a metal way.
Listening to it now, though, I can’t really decide whether it’s a work of clueless abomination or artistic genius. I mean, think of the work it must have taken by Boone (or whoever his music arranger was) to take these songs, disassemble them and rework them into something Billy May would be proud of, with Boone crooning Dio lyrics as though he’s singing about dancing in the moonlight or how swell Jesus is.
It’s not the stretch it might seem to be. Bobby Darin proved it was possible to set lyrics about gratuitous and graphic gangster violence to Big Band music (see: Darin’s “Mack The Knife”, also a cover song). And of course it’s always possible to make a metal song work in an entirely different musical genre (see: Johnny Cash’s cover of Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage”).
So in a twisted way, I can kind of appreciate what Boone did there.
At the same time, how many people prefer Boone’s version of any of these metal songs to the originals? About as many as the ones who prefer Boone’s version of Little Richard songs. Possibly less, since at the time many of Pat’s fellow born-again Christians were aghast that Boone would record Satan music (even if he did remove all the Diabolus chords and squiddly-doo solos and falsetto vocals and stuff).
Indeed, I fully admit I only like this in the same way that I like Dr Demento compilations and William Shatner records (and frankly, Shatner is better at this kind of thing).
Also, believe it or not, Ronnie James Dio is one of the backup singers on this version. So I guess it must be okay. Somehow.
No posers,
This is dF
bedsitter23 for a period of time) that compared cover songs to the original versions with the thesis that it’s rare for newer versions to become the definitive version of that particular song. One recurring theme of doing cover songs is that artists can approach them one of two ways: (1) stay true to the original as much as possible, or (2) deconstruct and reinvent the song in their own artistic vision.
Which brings us to Pat Boone.
Boone, as you probably know, established his singing career by making Fats Domino and Little Richard songs safe for white people to listen to without consigning their souls to that special Hell where the kids have premarital sex right in front of you, reefers are mandatory, and there are no separate washrooms for black people. Or something.
Anyway, Boone was so squeaky clean he made Justin Bieber look like Mötley Crüe, and while he launched a successful career as a result, when people think of “Ain’t That A Shame” today, none of them think of Boone’s version (apart from people who still watch the 700 Club, I mean). Put simply, Boone didn’t pwn any of those songs as his own.
In 1997, Boone surprised everyone – not least his own fans – by attempting to do for heavy metal what he did for 50s R&B. He did a whole album’s worth of hard-rock/metal classics – all arranged in a swinging Big Band style.
It was called In A Metal Mood: No More Mr Nice Guy. It sounded like this.
Obviously there was nothing “metal” about it (apart from the brass section, maybe – brass being technically a metal and all). At the time, people like me laughed and laughed and laughed. Although we cringed while we laughed. Some of us wept, even. Or shook our fists in anger. And not in a metal way.
Listening to it now, though, I can’t really decide whether it’s a work of clueless abomination or artistic genius. I mean, think of the work it must have taken by Boone (or whoever his music arranger was) to take these songs, disassemble them and rework them into something Billy May would be proud of, with Boone crooning Dio lyrics as though he’s singing about dancing in the moonlight or how swell Jesus is.
It’s not the stretch it might seem to be. Bobby Darin proved it was possible to set lyrics about gratuitous and graphic gangster violence to Big Band music (see: Darin’s “Mack The Knife”, also a cover song). And of course it’s always possible to make a metal song work in an entirely different musical genre (see: Johnny Cash’s cover of Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage”).
So in a twisted way, I can kind of appreciate what Boone did there.
At the same time, how many people prefer Boone’s version of any of these metal songs to the originals? About as many as the ones who prefer Boone’s version of Little Richard songs. Possibly less, since at the time many of Pat’s fellow born-again Christians were aghast that Boone would record Satan music (even if he did remove all the Diabolus chords and squiddly-doo solos and falsetto vocals and stuff).
Indeed, I fully admit I only like this in the same way that I like Dr Demento compilations and William Shatner records (and frankly, Shatner is better at this kind of thing).
Also, believe it or not, Ronnie James Dio is one of the backup singers on this version. So I guess it must be okay. Somehow.
No posers,
This is dF
Reading books for yr entertainment since 2005.