I read a book in which a vocal coach stated that the reason why the songs of David Bowie haven't become standards is because they are so much composed for Bowie's unique voice that it would be hard for other vocalists to sing them convincingly. I'd imagine it would be the same for some of Kate Bush's songs, regardless of their quality. Perhaps that's why Cowell choses to ignore them, because very few people could manage them.

There's a lot of truth in that but there have been some great covers of Bowie songs. The most obvious is Mott The Hoople's All The Young Dudes but there's also Lulu's version of The Man Who Sold The World. I also saw Blondie do a brilliant version of Heroes - they recorded a version in German as well :lol: . There's a version of Heroes on Peter Gabriel's upcoming album of covers which ought to be decent. That said, there are plenty of Bowie songs that could be classified as un-coverable. Or if anyone tried it would almost certainly be dreadful.

 

Futurehead's version of Hounds Of Love has already been mentioned - one of my favourite covers. However, most attempts at covers of Kate Bush songs have been awful.

 

Of course, the saddest thing is that Cowell thinks that a song that is particularly suited to the writer's voice is a bad thing <_>

Sonia youll never stop me from loving you

Paula Abdul staright up

Sisqo thong song

Journey dont stop believing

Pulp common people

Enya orinoco flow

Tiffany i think were alone now

Keane everybodys changing

Enrique Iglesias Hero

Damien Rice cannonball

James Blunt youre beautiful

Edited January 31, 201015 yr by Feel_The_Fever

Keane everybodys changing

 

Not sure about this one, I think you'd get a mix of answers if you asked joe public to name a Keane track.

i agree, i dont think they listen to sc just to p*** off their parents....i reckon its down to apathy, its very hard nowdays to produce something original... our generation has already done it! music is controled nowdays like never before by money men..

 

in the 60's and punk/new wave era there was options all round, it was 'hip' to be experimenting with differing sounds and techniques. but what can todays youth create for themselves? everything now is totally generic.

 

GENERALLY SPEAKING: I'm inclined to go with the notion that the parents of kids that listened to The Osmonds, Rick Astley (depending on their youth era) are likely to pass down equally p***-poor taste to their offspring. No real passion for music; simply having a palate for Lowest Com.. TV. If your parents worshipped the likes of Bowie, Bush and so forth (like mine did) you are more likely to develop your own path in music taste.

 

 

But then I was little, onegroup that haunted me was The Beautiful South. I HATED them as a kid because my parents played their CDs all the sodding time and, for me, the antidote was the euro-dance style music that was around in the early 90s that I grew up with. The rave of 91/92 is, perhaps, the undergound dub-step of now; rebelious and such. Only difference is rave was exciting and has left some classics behind, whearas dubstep will rarely get passed Charmaine and Tyron's MP3/mobile!

Edited January 31, 201015 yr by ScottyEm

Funny that we should mention Bowie and Bush being hard to cover..... a few years ago, Alison Moyet made a covers album with Art of Noise lady Anne Dudley... 2 of the songs due for inclusion were Bowie's 'Wild Is The Wind' and Bush's 'Man With The Child In His Eyes' - but both got binned - the Bush one because Kate's people wanted final clearance on the version before release - something Moyet took umbrage to. Then just a short while later we got Charlotte Church massacring 'Man With The Child'... so maybe it was a good job this track never made it?

 

Talking of bands only remembered for one song (mainly) and cover versions.... then we should mention Texas and 'I Don't Want a Lover'.... and Sharleen Spiteri's Godawful decision to do a really naff movie soundtracks covers album... not content with possibly the least appealing selection of movie songs ever (the first single is 'Xanadu' - says it all) but she's covered, sit down people, 'Take My Breath Away' by, ewwww, Berlin.

 

Possibly the cheesiest movie song EVER? Has dementia set in early for Ms Spiteri? :puke2:

good point, and probably true! if cowell cant make money out of copying them then why should this musical ignoramus pay any heed to them?..

 

Both David Bowie & Kate Bush are two of a large number of acts who own (most) of their publishing and refuse permission for their songs to be murdered on X-Factor.

 

Indeed Jedward's cover of Under Pressure has only occurred because as Bowie helped Queen out on that composition he holds a minority share holding on the publishing. And with the former members of Queen being very proficient at prostituting their back catalogue at every opportunity he could not stop a Simon Cowell act covering it.

 

That is probably why he has asked his fanbase (on Bowie.net) to boycott the single recommending they purchase Marina & The Diamonds "Hollywood" instead.

And with the former members of Queen being very proficient at prostituting their back catalogue at every opportunity

 

how true, thisispop.... Mercury must be turning in his grave at these awful men's moneygrabbing....and vanity.

 

Without Freddie, guys. it's over, Queen really is no more.... please accept it.

 

And get off the stage - especially the poodle perm ponce. ;)

how true, thisispop.... Mercury must be turning in his grave at these awful men's moneygrabbing....and vanity.

 

Without Freddie, guys. it's over, Queen really is no more.... please accept it.

 

And get off the stage - especially the poodle perm ponce. ;)

 

I don't think he would, in fact I think he would approve of the whole ridiculous spectacle that is Jedward.

 

Kenny Everett: "What is your favourite Queen song?"

Freddie Mercury: "The one that brings in the most royalties, darling"

Kenny Everett: "Why so?"

Freddie Mercury: "Because I'm just a musical prostitute, my dear"

 

(Kenny Everett Video Show 1979)

 

My parents have $h!t taste in music. They never had any interest in contemporary music from the 60s (when they were in their 20s) to now. The never liked The Beatles.

 

So I have had to find my own way though music - I had no older siblings. It's a miracle that I have any taste at all.

I don't think he would, in fact I think he would approve of the whole ridiculous spectacle that is Jedward.

 

Kenny Everett: "What is your favourite Queen song?"

Freddie Mercury: "The one that brings in the most royalties, darling"

Kenny Everett: "Why so?"

Freddie Mercury: "Because I'm just a musical prostitute, my dear"

 

(Kenny Everett Video Show 1979)

I wouldn't take anything said on that show too seriously :lol: That response was almost certainly scripted.

I wouldn't take anything said on that show too seriously :lol: That response was almost certainly scripted.

 

True :lol: , but this is the same band when Freddie was still alive who controversially ignored the boycott of taking big bucks to play several concerts at Sun City in South Africa during the height of apartheid.

True :lol: , but this is the same band when Freddie was still alive who controversially ignored the boycott of taking big bucks to play several concerts at Sun City in South Africa during the height of apartheid.

Fair point

So you never hear We Are The Champions, We Will Rock You or Don't Stop Me Now on TV or radio ever? Piffle.

 

No, not as often as you hear Bo Rap.

Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On

No, not as often as you hear Bo Rap.

That's not the point, is it? You still hear them on the radio/tv and are well known to many people. Christ, isn't Queen's Greatest Hits I one of the the best selling albums in the Uk ever?

you'd have to be a VERY casual music fan to think Kate Bush is only remembered for Wuthering Heights, I think - she was, and remains, Britain's most iconic female vocalist ever, surely?

 

Loz - great that you mentioned The Associates' 'Sulk' album - a masterpiece if ever there was one...in fact, I'd say it ranks with 'Dare', Depeche Mode's 'Violator', Yazoo's 'Upstairs at Eric's', Visage's 'The Anvil', Soft Cell's 'Non-stop Erotic Cabaret' and the Heaven 17 album you mentioned as one of THE electropop albums of the whole decade (although electropop does seem a flimsy genre to include such greats as the ones mentioned - especially Violator).

 

Hello,

 

In regards to Kate Bush I would say that it would be “The Hounds Of Love” that would be remembered by those ‘fans’ who are not really into that kind of music, mostly due to the song being an 1980s hit and one of which The Futureheads covered to great success.

 

I am, of course, making huge generalisations about music usage based upon the type of people that I think download the majority of pop music today and the kind of media they might be using. The assumption I would make, based upon a number of ‘youth culture’ stereotypes, is that younger listeners will be spending their time on ‘hip’ American music blogs discovering all about bands from Brooklyn, listening to R&B on their iPods or playing computer games. I would not expect many of these types to be regularly reading Record Collector or Mojo, magazines generally purchased by older readers like me. These are the people that I would expect to be mostly interested in the recordings of Kate Bush. At this point I have to say that I, myself would probably not fit into this generalisation if I was a teen, as I first got Q magazine as a child and therefore was about 15 years to young to be part of their target market [my first issue was either Q3 or Q4, had The Human League in it and from then I have collected all the other issues, even though I was not a fan of most of the acts promoted on the cover].

 

Personally I did not like Kate Bush as a child, I think it was due to that spoof I had seen on television where Kate Bush was portrayed as a mad woman waving her arms about going “Whoa Whoa Whoa” all the time. I cannot remember if it was Kenny Everett or Pamela Stevenson who originally did the sketch [i think it was the latter], but that image has stayed in my mind, and therefore I tend not to be bothered about the earlier stuff as much [My favourite songs of hers are “Experiment IV” and “The Sensual World”, a gorgeous song especially suited to late night listening].

 

I would like to have a compilation of her videos on DVD, but I guess it will be unlikely for some time unless “The Whole Story” is re-issued as a ‘Sight + Sound’ release. On the other hand I was happy that EMI recently issued Thomas Dolby’s singles on DVD, as I missed buying all those videos on VHS the first time around and EMI will be re-issuing Duran’s Arcadia project as a 2CD/DVD set too.

 

In regards to your list of 1980s Electro-Pop albums, it is generally a list that I would not mind buying again as Special Editions, if the re-issues were priced right. The only one that I do not already own is 'The Anvil', as I just have their singles collection on CD.

 

By any chance, do you own their DVD? It has a black cover and I think it was a re-issue of a VHS from the early 1980s. From what info I have got about that release [which is next to nothing, though to be honest, I am not one who will spend hours on the internet at home] I cannot work out if all tracks will be recorded in concert or if it was a ‘video album’. I would guess it could be latter as there were a lot of those released in the early 1980s [see also Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” and ABC’s “Mantrap”] but I do not want to chance buying it online without knowing what I should be getting first.

 

For a long time I thought that Visage was just an Ultravox[!] spin-off group fronted by a couple of people that Ure and Currie had found down at The Blitz Club, but Mojo magazine has the group dating from 1978, which was few years before “Vienna” was released [when John Foxx was the lead singer of Ultravox!]. Actually it turns out that Visage was mostly a mixture of people from post-punk groups such as The Rich Kids and Magazine, with Strange being a kind of replacement for Glen Matlock. It looks like Ure would have not become the lead singer of Ultravox without doing this project first, as it seems like he would have met Billy Currie here at this point.

 

Another band who were mentioned in Mojo recently are Timbuk 3, who turn up in the ‘One Hit Wonders’ feature with their song “The Futures So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades”. Now I think a copy of that magazine made have found its way into the offices of BBC 6Music as they played it early in morning the other day. It is another great record that I have not heard in years [as my Timbuk 3’s album is also in the loft] and I am pleased that it has been getting some airplay lately on the radio.

 

Similarly last night, Mark Radcliffe played “Driving Away From Home” by It’s Immaterial as part of The Chain. Obviously as a ‘One Hit Wonder’ you may not care to know about any other songs from the band, though I thought there were a lot of other great tracks on the LP that should have been Top 40 hits, such as “Rope” and “Ed’s Funky Diner” [though I could never remember the full title and always thought the record was called “Ed’s Funky Diner (Covered In Sin)” though this is actually a reference to the “Eve’s Volcano” single by fellow Liverpudlian Julian Cope].

 

In the days of my youth, it did not seem that Virgin Records would just drop an act if the first album failed to sell, as a second album by It’s Immaterial came out in 1990. This album was called “Song” and is supposed to sound like late period Talk Talk mixed with The Blue Nile. I remember seeing it for sale in Andy’s Records, but decided that I would go back and buy it next time. As the record failed to sell it was deleted not so long afterwards and I never got my copy, becoming one of those albums I spent most of the 90s looking for. Thankfully in the last few months I have discovered that it has been re-issued alongside a lot of old Virgin recordings and therefore I will be buying it once I have finished listening to a Greatest Hits album that I have bought by Mental As Anything.

 

Loz

^ What a fabulous post.

 

I also listen to the Radcliffe & MaConie show (as I'm doing right now) = a brilliant show.

 

From memory didn't one of It's Immaterial members belong to the fellow Liverpudlian band (at the same time) The Christians?

loved 'driving away from home (jims tune)' , never understood why subsequent releases failed to chart, its immaterial is possible a lost gem of the 80's.

That's not the point, is it? You still hear them on the radio/tv and are well known to many people. Christ, isn't Queen's Greatest Hits I one of the the best selling albums in the Uk ever?

 

 

THE best-seller actually.

^ What a fabulous post.

 

I also listen to the Radcliffe & MaConie show (as I'm doing right now) = a brilliant show.

 

From memory didn't one of It's Immaterial members belong to the fellow Liverpudlian band (at the same time) The Christians?

 

I used to like The Christians back in the 1980s and last week, I was actually watching an old VHS which had few of their videos on it. These videos were recorded in the days when The Chart Show used to be on Channel 4 and had a “Back To Back” feature half way through.

 

In regards to The Christians sharing Henry Priestman with It’s Immaterial, I do not think that was true, well at least I do not remember him being a member of both bands at the time they had their hits. I just remember It’s Immaterial as a duo, with The Christians initially being a quartet before Roger left for a solo career [though he died at the end of the 1990s].

 

I did not know anything about Priestman’s previous career until many years later, though the fact that a former member went on to form another chart group was mentioned as a possible link on the show, but in the end it was linked to The Blue Nile’s “Headlights On The Parade”.

 

You may be old enough to remember seeing an advert featuring It’s Immaterial in Smash Hits or Record Mirror, advertising the synths that they recorded the album on. From memory, I think the advert stated that the duo had recorded “Life’s Hard…” using a Yamaha DX-11 keyboard and an 81-year old banjo player. If I were to have submitted an idea for The Chain I would have tried to reference this fact, but I think the link would have been an easy one from ‘car driving’ to ‘car headlights’. I can not be sure as I was watching “Paul Merton In Europe” by then, but nevertheless The Blue Nile’s “Headlights On The Parade” is a brilliant record to play, from one of my favourite albums of the 1980s.

 

Actually, the version of “Driving Away From Home” of which I know, may have been re-recorded by It’s Immaterial, as the initial release date given by Radcliffe & Maconie was 1980, but then again, they may have already started drinking their ‘miniatures’ by then and just misread the ‘six’ for a ‘zero’.

 

I do not know if you listen to 6Music as well, but they were playing some good music this morning. I think that they played Furniture’s “Brilliant Mind” very early this morning, another great song from the same period as “Driving Away From Home”, though I cannot be sure if I dreamt it or not, as I was not fully awake at that point. On the other hand, I know that they did play the Pizzicato Five just before 7am today, which was a brilliant way to get going for work, if they had played something ‘glum’, I may well have just stayed in bed.

 

Loz