Style Over Substance – Is It The Genre Of Music We Like Over The Track Itself?

Source: Official Album Art

Is it the song itself, or is it the style of music that we like? Can our perception and tastes of a track change if the style drastically changes as well? These are the questions that keep us up at night. Covers are ever present in the music industry, be it to try and cash in on a popular track, to show appreciation for someone else’s work, or ultimately it could be to purely parody a track which, normally, is completely un-related to your own particular genre. When we think of covers, in rock and metal for example, one collection of albums comes to mind, the ‘Punk/Rock goes…’ collection, in particular the ever popular ‘Punk Goes Pop’ series of albums, where punk, post-rock, metalcore, bands cover pop songs that are the height of popularity.

‘Punk Goes Pop’ is a fantastic example of how you could utterly despise a track, partially on the basis that it’s pop, but because of changes to the formula we suddenly love them. For example, Justin Bieber’s ‘Boyfriend’, we pass off as pure cash in crap, with no soul, terrible lyrics, and a song made by a record company for the sole reason of selling to the lowest common denominator. Then Issues come along and make their own spin on the exact same song. The strange thing is, ultimately it may be the same pop song, the tones are pretty similar, and the lyrics are exactly the same, but add a breakdown, add some growls, and instantly it becomes “listenable”. From that then, we can already theorise that you enjoy the style over the track itself, correct? Well, sadly, no, it’s not quite that easy to deduce. It’s almost equally because of the perception we have for the track, how it was created and who is performing it that helps shape our views on it.

Silverstein, in ‘Punk Goes Pop 4’ covered Kanye West’s ‘Runaway’. Kanye West is one of rap music’s most unlikable characters. He’s arrogant, self-entitled and overall an easy target for hatred. On that basis, as fans of, for example, rock music, it’s easy to pass off all of his releases, and pick apart everything he’s done. But because we have a different view of Silverstein, and we’re not quite so quick to throw negatives in their direction, we start looking at the track in a completely different light, and we have the opportunity to give it a chance. If anything the track gets a new breath of life. Yet, this doesn’t stop Kanye’s popularity as an artist in the pop industry, so it all goes back to the idea that at the same time the style also appeals.

Recently, there was a video posted on YouTube, where a guy covered Linkin Parks’ ‘In The End’ in 20 different styles, and it was an eye-opener on how the exact same song could change depending on the style it’s being performed. The exact same track is heard throughout the video, but small tweaks here and there just to put the style’s own little twist on the track. Yet, there are times when covers go disastrously wrong, like when Limp Bizkit decided to cover George Michael’s ‘Faith’. The Bizkit, and Fred Durst in particular just do not capture the same feel that the original track had, and in the end it just sounds like a mess. This is a point in time where you may not entirely enjoy George Michael’s music, but compared to the cover, the original track sounds like a dream.

So style doesn’t always make the track, as you do have to have some semblance of likeability from the act, and the ability to keep the core ideas of the track alive, while at the same time giving that distinct style, and sound that your fans would enjoy. At the end of the day you’re not making a cover for the fans of Britney Spears to enjoy, you’re making it for your own fans, and ultimately it’s your own style that they enjoy. Couple a style that you know is going to appeal to your own, and similar, fans with a better public perception of the artist, and you will get a track which although was made with capitalism in mind, has a somewhat artificial, but overall ever present soul attached to the music.