“There’s nothing like reinventing an old classic” says Will.I.Am at the end of a TV commercial to promote a new coffee machine. And every time I hear him say it, I get annoyed. Actually, the whole commercial does annoys me. I understand the ‘marketing message’ that the manufacturer wanted to convey. They created a brand new version of their old coffee machine, but the comparison to music is bugging me to the T. And the advert emphasizes the message about music more than their coffee machine. Or at least that’s what it looks like to me, but maybe I’m just too hyper sensitive.
In the advert the classic song “Sitting On The Doc Of The Bay” is getting a special Will.I.Am update treatment. He simply adds a little bit more tempo and a new beat to it et voila: It’s reinvented. This is exactly what a lot of musicians and music critics say pop music has turned into.
Covering and remixing songs has always been part of music. It’s as old as time, really. Still, it definitely seems to be a more frequent thing in recent times. You know, the times where the DJs have become the pop stars. DJs have always created their music with bits and pieces from other records, but some have added elements of music production to their work.
I’ve always considered Will.I.Am to be a music producer. Someone who represents creativity and music creation. As in: Creating unique songs. And he used to be damn good at it, too. So what on earth is he doing talking about reinventing classics?! If he were to reinvent a classic I expect a remake or reproduction. A completely new arrangement to an existing vocal track.
Currently, there are a lot of blurred lines when it comes to music production, remixing and just getting a little too inspired by other songs (aka borrowing, so to speak). The Gaye vs Thicke lawsuit about “Blurred Lines” was expected to be of major impact to this. Many professionals expected the outcome to inspire a slew of lawsuits, because many people believed the source of inspiration is very recognizable in many of today’s music. But, as I blogged before, it’s one thing to get inspired by the sound and feel of a song and it’s another to copy a complete chord structure including all recognizable melodies. There are laws protecting that and so far, none of the ideas to let these laws go would pan out to be more profitable for the artists, so let’s just be happy we still have them right now.
