base talk ATRL March Madness 2023 | WINNER!

[supaspaz]

This is a really interesting discussion, by the way! I’m enjoying it.

[Frozen99]

2 hours ago, Kool_Aid_King said:

Bebe had a demo, she wanted to release. Label sold it to Eminem, and they actually kept her "woohooo woohooo's" on the song (Which she famously said live along with "Cause Rihanna couldn't hit those high notes" and got skulldragged  )

 

Linda Perry wanted to release Beautiful for herself and recorded it (not sure if it was leaked or a version is out), but Xtina begged for it. 

 

Same thing happened with Consideration by Rihanna, she coaxed SZA into giving it to her. 

 

Absolutely lots of nuance to this topic. Another interesting that happened a few times was when two artists would get the same song... and they'd be called covers but it was clearly just shopped around and two artists took it.

 

 

 

 

how can you cover an unreleased song? those bebe and linda examples are just demos, same with consideration.. keeping demo vocals doesn't make the song a cover.

 

2 hours ago, supaspaz said:

Is this your vote?

[Gwegend]

18 hours ago, andresg770 said:

Ehhh I'm not sure that I agree with this rationale.  Because it's like "indispensable cover of what?"  And if the answer for 99% of people is  "" then do we really think of it as a cover? (Even I'd answer with a shrug because, even though I know the original is by Ednaswap, I don't think I've ever bothered listening to it...)

 

Compare that to No Doubt going in with the intention of recording an 80s cover and deciding on "It's My Life" because they all loved it.  Or DJ Sammy creating arguably second "essential" version of a beloved song that still gets AC-radio play (second and third, if you also count the "Candlelight Mix").  Now THOSE are "indispensable covers" to me.

 

But anyway, onto voting lol:

"It's My Life" No Doubt vs. "Don't Leave Me This Way" Thelma Houston (ugh, this should be the top 2 )

"Torn" Natalie Imbruglia vs. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" Cyndi Lauper (I love both of these women, but  )

I agree with you completely. Torn was a legitimately stolen song! And GJWHF’s original version was never ever officially recorded and released.

 

I vote for:
It’s My Life

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun 

[andresg770]

3 hours ago, supaspaz said:

I meant the intention of the original being its own distinct song, rather than a demo for other artists.

 

To me, how something is marketed doesn’t really make a difference as to whether it’s a cover, though it should be noted that Cyndi flipping the perspective from male to female has always been part of the story of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” So by that metric, it certainly qualifies.

 

As for “Torn,” there is simply no objective definition by which it’s not a cover.

But my point isn't about whether or not they're covers.  By the definition that is commonly used (which is broad), all four finalists are technically covers.  But when you ask me what should win a tournament for the "best cover ever," it HAS to be a song that is identifiable as a cover -- or at least intentionally presented as "a new version of an old song you may know."

 

#NoDoubtFTW #Justice4Heaven #Justice4Ednaswap #TheRightHoustonWon

[naval23]

so sad "Angel of Mine" didn't make the list 

[supaspaz]

35 minutes ago, naval23 said:

so sad "Angel of Mine" didn't make the list 

It did! Lost in the second round to “Emotion.”

[pride4jc1222]

1 hour ago, naval23 said:

so sad "Angel of Mine" didn't make the list 

I would have voted for this over any song in the Final Four.

[naval23]

52 minutes ago, supaspaz said:

It did! Lost in the second round to “Emotion.”

Of all songs to lose to 

[naval23]

7 minutes ago, pride4jc1222 said:

I would have voted for this over any song in the Final Four.

Honestly same! Just pure stripped down R&B perfection 

[supaspaz]

 

It seems that we've exhausted both the votes this round and the debate over the definition of covers, so updating now!

 

"Don't Leave Me This Way" Thelma Houston

"Torn" Natalie Imbruglia

 

[supaspaz]

 

All good things, as the wise Nelly Furtado once said, come to an end. And so they did in the Final Four for our two underdogs, who may have made an impressive Cinderella run through the draw but ultimately proved no match for the heavyweights of the tournament. In the end, the voters went for the songs that were their favorites from the jump, decisively picking #1 "It's My Life" over #15 "Don't Leave Me This Way" and #1 "Torn" over #16 "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Both received twice as many votes as their competition.

 

(1) "It's My Life" No Doubt def. (15) "Don't Leave Me This Way" Thelma Houston [19-9]

(1) "Torn" Natalie Imbruglia def. (16) "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" Cyndi Lauper [20-8]

 

That brings us at last to the Championship of ATRL March Madness, where just two reimagined renditions remain chasing the title of the most indispensable cover. Though history was not made with a new lowest-ranking contender to ever reach the finals, this is the only the third time that the top two seeds have actually met, as slated, to face off for the win. It also represents a shot at redemption for Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn," which fell in the Final Four of our one-hit wonder tournament back in 2014. Check out the updated draw below:

 

[supaspaz]

Championship round will start in the morning

[madonnas]

Ouch.  
 

I’ll be rooting for Gwen

[touya kinomoto]

YAAAAASSSSS JOHNNY ENGLISH ACTRESS NATALIE IMBRUGLIA FTW!!!

[Kool_Aid_King]

10 hours ago, Frozen99 said:

how can you cover an unreleased song? those bebe and linda examples are just demos, same with consideration.. keeping demo vocals doesn't make the song a cover.

That's pretty much what happened with GJWHF... It was a cover of an unreleased demo. Bebe, Linda and SZA all have a similar story to the GJWHF one. An artist taking their song, tweaking it a bit and releasing. I agree with you, I don't really see any of those songs I mentioned as covers including GJWHF. I'm not mad at it's inclusion though.

 

4 hours ago, naval23 said:

Of all songs to lose to 

Beyonce during the bridge is just TOO good. I was rooting for AOM, but I folded. 

[naval23]

21 minutes ago, Kool_Aid_King said:

That's pretty much what happened with GJWHF... It was a cover of an unreleased demo. Bebe, Linda and SZA all have a similar story to the GJWHF one. An artist taking their song, tweaking it a bit and releasing. I agree with you, I don't really see any of those songs I mentioned as covers including GJWHF. I'm not mad at it's inclusion though.

 

Beyonce during the bridge is just TOO good. I was rooting for AOM, but I folded. 

that song will always remind me of Spotlight (spotlight) 

 

 

 

[naval23]

Damn what a top 2 

Either of these winners will be amazing 

[Frozen99]

42 minutes ago, Kool_Aid_King said:

That's pretty much what happened with GJWHF... It was a cover of an unreleased demo. Bebe, Linda and SZA all have a similar story to the GJWHF one. An artist taking their song, tweaking it a bit and releasing. I agree with you, I don't really see any of those songs I mentioned as covers including GJWHF. I'm not mad at it's inclusion though.

oh i had no idea the OG version of the cindy song was never released  then it's kinda fishy calling it a cover but all i remember about the song it it being a cover and never actually questioned it  

 

dd i am mad at its inclusion, it beat nothing compares 2 u which i was afraid was gonna win it all, not this fraudulence...

 

[supaspaz]

36 minutes ago, naval23 said:

that song will always remind me of Spotlight (spotlight) 

 

 

 

“Mad TV” had such good music video parodies

[supaspaz]

2 minutes ago, Frozen99 said:

oh i had no idea the OG version of the cindy song was never released  then it's kinda fishy calling it a cover but all i remember about the song it it being a cover and never actually questioned it  

 

dd i am mad at its inclusion, it beat nothing compares 2 u which i was afraid was gonna win it all, not this fraudulence...

 

I’m sorry, but you all are fighting 40 years of history on this. “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” is an acknowledged cover. The contemporaneous coverage upon its release even noted that Cyndi reinvented Robert Hazard’s song by flipping the perspective from male to female.

 

[Frozen99]

3 minutes ago, supaspaz said:

I’m sorry, but you all are fighting 40 years of history on this. “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” is an acknowledged cover. The contemporaneous coverage upon its release even noted that Cyndi reinvented Robert Hazard’s song by flipping the perspective from male to female.

 

what song, we don't know her #Justice4NothingCompares2U

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Frozen99
justice!

[supaspaz]

Here's a review from 1983 that acknowledges Robert Hazard's original. Check page 7:

http://web.archive.org/web/20200813200353/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1983/CB-1983-12-24.pdf

 

[naval23]

14 minutes ago, supaspaz said:

“Mad TV” had such good music video parodies

Omg yeesss - my fav is "Virginal" from Xtina's "Ho No Mo" 

 

Unless this don't sell then I'll go back to being a whoreeeeeeeee

 

 

 

[supaspaz]

Okay, I'm putting together the finale now and will post it soon.

[supaspaz]

Coming up on the next page...