The McCoys followed up their hit “Hang on Sloopy” with a song that was musically pretty much the same, IIRC. Unfortunately I can’t recall the name of the second song. just some of the lyrics:
“Let’s lock the door and throw away the key now. . .”
I think the difference is that you’re looking at the sound, but I’m looking at the melody.
I definitely have to chime in here, because I don’t hear the simlarity either. What 5Time may be referring too, however, is the use of harmonic vocalisations to progress certain parts of the songs. In that case, I can see how one may, on a very casual listen, think that these songs are similar.
As is the case with some of the others that have been posted and mr. jp has nitpicked apart well. When you critically listen to some of these songs with a musically trained ear, the differences are as obvious as East Texas vs Panhandle. On a casual listen, though, things might sound similar enough to cause the mind to leap to a conclusion.
That being said, Paul Anka sang 87 different version of a song about getting some young girl pregnant. And Paul Williams* is quite obviously The Devil (despite a couple of good movie theme songs).
*I kid. Paul Williams songs often surprise me when I find out “he wrote that, too?” While some of his early stuff sounded alike on a casual listen, he really did have a pretty fair range of sounds. One of the advantages of having all sorts of different artists (in different genres, even) to write for.
Back to Life was the follow up, much more upbeat song than Keep on movin but kinda similar I guess…considering they had different singers though, how close can they be?
side note the producers for Soul II Soul are the same ones who did Massive Attack…interesting how the sounds evolved after such a long time.
sorry for the double post, getting ready for work and forgot about this one.
I dont know if it really started before Motown but They defnitely are responsible for the astounding amount of crap that comes out of mainstream radio today. R&b, Rap, Hip hop, Country, hell even “Alternative” and Punk have been affected by the mass production method of trying for a big hit.
I wonder how many great songs they managed to produce as a percentage of total recordings that ever made it to release? anyone think it would top 1%?
It started way before Motown. The vast bulk of the music business in most commercial genres was like that until the Beatles and Dylan came along and made writing your own songs the norm.
So every great song you can think of from before 1965 came out of this mode. Is that 1% of all songs? Probably. But no more than 1% of self-written songs are great either. In fact, professional songwriters probably have a much higher percentage of their output be first rate than your average rock, pop, hip hop, or country songwriter.
No, no, no, no, no. His first single was the terrific “Ride Like the Wind.” He really looked like somebody great debuting until he released “Sailing” as his second hit.
You’re very confused. The McCoys followed “Hang on Sloopy” with a version of the great oldie, “Fever.”
“Let’s lock the door (and throw away the key)” was a single from Jay and the Americans. Which sounds nothing at like “Hang On, Sloopy.”
Yep, that was my thought too…
Everclear. Anything from Everclear.
Dum dum. Dum dum dum dum dum dum. Yea-h, Yea-h
:rolleyes:
Those chanting monk guys.
“Dominus requiem … :: SMACK! ::”
Do you think “Re-Offender” and “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” sound alike?
Coldplay, Clocks and Speed of Sound
Just heard a good example- all of the Buckingham’s hits were similar, except for the cover.
Anything where **Fergie ** spells something.
anything by Celine Dion sounds just like her previous BIG HIT.
FTR, I do not own any Celine Dion stuff and think she should be shot off into orbit.
The Buckinghams were part of the very first concert I ever saw. They were third billed to to Tommy James and the Shondells and the Beach Boys.
It was 1967, the year they released their five top twelve hits.
“Kind of a Drag” and “Don’t You Care” are similar, though not enough so that I’d include them in this thread. Then came the cover, “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.” Then they released “Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song)” and “Susan,” neither of which sound like each other or the first two.