I just went to iTunes, and guess what the number one song downloaded is? Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah. Now there’s little doubt that this is due to Jason Castro’s rendition last week on American Idol, but does it really matter? Just when I think America has lost its idea of good music, I see this, knowing that iTunes has a LOT of teenagers who undoubtedly sought the original version. I find this awesome. I find it excellent that such a great song wasn’t overlooked and found to be “boring” by younger fans.
Maybe American Idol allowing instrument players (leading to likely truer students of music) will increase the number of good songs being played and brought into the mainstream. Maybe it’ll lead to a greater demand for decent music and we’ll stop getting new installments of emo yellers, smack yer hos, and mcblonde oversung. Here’s hoping.
I didn’t know they were doing this now (haven’t watched in quite a while, and have never been a “regular” viewer). It’s a good thing, if you ask me. I’ve wondered how many contestants have been put at a disadvantage simply because they were guitarists or pianists who had to perform without their instruments. I know from experience that I used to feel extremely awkward singing without my guitar or bass in my hands. Most “pure” vocalists develop hand and arm gestures to go along with their singing, and that’s part of the total performance. People accustomed to accompanying themselves on an instrument typically don’t develop these gestures, or rather, their gestures are those appropriate to playing their instrument. Without that instrument, they end up standing in front of the audience trying to give a good singing performance, while in the back of their minds they’re screaming, “Oh God! What do I do with my hands?!!”
Buckley was not the original artist to record “Hallelujah”. While I think Buckley’s version is better than just about any other version, period, including the original, it was Leonard Cohen, the songwriter, who first recorded it.
I think I misread the part about the teenagers searching for the original version to mean that you thought Buckley’s WAS the original version. Sorry about that.
I remember Stevie Wonder getting a HUGE bump in sales after a Stevie night that they did a couple of years back. It was a pretty damn good theme, and almost everyone sang well, which must have helped. And they chose good stuff–“Living for the City,” “Don’t You Worry 'Bout a Thing,” et cetera, not “I Just Called to Say I Love You” boringness. All the teens went, “WOAH, this music is great!” Good on them.
This week is a Beatles theme. Hopefully this will create interest in the Beatles which will tie in nicely for when their songs come to iTunes later this year.
I remember thinking at the time that it was a bad choice because Stevie Wonder’s (awesome) music is really hard to sing, especially if you aren’t incredibly familiar with the song. That night it was obvious who was familiar and who wasn’t. (Except with Taylor Hicks, who may or may not have been familiar with the original, but owned it by doing it his way rather than trying to hit every note.)
I know you were being sarcastic here but kids these days do not know the Beatles except for snippets they hear on commercials and even then, they don’t know who sings the songs.
In fact, when John Lennon died I was in high school. More than half didn’t know who he even was-- and that was almost 30 years ago. When Carrie Underwood did Alone, not a single one of my kid’s friends knew who in the hell Heart was. Friggin Randy and Simon think Whitney Crackhead Houston originated All The Woman That I Need.
It’s a shame, really. Pop music isn’t all that old.
In other words, prepare for harmonic hell. I loate the AI backup singers…they regularly destroy what would have been a good performance. It amazes me that with the resources that 19 and Fox have at their disposal, they think those three are the best they can find? Eesh…
Dude, the Beatles were HUGE in the late 90s/early 00s at least (I’m now out of high school and college so I have no clue). I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s still the case (at least to an extent).
Them kids today know who The Beatles are. If only because of projects like Love and Across the Universe. There was a surge in their popularity because of the Anthology, and I don’t think it’s really waned too much since then.
Me too. Whenever I admit this to anyone, they look at me as if I am some childish Shrek fan that doesn’t get the Buckley version. But its not that…I think it is the piano.
The lyrics of that song are so heartbreakingly beautiful…I cry nearly everytime.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but saying that makes it obvious you’re old. Or at least, you obviously don’t have any connection with today’s high school/college kids.
The Beatles are huge with “the younger set” and have been for some time. I don’t think I knew anyone in high school/college who didn’t love The Beatles, and a lot of them owned at least one CD. Not one they stole from their parents, but one they themselves owned.
