When I hear “Empire State of Mind” - that’s Alicia Keys’ song to me. She sings the part I hear in my head. But its Jay-Z’s credit.
The recent EDM* hit Wake Me Up - shouldn’t that be Aloe Blacc’s song? His vocal is what sells it, not Avicii’s production (as much). Or that Calvin Harris EDM song that features Ellie Goulding.
If I went to a club wanting to hear the song, I would MUCH prefer to have the original singer there with some hired EDM schmo pushing buttons to trigger the different pieces, vs. seeing the DJ push buttons that include a pre-recorded vocal.
Same with some rap songs*. I still think Good Feeling by Flo Rida should be credited to Miss Etta James - her vocal is EVERYTHING to that song, and well, she’s Etta fucking James and he’s a fat, tattooed dude with a couple of pop rap hits that will disappear in another couple of years.
Okay - rant over; you may now get off my lawn. Sigh - I am old. Music and the kids these days
*to be clear: I like many EDM and rap songs; please don’t take this as an attempt to dismiss a whole genre or two - that’s stoopid talk.
Sorry for the immediate hijack genre-wise but Clare Torry needs a mention for The Great Gig in the Sky. Without that wail, it’s a dull organ instrumental. Let’s just get that out of the way first.
But back on topic, there are a lot of rap/EDM songs where the best part of the song is the sample, and the credited artist is just riding on the coattails of a better performer. Hell, even the twee, chipmunk-ized Bobby Vinton in Akon’s “Lonely” is more interesting than Akon’s contribution.
Can’t argue about Clare Torry - I guess I would say that Great Gig was not designed to be a single, but that doesn’t change the fact that it feels like her name should be at the front of the track credits.
For me - it just speaks to the separation of the music from the performance - this essential piece of the song is really just the cream filling in this artificially-extruded Twinkie some dj assembled. And it can be performed at EDM clubs with one person up there pushing buttons.
Again - there is a LOT of good rap and EDM out there. But, to me, the Singer of the Hook™ is still what sells a song.
There’s a lot of them. Probably because a lot of EDM or rap artists don’t actually sing or harmonize. And without a catchy vocal hook, a lot of EDM just sounds like WHOOMPWHOOMPWHOOMPWHOOMPWHOOMP
Also I assume it’s relatively easy to remix a Sarah McLaughlin song into a trance / house jam.
To their credit, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland seem to take great pains to acknowledge the contributions of others. Trixie Reiss shares writing credit with them for the songs Comin’ Back and Jaded for instance, and they even went so far as to acknowledge that the vocals in their song Trip Like I Do were sampled from the Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal and from a message left on Kirkland’s answering machine by a woman he met at a club.
Acts like The Prodigy, Underworld and Atari Teenage Riot have always been bands, even though their oeuvre is more in line with EDM than with R&R. I know that’s a large part of why I like all four of these [del]acts[/del]bands.
Oh yeah, it’s a totally gray area. The biggest issue is that the track’s sound bed is pretty bland and obvious - while the vocal is a really standout R&B performance.
When I hear something like Massive Attack’s Protection, with Tracey Thorn’s deeply emotional, wonderful vocal, I don’t feel this problem, because Massive Attack brought such an innovative approach to the sounds they layered for that song.
Yeah, I know - YMMV. No rhyme or reason - but stuff like Avicii and Flo Rida still drive me nuts.
