What's the matter with shoddy covers being used in Figure Skating?

[Areski]

Excuse me for assuming a negative attitude ... but I can't be the only one who is tired by that. What's the matter with all these skaters (or their choreographers) who are now choosing enervating renditions of originally good songs / pieces of music? And no I don't mean by that something like "5 x Carmen, 10 x Phantom and 10 x Moulin Rouge" fest that I am also fed up with. I mean music from which all that precious life has been drained off or overwhelmed by new lousy arrangement. Everything that is good in that music is killed.

Also that odd steadily growing penchant towards lower tempo (BPM), maybe because it's easier to pull off on the ice? But I mostly have a beef with strictly badly sung / played music I guess.


I love figure skating, but I somehow feel like allowing words into non-Ice Dance events backfires somewhat. A good example of it could be Somewhere Over The Rainbow to which Nam Nguyen skated his Free Skate this season. That was agonizing to get through each time at least for me. Maybe even more because Somewhere Over The Rainbow sung by Judy Garland is in its original form one of my favourite songs written for the movie.

What would you like to come across more often in figure skating programs in terms of music?

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

^^^, Child, you said it. How many craptastic covers of U2 songs and other 80s did I have to suffer through. LOL. There were 2 teams that even chose the same suicide music this year. Damn who were they? Trying to remember. Stellato & Bartholomay are one of the offenders and I want to say a Canadian team was the other. ADDED LATER: Oh yeah my favorites Duhamel & Radford... the suicide version of "With or Without You." Cant imagine what was going through their minds and hearts the day they chose that dreary version. Must have been very cloudy and grey that day in Canada. lol.

Seriously, some of these selections skaters are choosing make Lana del Rey seem non-suicide inducing.

 

[briancoogaert]

Honestly, all those covers of Je Suis Malade... I can't, really, I can't !

 

[Bellanca]

I can't, really, I can't !

W/ the addition of vocals, period. Painful... *Shudder*

 

[kittysk8ts]

^^^, Child, you said it. How many craptastic covers of U2 songs and other 80s did I have to suffer through. LOL. There were 2 teams that even chose the same suicide music this year. Damn who were they? Trying to remember. Stellato & Bartholomay are one of the offenders and I want to say a Canadian team was the other. ADDED LATER: Oh yeah my favorites Duhamel & Radford... the suicide version of "With or Without You." Cant imagine what was going through their minds and hearts the day they chose that dreary version. Must have been very cloudy and grey that day in Canada. lol.

Seriously, some of these selections skaters are choosing make Lana del Rey seem non-suicide inducing.

LOL. I cannot disagree with this.

Interesting tidbit - Duhamel/Radford's With or Without You is sung by a lovely gal called April Meservy and she came to both the Canadian Championships and Pyeongchang to support them!

 

[Cant Skate]

The cover of Sweet Dreams that MTM2 used this year is Grammy worthy compared to this cover, lol...click at your own risk!

https://youtu.be/QUvVdTlA23w

 

[kittysk8ts]

The cover of Sweet Dreams that MTM2 used this year is Grammy worthy compared to this cover, lol...click at your own risk!

https://youtu.be/QUvVdTlA23w

I made this very mistake a few months ago. I was SHOCKED! LOL.

 

[clairecloutier]

I'll be the minority opinion and say that I liked most of the covers that were used this year. Including (and maybe especially) MT/M's "Sweet Dreams."

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the concept of cover songs. I mean, the whole genre of jazz is essentially based on cover versions of songs (and often glorious ones at that).

The one artist/group that I don't usually like cover versions of is the Beatles. Maybe because they had such a distinct, characteristic sound, and the arrangements of their songs were always so great and often unique. Whenever I hear a Beatles cover, I usually just wish they had used the original. (Especially when it came to Suto/Boudreau Audet's Beatles cover LP this year.)

 

[Nmsis]

The cover of Sweet Dreams that MTM2 used this year is Grammy worthy compared to this cover, lol..

Actually 9 years ago, Carron / Jost used both versions of Sweet Dreams (Montcalm and Manson) in exhibition.
IIRC, that was a Marie-France Dubreuil choreo.
It was fab. IMHO of course.

 

[Nmsis]

I can't, really, I can't !

Let's try again
Or this one, which is actually not a cover since she's the author of the song.

 

[screech]

IMO what grates on me is not the overuse of Phantom, but the fact that so many people choose to use the Gerard Butler version instead of the absolutely spectacular Michael Crawford. Though I'd rather listen to that again instead of listening to Muse a single time more.

(Also, I kind of like that Marilyn Manson version of Sweet Dreams)

 

[briancoogaert]

Let's try again
Or this one, which is actually not a cover since she's the author of the song.

Alice Dona's version, why not ! But Lara Fabian or Celine Dion's covers to Je suis malade or Ne me quitte pas, NO !

 

[paskatefan]

^ Some skaters I really like have skated to Lara Fabian's "Je Suis Malade" & "Je T'aime," - ugh! I don't want to ever hear either of those songs again! I'm just not into singers who over emote.

 

[VGThuy]

I feel like I can’t complain about any covers after I heard that Paul Anka version of Wonderwall.

 

[Areski]

bump

 

[shah]

Come on, Marilyn Manson's cover is spectacular . Even though I cannot imagine any brave skater who would touch it .

I was more bothered by Duhamel/Radford's WOWY, MT/M's Sweet Dreams, all versions of Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Julianne and Charlie, Brendan Kerry) and, most of all, that tragic version of Paint It Black used by Alexandrovskaya/Windsor .

And yes, I agree - why use miserable covers if you could use pretty originals? I guess the only cover used recently in figure skating I approve of is Sound of Silence by Disturbed.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I was more bothered by Duhamel/Radford's WOWY, MT/M's Sweet Dreams, all versions of Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Julianne and Charlie, Brendan Kerry) and, most of all, that tragic version of Paint It Black used by Alexandrovskaya/Windsor .

YASSSSSS! These were the offenders this season.... WOWY and EWTRTW .. these covers were craptastic.

Thank Goodness Knierims bailed on Paint It Black since it was heavy and dreadful on A&W!

 

[DreamSkates]

Maybe the skaters think they will be outshined by music that is already stellar. Like someone on The Voice (or similar competition) who chooses a hit by an outstanding star and you can't help but compare the 2.