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Extraordinary RenditionsThe problem of cross-genre covers.

By Jonah WeinerPosted Friday, July 18, 2008, at 7:22 AM ET

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Of course, many cross-genre covers are acts of loving homage. British techno brats the Klaxons wiped the smirks from their faces and bowed at the temple of "No Diggity," Blackstreet's sublimely sashaying ode to a femme fatale. Likewise, Plain White T's, Mandy Moore, and My Chemical Romance joined the parade of non-R&B artists who realized that Rihanna's "Umbrella" was the best single of 2007 and responded with reverent, if bland, tributes. In 2006, Slate's Jody Rosen assessed the similar flurry of covers that greeted Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy."

Sometimes, the homage impulse leads to more radical reimaginings: Sonic Youth scrawled noise all over Madonna's "Into the Groove," and Yo La Tengo did the same with Fleetwood Mac's pristine "Dreams." Ted Leo's cover medley of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps" was a great bit of musicology, highlighting the songs' shared breakdown. Cat Power's best covers tend to teach us as much about her as they do about their originals; on two albums devoted to interpretations, she's boiled songs down to a gray-blue mush, reflecting her conviction that every great song has misery in its DNA.

Even homage, though, can involve a form of snobbery. For a while, the British rock group Travis included a cover of Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time" in its set list. Travis' version wasn't mocking, but—intentionally or not—the cover carried a patronizing subtext: that the ProTooled pop ditty needs an honest-to-goodness rocker to ride along, scrub away the deadening Top 40 luster, and exhume the fine song hidden beneath. Rather than break down aesthetic prejudices, such covers can reinforce them, implying that the so-called frivolous pop song has value but that this value is only revealed and affirmed in an "authentic," rock-based iteration.

Sometimes an artist uses a cover to advertise something about him- or herself. Rihanna doing MIA's "Paper Planes," indie bard John Darnielle doing R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)," country star Taylor Swift doing Eminem's "Lose Yourself"— these covers are something like musical name-drops, ways for musicians to flaunt the breadth of their tastes or resist reductive stereotypes attached to their genres. And there is an entire cottage industry of cross-genre covers that operates purely on the level of novelty: bluegrass renditions of AC/DC, Paul Anka crooning "Eye of the Tiger," classical pianist Christopher O'Riley's tedious takes on Radiohead.

It isn't always clear which of these categories a cover belongs to—the lines are blurry—but we can safely add to this final column nearly every instance of rockers covering rappers. (There are virtually no examples of rappers covering rappers, although 50 Cent recently released an enjoyable mix tape in which he reworks several old-school tracks; in hip-hop, other MCs' rhymes can be quoted or tweaked in tribute, but to repeat an entire song verbatim would be regarded as something like theft.) At least two CDs—the 2000 Take a Bite Outta Rhyme and the 2008 Punk Goes Crunk—have compiled middling rock bands' versions of rap songs. The appeal of these experiments, if any, is primarily comedic, but while it's funny to hear white people over-enunciate black slang, the gag quickly wears thin. More to the point, the gag is dubious anyhow, as the butt of the joke can swing from coverer to coveree. Rarely is the cross-genre cover's propensity for condescension so pronounced. Of course, every rule has its exception, and there is one artist who reliably elevates any hip-hop song he deigns to cover. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Robert Goulet.

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Jonah Weiner is a pop critic for Slate.

Photograph of Jay-Z by Jim Dyson/Getty Images.

COMMENTS

Notes from the Fray Editor

"Best. Cover. Ever." That was Travelall, and he knew the second best cover, ever, too. He wasn't the only one: many different names were mentioned. More suggestions and discussions here and here (the Fray team actually bought one of those songs on this recommendation) and here.

Comments from the Fray

About Pavement's version simply turning the song into a Pavement song --
Agreed -- This fits the category of the cover that discovers the great [our] song hiding inside [your] song -- like Dinosaur Jr.'s "Just Like Heaven," or for that matter Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower."

--Moe J slith

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Frankly I think too much anti-white guy pressure is put on indie-rockers when they cover black music. Plenty of hip-hop producers use prominent samples of white musicians without drawing similar scrutiny. Not all indie kids are elitist pricks. Some artists have actually taken pop music and/or black music and made it their own without mockery. Here's three of my favourites;

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy does a funny, but sincere cover of R. Kelly's song from the Ali soundtrack; The World's Greatest. While gently ribbing Kelly's pronunciation, he also translates the beauty of the song into a form that hipsters will appreciate.

Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear does a great cover of JoJo's Too Little Too Late, and as an added bonus you can read his bandmate's ultrasnobby appraisal of the cover and the original pop hit on his blog. He seems like a bit of a douche, but the cover is very good.

I'll throw in one more interesting cover, though it's not exactly indie-rock: Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer did a version of Bob Marley's Redemption Song where they opted to leave in place the improper english of the original. It would make for an interesting debate to see what people think of that decision. Is it respectful? Or does it just sound strange coming from the mouths of two white guys?

--diggyG

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