Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ?

The most people I tend to hear this from are usually classic rock bores who have opinions on which is the best guitar solo ever or think Led Zeppelin is a good band.

Originally Posted by ThePhanastasio

Okay, put it this way. Have you ever listened to a song that moved you? I'm almost certain that the answer to this is a resounding, "YES."

Did you write that song? No?

Okay. So, a song can move you without you having written it. Fantastic. Now we have people whose voices are well-honed instruments, but they're not especially talented at writing songs. But, there are people who can write songs to move them, to affect them. They become the mouthpiece to the song, but they are also more than likely moved by the song. Otherwise, there would have been a disconnect that negatively affected the song, without even knowing the performer didn't write it.

Did Whitney Houston write "I Will Always Love You?" does her rendition still move people to tears? Did Jeff Buckley write "Hallelujah?" Does his rendition still stand out as many peoples' favorite song, or near the top of their list?

Also, do fantastic actors...does Daniel Day-Lewis write his lines? Does Meryl Streep? Did Bette Davis? Katharine Hepburn?

There is no integrity lost if someone performs effectively their role in a piece of art.

Originally Posted by Screen13

Not a problem with me, considering that there's something interesting or earthy going on in the sounds. Most modern day Pop that aims for the Midwestern Wal Mart customers is too slick, boring, and polished, though.

For today's Pop, I'm sure that if I look enough, there may be a few sounds from Japan I might like with more dynamics in their style.

When it comes to a topic like this, however, I think about the days of labels like Stax and Motown, filled with singers who can take a song by one of the great in-house songwriters and make it their own. Phillies (Phil Spector's label) and Red Dog had their own classics as well with the Girl Groups.

The Animals had some great hits written by others in their Mickey Most era ("Don't Bring Me Down"), let alone their career-spanning examples of great Blues covers.

The Rolling Stones started out as a Blues covers band. Thankfully, Andrew Oldham got Mick and Keith to write, but they were a good Blues band who only hinted at later glories.

The Standells had their hits written by their Producer, Ed "Tainted Love" Cobb (He also wrote that long-standing song covered by Gloria Jones and, in the 80's, Soft Cell). Thankfully, the energy in songs like "Dirty Water" made a lot of listeners overlook that fact.

Three Dog Night did well with their self-chosen line of covers.

Disco may have turned into a crap assembly line near the end of it's heyday, but earlier on a few class acts stood out. Donna Summer's early records are examples.

The Early 80's attempts at a New Wave style had a number of guilty pleasures. Maybe it's my age, but that was the final fling of Pop that attracted my ears without caring about if it was original or not. The Mid 80's and beyond don't have that much of an attraction, the start of the too-slick approach.

Dusty Springfield, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and many others were part of the early Pop years where there had to be a cool attached to attract the buyers and live longer than 15 Minutes. There was a serious difference between them and crap like Fabien. Sadly, from what I have noticed, the US Pop culture now is mainly filled with Fabiens with Auto-Tune, ready made beats, and studios that have so much multi-track abilities that any mess up can be covered. Plus, thanks to the Internet, the less choosy have more of an easier way to pick and keep their fame alive.

I hope things change a little soon that would go back to the more earthier and crazy Pop landscape (no, ultra stylish media stars don't work!), but with updated styles and sounds. Maybe I will hear cries from critics about ripping off from the "Underground", but anything is better than the crap that mainly surrounds the Popscene now.

It's not how it's created, but what goes into it.

Originally Posted by bob.

in all honesty i would probably say that at least 90% of the music i listen to is all written by the bands and or artists themselves but that is mainly because of the genres i listen to....and i have to admit that i think i honestly do have a little more respect for singer songwriters....at the same time i don't think i really look down upon or shame an artist for not writing their own songs....i could easily list quite a few covers that i think are better than the originals.....and i have tons of respect for artists who just genuinely have amazing talent.....Dolly Parton only wrote a handful of her own songs.....and she is the bees knees in my eyes....and especially in pop music....many of these people are chosen because of the raw talent they have with their voices....and it does not matter if they wrote it or not....what matters is the honest feeling they put behind the lyrics

i am slowing beginning to think that it is the autotune that will be the demise of all creativity in music

Originally Posted by Fluffy Kittens

Is a chef a chef if someone else cooks the food for him?