Jimmy Guttermans 33 Rules of Bad Music Making, part 1: Lets Prove Jimmy Wrong.

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32. Do not record cover versions of Motown or Stax/Volt hits.
"Take Me to the River"

not a Motown or a Stax/Volt hit

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Saturday, 25 March 2006 20:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Don't sing a song about your dead parent

Wasn't Let It Be about Paul McCartney's mother? That song wasn't too bad.

Do not retain a band's name if the most important member(s) has left the group.

The Supremes were quite respectable after Diana Ross left IMO.

Do Not Go to Art School

Just about all the British scenesters in the 60s and 70s met and formed their groups with their art school connections.

Do not record cover versions of Motown or Stax/Volt hits

Did anyone NOT like the disco version of "Knock on Wood"? Come on!

-Hear that, Aretha? Your cover of Otis Redding's "Respect" is BAD MUSIC.

The writer probably wasn't including inter-label covers...both Aretha and Otis were on Atlantic. At least, I'm hoping for his sake that's what he meant, because some Atlantic/Atlantic and Motown/Motown covers ended up being some of the best songs of all time.

― musically (musically), Monday, 27 March 2006 00:03 (eighteen years ago) link

This is Mr. Guterman's website. He's awfully fond of useability and Sandinista!.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 27 March 2006 00:25 (eighteen years ago) link

Hah, Jimmy was a consulting editor at the dot-com I used to work for. Forgot all about him... Nice guy. Whip-smart.

― BlastsOfStatic (BlastsofStatic), Monday, 27 March 2006 19:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, I wrinkled my little nose over those two list books when they came out but the website convinces me that he seems like a decent enough sort.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 27 March 2006 19:21 (eighteen years ago) link

32. Do not record cover versions of Motown or Stax/Volt hits.

the slits, "i heard it through the grapevine"

― mts (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 27 March 2006 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Live records should reflect what a performance actually sounded like when it occured. We loved the Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense until we found out how many studios were used for postproduction.

Find a counterexample? He did all the work for us.

― Washable School Paste (sexyDancer), Monday, 27 March 2006 22:43 (eighteen years ago) link

"Yeah, I wrinkled my little nose over those two list books when they came out but the website convinces me that he seems like a decent enough sort."

Guterman's book on Jerry Lee Lewis, "Rocking My Life Away," is terrific and I recommend it highly. And you can read it on his website, if I'm not mistaken. The two "list books" I didn't like much. The "Worst Records" book has a shrill tone of condescenion and humorlessness, even if most of the records included *are* awful. George Grimac and Pat Reeder wrote a much better version of that type of book with "Hollywood Hi Fi."

― James, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 13:52 (eighteen years ago) link

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