No Doubt, Beck, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Plan Gang Of Four Remixes

And the "It's My Life" cover just made me appreciate the original more. A worthy recreation, certainly.

*sigh*

*shudders*

I first heard of the Shocking Blue because the commercial radio DJs were mentioning that this song was a Shocking Blue cover at the time (remember when commercial radio DJs were occasionally educational?)

I still prefer Bananarama's version better. They (Bananarama and SAW(?)) were brilliant in choosing to cover the Shocking Blue's worst song, and totally redo it.

You should be forced to eat your own eyeballs.

so OTM it hurtz

I enjoy their version slightly....it's a nice take on an okay Talk Talk song.....Gwen does a fine job, but Hollis's vocals always make me climax -- no comparison.

I always bring Shocking Blues' "Love Buzz" when I DJ at bars. People love it. Seriously.

(off-topic: John, which music store is yours? I live in Mpls.)

I mean, sure the irony or hypocrisy is quite high here -- isn't it always with popular bands that have political lyrics... gasp.. but all you have to do is just, well, not buy this thing if you don't want to..

in fact, protest the band and, um, sell all of your Go4 back and make your voice heard.. especially if it's the recently reissued stuff with all the bonus tracks (like, for example, the new Rhino issue of Entertainment! which finally completes the Yellow Ep and adds two alternate versions of "Guns Before Butter" and "Contract" as well as two live tracks "Blood Free" and "Sweet Jane". GREAT thing to sell back to show those capitalist anti-capitalist old rocker types! Give it to 'em!)

In a perverse way I actually kind of LIKE the fact that Go4 are such whores -- violent contradictions were/are basically their collective raison d'etre, right? It's just the particular instance of it under discussion here that I object to -- the very thought of No Doubt and Beck (!!!!) remixing them makes me feel quite, quite ill.

I have no problem buying the reissues, because I have no problem giving my money to a band for producing great material. The point is, I don't have to reward them for making a reprehensible tour sponsor decision, and I don't have to indulge their opportunistic remix/remake album either. I wouldn't be so passionate about it if I didn't hold them in the highest esteem, by the way...

Well, if it makes you feel better, than good.

I'm frightened of Clear Channel myself, but a) I haven't watched TV -- or more to the point -- subscribed to cable TV in seven years and b) have not listened to commercial radio on a regular basis in over a decade. I've pretty much been a non-concerted non-contributer to CC's pockets for a good fraction of my life (and almost all of CC's life), except for this one instance of seeing Gang Of Four. I don't feel too guilty about it, because this is a rare exception as opposed to a "rule" -- which would be watching Clear Channel stations or listening to Clear Channel radio on a regular basis, and end up supporting their advertisers. If three cents of my ticket prices to see Go4 this past month went to some asshole up in CC HQ in San Antone, then oh well. I'm sure I've spent money far more innocently that went to worse people. Generally, though, I don't live a life that contributes to mega media corps.. *shrug*. I guess on the HARDCORE-to-SELLOUT scale (1 being ULTRAHARDCORE, 10 being ULTRASELLOUT, I rank a 4, maybe?)

But if this is a black or white issues for you John, and it makes you feel comfortable to deal with the issue that way, then whatever works for you. I won't tell you you missed an excellent show, because that's beside the point. I'm just not ready to let go an excellent opportunity to see a band doing a great reunion tour just because someone evil was involved along the way.

Didn't Slint work with "questionable" promoters, acc. to Albini? Was it CC for them too? Where was the outrage then? Granted, Slint don't sing about this type of political stiff, but still. If one is going to go on about boycotting CC shows, I assume one would be using doing research on every mid-to-big show coming through town and do the research, or at least be consistent about making a fuss about it...

Also, I'm not telling anyone what to do, just expressing the way I do things, and as someone who deals with independent local musicians and venues on a daily basis, my concern with CC is based almost entirely around their control of live shows. As a result, I do my research on shows and don't go to ones with Clear Channel support.

I'm not "calling anyone out" for going to the Go4 shows, and I don't really buy into the sellout concept...I WANT musicians to make money making music. I just think that they can do it in a responsible manner that doesn't hurt other musicians.

The remix album isn't really that big of a deal for me. My whole involvement with this thread started as a fun jab at "To Hell With Poverty" and somehow we got dragged into this CC back-and-forth thing...so to return to topic, I'm certainly not foaming at the mouth about the rerecording/remix deal, but I doubt I'll buy it. Generally bands rerecording their old material doesn't work out so well, and tribute albums are almost always 90% groanworthy. The hindsight gripe by Gill about how he's going to "improve" the sound of Entertainment! by making the drums jump out of my stereo and kick the living crap out of me or whatever just sounds a bit worrisome.

I wasn't singling you out for that. I was actually posing this to ILM in general. You're not the only one who's complained about the CC connection with Go4.

But anyway.

-- charltonlido

aren't you from leeds? they are from leeds! how is this possible?

You have heard 'I love a man in uniform'

donut, what you mean by a "finally complete" Yellow EP? Was the version included w/ the Infinite Zero reissue of Entertainment incomplete? From my brief scan of the Rhino reish tracklist, it looked the same as the IZ version, except for those 4 tracks you name.

As for the Clear Channel thing, that was the second CC show I've gone to, after vowing that the first one would be a one-time exception, and I rationalized my decision in terms much like those donut mentioned. I'm not really completely at ease about it, though, despite all my braying that I'M NOT SORRY, and don't really I think I should be either. Cognitive dissonance is all very bracing, but I think at some point we have to take responsibility for our actions. I don't know exactly where that point is in this case. Part of the reason I even consider this kind of thing is the effect on me that music like Entertainment! has had. If Clear Channel tours and remixes by No Doubt bring it to lots of people who'd never hear it otherwise, what does the recontextualization do? I don't know.

I think the point of this was to try and sell records.

Whether you think this will achieve that goal or not is up to you to analyze and say yay or nay. But I don't see the difficulty in figuring out why this was proposed.

Agreed; that's what I meant to imply by omission in saying that "the priority was NOT THAT [i.e. making music that would be cool] AT ALL." Pardon my rhetorical fuzziness.

Um. Keeping in mind that I think "Maps" is easily one of the top ten singles of its release year, how on Earth can this possibly be a good idea? Disco sleaze reimagined as yelpy ptich-averse hell, only completely po-faced?