New Cover Song: Seether Does Wham’s “Careless Whisper”…WTF?
Yep you read that right, the hard rock band Seether has covered the Wham! tune “Careless Whisper” (you can hear it on Seethers homepage and you can check out Wham! here).
I heard it on Sirius Octane this morning and I – like the DJ who introduced the song – have been struggling with it since (just a little bit). On one hand, from a creative freedom standpoint, it is cool that Seether has the balls to cover a tune by a band that – to put it mildly – doesn’t quite fit the their image.
On the other hand, from a shoot-yourself-in-the-foot standpoint, you have to wonder what their fans think about it. I can’t imagine that the typical hard rock fan is pumped to sing along with “I’m never gonna dance again…”. And speaking from a long history as a metalhead, this sort of thing would be punishable by death back in the day (lol).
Now I don’t mind Seether and the 80’s teenager that still hangs out inside of me has a soft spot for “Careless Whisper”. But, I am just not so sure they belong together. What do you think?
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Tagged with: careless whisper • cover song • pop music hard rock • seether • wham
Filed under: Hard Rock • Music News • Pop Music
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Come on Corey, its not that bad. First time I have heard of the Seethers. The lead singer has a sexy voice and in my opinion the song suits him well. The Wham version makes me depressed and never ever never gonna dance again… while Seethers just sounds a bit frustrated…
As a teenage metal head in the early 80’s, I was well aware of when “The Formula” came into play. Once metal ‘evolved’ into glam & hair metal, The Formula for any new band was to come out with a hard rocking single, then follow with the Metal Ballad. Most of these ballads were actually very good and still show up on those VH1 hit lists they love to make.
There’s quite a history to the Metal Ballad and any 80’s metal head would know it well. Not quite “punishable by death” since it was so common and actually gave those bands crossover recognition & made them a ton of money.
L Holly,
You make some good points and yeah I get the formula. Hell, I remember and love the “Alone Again’s” the “I Remember You’s” and the “Home Sweet Home’s” of the world just as much as the next glam rocker but I just thought the Wham! tune was a little ironic. They were sort of the opposite of everything that the metal head stood for. That’s all. Punishable by death may be a little strong. My creative rwriting skills are a work in progress. Thanks for stopping.
I LOVE this re-make. I love it for the fact that it actually sounds good for one. Two, kudos to Seether for having the, well, intestinal fortitude to cover this song. I’m personally stoked on it
Hi Jess,
Thanks for stopping and thanks for an honest opinion. Seether is fortunate to have a fan like you.
Lisa,
Ok, maybe its not THAT bad – and he does have some pipes. Maybe its just that guilty feet don’t even get a chance to have rhythm when they are cast in metal (did i just say that?). Thanks as always!
Im a hardkore rock and metal fan and i also happen 2 love dis version by seether! dey’v done an amazing job and yes i headbang wif dis song too and i feel it so deeply! so lets stop bein so judgmental and stereotypical! seether i love u and i hope u guys cum bak 2 Aucks,NZ real soon again! good on u for taking on such a challenge!
Thnx,
PnkShdw
Thanks for your take PinkShadow. Funny how tongue-in-cheek commentary can spur such dialog. Very cool!
I actually thought it was pretty good. I’ve kind of like the metal/rock versions of a lot of the 80’s retro-pop songs over the years. Some do it well and other…well, do it. At least it still sounded like Seether and that’s a good thing. Most kids these days won’t know the damn difference anyway. They’ll just think it’s a new Seether song.
Thanks for your thoughts. Good point about the kids of today not knowing the difference.
When I heard the song, I was shocked…..because it was such a good hard rock remake of such an old wimpy song. My take is this…George .Michael wished he had done this song like Seether.
Thanks for stopping Johnny,
Good point! There are probably “a lot” of thing George wishes he would’ve done differently.
My husband & I heard this while out one afternoon. We freaked because we remembered the 80s ballad and thought whoever remade it did great with it. We are “youngins” but do know and remember a LOT of 80s (we are 25& 26 years old) I will agree with Metal Scott, the “kids” today won’t know the difference and think it’s a new song. But I am shocked to find out that Seether remade it!! But kudos to them because I love it!
Thanks for stopping Krystle! I appreciate your input. Stick around!
Heard it last night. Loved it. Refreshing.
Thanks Jeffrey,
Ya know, I heard it again the other day myself and I have to admit it is growing on me more and more. Maybe the shock factor is gone and the Wham version is starting to slip away. Thanks for stopping.