NME "Mark Ronson: 'I enjoyed getting death threats from Smiths fans'"

I remember reading that both Morrissey and Marr liked Ronson's cover.
 
I thought it was a well-produced cover with its own take on the original but my reaction was still "Why this song? What is your relationship to it other than sonic?"
 
http://www.nme.com/news/mark-ronson/53197#

Can't recall -- did Morrissey ever mention what he thought of Ronson's version?

I actually preferred the music in this version to the original - really love the violins. But the singing was horrible. Still, it had by far the biggest airplay success for a Morrissey/Marr song to date, so credit to Ronson for bringing a Smiths song to the ears of the masses.
I'm pretty certain that, legally, Morrissey and Marr have to approve official (i.e. recorded) cover versions, so they would have been happy with it. Would've received some pretty hefty PRS royalties from all the airplay too.
 
The music was good. Singing was bad because the singer had no connection to the lyrics nor seemed to know why he was singing them other that stylistically.

Did the original get some extra radio play at the time in the UK, too? Sort of a side-by-side thing?



I actually preferred the music in this version to the original - really love the violins. But the singing was horrible. Still, it had by far the biggest airplay success for a Morrissey/Marr song to date, so credit to Ronson for bringing a Smiths song to the ears of the masses.
I'm pretty certain that, legally, Morrissey and Marr have to approve official (i.e. recorded) cover versions, so they would have been happy with it. Would've received some pretty hefty PRS royalties from all the airplay too.
 
I don't know about enjoying death threats from anybody :crazy:
but there is cerntainly almost no reason to fear in a Smiths fan carrying through on such threats :cool:
for better or for worse :straightface:
 
The music was good. Singing was bad because the singer had no connection to the lyrics nor seemed to know why he was singing them other that stylistically.

Did the original get some extra radio play at the time in the UK, too? Sort of a side-by-side thing?

Considering that's there's pretty much no band in the world that get's less radio play relative to the number of records they sold, I doubt the original got much of a bump
 
Considering that's there's pretty much no band in the world that get's less radio play relative to the number of records they sold, I doubt the original got much of a bump

The Fall, perhaps? They must've sold loads of records over the decades, but they're never played on the radio. At least with the Smiths you'll hear This Charming Man on the radio sometimes.
 
Considering that's there's pretty much no band in the world that get's less radio play relative to the number of records they sold, I doubt the original got much of a bump

Err, that's not really true. The Smiths and Morrissey albums never really sold very many. The sales were those of a moderately successful indie-pop group. They never hit the multi-platinum big time of U2, Oasis, Coldplay, Blur etc, so it could be argued that their airplay does in fact reflect their sales. However, it certainly doesn't reflect the influence of the band in the music world.
In response to the the original question, no I don't think the Smiths original of Stop Me picked up any more plays as a result of Ronson's cover. Strangeways and the various Smiths compilations may have sold a little more, tho, as a result.
 
The Fall, perhaps? They must've sold loads of records over the decades, but they're never played on the radio. At least with the Smiths you'll hear This Charming Man on the radio sometimes.

The Fall albums sell in pitiful quantities. Perhaps making 10,000 if they're lucky so, yet again, they arguably get the airplay they deserve. If you don't think they ever get played on the radio, listen to Frank Skinner on Absolute. He plays them every week.
 
I'm pretty certain that, legally, Morrissey and Marr have to approve official (i.e. recorded) cover versions, so they would have been happy with it. Would've received some pretty hefty PRS royalties from all the airplay too.

No, recorded cover versions don't need to be approved by the writer(s) of the song. The publishing royalties simply go to them, but they have no say in who can or can't cover a song.

Samples are generally a different matter, however.
 
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