What do you think of these old guys doing covers?

Guys like Cash, Neil Diamond and I just discovered Glen Campbell did one a couple years ago. I love the Cash stuff, the Neil stuff has some decent stuff and i'm not sure what I think about Glen yet.

I didn't mind when Cash did it. It gave his career a resurgence amongst a whole new generation of listeners, myself included. I had memories as a kid listening to the Man in Black with my grandparents but had not cared for him in many, many years. Rick Rubin struck gold with that original idea.

Now it just seems like they're spinning their wheels with the idea of any older artist and trying to make them seem cool. It's that music company mentality of "if it works once, it will work 50,000 times".

Nothing in the world will make me think Neil Diamond is cool.

Growing up with Neil Diamond as a constant backdrop I used to hate his music. Now, it has a nostalgic value and the older stuff isn't too bad.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Nothing in the world will make me think Neil Diamond is cool.

He's cooler than Glen Campbell. That's gotta count for something.

If no one cares for you playing your own new songs no ones going to care for your cover songs either.

Funny story about Johnny Cash. This past week my friend met up with this girl he's been talking to. She's a musician and I told him don't even bother because all she's going to want to talk about is her music and her shows etc. So he ended up meeting her anyway and he could tell that she just wanted to talk about it but thankfully never did. Some how they got talking about Johnny Cash and my friend starts saying how he can't stand him and doesn't like his music etc. The girl goes Johnny Cash is my great great uncle. He really didn't care at that point because he wasn't into the girl anyway.

Just funny how you mention a random name let alone a well known musician and it just so happens the girl your meeting is related to him. haha

No one was caring about Cash until he did American Recordings.

TheNazgul wrote:

No one was caring about Cash until he did American Recordings.

You mean nobody in the Rock mainstream was caring about Cash...he was still Johnny friggin' Cash for cryin' out loud! You think people only started to care about him because of Rick Rubin? I love those albums but come on...the man was already a living legend when he hooked up with Rick.

I'd actually like to hear what Rick Rubin could do with Willie Nelson...

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

TheNazgul wrote:

No one was caring about Cash until he did American Recordings.

You mean nobody in the Rock mainstream was caring about Cash...he was still Johnny friggin' Cash for cryin' out loud! You think people only started to care about him because of Rick Rubin? I love those albums but come on...the man was already a living legend when he hooked up with Rick.

I'd actually like to hear what Rick Rubin could do with Willie Nelson...

I think Naz is sorta right though. At that point in time, Cash was without a record contract and was living off of past glories, playing to small theaters that were half-full. He was becoming more known as the father of daughter Roseanne, who was starting to overshadow him in the country market. He was pretty much forgotten. The Def American albums made him relevent again to the mainstream and also introduced him to a new generation of fans. He was at a pretty low point in his career when Rick Rubin came knocking on his door.

And yea, I think a Rick Rubin/Willie Nelson project could be interesting too.

I was responding to Phoenix who said if no one cared about your current stuff they wouldn't care about you doing covers.