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Comment by madsbuch | Hacker News Reader

I guess, when you curate your own consumption you pick what speaks to you?

Music is not like a new phone. There are no "upgrades".

Maybe it is futile to conceptualize old / new music? We have music, and then just an expansion of the catalog.

Correct. There are millions and millions of old music made throughout many many decades. Thousands and tens of thousands stood the test of time and people like to listen to those regardless what the calendar shows. Others got mostly forgotten. New songs are from a much shorter period and so those are in the thousands and tens of thousands only. And perhaps hundreds or more will stand the test of times and will be listened to many many years from now too.

This is how it is when people can pick their music more freely instead of fed by the industry and from a seemingly endless list not just from those stamped as 'new'.

No killing is going on here. Music that people like will be listened to still, regardless of their age. It is just much much more out there from earlier than now, due to longer period and more people throughout the history.

> Music is not like a new phone. There are no "upgrades".

Disagree. Listen to "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain, then "You and Me" by Lifehouse.

Ed Sheeran upgraded "Thinking Out Loud" with "Perfect."

"Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne is an improved "Hey Mickey."

There’s also tons of covers which can suit you better than the original (or even suit you at all where the original definitely did not).

For me “stories” (acoustic covers by the Scary Pockets crew and the same model of rotating guest singers & musicians — without the fixed members though Lerman is generally on guitar) is a daily with a 95% hit rate, but about half the originals I wouldn't listen to at all.

Yeah, lots of covers ended up being the definitive version of the song.

"Respect" comes to mind. Otis Redding recorded it in 1965, and in his version, it's pretty clear that respect means sex. Aretha Franklin re-arranged it and released her version two years later. She flipped the song to be from a woman's point of view, and it became one of the anthems of the women's rights movement of the late 60's and beyond.

Even though his version reached a decent #35 on Billboard, Aretha's version completely eclipsed it. Reportedly, Redding conceded that "it's her song now" (paraphrasing).

I've just listened to the original version for the first time. What leads you to the conclusion that it's "pretty clear that respect means sex"?

To me, he could mean she gets used to living without him when he's on the road and treats it like her home when he gets there, instead of theirs. If he's going to give her most of his money, at least she could make nice.

Also Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt , Nirvana's Man who Sold the World, and the Animals' House of the Rising Sun.

I've also seen it claimed that Leonard Cohen thought Pentatonix' cover of Hallelujah was the best he'd ever heard but I can't find any confirmation for that.

One of my favorite examples being "Johnny Cash" with "Hurt". Most people don’t even know the original is by Nine Inch Nails.

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