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I find it somewhat strange that artists in the field of popular music are criticised for performing music written by others, or 'covers'.

Classical musicians have been performing Bach and Mozart covers for centuries.

Furthermore, if a contemporary classical artist, Itzhak Perlman or Vadim Repin for example, were to give a performance of a violin concerto of his own composition, he would most assuredly find himself playing to a hall no more than one third full. Yet, were he offering the Sibelius concerto, he would be virtually guaranteed a full house.

I, for one, would be more than happy to listen to some talented contemporary guitarist performing a selection of music written by Hendrix, Trower, Winter and others.

I agree. Look at how many of the great British rock bands made their start covering American R&B artists.
Also, you can cover a song and make it your own, like Ike & Tina Turner did w/ 'Proud Mary', or Andy Williams did w/ 'Moon River.' Beethoven said something like, 'Good composers borrow, great ones steal.'

Thank you, Mike.

You see, what I find rather strange is, if a new band were to perform or, especially, release a version of, for example, Good Lovin' Gone Bad, they would, it seems, be criticised for it and their version would be compared to that of Bad Company, for some reason.

Now, provided they perform it well, should they not be applauded for simply playing good music?

After all, if Vladimir Ashkenazy were to perform a piano sonata by Debussy, he would not be criticised for performing 'non-original' music, would he?

I would prefer a situation where a performer such as Ted Nugent, for example, could feel free to release a recording of British rock songs of the 1970s say, without fear of criticism over his use of the material (regardless of what one might feel about that particular performer, of course).

I don't think the painting analogy applies, as you put it. Many artists have painted the same landscape, yet the finished paintings differ greatly.

By the way, Mozart would regularly perform works by Bach; Paganini played the music of his contemporary, Beethoven, with great success; Liszt was so impressed at having heard Paganini perform his own music that he arranged some of it for the piano; Josef Hoffman and Artur Rubinstein regularly performed the piano music of their friend, the pianist Rachmaninov. The list is endless.

When I listen to the early Whitesnake performing Fool For Your Loving, I do not hear rebellious youth, just a very good tune.

I have considered that, but then we have recordings by Sarasate, Ysaye, Kreisler, Rachmaninov, Enescu, Ravel, Stravinsky and many others, yet their music is often performed and recorded.

The annoying thing I'll say about covers is that at one point the charts and radio were just playing cover numbers. It was like too many people shooting the similar style of gonzo really badly. Too much of anything just becomes plain boring and that was what the saturation in cover numbers was beginning to do.

Then we can also talk about movie remakes which winds people up too. Dont get me wrong there are some pretty good remakes like Cape Fear was good with DeNiro, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes were enjoyable...Well to me at least.

Thank you, Jack.

That is very interesting.

I feel that perhaps the tenor of your reply, if not necessarily its content, may well be leading me towards an answer to my question.