 |
Music has always been a big deal to me -- from the time I used to sing along to Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” in the backseat as a 2-year-old. Every time I dropped the needle on a new record as a kid (everything was vinyl then), it felt like another chapter in the on-going, ever-evolving story of rock & roll. But history and tradition in music seem increasingly lost now in a more disposable culture. I mean, rock gods have pretty much morphed into…“Idols.”
This whole trip is my lead-in to something a little less lofty: What’s up with “Rock the Cradle”? Let me explain --
In last week’s episode (oh, whatever, watch it online), Lil B. Sure, son of Al B. Sure, mis-attributed his song selection, “This Woman’s Work,” to Maxwell. Yes, it’s true that the guy who isn’t D’Angelo did, in fact, cover the track back in 2001 -- impressively so, stretching his vocals and showcasing one mean falsetto (skills, by the way, that were in short supply when Lil B. took to the “RTC” stage. Oof). But ain’t no way around it: boy seemed a bit ignorant for not knowing that the song was originally recorded, in 1989, by killer songstress Kate Bush. Aside from “Woman’s Work,” Kate’s best known to American audiences as Peter Gabriel’s duet partner on “Don’t Give Up” (off Gabriel’s 1986 monster So) –- and now she’s being name-checked by the newer generation of indie talent.
What made the gaffe so glaring, though, was show host Ryan Devlin, who, in a move more infuriating than Donald Trump’s boardroom overdubs, totally backed up Lil B.’s misinformation. Poor cute-as-dimples Devlin! Dude, we know this is a big gig for you. But your street cred just took a serious hit with the guyliner crowd!
So what do you guys think? Should Devlin atone for his mistake by personally covering "Hounds of Love" on this Thursday's installment of the show? Or am I just a nit-picking music snob?
