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White Collar Criminals

LIVING COLOUR SAY “FUCK YOU” TO THE MAN, RE-RECORD “CULT OF PERSONALITY” FOR GUITAR HERO III

 Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 2:52pm by

Vernon ReidAccording to a recent post on Living Colour’s official MySpace blog, Living Colour are the latest to follow the Twisted Sister model of re-recording their old hits for licensing purposes. Sure, Guitar Hero III publisher Activision could’ve licensed the tune from LC’s old label Sony, who presumably owns the master recording of “Cult” — but they’d have to pay a fortune, and the band likely wouldn’t see much of it. Instead, why not just have the band re-record the tune and pay them directly? Activision spends less, and the band gets more; everyone wins (except Sony).

Ed Stasium produced the new version of the track (Ron Saint Germain produced the original), which includes a typically head-dizzying number of notes per second in a brand new Vernon Reid solo. Please note that Axl and I will be unable to fill our blog-posting duties for a week while we attempt to master the solo on the “Expert” level.

Listen to the new version of “Cult of Personality” on Living Colour’s MySpace page.

-VN

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  • TTquick

    Wow! Vernon Reid took that solo to the next level. That was absolutely blistering! You and Axl can take 4 weeks and still not come close to that riffage.

  • http://www.myspace.com/livingcolourmusic LC

    http://www.gamespot.com/news/6180442.html

    GS: How often do the musicians request certain spots in the setlist, like they want to be an encore song or they don’t want to be an easy track?

    CH: It does happen. It’s happened through the whole process. On Guitar Hero III, when we went to license Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality,” we found that the band was actually a fan of the game. And they decided the song wasn’t hard enough. They wanted it to be in the harder section, so they volunteered to go back into the studio and rerecord the song with a special solo in it so they could move further down the [setlist].

    also :
    “Cult of Personality” appears as an encore track in the main career for Guitar Hero 3. The master tracks for the song couldn’t be found so Living Colour re-recorded the song (with a new guitar solo) specifically for the game.

  • http://thecontrarianmedia.com The Contrarian

    That re-recording sucks, sorry. It’s both over and under-produced, and Vernon’s solo is a lot of sonic verbiage signifying nothing. It’s like people pretending to be smart by using lots of vocabulary words, with no regard for eloquence or context.

    I’m glad the band has managed to re-market their big hit music without paying tribute to The Man, but his fails on every other level. Well, Corey’s voice is still intact, which is somewhat commendable.

  • Zmo

    I dig it alot! LC re-recorded COP for the game and they seem to have a fun time re-doing it. After Vernon’s solo, someone in the background yells “YEAH!”

    A solo is a solo..spirit of the moment, the song was done for the game and nothing else. it’s not as if the radio is going to play a “guitar hero soundtrack” song…

  • http://thecontrarianmedia.com The Contrarian

    Well, yeah, it’s for the game. But it’s also for money.

    I just get pissy when people can’t tell the difference between art and commerce, or a passionate, well-plotted solo and tossed off fingersalad.

    Whre are my fellow guitarists to back me up?

  • Zmo

    And so what if it’s for money? They persued LC for COP. An opportunity came where they could re-record it. The small blurb …”they decided the song wasn’t hard enough. They wanted it to be in the harder section, so they volunteered to go back into the studio and rerecord the song with a special solo in it so they could move further down the [setlist].”

    The game is fantasy! you don’t learn to play guitar from the game…the key word is GAME.

  • http://thecontrarianmedia.com The Contrarian

    I’m well aware of this, and agree. My issue is with people who think this version is better than the original, and can’t tell the difference between a flurry of nonsense notes and a peel-the-paint off the wall solo like that found on the original. Just go back and listen to the thing — it rules!

    Like I said in my first post: good for Living Colour for re-marketing their song and keeping all the loot themselves. They no doubt deserve it. But that has no bearing on my ability to listen critically.

  • Zmo

    i wouldn’t say it’s better than the original…i can’t think of any bands that re-do their songs and make them sound better. it’s a fresh take on it, and seems fun for the game. will it bring drones of new LC fans? probably not.

    jeez, george thorogood re-released bad to the bone w/ a new version of bttb…now it sounds like a horrible cover band covering bad to the bone w/ gt singing…now THAT’s horrible.

  • http://www.myspace.com/freaksystemband Sammy

    i got nothin’.

  • http://thecontrarianmedia.com The Contrarian

    Jeebus, if you drag Thorogood into it, I’m out, too!

    How the hell did you know that?

  • TTquick

    The Cont – Nobody here said this new version is better. We all can appreciate it it for what it is. If you want to rip the track, that’s fine. But leave the ‘I know more than you about what’s going on here’ shit off the board.

  • Wayne

    I’ve got a fingersalad for ya.

  • http://thecontrarianmedia.com The Contrarian

    People were gushing about the awesomeness of the new solo, which pales in comparison with he original. That’s all I’m sayin’.

    Do I know better? I have no idea. You claimed that Vernon took the solo “to a whole new level.” Do YOU know more? I dunno.

    Opinions are what open comments are for. I’m merely voicing mine.

    Fingersalads are on me.

  • Zmo

    Dude, it’s a frickin’ GAME!
    it’s a GAME about music..guitar playing on a guitar w/ buttons!

  • http://thecontrarian@gmail.com The Contrarian

    OK! I get it! Game! I’ll calm down now.

    (Maybe I just love the original song too much).

  • Wayne

    Something tells me that The Contrarian has a Living Colour Fan Club Card (member # 0000001) in his wallet.

  • http://thecontrarian@gmail.com The Contrarian

    And the pick Vernon used on the original “Cult” solo, which I bought on eBay.

    I hope I didn’t offend; I’d cry black, icy tears if I was shunned from the comments section of Metal Sucks.

  • Wayne

    No shunning here. Just been trying to work a “member #0000001″ quip in for a while.