The original is so much better than her sample in "Fantasy". Carey's dull pop version is cringe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCWCF19nUhA
SHE WAS ALMOST THE QUEEN OF CHRISTMAS.🙂
ALMOST.
Not as bad as when Janet Jackson butchered Ventura Highway.
shareLol. It's just as bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNIBB6I0_vI
Hmm nah sorry, "Genius of Love" is dope but "Fantasy" also rules. The chorus is catchy as hell and the harmonies are sublime.
It's also a pretty inventive use of the sample, producing a very different kind of song despite using much the same instrumental. The two songs end up complimenting each other rather than competing, imo.
Well you can tell I'm not a Mariah Carey fan. I object to the fact that a New Wave alternative classic was "poppified" - so to speak. I can agree that "Fantasy" is probably the best song Carey ever recorded.
What would you think if Carey had done a straight cover of "Genius of Love" instead of a sampled mix?
Funny enough, "Fantasy" had a famous remix that comes fairly close to being a full-on cover of "Genius of Love," dialing back the production, restoring "I'm in heaven..." as the main hook, and bringing back the "What you gonna do when you get of jail" chant; it was popular on R&B and hip-hop radio.
I like that version just fine, too, but it loses the big infectious anthemic chorus of Carey's original track, and of course can't replicate the unique trippy/funky vibe of the Tom Tom Club song, so for me it's a little on the dull side, the only compensation being a fun guest verse and intro from Ol' Dirty Bastard to liven things up a bit and give it a little bit of an edge.
a New Wave alternative classic was "poppified" - so to speak.
"Genius of Love" was 1981. Tom Tom Club was a spinoff from the Talking Heads, definitely New Wave.
shareThat's why I was disappointed when Sony included the ODB mix over the original on the #1's compilation. I like the remix, but the original is much more fun and livelier. Slaps just as hard today as it did nearly 30 years ago and nothing "cringe" or "dull" about it.
shareFantasy isn't a version of "Genius of Love," it's an original song that samples it, and she was far from the first to sample the Tom Tom Club's song. The first time I remember it being sampled was by Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, in "Genius Rap." Afrika Bambaataa and The Jazzy 5 sampled it, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five sampled it, and many others did, too. Even Rich Little, the comedian, sampled it for his "President's Rap." I would conservatively guess that at least 100 songs have sampled "Genius of Love."
shareHowever, Carey's sampling was the one which became a megahit. And it still gets more airplay than the Tom Tom Club song.
shareThat's true. Probably because structurally it's a modern pop song, and has a steady thumping beat, while the original is more of a post-punk/new wave song that is a lot looser, and more meandering. That's a factor of the passage of time and changing tastes more than praise of one song or indictment of the other.
shareIt depends. If you listen to rock stations you'll still hear Tom Tom Club. Top 40 will play Mariah Carey. It's more Hip Hop v Rock.
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